302 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



as though fully three-fourths of the peo- 

 ple had been born since I was there, and 

 the country is overstocked with money — 

 and home-seekers. If I were a young 

 man now, I don't know what I would do 

 anywhere in the West to make a new 

 dollar larger than an old one without a 

 good deal of hard work. I am glad I 

 went, but gladder to get home, and I 

 think more of Michigan than I ever did." 



4»»^'»^»»)i»«^ 



CALIFORNIA AS A BEE-KEEPING STATE. 



California is certainly a land of sun- 

 shine and flowers and stately palms. The 

 latter are often planted in rows along the 

 roadside and between fields of orange or 

 lemon trees, the same as we plant maples 

 here in Michigan. The palms sometimes 

 reach the height of 25 or v' feel, and I 

 saw a few that must have been nearly 50 

 feet high. I suppose that they cuuM be 

 grown to the same height here in Michi- 

 gan if it were not for Jack Frost. Palms 

 are a tropical plant and must have a tro])- 

 ical climate, which California truly has, 

 as it produces in profusion such fruits as 

 dates, figs, olives, lemons and oranges. 



CAI^IFORNIA I,IKK ANOTHER WORUD. 



To a man from the East, a trip to Cali- 

 fornia seems almost like a visit to another 

 world — at least to a diflferent country 

 than his own. Mr. Mclntyre went from 

 Canada to California, and when he first 

 went there he said it seemed to him that 

 "the moon was the only thing tli^t look- 

 ed natural." I saw only one tree that we 

 have here in the East, and that was the 

 sycamore. In the region of Los Angeles, 

 the tree most extensively grown for tim- 

 ber is the eucalyptus. One peculiarity of 

 this tree is that cutting it down does not 

 kill it. It sends up sprouts something as 

 the basswood does here in the East. 

 These sprouts are thinned out to two or 

 three to each stump, and in a few years, 

 another crop of timber may be cut. The 

 eucalyptus furnishes some honey early in 

 the season, but it is dark. 



Another product of California worth 

 mentioning is that of kerosene oil, but 



the oil is not exactly like that found in 

 the Pennsylvania region. The Pennsyl- 

 vania oil has a p irafine base, while that 

 of California has a base of asphaltuin. 

 Not much of the California oil is refined 

 for illuminating purposes. It is used 

 largely for fuel, particularly under steam 

 boilers. The locomotive that drew our 

 train the last few hundred miles was fired 

 with crude oil. (The fireman has a 

 "snap." I noticed he wore patent leather 

 shoes.) The oil, as it comes from the 

 earth, is very thick, almost like tar, and 

 has to be warmed before it can be used 

 in sprinkling the roads, both the rail- 

 roads and the wagon roads, to prevent 

 the dust from flying. A wagon road that 

 would be ankle deep with dust is trans- 

 formed by oil into a smooth, hard, dust- 

 less track. Some of the suburbs of Los 

 Angeles are a perfect wilderness of oil 

 well derricks. 



CAIJFORNIA'S DELIGHTFUL CLIMATE. 



The climate of California is delightful 

 in some ways, while in others it is not. 

 What corresponds to our winter is their 

 rainy season, that is, if it does rain. 

 Sometimes it does not, and then there is 

 a failure — at least of a honey crop. 1 can 

 imagine that the winter season, at least 

 when it was not raining, would be de- 

 lightful. I was told that after the win- 

 ter or rainy season was over, and the 

 mountains were putting on their robes of 

 green, while the thousands of blossoms 

 were pouring out their perfume, regaling 

 1)oth the sight and the smell, that the 

 feeling was one of exhilaration almost to 

 the point of intoxication. At the time of 

 our visit, vegetation on the mountains 

 was dried and brown, and it seemed as 

 though rain, if any should fall, would 

 rush down the mountain side, and in a 

 few days the soil would be as dry as ever, 

 but I am told that the soil is of a very 

 porous nature, something like a bed of 

 ashes, and that it absorbs a large portion 

 of the rain that falls upon it. After the 

 rainy season is over, then follow months 

 with no rain and almost no clouds. Mr. 

 Jacob Alpaugh, of^Ontario, went out to 



