AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



649 



Apicultural Statistics are 



always interesting to bee-keepers. Here 

 are some statistics from a late issue of 

 the Los Angeles, Calif., Times, which are 

 doubly interesting in the light of the 

 attack of Mr. Fleischmann, in a German 

 bee-periodical which was given in full 

 on page 623 of the Bee Journal for 

 last week. The Times remarks thus : 



Nothing could demonstrate the re- 

 markable adaptability of California to 

 the successful production of honey so 

 much as the fact that in less than 40 

 years this State has become the leading 

 honey producer of the Union. 



When the first American settlers came 

 to this Coast, such a thing as a bee was 

 absolutely unknown. There was not 

 one in the entire State. 



The first bees were introduced into 

 California via the Isthmus route. Four 

 colonies comprised the entire shipment, 

 and when they reached their destination 

 they were valued at $400 each. By 

 swarming and judicious sub-division 

 their number was rapidly increased, 

 and the price diminished in proportion, 

 though for a long time $50 was the 

 regular price for a single colony. 



Last year, the two leading counties, 

 Los Angeles and San Diego, shipped, as 

 nearly as can be learned from the re- 

 ports of railroad companies and steam- 

 ship lines, upward of 5,000,000 pounds 

 of honey, while the entire State did not 

 fall short of at least 6,500,000 pounds. 



It is true that other and lower esti- 

 mates have been made and widely pub- 

 lished, but when actual shipments are 

 made of nearly 5,000,000 pounds for 

 two counties alone, it is manifestly 

 absurd to claim that the entire output 

 of the State did not exceed that amount. 



The only available statistics upon the 

 subject are those furnished by the State 

 Board of Equalization as collected by 

 the County Assessors. How correct 

 they are, may be inferred from the fact 

 that the counties of Alameda, Amador, 

 Humboldt, Lassen, Marin, Mariposa, 

 Napa, Santa Cruz, Sierra, Solano, 

 Trinity, Yolo and Yuba are not credited 

 with a single colony of bees, while as a 

 matter of fact there are more or less in 

 all of them. 



The total number in the entire State 

 last year is given as 55,043, of an ag- 

 gregate valuation of 865,244. San 

 Diego County comes first, with 14,94 7 

 colonies; Los Angeles is second, with 13,- 

 871 : Ventura third, with 9,311 : San 

 Bernardino fourth, with 5,140 ; Fresno 



fifth, with 4,110, and Santa Barbara 

 sixth, with 3,115. Inyo has 1,453, 

 Kern 1,250, and Tulare 1,176. The 

 valuation varies from 50 cents to $3.00 

 a colony. 



These figures serve only in determining 

 the approximate relative importance of 

 the honey-producing counties, and are 

 not to be taken as in any sense accurate, 

 so far as the actual number of bees is 

 concerned. 



Mr. "W. C Fra^ier, an enter- 

 prising and skillful apiarist of Atlantic, 

 Iowa, is to conduct an apiarian depart- 

 ment in the Homestead, an old and 

 prosperous weekly farm paper published 

 in Des Moines, Iowa. This is another 

 of the Bee Journal family, who is to 

 enlighten mankind on "the wonders of 

 the bee," and the modern management 

 of bees for pleasure and profit. There 

 are now about 100 of the regular 

 readers of the Bee Journal who are 

 creditably editing Bee Departments in 

 first-class papers all over the country. 

 We wish all of them success and pros- 

 perity. In the initial number Mr. 

 Frazier writes thus : 



The man who disposed of his cattle 

 two or three years ago because there 

 was no money in them, wishes now he 

 had them again. He that disposes of 

 his bees will next year be in the same 

 predicament. Keeping continually at it 

 is what pays in the long run. We have 

 a report of an apiary of 10 colonies, 9 

 of which gave no surplus, but the tenth 

 (an early swarm) filled its hive, and also 

 two supers— about 48 pounds. 



The modern apiarist would no more 

 go back to the gum or box-hive than the 

 horseman who has the modern barn, with 

 all its conveniences and water pipes, 

 would go back to the round log, old- 

 fashioned double barn. 



The movable frame was a great aid 

 to apiculture. The present tendency is 

 to have straight combs, and to crowd 

 them. wSealed brood is only one inch 

 thick, and by crowding the brood-combs 

 a little closer than the bees' naturally 

 build them, we get more brood and less 

 honey in the brood-chamber, and thus 

 compel the bees to store their honey in 

 some other place. 



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