AMERICAN BEE JOURNAi_. 



291 



AMa Honey in California. 



S. RANEY. 



On page 199 you give the San Fran- 

 cisco Chronicle as an authority for a 

 paragraph entitled, " No Alfalfa Honey 

 in California." The C/wonicle is a little 

 too broad in its statements, for I have 

 seen honey in glass, labeled "Alfalfa 

 Honey," for sale in retail stores. The 

 Chronicle should be proud of the bee- 

 keepers in this State — that they are not 

 so conscience-hardened as to be declar- 

 ing to the world that the honey they 

 offer for sale is Simon pure "alfalfa" 

 honey. In some parts of this State, 

 however, they are learning rapidly the 

 habits of our truthful (?) Eastern broth- 

 ers, as I saw not long since, some honey 

 from an apiary in Southern California, 

 labeled "Warranted Orange-Blossom 

 Honey ;" and I am informed by good 

 authority, that there are no orange trees 

 old enough to bloom within ten miles of 

 where this same honey was produced. 

 It was probably produced from a sort of 

 chaparral bush, or desert shrubbery of 

 that locality. I have no doubt the con- 

 sumers of that honey will smack their 

 lips over the delusion of a genuine 

 orange flavor. 



Alfalfa, in many localities, is new in 

 Colorado, while in California it is so com- 

 mon that "alfalfa honey" would not 

 lend any special delusion. Of course, 

 most of us know, that bees get honey 

 wherever they can, no matter if it is 

 from pig-weed, and it tastes just as well 

 to the bee as if it were obtained from a 

 tree or plant over which foolish man goes 

 into ecstasies. 



Alfalfa does produce excellent honey, 

 even in California — sometimes in larger 

 quantities than other plants. I have 

 known bee-keepers to move their bees to 

 the locality of alfalfa fields, when the 

 alfalfa in their neighborhood had been 

 plowed up. Alfalfa, when cultivated for 

 profit to the producer, is not allowed to 

 blossom to its full capacity, as it is cut 

 or pastured off before that age. I have 

 seen bees going almost like a swarm to 

 alfalfa in bloom, and again have seen 

 nice blooming alfalfa when you could 

 not find a single bee about it. 



Bees here obtain nice honey from what 

 is called " sunflower," a sort of rosin- 

 weed which is the pest of the country — it 

 even smothers out a wheat crop. It 

 blooms from June to November. We 

 could label the honey "alfalfa" or 

 " orange blossom," and the majority of 

 the consumers in other localities would 



Tiot be able to detect the special flavor 

 of the label ! 



There does not seem to be a fortune in 

 keeping bees here. Choice comb, one- 

 pound sections, sells for 9% cents net; 

 extracted, net, 4 cents ; almost-white, 

 one-pound d sections, on sale in retail 

 stores at 9 cents. Home market not 

 profitablfii 



My bees averaged about 20 pounds of 

 comb-honey, and 10 pounds of extracted, 

 last season, with a fair increase. They 

 are all nearly pure Italians, wintered, of 

 course, on the summer stands. I have 

 over 150 colonies in Langstroth hives, 

 large size, and use one-pound one-piece 

 sections. I am a subscriber to the 

 American Bee Journal, and believe the 

 membership fee to the National Bee- 

 Keepers' Union is well invested. 



Lemoore, Calif. 



Some Pointers Aliont Bees. 



C. A. BUNCH. 



When bees are gathering honey in the 

 field, I have known them to go from 

 alsike clover to the common white 

 clover, and back again to alsike, which 

 proves that they do not always get their 

 load of nectar from the same kind of 

 flower. I have also seen bees gather 

 pollen from timothy and common red- 

 top. 



In trying to unite bees during a dearth 

 of honey, I have seen drones stung to 

 death at once, the same as the workers. 

 I have also seen bees sting their own 

 drones during a dearth of honey, in- 

 stead of only pretending to do so. 



If the bee-keeper understands winter- 

 ing bees successfully, the hives can be 

 carried and put in rows as soon as the 

 surplus is taken off, say, Sept. 20, and 

 let the old workers shift for themselves, 

 and the bees will winter well, but later 

 on, after the bees have all taken a flight, 

 it would be doubtful business. Bees will 

 winter well on unsealed stores if prop- 

 erly protected by clover chaff, or other 

 good packing. 



Eight-frame Langstroth hives are too 

 small for comb-honey production in this 

 locality. Nine-frame hives are by far 

 the most profitable, providing we keep 

 bees for the money and fun there is in it. 



Parties running a hive factory should 

 always understand bee-keeping, for if 

 they do not, they are liable to send out 

 chaff hives to their customers with only 

 %x8-inch entrance, instead of full width 



