The herald., 1895-01-01
III line UP as followe:
THE BUSY BEEKEEPERs.

The Amount OF Honey Produced in This
Section During the Year.
The beekeeping industry in this state
is olassed as the sixth product of impor-
tance, and in the United States Cslifor-
MIA is acknowledged to be the largest
honey-producing state in the union,
The amount produced in 1898 was fully
100000 pounds. and. while some honey
10 secured in other portions of the state,
the principal honey-producing counties
are the eight which compose the south.
ern section.
The chief honey-produolng plants are
white, black and purple rye, and in
some sections wild alfalfa and wild buck
wheat secrete much nectar. In former
years great many apiaries were located
in the valleys and near the foothills, but
the rapid growth of the orange and
keeping to the foothills and mountains.
THE HOME OF THE BEEKEEPER.
We often find these isolated mountain
homes located at the mouth of or in
some picturesque cai1on. with a bright
mountain stream rippling over rocks,
past tho cabin door, the sound of which,
when the evening shadows fall, lulls one
un0onsciously to sleep, and in the morn
ing you awake with the happy song of
the bird and the sound of the water, all
conspirlng to lend enchantment to this,
the ideal home of O California bee.
keeper.
These mountain homes. coupled with
the pure mountain air, impregnated
with the balsamic properties of the
dense mountain growth, have often been
the means of the restoration to health OF
many whose hope was almost gone.
Such an isolated existence no doubt
would not be congenial to everyone. 80
in consequence of this many beekeepers
reside in the cities and only remain at
the spiary during the honey season,
which in most localities begins the
latter part of May and ends in July.
THE HONEY PRODUCT.
Three Thousand individuals in this
state are engaged in this pursuit, and
not few make it a specially. The
amount produced some Seasons is SIM
ply enormous; $500 pounds honey, and
an increase from IL to AZ colonies. ia the
report of one individual. Another pros
duced more honey in 1898 than was pro-
dnced in the whole state of Vermont.
Another reports from this county the
amount of 100000 pounds. Such re-
ports are exceptional ones, for even in
California, as in the east, we have ex-
ceptional years; and the past year of
total failure, due to the extreme dry
Eenroa, has demonstrated the effect of
the opposite extreme by the extinction
(from starvation) of fully one half of the
bees in Southern California; but, for
tunately, such years are an exception,
so that the good seasons far more than
counterbalance the years of partial or
entire failure.
Agriculture as rule has not been
conducted on such scientific principles
in this state as it is in the east, but the
determined energy of our more advanced
beekeepsrs, combined with the influx OF
some of our eastern scientists, is revolu-
tonizing and building up this industry
to the highest standard attainable.
The principal drawback to this indus
try is the present method OF disposal of
the honey product through the commiss
zion houses, and as q result the bee
keepers are formulating plans for the
organization of q honey exchange, thus
securing better pricea and more direct
and better means of distribution to the
consumer.
The California state association, with
Prof. A. j. Cook at its head and the
noted Ram bler," ]. II. Martin, as sec-
retary, is doing laudable work in prac-
tical denomination of the necessity of
bees to the fruit growers, and thus dis
sipatlng the existing antagonism toward
beekeeping. GEORGE W. BRoDBECK.