i>i:vote:i> to hhiei^ a.tsx> hoive:^", A]vr> iioivii: iivti^rests. 



A. I. ROOT, ^ Published Montlily. rXERMS: $1.00 Per Annum in Ad- 



Ihihlisher ami Proprietor, > -] vance; 3 Copies/o)' $2.50; 5 /o?- $3.75; 



jTIedina, O. j ZBsta'blislied. in 1873. (.lO or more, 60c. each. Single Number 10c. 



Vol. IV. 



NOVEMBER 1, 1876. 



No. 11 



CALIFORNIA. 



^^JjEVEN months, steady pull with the bees, during 

 ^jk which cimc one scarcely gets time to breathe, 

 — ^ much less to write, is now followed by the end 

 of the season and a lew day's rest preparatory to get- 

 ting ready for another year's work. 



I began January 1st with an even hundred stands of 

 bees. 1 worked i)2 of them for box honey, extracting 

 only before the season tor surplus honey began. The 

 others 1 worked exclusively for increase, extracting 

 only as the necessities of giving the young queens 

 room to lay, required. 



My first two natural swarms came off February 23d. 

 Then followed three weeks of cold damp weather, 

 when, on the loth of March swarming began again 

 and was kept up for a month. Some days 1 had 12, 

 14, and one day 16 swarms came ofl", until at the end, 1 

 found the increase to be 150 good strong swarms. 



The 8, 1 began to divide about the 1st of April. 

 These now number sixty-eight good strong stocks, 

 fully supplied with honey for the rest of the year. 

 From tlie S and their increase, I extracted 971 lbs. of 

 honey. From the 92 stands, I extracted a little over 

 .'.000 lbs., (all with your old extractor) and have 

 shipped 106 cases of comb honey, each case holding 

 about 60 lbs., or 1(',<(0 lbs., making .a trill i over 14'(0 

 lbs. in all. or 110 lbs. to each original stock. I am now 

 getting ready to go to work at hive and section box 

 making for :"0 stands for next year. All this is the 

 most conflning, hardest kind of vjork. 



Your extractor bids lair to go through twice the 

 service it has had so far. 1 have never yet had to 

 stop it a moment nor spend a ceni for repairs, but it 

 is not just what we want iiith our thick honey. Here, 

 we need a tank holding one-half barrel right under 

 the machine, into which the honey may pass instantly 

 out of the way, for the gate is too small to carry off 

 the hoiiev. One can uncap and extract three times as 

 fast at the honey will run ofl'. 1 have hal two large 

 tanks made out of 1 ^i inch )nne. each holding 120 gal • 

 Ions, one for white and Ihc other for dark lioney. 

 The honey is drawn from the extractor, straineil into 

 the large tanks, where it remains to seHle, and when 

 perfectly clear, is drawn off into barrels, each holding 

 aljout 283 lbs. net, which is tlie size wc use. 



Your honey knife ha? dnne all my uncapping, but 

 I'.iat too needs to be made differently. It U too lhi:i, 

 the point having a tendency to go into the comb. If 

 the3" were thicker in the center, or curved as you now 

 jjropose making them, they would probablj' do the 

 work. So many bee-keepers saw your machine and 

 knife laat year that you have had many orders for 

 t;;c knives, but freights arc ngain^t rapid sale of your 



extractors .Extractors are made in San Diego, of gal- 

 vanized iron, wich a tub underneath, into which the 

 honey runs out of the way and is drawn off at pleas- 

 ure. The mania for extracting honey in this county 

 was at its height in April, when nearly every man 

 with a dozen stands of bees, got one, expecting to get 

 a boat load frcm each hive. A few got the machines 

 without any knife and in trying to throw out the hon- 

 ey without uncapping, succeeded admirably in throw- 

 ing out comb and all. Then too, many took out honey 

 that had not ripened, and spoiled a good market. A 

 San Francisco exporting firm, haO, an agent in San 

 Diego to buy 100 tons at Oj^ cts., but when this raw 

 stuff soured on their hands before it had even been 

 shipped to England, the orders were countermanded 

 and the price fell to 5c and even less. Comb honey 

 has had no market value so far. The best priie 

 offered in San Diego two weeks ago being 6c. 



Now these prices, or even double, may strike you as 

 rather low ; in fact ive think if we have to sell in sneh 

 a market, we had better get out of the country before 

 starvalicn claims us. It is pretty hard, after working 

 until the last bit of strength seems drawn away, to bo 

 insulted with such beggarly offers lor your labor. An 

 association has been formed and it is hoped it may so 

 get into working order by another year as to sy.itema- 

 tize the sale of our crops. 



And now, a word about bees in this country. So far 

 I am unable to see any difference in their liabits and 

 instincts. They all get the swarming fever about the 

 dame time, and arc sure to cluster in one great mass 

 if they issue near the same time. Just about as many 

 young queens get lost in fertilizing and about the 

 same proiJortion of old queens die, get superseded, or 

 turn drone layers, and quite as many fertile workers 

 bother us. By the way, did you ever .see one ? I did 

 ten days ago, saw \i with its body down in a drone 

 cell just like a (jueen— laying— but she never drew out 

 thac body to try it again. Since then that hive has let 

 a queen cell hatch and bids fair to come out all right. 



I have had eight large swarms light in one mass- 

 forming a cluster as large as a barrel. Then such a 

 time to get them hiveil. First provide yourself 

 with as many empty hives as you think you will want 

 and as many queen cages. Then, as all our swarms 

 cluster on low bushes and rest on the ground, run 

 your hand among them until you find a lump, which 

 you draw out and it proves to be a hugged queen- 

 cage— but put her aside, and continue this until you 

 have one tor each hive. Then shovel bees enough 

 into each' hive for a good stock, shut it iip, with ven- 

 tilators, and so en with aU the hives; about sunset, 

 release the queens, by changing the stopper for a 



