1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



68? 



Notes of Travel 



THE ALKALI LANDS BCTWEEN REEDLEY AND 

 HANFOKD, CAL. ; THE DESEKTED VILLAGE; 

 GKAPE-GROWING INDUSTRY; J. F. FLORY; 

 SOME FIGURES IN REGARD TO GROWING 

 FRUIT IN CENTRAL CALIFORNIA. 



You will remember we were at Reedley 

 watching the thirty-mule harvester cut, 

 thrash, and sack wheat at the rate of 1500 

 bushels a day. At the time of my visit to 

 that part of California, matters were some- 

 what "strained" between the pear-men and 

 bee-keepers, particularly at Hanford. I 

 told my hosts, J. C. McCubbin and the 

 Rambler, that my next point would be the 

 pear-blight district, to see what I could do 

 for the bee-keeper, and they very kindly 

 volunteered to drive me across the country. 



Now, Mr. McCubbin is a real-estate 



fa for a few years. A considerable amount 

 of money had been invested in preparing- the 

 soil for irrig-ation, and by running- lateral 

 ditches for the purpose of carrying the 

 water. But here was the land, the once 

 garden of Eden, so to speak, now a verit- 

 able desert — and why? One little word 

 covers the trouble — alkali. Here there 

 were thousands of acres of good alfalfa 

 and wheat land, and it had sold at big 

 prices ; but when water was put on the 

 land, and poured over it for four or five 

 years, it forced the allcali of the subsoil up 

 to the surface so that nothing of value to 

 man would grow with the possible excep- 

 tion of pear-trees. I might say, in passing, 

 that where the ground is not too strongly 

 alkaline it will grow sweet clover when 

 nothing else will thrive, and there are some 

 parts of Colorado and Utah that have im- 

 mense acreages oi this plant; and it is ill 

 these localities that the bee-keeper is in a 

 veritable paradise for honey. But, to re- 

 turn. 



This same land of which I have been 

 speaking, and on which settlers had pour- 

 ed their all, could not be given away. 

 Once in a while we would strike an oasis 

 where the alkali had not sweat out of the 



ONE OF THE IMMENSE RAISIN VINEYARDS OF CENTRAL CALIFORNIA. 



agent, and bears a most excellent reputa- 

 tion for dealing- on the square ; and as our 

 ride was to be through a deserted village 

 where the land had once sold at high prices, 

 and where now the same land could hardly 

 be given away, I eagerly accepted the prof- 

 fered offer. 



We had left Reedley only a short distance 

 when we ran into the alkali-lands that are 

 practically desert, growing nothing- but 

 alkali weeds and sage brush. As we jog- 

 ged along, Mr. McCubbin pointed out to 

 me various tracts of land that had formerly 

 sold for large sums of money, and which 

 had actually yielded immense crops of alfal- 



ground. All around was a parched drj^ 

 desert with a thin alkali crust that looked 

 much like brine ; but on the oasis there 

 were alfalfa, wheat, and other crops, show- 

 ing a thrifty growth ; but I understand 

 that the men who live in these sjwts do not 

 know from one year to another when the 

 land will turn to alkali, or whether it 

 will continue to be immune to its influ- 

 ence. 



We passed through a village that once 

 had two or three thousand inhabitants. 

 The Southern Pacific had put up a fine 

 station, and there were signs of once pros- 

 perous times; but the dread alkali had 



