1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CQLTUEE. 



553 



than in any other like area in the State; and, 

 aside from being mere schoolma'ams, I must 

 say they were very smart and prepossessing. 

 Up to our arrival in Hydesville, Mr. Pryal had 

 appeared Hive a well-regulated, decorous, sedate, 

 dignified, polite, "lieep ori your side of the 

 fence and I'll keep on mine " sort of bachelor. 

 He had given the fair sex generally to under- 

 stand that he was engaged — to the Oakland 

 waterworks; but here, after having the satis- 

 faction of catching a few little fishes from Eel 

 River, a change came over his demeanor, and 

 for several days in succession he attended the 

 county fair. Was this because he was interest- 

 ed in cabbages, corn, cheese, or the biggest 

 rooster or the littlest hen? No; it was in the 

 symposium of schoolma'ams, and Eureka was 



By a happy combination of events, and a 

 little sunshine in this land of the mist, I sur- 

 vived the wreck, brought order out of chaos, 

 and what was left of us dropped into Port Ken- 

 yon, at the mouth of Eel River. Here, after 

 getting Bro. Wilder into the warehouse, I had 

 time to survey the country, and found it to pos- 

 sess the following features: 



Eel River, after meandering through many 

 miles of mountain scenery, mingles its waters 

 with several other mountain streams, and 

 departs mildly, just below Port Kenyon, into 

 the Pacific Ocean. The rich bottom lands of 

 the Eel River Valley afford succulent pastur- 

 age for many dairies, supporting all the way 

 from 25 to 300 cows each. Creameries are abun- 

 dant, and the resultant butter finds a ready 



CKEAMERY AMONG THE REDWOODS. 



his theme (Eureka is where the schoolma'am 

 lived). I could not, however, waste much time 

 upon Mr Pryal. Partner Wilder, since that 

 fateful Sunday evening, was also afflicted with 

 symposima'ams; there was trouble and some 

 ominous threatenings in the air; roosters crow- 

 ed; dogs howled; wind blew; rain descended; 

 the hotel across the way caught fire; a weird 

 earthquake rattled us, and at last that terrible 

 symposium of schoolma'ams (was it a dream ?) 

 some younger and some older lugged Pryal and 

 Wilder and our outfit off on their shoulders, 

 leaving the Rambler in sackcloth and ashes. 

 Whether it be a dream or not, that was the last 

 we saw of Bro. Pryal. He and Susan B. van- 

 ished in the mist toward Eureka. Our poor 

 dog, too, vanished into a sausage-factory. 



market in San Francisco. In all of Eel River 

 Valley there was not that cry of hard times we 

 had heard elsewhere; and we found Ferndale, 

 in the center of the dairy industry, a thriving 

 town. Here, for the first time in our California 

 travels, we found broad acres of pasture land 

 that produced white clover in abundance; and 

 surely in the land "where milk flowed and 

 white clover grovved," there the honey ought 

 to flow also. 



A little search found the bee and the bee- 

 man. There were several small apiaries of 

 three and four colonies in box hives, but I found 

 Mr. luman, the bee-keeper of the valley. He 

 had about 60 colonies. His hives were of the 

 box order, with about 12 inches cubical dimen- 

 sions. The old Harbison 2-lb. section was used 



