AMERICAN BEE JOURNA: 



387 



while, in attempting to make one overly 

 handy, he would go to needless expense, 

 and have many things in the way that 

 would seldom be required. 



It is the same with bee-fixtures. The 

 working capacity of the bee depends but 

 little upon the character of the hive, and 

 the hive that can be easily handled, and 

 the proceeds made most available, is 

 good enough. 



It will not pay to be running after all 

 kinds of hives that are advertised, for 

 different men like different things ; be- 

 sides, in too many cases, there is some one 

 who has an ax to grind. 



The bee-business, in a good locality, 

 may prove profitable some years ; yet 

 there are so many partial failures that 

 it behooves every one to invest prudently 

 and carefully in bee-fixtures, and it 

 hardly justifies any person, In an ordi- 

 nary location, to depend wholly upon 

 such a business. 



What is economy, is a question that 

 different persons will answer in different 

 ways. Therefore, it is well for each one 

 to study the questions for himself, and 

 determine what is best for him to do. 



Nirvana, Mich. 



Bee-Notes from California. 



S. L. WATKINS. 



We are having fine weather in this 

 part of California, at present. Bees are 

 at work, and rapidly breeding up. 

 Manzanitas and alders are in bloom, and 

 several species of wild flowers ; and if 

 the warm weather continues a few days, 

 the mountain sides will be clothed with 

 a waving sea of golden compositse. 



Beginners sometimes discover a colony 

 that they suppose queenless, and intro- 

 duce queens, only to have them killed, 

 or place brood of the proper age in the 

 hive, and find that the bees do not start 

 queen-cells. Such colonies must contain 

 a queen of some kind, usually a virgin 

 that has defective wings, or defects of 

 some kind, that have prevented her from 

 being fertilized. 



It is sometimes pretty difficult to find 

 such queens, especially with black bees, 

 but by using one of Alley's combined 

 drone and queen-traps at the entrance, 

 and shaking the bees in front of the 

 hive, you generally succeed in catching 

 her. 



We have had very little rain this sea- 

 son, but still there is plenty of time for 

 heavy storms. If we have plenty of 

 late rains we generally entertain hopes 

 of a good honey crop. At our elevation 



— 4,000 feet above sea level — the dry 

 seasons do not affect the honey bloom to 

 such a great extent as in the lower 

 counties. 



One season, I remember, it was extra 

 dry here, and it seemed very doubtful if 

 we were going to obtain any honey at 

 all. All early plants dried up, and 

 turned to dust beneath the feet, as if 

 baked in an oven. At the very driest 

 time of the year the hartshorn, a slender, 

 unobtrusive little plant, forced its way 

 out of the parched ground, and made its 

 appearance in patches miles in extent on 

 the more exposed portions of the ridges, 

 and the plant was clothed in a dense 

 bloom. 



The bees gathered plenty of honey to 

 winter on, and furnished a little surplus 

 besides. Another plant that delights in 

 extra dry seasons is the Hemizonia 

 virgatu. Its home is in the valleys and 

 foot-hills of California. It is quite a 

 showy plant ; the ray and disc flowers 

 being yellow, and the stamens purple. 

 It blooms until November, being the last 

 link in the floral chain of honey plants 

 in the foot-hills and valleys. Some sea- 

 sons it has a showy multitude of bloom, 

 but it will not equal hartshorn as a 

 honey plant. 



Last Fall, in the foot-hill portions of 

 this county, I noticed a great deal of the 

 so-called honey-dew on the yellow pines 

 — some trees were just glistening with 

 it. All bees within range of this kind of 

 pine, gathered quite a Fall crop of 

 honey ; but it was of very poor quality, 

 and fit for nothing but the bees to win- 

 ter on. 



Grizzly Flats, Calif. 



AVORK fl^ND Pl^ltY. 



Three little busy bees, 



Toiling hand in hand, 

 "Buz-a-buz, work-a-work," 



Sang the careful band. 



Three little butterflies 

 Chanted thus together— 



" Never work, only play 

 'Mid the sunbright heather." 



Sang three little children— 

 " Neither song is right : 



Work and play, play and work, 

 Make the earth so bright." 



The Convention Hand-Book is re- 

 ceived, and I am well pleased with it. 

 Every bee-keeper should have a copy. 

 Charles White. 



Farmers' Valley, Nebr., Mar. 3, 1891. 



