64 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



February 



amber, 20-24c per pound. Beeswax: 

 1 bag, 27 pounds, net, arrived. Verj 

 few sales, 35t37c per pound 

 Chicago. — Unreported. 



The Season in California.— Califot 



in. i . .nun it have a honej crop with 

 out rain. 'I his year appears to be an 

 unusual one for drought. Mr I 

 S. Merriam semi- us the Following 

 clipping from the S in I »i< go Sun, 

 dated January 3. Mr. Merriam is the 

 son of our old e-teemed friend, the 

 I ol. Merriam. His location is 

 San Marcos. San Diego County, 

 where he lias kept bees for years : 



"On tin- third day of January. 1918, 

 we have to record the shattering ot 

 all precipation records since the first 

 record was made in 1851, 6/ years 

 ago. 



That is to say, the lightest rainfall 

 ever known from July 1 to December 

 31, hitherto, was in 1876, when a total 

 of .39 of an inch was recorded. This 

 year, during the same period, we had 

 just 25! 



There has not been a December 

 without a trace of rain in 67 years, 

 and but two Decembers with only a 

 trace. These were in 70 and '17. So 

 we have shattered one record and 

 tied another. 



Now listen. The warmest fall, be- 

 ginning with September, ever record- 

 ed by the local weather bureau, was 

 the season just passed, ending with 

 December 31, 1917. December having 

 an excess of 88 degrees above normal. 

 The next warmest fall season was 

 that same fall of 76 — that famous 

 season when no rain fell, or practi- 

 cally none, from July to January. 



Thus we have two points of simi- 

 larity between these seasons 41 years 

 apart. 



The spring of 78 was the dryest 

 ever known in the history of San 

 Diego. The total rainfall for the sea- 

 son 77-78 was 3.75 inches. The next 

 dryest was the far-away season of 

 '62-'63, when the record showed 3.87 

 for the entire 12 months. The nor- 

 mal rainfall for 67 years is 9.68 

 inches. 



So, you see, the outlook for a dry 

 season, based on past performances, 

 is exceedingly good. 



In that terrible year, 77-78, there- 

 were no irrigation systems in the 

 country, excepting the Mission dam 

 at the old mission, and the cattle 

 died like flies in the mountains, while 

 I tiers had to dig wells in the 

 bed of the San Diego river to get 

 water for domestic put posi 



'I his season no such disaster will 

 eventuate, for with Morena and 

 smaller dams full of water through- 

 out the county, there will be plenty 

 of wati r foi domesl ic purposi i en 



i rain should fall at all, and by 



reasonable care the i u i hards can be 



kept in good shape, but the dry 

 farmer will suffer the loss of his crop 

 if rain does not come in reasonabli 

 during January. 

 Howi et i utie hi >pe 



i >r in 67 s ears there ha 

 i dry Januai ; er, 1900, 



when only a shade more than . 

 fell, was followed by a wet January 

 and February, with a total < 



rainfall of 10.45, and big crops and 

 plenty of prosperity for everybody. 

 In his "sixty-five years of rainfall 



Is," Mr. Alciatore has compiled 



ome verj interesting figures. The 

 heaviest rainfall ever recorded was 



the sea on ol S4-'8S, when 25.9> 

 inches fell. With the exception of 

 that abnormal season there has never 

 been a season recording above 17 

 inches. There has never been a sea- 



son with iess than 3, and only two 

 (those mentioned) with less than 4 

 inches, but five seasons in 65 have 

 had less than 5 inches 



The drought this year has been un- 

 usual, in that it has extended to all 

 parts of California, even to the 

 mountains, where the snowfall has 

 been phenomenally light, and all the 

 way down tile coast to the edge of 

 the tropics." 



Dr. Miller's <®> Answers- 



Send Questions either to the office of the American Pee Journal or direct to 



Dr. C. C. Miller, Marengo. Il\. 



He does not answer bee-keeuint Questions by mail. 



It is inferred that all readers have access to the book "A Thousand Answers to Beekeeping 

 Questions." This will avoid duplication in answering, as the book contains answers to practically 

 all questions ordinarily asked on beekeeping. Subjects not specifically treated, or which are not 

 clear to the reader will be further explained in this department at the request of any subscriber. 



What Hive Preferred— Shallow Su- 

 per for Extracted Honey Pro- 

 duction 



1. For the production of extracted honey 

 do you not think the Dadant or Jumbo hive 

 would be preferable to the 10-frame dovetailed 

 hive? 



