466 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



succeeds in extracting a frame which he 

 scans carefully, replaces it, puts on the 

 rags and lumber, upon which he places 

 a stone and two handfuls of earth 

 (which I learned denoted "laying 

 worker ") and, reminded by the case in 

 hand, proceeds to examine the several 

 others bearing the stone and two piles 

 of sand, which he had placed there two 

 or three weeks previously when he had 

 " no time to monkey with them," to see 

 if they still have a laying worker. 



I will here state for the benefit of 

 those not familiar with the record 

 system in vogue in Southern California, 

 that one stone means "wants attention," 

 two stones, "wants attention badly," 

 three stones, " wants attention very 

 badly,'''' and so on, the more rocks the 

 more it needs attention. One stone and 

 one handful of sand (or mud, according 

 to the weather) signifies " queenles§," 

 and if a hive gets a stone and one pile of 

 earth early in the seasan, it is likely to 

 remain there all Summer, for bee-men 

 in this section " have no time to fool," 

 but when the condition of the colony 

 demands it, the one stone and one sand 

 pile are superseded by two of each. 



I also have the honor of presenting to 

 the world another feature in honey pro- 

 duction which has heretofore never 

 been made public, relating to comb- 

 honey, and which I have named the 

 "expansion method." I do not know 

 how long it has been in use, nor how 

 extensively it is practiced. However, 

 be that as it may, I have noticed an 

 apiary of more than a hundred colonies, 

 this season, being managed in this way, 

 but owing, perhaps, to a partial failure 

 of the honey crop of California, the re- 

 sult was not what it might have been. 



The modus operandi was as follows : 

 Being in need of combs to "upper story" 

 some hives run for extracted-honey, the 

 supers were removed from the comb- 

 honey hives, and two or three combs of 

 honey taken out, and frames with foun- 

 dation starters put in their stead, and 

 the sections replaced upon the hives. 



I wish to caution beginners against 

 attempting this plan. It is intended 

 only for the advanced class of apiarists, 

 and only such should attempt having 

 combs for " upper storying" built below 

 partly finished sections during a slow 

 flow. 



An apiary of 160 colonies was given 

 into my charge after the swarming sea- 

 son had opened and honey was flowing, 

 out of which 30 were queenless, of 12 

 of which laying workers had possession, 

 and the remainder of the apiary corres- 

 ponded beautifully with these 30 colo- 



nies. All being in hives which I con- 

 sider an embodiment of all the ills that 

 ever afflicted a bee-hive. 



Notwithstanding the opinion of many 

 apiarists that " it matters but little what 

 kind of a hive we use," I consider the 

 question of hives, to one starting in the 

 honey-producing business, of vital im- 

 portance ; and my advice to beginners, 

 after 9 years' experience, with perhaps 

 hundreds of hives, in various climates, 

 from the Georgian Bay to the Carribean 

 Sea, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific, 

 would be : Do not invest in hives until 

 you have learned positively what the 

 requirements are, and then adhere 

 strictly to that which fulfills these re- 

 quirements. In bee-hives, as with 

 everything else, there is a riqht kind 

 (different styles that are right), but 

 there are many styles that are the 

 opposite, or wrong, and a hive that is 

 wrong, robs the business of all pleasure 

 or satisfaction. 



But this letter was not intended to 

 discuss hives, and for lack of space I 

 will defer further remarks until a future 

 time, but in conclusion, would ask why 

 is this slipshod, semi-barbarous condi- 

 tion of affairs tolerated by so many 

 California producers, many of whom 

 are Eastern men that would not 

 endure such crude, awkward, wasteful 

 sights, for a single day, in the East, yet 

 here, they smile and apologize by saying, 

 "Oh, that is California style." 



I saw no better specimens of old- 

 fashioned, simon-pure "bee-bungling" 

 among the negroes of the West Indies 

 than I have seen in Southern California, 

 by men who own hundreds, and some 

 thousands of colonies, in movable-frame 

 hives. 



Redlands, Calif. 



Be Sare They are Carniolaii Bees, 



J. A. GREEN. 



The editorial comments on Mr. An- 

 drews' article, on page 400, would seem 

 to indicate a belief in the genuineness 

 of the golden Carniolans. If this belief 

 is well founded, the breeders of these 

 bees are much maligned individuals, and 

 the scores of prominent apiarists who 

 ridicule their claims should be labored 

 with in order that justice may be done. 

 On the other hand, if these queen- 

 breeders are wrong, and their opponents 

 right, justice to the public demands that 

 the facts should be as quickly and 

 widely made known as possible. This I 



