1895. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



487 



should remember that " one swallow does not make a sum- 

 mer," or one prophecy make a honey crop. 



The honey crop of California is now nearly all harvested, 

 and the yield is variously estimated by those competent to 

 judge, all the way from Mr. Brodbeck's one-quarter crop up 

 to half a crop, as compared with the yield in 1893. In this 

 (San Bernardino) county, and, in fact, all along this tier of 

 counties 60 miles back from the coast, the yield is equal to, if 

 not greater, than in 1893. Mr. D. A. Wheeler, of Riverside, 

 irom about 900 colonies gets nearly 50 tons; H. E. Wilder, 

 with 120 colonies, gets 12 tons ; M. Segars, of San Bernar- 

 <lino, from about 300 colonies gets 20 tons; these apiaries 

 are making up the loss of 1893, and are doing much better 

 upon honey-production than in that year. These are not the 

 big yields that we would like to report, but they help to make 

 up a very passable honey crop, and inasmuch as the Editor 

 sanctions the idea that Mr. Brodbeck knows the true condi- 

 tion of things, while it is implied that the enthusiasts — Prof. 

 Cook, Dr. Gallup, and others — are rather unreliable, I have 

 given the addresses of the above producers in order that my 

 statements may be verified. 



I do not wish to convey the idea that I consider Mr. Brod- 

 beck in the least unreliable, for I fully endorse all that the 

 Editor says in relation to his reliability, but there is a chance 

 that he may lean to the dark side of the question as strongly 

 as us enthusiasts (so-called) have to the bright side. 



All along the coast the fogs and the army-worm have no 

 doubt greatly reduced the yield, so that the general yield may 

 be about half the 1893 yield ; and dealers — notwithstanding 

 Mr. Brodbeck's assertion to the contrary — understand this, 

 and in the San Francisco quotations in last Gleanings, by Mr. 

 Schacht, a dealer, quotes an average crop. And as another 

 encouraging straw I would mention the fact that Mr. Mendle- 

 son, of Ventura, has recently sold his amber honey for five 

 ■cents per pound. I shall claim that enthusiastic utterances 

 in relation to prospects, or even the fact that we have a large 

 yield, cuts but a small figure in the market price of honey. 



California may be fortunately located for good average 

 yields, and good quality of honey, but it is an unfortunate 

 feature that its product comes so early in the season — before 

 the Eastern markets are established. Local dealers take ad- 

 vantage of the fact, and depress the price to the lowest limit ; 

 the honey that is first sold in this State comes largely from 

 those who are obliged to sell. And why are they obliged to 

 sell ? It is from the simple fact that they are unable to pay 

 for their supplies at the opening of the season ; the honey- 

 dealer very considerately supplies them, and takes a lien upon 

 the honey for security, and when the honey is harvested, he 

 piles it up in his warehouse at whatever price he is disposed 

 to name. This class of bee-keepers never attend bee-keepers' 

 conventions, and are seldom subscribers to the bee-periodicals, 

 and this class are the real cause of low prices early in the 

 season. 



Every bee-keeper In California may set himself to de- 

 crying the honey crop, still it would make no difference in 

 the advance of the price of honey. Witness the fact that the 

 season of 1894 was probably as bad as Southern California 

 will ever experience ; still, as beautiful comb honey as ever 

 graced the table of an epicure was sold in Selma, in car lots, 

 for only 8 cents per pound, and extracted honey at a corres- 

 pondingly low figure. 



Now what is the remedy for all of this lamentable state 

 of affairs ? It seems to me that there is but one resource, and 

 that is, better organization. The subject has been in the 

 dreams of our leading bee-keepers for years ; has been talked 

 about, written about, and at present seems to have received 

 a reinvigorating by Bro. Hutchinson's timely articles in the 

 Review. 



The great need in California is an organization that will 



enable every bee-keeper to hold his honey until markets are 

 established. An organization can supply impecunious bee- 

 keepers with supplies, and take a lien upon the honey as well 

 as can an unscrupulous dealer, and banks will ease up the 

 present needs of the producer as soon as the honey is placed 

 in the warehouse ; then the organization could secure for him 

 the highest market price. 



In order to place our honey where it is needed, or where it 

 will command the best price, we need National as well as 

 State organization ; some claim that co-operative stores in 

 various portions of the country would be of the highest utility 

 to the honey-producer. As organized at present, our County, 

 State, and National societies well merit the name of "mutual 

 admiration societies." Our age is intensely practical, and 

 there will not be a general attendance to these organizations 

 unless the producer can see some tangible evidences of benefit. 

 I venture to say that there is not a live society on the conti- 

 nent to-day, speaking in a helpful and practical sense. 



I have spent some of my enthusiasm upon our State or- 

 ganization, so also has Prof. Cook and others, but here in the 

 midst of counties where there are hundreds of bee-keepers, 

 barely half a hundred take an interest. 



That our Eastern brethren will in the coming North 

 American convention set a dollar and scjise example for us 

 lesser organizations, is the earnest wish of the 



Bloomington, Calif., July 17. Rambler. 



The Five-Banded or Very Yellow Bees. 



BT S. E. MILLER. 



I was somewhat surprised at the article on page 378, by 

 John McArthur, entitled, " What constitutes an Italian 

 queen, and a purely-mated Italian queen ?" And as I consider 

 the article very misleading, I think it should not pass un- 

 challenged. 



Mr. McArthur starts out with an attack upon editors of 

 bee-papers for condemning the so-called golden or 5-banded 

 bees, and then continues in a strain that would lead the be- 

 ginner to think that these yellow bees are the pure and origi- 

 nal Italians. In reply to Mr. McArthur's article, I will quote 

 paragraphs from the same, and then try to answer them. 



" If those who are so keen to place barriers in the way of 

 progress, could rear and maintain the yellow race as easily as 

 they can the hybrids they call pure Italians (because their 

 worker progeny show three yellow bands), the yellow race 

 would at once be accepted as the coming bee." 



I would say, it seems altogether too easy for the rank and 

 file of bee-keepers (as McArthur terms them) to produce these 

 yellow bees. In the last few years they have sprung up, and 

 are advertised in nearly all parts of the United States and 

 Canada, and apparently there is no trouble, or at least very 

 little, in producing bees as yellow as can be desired; but the 

 verdict of a majority of bfee-keepers, who have given them an 

 impartial trial, indicates that the most of these yellow bees 

 are as worthless as they are yellow. 



To claim that those who have reported adversely on the 

 yellow bees are prejudiced, will hardly stand, for certainly 

 those who have invested money in them have been led to ex- 

 pect wonderful results from them ; have given them extra care 

 and attention, and wished to see them prove themselves super- 

 ior to the more homely 3-banded or leather-colored Italians. 



Not until compelled to, from actual experience, have most 

 bee-keepers been willing to admit that the yellow bees were 

 inferior to the darker Italians. 



Mr. McArthur's claim, that we should pay closer atten- 

 tion to the selection of drones for mating, is certainly correct 

 so far, but when he makes the statement that these drones 

 should be perfectly yellow, if we wish to produce pure Italians, 

 I fear he has gone a step too far, and cannot verify his state- 



