452 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



July 20, 1899. 



isolation from other races is as thoro as the the breeding- 

 queens were on an island. 



We will now cross over into Laurel canyon. Here is a 

 deserted cabin, the window pone, and the door hanging by 

 one hinge. From the number of old. rusty tin cans around 

 the door it is a deserted bee-ranch, and weeds are growing 

 where the hives once stood. 



Laurel canyon is inhabited to a certain extent, and here 

 we run against a Chinaman's ranch. It is neat and clean, 

 and with an infinite amount of labor he is raising vegeta- 

 bles for the Los Angeles market ; but there are no bees 

 here, and there are but few Chinamen that take to bee- 

 keeping. 



Up another branch of Laurel canyon I find another 

 deserted cabin. The failure of the owner to find water led 

 him to abandon it, and it is even more deserted than the 

 bee-ranch below. The building is more or less a wreck. 

 But here I find something that pays me for all mj- climbing 

 — here in a secluded place is a bush in full bloom, and the 

 bees literally cover it ; hundreds of bees are on the flowers of 

 this one bush. The flowers are in clusters, very small, and 

 greenish white. It is the California coffee. The only one 

 I ever saw previous to this was when I first came to Califor- 

 nia, and near the home of Mr. Arundell, of Fillmore. I 

 think it is a rare shrub, and it is doubtful if any one knows 

 the quality of honey the bees secure from it, but the fact 

 that bees work upon it with such vigor in a dry season 

 proves it worthy of a closer acquaintance and propagation. 

 The gum-tree is receiving much attention as a honey-pro- 

 ducer, why not include the coffee-shrub? 



I am on another hog-back now, and our journey is 

 homeward. But, look out ! Whi-r-r-r-r ! That is a rattler ; 

 hit him with a club ! There, he is done for now. Take his 

 rattles for a trophy. Two before this have been killed this 

 year within half a stone's throw of my apiary. 



I am now on the spur of the mountain above the buz- 

 zard's roost, and can look down upon the apiary, and a very 

 good appearance it makes. The shade and the little tent 

 look very inviting, and after a few minutes scramble down- 

 ward we have made the circle of several hog-backs, and are 

 at home again. I found acres of sumac, and wherever it 

 was coming into bloom the bees were present. This gave 

 me encouragement that some honey would be gathered from 

 it. Honey-plants of all kinds, in order to make them do 

 their best at honey-secretion, need the moisture below as 

 well as above. Only about ten inches of rain in two years 

 leaves the conditions below very dry, and while we live in 

 hopes for some honey in the immediate future, our hopes 

 are mostly stayed upon the glorious rains that will come to 

 refresh the plants for another year. 



Los Angeles Co., Calif., July 3. 



The Bee-Hive or the Man— Which? 



BY G. M. DOOUTTLE. 



A CORRESPONDENT wishes to know if he had not bet- 

 ter change the hives (Langstroth) he is using for the 

 Hoffman, and gives the reason for thinking of such 

 change, that he is informed that the Hoffman hive will give 

 more honey than any other hive in the world. And this is 

 only a sample of many letters which I receive, and from 

 such letters it would appear that many think, to procure the 

 best hive — a hive which will give " big results " — is all one 

 has to do to reap a rich reward, with a few bees in such a 

 hive. I have reason to believe, from the letters of the past, 

 that thousands believe that all one has to do is to procure a 

 Langstroth, Gallup, Heddon, Ouinby, Hoffman, Danzen- 

 baker, or some other highly-recommended hive to meet with 

 certain success in apiculture ; no matter how little thought 

 is given to the field, location, or securing the bees in time 

 for the honey harvest, or how poorly attended to, if we have 

 only a good hive we certainly shall have honey! 



From the many failures in the bee-business, and the 

 shipwreck ending in disaster of so many who started out 

 joyously when embarking in the business, it would seem as 

 if they depended simply on using, or having in their api- 

 ary, ^oofl' A z'z'Ci. While a good hive has verj' much to do 

 with the results of bee-keeping, the inav has much more to 

 do with success or failure, so far as dollars and cents are 

 concerned. 



