THE BEEKEEPER'S REVIEW 



455 



— only to find that he can produce 

 nothing but comb honey, even the nec- 

 tar from the fields being so thick and 

 waxy that it tears the extracting combs 

 to pieces, and winds about the extrac 

 tor reel like threads. Or he may lo- 

 cate "South of the Tehachipi" in the 

 sage districts, only to find that he must 

 niove his bees down near the coast to 

 the lima-bean fields to insure his an- 

 nual crop — for alas! the sage, that 

 wonderful producer of magnificent 

 honey, is as coquettish and uncertain 

 as a woman. One fair crop in three 

 is hardly an average, while it is a fact 

 that in 30 years there have been but 

 two successive good crops. 



But we have bees in California- 

 588,000 colonies of them, and our aver- 

 age eastern shipments are 500 carloads 

 of honey per year. A steady increase 

 in the sales of bee supplies is a good 

 indication of the growth of the indus- 

 try. The annual sales of one Los Ange- 

 les supply house were $46,000 in 1910, 

 $44,000 in 1911, $51,000 in 1912. A to- 

 tal failure throughout the sage dis- 

 tricts in 1913 caused the sales to drop 

 to $34,000. 



Many apiarists run from 2,000 to 

 $4,000 colonies each, producing car 

 loads of honey. One man — only a part 

 of whose interests are in California, 

 however, produced 300.000 lbs. of honey 

 in 1912, and over 275,000 lbs. in 1913. 

 Queen rearing has developed im 

 mensely, and v.^e have several breeders 

 who rank among the best in the world 

 and sell thousands of queens annually. 

 For some years one of our queen breed 



ers has furnished the queens for all 

 the Government Experiment Stations. 



Another special line of work is in 

 the making of increase by division. 

 Many thousand colonies are brought 

 into southern California every fall 

 from Utah and Idaho, built up during 

 the honey flow from orange bloom, 

 divided, and shipped back by June 1st 

 in time to take advantage of the full 

 season's surplus flow in the more 

 northern states. 



Here is the record for 1913 — a very 

 poor season — of one young man in this 

 special line of work: Purchased 154 

 colonies of common hybrids in April; 

 increased to 629 colonies by division, 

 raising the Italian queens for the in 

 crease. Also took 38 cans, 60 lbs. each, 

 of fine orange honey, that sold for 

 9 cents per lb ; June 1st loaded 629 

 five-frame nuclei to ship to Utah, 500 

 miles; delayed on road, so bees were 

 confined 9 days in all; lost 6 colonies 

 outright and many bees. In July, a 

 break in an irrigation ditch flooded 

 one yard; forced to move to higher 

 ground; lost two colonies drowned and 

 all the old bees, but took all told 395 

 cans of extracted honey, and left bees 

 in fine shape for winter. Cash sales 

 of honey over $1,600. 



The State Bee-Keepers' Association 

 has been a potent factor in the devel- 

 opment of the industry. It has caused 

 tlip forming of many local and county 

 affiliated associations; has aided large- 

 ly in keeping the market price oC 

 honey at a reasonable figure; has been 

 (Continued on page 4 66) 



The Chicago Northwestern Beekeepers' Association 



The eighteenth annual meeting 

 of the Chicago Northwestern Bee- 

 Keepers^ Association will be held 

 at the Great Northern Hotel Fri- 

 day and Thursday, December 17 

 and 18. An extensive program has 

 been arranged, and as several large 

 beekeepers, such as N. E. France, 

 E. S. Miller and others have signi- 

 fied their intention of being pres- 

 ent, a good meeting is assured. 

 The program follows: 



Thursday, December 17 



.9 a. m. — Social Hour. 



10 a. m. — President's address, C. 

 F Kannenburg. 



10:30 a. m. — Reading of Minutes, 

 and report of Secretary-Treasurer. 



11 a. m. — ^American Bee-Keeping 



Past and Future, L. A. Aspinwall. 

 Crop Reports. 



Afternoon Session 



1 p. m. — Shipping Bees North and 

 South, H. C. Ahlers. 



2 p. m. — Country Wide Advertis- 

 iiig to Increase the Sale of Honey, 



3 p. m. — Report of Delegate to 

 National convention, E. J. Baxter. 



4 p. m. — -Bee Cellars, E. S. Mil- 

 ler. 



Question box. 



Thursday Evening Session 

 Sweet Clover, Prof. J. G. Mosier, 

 University of Illinois. 



Friday, December 18 



9 a. m. — Social Hour. 

 ' 10 a. m. — The High Price of 



