288 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 1 



colony, he concludes that, if the shipment 

 is not delayed, bees can be shipped here 

 profitably from Texas and all States east 

 of the Mississippi River. Bees, however, 

 can be so rapidly increased here that it is 

 better to buy than to run the risk of ship- 

 ping-. I will tell you later how it can be 

 done economically. 



Owing- to the aforesaid propensity to seek 

 information, Mr. Brown secured a great 

 variety of it from the many bee-keepers he 

 interviewed, and some quite contradictory. 

 We all want to get on fast, and so does Mr. 

 Brown; and this desire led him to push his 

 insertion of sheets of foundation too fast, 

 putting two frames where the condition of 

 the brood - chamber would barely warrant 

 one. 



Mr. Brown is a close reader of bee liter- 

 ature, but could find nothing conclusive 

 upon that point, and he remarked that he 

 did not see why the A B C of Bee Culture 

 couldn't tell just how. when, and how fast 

 to insert foundation into a colony weak or 

 strong; and that is a point, Mr. Editor, for 

 you to look to in the next revision of the 

 ABC. 



I herewith present photos of Mr. Brown's 

 pleasant location. The hives are nicely 

 shaded under the mango-trees. This tree 

 blooms twice during the year, and the bees 

 work with energy upon it. I am told that 

 the fruit of this tree is delicious, but it is 

 so tender that it will not bear shipment. 

 In this respect it is like many varieties of 

 fruit on this island. 



In this photo you get your first glimpse 

 of the royal palm as far as my rambles are 

 concerned. It is indeed a noble tree; and 

 this, too, has a honey-producing blossom. 

 The palm is a useful tree in many other re- 

 spects, as I will show you later. 



That Mr. Brown is a sociable man is 

 shown in the next photo. His neighbors, 

 great and small, Americans and Cubans, 

 are all in the picture. Mr. B. is the center 

 figure, with a wheel in front of him. An- 

 other notable figure leaning against the 

 tent corner is Hilas D. Davis, of Vermont, 

 of whom more anon. Then there is a Cu- 

 ban mounted rural guard. We meet them 

 on every road — a natty uniform, machete, 

 revolver, and a carbine. He is a sort of 

 useless arsenal, but it is dear to the heart 

 of the Cuban to bear the insignia of office. 



Mr. Brown uses the tent in the foreground 

 for extracting honejs where we find a two- 

 frame extractor. He is quite proud of his 

 uncapping-tank — uses a barrel with a wire- 

 cloth strainer about ten inches from the 

 bottom. 



At present. Feb. 7, Mr. Brown is happy 

 from the fact that his bees have recovered 

 from their setback, and are enabling him 

 to fill his barrels with honey. One colony 

 gave him 90 lbs. at one extracting. Mr. B. 

 is a good salesman, and retails quite a lit- 

 tle honey in Havana. He has worked up 

 quite a market for honey in brood-frames. 

 When he finds a super with one or more 

 combs newly drawn from foundation, nice- 



ly sealed and white, he calls that a " sell- 

 er," and sells it for one peso (dollar). 

 May the shadow of Mr. Brown never grow 



less. 



««««« 



NOTES OF TRAVEL. 



The Colorado Desert ; the Old Seabed ; the Econom= 



ic Value of Deserts ; Southern California ; 



Frank McNay. 



BY K. K. ROOT. 



On leaving for Los Angeles I took the 

 Southern Pacific at Maricopa. I had read 

 a good deal about the Colorado Desert in 

 Southeastern California: of the fact that my 

 route was to be over the hottest place in the 

 United States; and I was anxious to see for 

 myself, and now I was to have that long- 

 cherished hope gratified, and I did. I re- 

 member distinctly when we got into the des- 

 ert country how I suffered from the heat, 

 dirt, and sand, and well do I recall the 

 wierd sensations that came to me as I got 

 into the old seabed on this side of Salton — 

 a basin or bowl ^oo feet beloiv the level of 

 the sea, perhaps 25 miles long and about 5 

 miles wide. I had a verj^ strong field-glass, 

 one of the Treider binoculars, and with 

 this I took in the country far and near. As 

 we reached the edge of the celebrated basin I 

 began to see the mirage. To all appear- 

 ances we were making toward the shoresof a 

 beautiful lake or sea, instead of going down, 

 down, into one of the most desert portions 

 in all the United States. Steam was shut 

 off the engine, and gradually we moved 

 down into this valley of death and stillness, 

 where nothing can exist for any length of 

 time, not even the salt grass. Occasionally, 

 I am told, there are tracks of animals go- 

 ing across the desert, but they were in 

 straight lines, because they know there is 

 nothing in that waste for them. The ground 

 is parched and broken into great gaps, and 

 it seemed almost as if Mother Earth were 

 yawning to receive us. Some parts of the 

 basin are as level and hard as a granite 

 floor. Other parts glisten with sand that 

 is finer than snow. As we descended into 

 the very bottom of this immense bowl, we 

 appeared to be, not in a depression, but on 

 the summit of a knoll; and when we looked 

 in every direction it appeared as if we were 

 on an island, and looking down toward in- 

 viting shores. I pulled out m}' glass and 

 tried to discern more clearly this mysteri- 

 ous water with its ever-vanishing fleeting 

 shore-line that so deceives the traveler. By 

 looking very carefully I could see what 

 seemed to be a sort of fog that was perfect- 

 ly level on top; but so far as any water or 

 moisture was concerned, I believe there is 

 nothing of the kind — a sort of mysterious 

 something due to the reflection on the sand, 

 and the immense heat. I was told that, if 

 I could get out of the car and lie with my 

 head to the ground, this mirage would ap- 

 pear close enough to throw a stone into the 

 water. 