2. Which do you prefer, a shallow, or deep 

 super fur tin- production "f extracted honej 



MICHIG \ 

 Answers. — 1. Very likely, in most places. 

 2. The shallow; although there are advan- 

 tages in combs that may be used interchange- 

 ably in either brood-chamber or extracting- 

 super. 



Bee Paralysis 



Would you kindly let me know Mr. Le 

 Stourgeon's cure for the same disease de- 

 scribed in your Journal of September, page 315 

 of bees dying, as I have three hives with the 

 same complaint. Perhaps you have a better 

 cure. IRELAND. 



Answer. — The LeStourgeon cure for paraly- 

 sis is just what is g : ven at the place you quote: 

 "Feed them some fresh, pure food." That's 

 all there is of the cure, and Mr. LeStourgeon 

 claims that the disease is caused by soured 

 stores, and all that is needed to cure it is to 

 give pure food. There is, however, the pos- 

 sibility that yau have something differ, i 

 paralysis. 



Bottom Racks — Nucleus Division 



1. In describing that bottom-rack as being 

 in the form of a ladder, what is the width 

 and thickness of the rungs and how much 



etwei ■ ; ;' m and the bottoms ol the 

 frames, and do the parallel pieces run length 

 wise of the hive? 



2. I want to double my number oi 



next season b> the nucleus plan, page L3' ol 

 "Thousai : 



w hen would be the bt si t ime to make 



. .it swarming time oi extracting time? 

 iii Fa'l flow. MISSOl Rl 



. ;■.-, i. l ii mosl ol them l h 

 are three-eighths by tbxei It might 



be even better it' th ■>■ were thicker, 

 eighths ttom-bars 



and bat k i I 



lei pieces run lengthwise ol thi hive. 



2. It may be 

 eing the 



at swarming tin 



well t " wail till i 

 a good fall flow . 

 rming trouble by dividing 



Queen Excluders 



■ 

 ■ 



Do you put 1 1 < 

 tom-boai i warming? 



is the best 

 lo idy and bot 



I have had with them wire excluders are best. 

 One of the commonest ways in which they are 

 used is to put them between the brood cham- 

 ber and extracting-super to keep the queen 

 from laying in the extract! ng-combs. 



From the last part of your question I mis 

 pect you have some idea that by putting an ex- 

 cluder between the hive-body and the bottom- 

 board, so that the queen cannot get out, you 

 will prevent swarming. Don't be fooled into 

 trying anything of the kind. While this 

 might prevent the queen from leaving with a 

 would rat prevent the bei 

 ling and returning day after day, and 

 would Anally result in having a drone-laying 

 young qui 



Shaking Bees From Combs 



1" be Mire and not take the queen, does it 

 hurt the brood to shake the bees, or is it bet- 

 ter to brush them ofl the combs? 



MISSOURI. 



Answer. — Shaking does no harm to the 

 brood unless queen-cells are present, and then 

 only queen-cells are hurt. 



badly 



Combs in the Cold — Increasir 



1. In looking over my combs in tl 

 trading house I notice they are 

 cracked. Is it the cold weather that 

 this, there being no heat in the building! 



2. I have some forty combs of sealed honey 

 for spring feeding in Langstroth frames, with 

 four wires in each frame, in the same build- 

 ing; will they be hurt ? 



'. I want to increase, which will be the 



bi tti ' way, buy bees in pound packages, or 



buy sugar and feed my pn ■• nl stoi I in spring 



and divide, as we have no flow until the last 



1 ' 



1. I know a beekeeper who is trying a 15- 

 frame Langstroth. What do you think of 

 such a large hive in this locality? 



i i\ lARIO. 

 \ . n iks.- l. Yes, ii i 1 1>. Erei sing. The 

 bees will mend them all right. 



if will be some ct ai king of the 



bing is that the honey 



will granulate and somi oi it will be 



i in n givi ii i" the bei ' an'l j ou 



i in in a warm root i .1 cellai 



\ mi can at least get on 

 ing packagi 



I. It may be a good thing. 



1. Ft 



Demaree Plan 



1 1 a Hum "Thousand 



Answe 



INDIANA 

 -I think from the little expi 



'. 1 .. \ B Bees 



iat when using the Demarei plan, one 



should not allow a 1. nil. amount oi br 1 to 



,,,. below the excluder. What would 



lod rule to go by to know when this 



1 into the second story 



