THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



67 



use the Langstroth hive in Califor- 

 nia. This was about 1872. 



In the beginning of beekeeping as 

 a business, we had several problems 

 to work out. The package problem 

 was one of the most complex, but 

 also the quickest solved. We used 

 kerosene cans mostly, though some 

 used barrels. The experience of some 

 of those who used barrels is harrow- 

 ing to relate. I had two neighbors 

 who stored their honey in barrels 

 one season, waiting for a better price. 

 They never got it. All through that 

 winter, which was rather dry, the 

 honey leaked out, just about as fast 

 as the bees could take it up. My 

 bees went through that winter fine, 

 as they were near enough to my neigh- 

 bors' honey barrels to use them as 

 feeders. Those of us who used the 

 kerosene can will never forget those 

 days of cleaning and soldering when 

 preparing for a honey flow. But 

 from the ancient kerosene can we 

 evolved the modern honey can and 

 case — California's bequest to the ex- 

 tracted-honey producers of the coun- 

 try. 



The price of honey was good for 

 a few years; then it dropped very 

 low. I remember selling extracted 

 honey in the local market in 1875 

 for nine cents. But from 1877 until 

 about 1884-1885, the beekeeper was 

 often in luck if his extracted honey 

 netted him three cents. The cause 

 of this was exorbitant freight rates 

 on the one hand and the treatment 

 we received at the hands of the San 

 Francisco Commission men on the 

 other. In fact, matters got so bad 

 that producers of honey quit sending 

 their product to the commission 

 houses. That forced the buyers to 

 come into the field, and we at least 

 had the satisfaction of selling our 

 own honey. Prices gradually grew 

 better, and while the marketing prob- 

 lem is still with us, we have solved 

 several phases of it. 



Our extracted honey is practically 

 all sold in large lots. It is cased up 

 and shipped by the carload. There 

 is very little retailing done by the 

 producer. Extracted honey leads by 

 far in quantity, though there are some 

 large producers of comb honey. Mr. 

 Muth-Rasmussen, who now resides in 

 Inyo County, California, runs his 

 apiary exclusively for comb honey, 

 as I believe do most of the other 

 apiarists of the Owens River Valley 

 section. 



Up to about twenty-five years ago. 



most of the honey of California was 

 produced in the southern part of the 

 state, and almost exclusively from 

 wild plants. Now, beekeeping is a 

 thriving industry in the northern part 

 of the state and in the large interior 

 valleys. And while wi? still depend 

 upon our wild plants for our moun- 

 tain apiaries, the bee forage along 

 the foothills and in the valleys has 

 been greatly increased by the large 

 acreage planted to oranges and beans 

 in the coast counties, and by the large 

 alfalfa fields of the interior valleys, 

 'ihe Sacramento and San Joaquin Val- 

 leys have hundreds of thriving apiar- 

 ies fed by alfalfa and lipia. Alfalfa 

 does not furnish nectar in the cool 

 coast climate to anything like the ex- 

 tent tlwit it does in the warm inland 

 regions. 



Another new section, rich in the 

 production of honey, as well as al- 

 most countless other resources, is the 

 Imperial Valley, lying in the extreme 

 southeastern part of the state. This 

 valley is truly one of the wonderlands 

 of the southwest; a reclaimed desert, 

 as it were, but with a soil rich in 

 silt washed for ages from the over- 

 flow of the Colorado River — soil which 

 only needed water to produce almost 

 anything in the dry, warm climate 

 in which it lies. Water it now has in 

 abundance, and its alfalfa fields yield 

 an ample supply of nectar for thous- 

 ands of colonies of bees. 



The County of Imperial has now 

 about 30,000 colonies of bees; Los 

 Angeles County, over 60,000; River- 

 side, about 30,000. Orange, which is 

 the smallest Southern California 

 county, has about 10,000. These are 

 just a few figures to give some idea 

 of the average number of bees kept 

 in the honey-producing counties. I 

 was unable to get data in time from 

 the north. 



Honey is not produced commercial- 

 ly in all parts of California. In the 

 last twenty-five years the industry 

 has increased materially. We still 

 produce as much from our native 

 plants, and the great increase of for- 

 age from the cultivated acreage has 

 enabled many more to engage in bee- 

 keeping. The wild pasturage, how- 

 ever, is thoroughly stocked. There is 

 little room for beginners unless they 

 buy an old range. 



Among our native plants, the sages 

 lead, especiallv in quality. The black 

 and white are equally good, though 

 the black leads in quantity. Then 

 follows a long list, some of the best 



