3IO 



THK BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



ing has passed, then the combs of honey 

 may be returned, and the bees will use it 

 simply for their daily food, instead of 

 wasting it in useless brood rearing. 



MOVING TO The bean FIEIvDS. 



After the harvest from sage is over, 

 some bee-keepers, notably Mr. Mendel- 

 son, move some of their bees to the bean 

 fields. Just a few words of description 

 about the beans. They are the lima 



every way possible until there are several 

 inches on top that are reduced to abso- 

 lutely dry dust. The beans are then 

 planted just below this dust, next to the 

 damp earth underneath. As soon as the 

 beans are up, and as long as possible 

 afterwards, this dust is kept stirred, thus 

 acting as a mulch and keeping the moist- 

 ure below. It must be remembered that 

 the crop must be grown without any rain, 



. 





"• '^"'^m^^*^^^"^-^ 

 - ^^^^,.^:^^^ 



■4,W" 



VIEW ON A BEAN RANCH IN CALIFORNIA. 



This picture was taketi on a farm contaiiiin 

 shown are where some of the teams are cared for. 



beans, just such as we grow here in the 

 East in our gardens, and furnish poles 

 for them to climb, but no poles are need- 

 ed in California, as there is no rain, and 

 the vines can lie on the ground without 

 the beans rotting. Great pains is taken 

 in preparing the soil. As soon as it is fit 

 for cultivation, after the rainy season is 

 over, it is plowed, and harrowed, and 

 rolled, and pulverized, and worked in 



g 1,900 acres, all planted to beans. The btiildings 

 A few rods beyond the barn rolls the Pacific Ocean. 



and the moisture in the ground must be 

 preserved. In one district, where Mr. 

 Mendelson lives, there are 90,000 acres 

 devoted to the raising of beans — mostly 

 limas. The honey from beans is light 

 colored, and of fine flavor, and when I 

 expressed to Mr. Mclntyre my wonder 

 that more apiaries were not moved to the 

 bean fields, he said that most of the bee- 

 keepeVs,after harvesting 75,000 or 100,000 



