Yerington times. [volume] (Yerington, Nev.) 1907-1932, 1910-09-24
BUSY BEE MINERS
OF MASON VALLEY


Ever hear of bees digging for gold?
Ever hear of bees driving in their lit
tie drills and producing bright ten dollar
gold pieces?
Well that's what they do in Mason
Valley.
No, gentle reader these bee miners
don't take the place of the union miners
who work under ground They do not
drill into the solid rock, but they stick
their drills into the alfalfa and other
blossoms aud extract the nectar which is
bright gold pieces.
They are same busy bees YOU read
about i'll your schoolbook, who inn
prove each shining hour only the in
dustrous bee doesn't get all that is COM
ing to him from the schoolbook He
/ improves not only each shining hour
! but during the season he not only works
every daylight hour extracting the nee
/ tar, but during the night he puts in an
extra shift manufacturing the honey in
the hive.
/ That will be about all of that more
interesting story could hardly be written
/ than that regarding the work and habits
of bees-but it must be left to one who is
capable. What will be recorded here
will be the story of the money that is
made by having thousands of bees work
ing night and day during the season for
the man who understands them.
That man is Harry Warren, who with
his brother, has a ranch ten miles from
/ Yerington. Harry attends to the bee
/ end of the business occasionally the
business end of the bee attends to HIND
and the kid brother runs the ranch.
! Out of the bee business alone the War
ren brothers will clean up better than
4 81 900 for this season work.
/ What do YOU know about that9 Are
we right i'll calling the bees miners? Are
we right in saying the bees produce
gold?
! We are-we admit it.
The Warrens have twenty four apiaries
in Mason Valley, including those at the
home ranch. There are l 1,250 producing
colonies, averaging about 30, 900 bees to
a colony
Work was started for this year on May
l4th and will finish up the last of this
month. During this time Harry had
two green helpers with him in the field
and two more on inside work and when
the harvest is completed they will have
! fifty tons of honey and one of beeswaN
which will bring better than S11 900
This is probably the greatest amount
of honey produced by single grower iii
America. The Mason Valley honey
is considered about the best in the coun-
try and the crop is all marketed i'll Los
Angeles which itself is the center of a
great honey producing section.
Mason Valley honey has taken the
highest prizes wherever it has been ex-
hibited in competitor. This year there
were three buyers from Los Angeles and
one from San Francisco who came to bio
for the crops.
The Warrens are not the only honey
growers in the valley, though they are
the biggest. Among others are: vii
Penrose, who will get tea tons, sold a
eleven cents a pound; Charles Johnson
ten tons, sold at twelve and one-hal
cents pound; and VIM. Wilson, tel
tons, sold at twelve and one-half cents Z
pound.
Harry Warren estimates that at leas
$50, 900 more could be produced her,
each year if the bees were brought III.
Not only is there big money in bee,
from the honey produced, but they are
direct benefit to all plants and trees
They pollenize or fertilize the blossoms
Some six years ago the farmers of Lvoi
and Humboldt counties tried to have
law passed prohibiting the putting in o
bees. 1t was their contention that tn
bees, i'll sucking the nectar from the al
falfa blossoms, took substance from tn
hay that would have gone to fatten bee
cattle.
The fruit growers of California also be
lieved bees detriment to the fruit trees
saying that the bees sucking the necta
caused the blossoms to droop and blast
They succeeded in getting law passe
to keep the bees out but the fruit crop
dwindled instead of increasing. The
then experimental by putting wir
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