Does a man buy a choice lot of Jersey cows, put them 

 in a lot enclosed with a beautiful fence, with a nice water- 

 ing-trough, painted off in ornamental fashion, and then 

 leave them to take care of themselves, expecting a large 

 profit from them? No. The man spares no pains in car- 

 ing for and milking- them, and gives them everj- chance in 



his power which will tend toward success, realizing that 

 upon himself lies the element of success or failure with 

 those cows. Yet, ten to one, this same individual, or many 

 very similar to him, will expect a large income from the 

 same number of colonies of bees if they onlv have them in 

 good hives, no matter whether they do anything for them 

 once in three months or not. 



The idea that " bees work for nothing and board them- 

 selves " must be banisht from our thoughts before we secure 

 much profit from them, and yet this very idea seems to take 

 possession of very many when they embark in the bee-busi- 

 ness. Work, for a man with brains enough to know that he 

 must leave no stone unturned that tends toward success, is 

 what successful bee-keeping- means. A g-ood hive in the 

 hands of such a man is a power which can be used to roll 

 up tons of honey, and show to the masses of the people that 

 there is money in the bee-business. Such a man will have 

 his bees in readiness for the honey harvest whether that 

 harvest comes from white clover, basswood, or fall flowers, 

 and such an one will do things in just the right time to 

 secure the best results. 



I am often askt, " Whatadvantage has a movable-frame 

 hive over a box-hive ?" Much, every way, in the hands of 

 a skillful apiarist, but none at all with the man who does 

 not take advantage of its principles, or of the benefits de- 

 rived by a judicious use of the same, such as knowing in 

 the spring that each colony has sufficient stores to last till 

 the flowers bloom, or in the fall that it has plenty of stores 

 for winter, or that each colony has a good, prolific queen, 

 or giving stores to the needy by taking them from those 

 having an abundance, etc. What are the movable frames 

 good for if not for the above purposes ? And yet we have 

 those all over the world who do not take a frame out of a 

 hive once in a year, yet call themselves bee-keepers, and 

 wonder why thej' do not succeed in securing as much profit 

 from their bees as do some of their more successful neigh- 

 bors ! They have the same hives — that they made sure of 

 at the start. They are like some persons I know of who, 

 when askt how the bees are prospering, say, "Pretty well, 

 I guess ; they were about as heavy as I could carrj' when I 

 last lifted them ;" and upon being askt when that was we 

 were informed that it was on some cool daj- in earl_v spring 

 when there was no danger from stings. If a hive is only 

 heavy, that seems to be all that is needed to insure a good 

 crop where the bees are in good hives, for these persons do 

 not believe in " fussing " with bees as some do ! 



Thus we find plenty of bee-keepers, or those calling 

 themselves such, all over the country. Is it any wonder 

 that we have so many ready to tell us in a few years after 

 they start in the business, that "bee-keeping does not 

 pay ?" These persons do not seem to realize that it is just 

 this "fussing," as they call it, which makes the success of 

 the prosperous ones. 



I do not want it understood from the above that I think 

 that a person is to be continuallj' overhauling hives that 

 they may be successful. Those who have read my writings 

 in the American Bee Journal during the past know that 

 such is not the case. No, not that. What I mean is, that 

 when a gain is to be made by looking inside of a hive, do it, 

 and do it at Just the time it null be to our best advantage. 



Attend to the bees in the spring \n just the right time ; 

 put on the sections at the right time : see that all colonies 

 have good, prolific queens at the time such prolificness is 

 needed the most ; and so on with all the work in and about 

 the apiary. Do not keep more colonies of bees than you 

 can care for, and have everything done in good order. 

 Better results can be secured from 50 colonies properly at- 

 tended to than with ISO colonies left to themselves. 



Just what I wish to impress on the mind of every one 

 who reads this article is this : That a thoro, practical api- 

 arist will succeed with almost any of the frame hives now 

 in use, while a careless, " go-as-you-please " person will not 

 pay expenses with the best hive ever invented ; and it is for 

 the reader of this to know to which of these classes he or 

 she belongfs. If to the latter class, one of two mottos 

 should be written in great big letters and placed where it 

 can be seen at all times : "REFORM, or "BETTER GO 

 OUT OF THE BUSINESS." Onondaga Co., N. Y. 



Langstroth on the Honey. Bee, revised by the Dadants, 

 is a standard, reliable and thoroughly complete work on 

 bee-culture. It contains 520 pages, and is bound elegantly. 

 Every reader of the American Bee Journal should have a 

 copy of this book, as it answers hundreds of questions that 

 arise about bees. We mail it for SI. 25, or club it with the 

 Bee Journal for a year — both for only $2.00. 



I 



