The production of honey is the principal object that a beginner has in
view when he contemplates starting in the apiarian business. Of course,
he generally buys a few box hives and does the transferring himself;
which I think is a good idea, as he gains considerable knowledge of the
inside of a bee-hive and of handling bees. Before he invests in bees, he
generally buys and reads a couple of bee books and obtains a few
catalogues of leading apiarian manufactures, to see what style of hive
is best. If he is gifted with an average insight into the mystery of
common things, he will quickly choose the hive and system that are most
universally used, and will stick to that system, and nine chances in ten
he will make a success of his bee business. If, however, he is gifted
with a volatile nature, he will not be satisfied until he has eight or
ten different style hives in his apiary at one time, and will spend all
the money he makes in trying new apiarian fixtures, until he finally
gives the bee business up in disgust. I do not mean to say that all new
bee hives are useless--far from it; but generally speaking, there is a
flood of new style bee hives on the market which are miraculously
complicated and contain numerous paraphernalia in the way of wedges,
glass doors, clasps, useless bee spaces and other ornaments not worthy
of mention.
A hive that is too complicated will never come into general use.
Competition in the honey business requires that we use the cheapest
appliances, combined with the greatest excellences. Here in this state
(California) where honey is so cheap, it would be folly to spend $8.00
for a bee-hive, because a $1.50 hive will answer every purpose equally
as well, the hive does not make any difference in the amount of honey
gathered, bees will store as much honey in a box hive as in any frame
hive ever devised; the queen and race of bees make the difference in the
amount of surplus gathered. The simplicity hive, with its various
modifications, is the hive that gives the best satisfaction among
advanced apiarists, and when used with the Hoffman frames it is hard to
beat. To persons who contemplate starting out-apiaries, the Hoffman
frame offers very superior advantages. My opinion is, that bee-keepers
who keep out-apiaries, and who move bees considerably, will in time
settle down to the fixed frame. I shall no doubt experiment considerably
with fixed frames the next few seasons.
In Ventura county this state, the bee-keepers have adopted the
Langstroth as the standard frame, and there is something like 1,600
hives in that county, which produce annually about $60,000 worth of
honey. The one pound section is rapidly gaining favor with the
progressive apiarists of this state, and are fast superseding the old
Harbinson two pound section.
Our honey crop here last season was about one fourth of a crop. In the
upper Sierras, at an elevation of 3,000 feet and upwards, there was a
good crop. Some honey plants yielded well. In all extensively irrigated
districts bees did pretty well because of the abundance of alfalfa
grown. Reports from Antelope Valley state that in that section the honey
crop was far better than usual, 200 to 400 lbs. to the colony for entire
apiaries being the yield.
The Italian race of honey bees I have tried pretty extensively, and
found them to be very good, but I like the Carinolans better. I think
they are a fixed race; the Italians are not.
In an apiary composed of Italian and hybrids if a Carinolan queen be
introduced and the Carinolans then be left to reproduce themselves
naturally they will hold their own for hundreds of generations before
their markings will begin to be eliminated. Place a colony of
Carinolans in an isolated location, and allow natural breeding, and in
ten years they will not deteriorate a single bit; but take a colony of
Italians, and allow natural breeding and in a year or two we have
nothing but common black, or very poor hybrid bees; thus proving
conclusively that the Italians are not a fixed race.
_Grizzly Flats, Cal._
A Few Words to Beginners.