852 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct, 15 



NORTHERN CALIFORNIA AND OREGON ; SOME 



OBSERVATIONS ABOUT MOUNTAIN PEAKS; 



A FEW FIGURES REGARDING THE 



LUMBER PRODUCTION OF THE 



LATTER STATE. 



Leaving- Nicolaus, where we stopped to 

 look over the carpet grass and to consider 

 some of the fearful effects wrought on the 

 country by placer mining, I took the train 

 northward and made no other stop until I 

 reached Portland, Oregon. I did not skip 

 over the northern portion of California be- 

 cause there was nothing there in the bee- 

 keeping line, but because of the limited 

 time at my disposal, making it necessary 

 for me to make one long jump to Portland. 

 But I c^n not forbear making reference to 

 the beautiful scenery on the way; and how, 

 as we approached Mount Shasta, in the ex- 

 treme northern part of California, we could 

 see that peak, faintly at first, then more 

 clearly, more grandly, until we were at the 

 very base of it; and as we passed on beyond 

 that royal old mountain it still kept in view. 

 This is true of several other peaks of more 

 or less proininence. Before we arrived at 

 Portland the peaks of Mount St. Helen and 

 Mount Hood stood up clear and distinct. 

 In fact, I know of no prettier mountains to 

 be seen in the United States than the two 

 last named. "While not so high by consider- 

 able as some other peaks, they stand up 

 grandly and alone, clear above the sur- 

 rounding mountain country; and they were 

 nearer to my childhood's conception of how 

 a real mountain should look than anj^ thing 

 I had ever seen. And, speaking about 

 mountain scenery in general, a tenderfoot 

 of the East, before he has seen much of this 

 great rugged mountain country of the West, 

 is apt to form the impression that a very 

 high mountain stands up like a great shaft 

 in the air, towering far above the surround- 

 ing country. With a few exceptions this 

 conception is entirely erroneous. Some of 

 the highest peaks in the United States are 

 almost completely submerged amid the 

 mountainous country all around about them 

 — so much so that their great altitude is not 

 apparent; but when we come to look at the 

 summits of Mount Hood and Mount St. 

 Helen we note a distinct difference. They 

 are great cones capped with snow that stand 

 upward clean and beautiful above the sur- 

 rounding country; and as one looks at them 

 from a distance of fifty miles he appears to 

 be looking at something that is far higher 

 than any thing he has seen before; and yet 

 they lack several thousand feet of being as 

 high as some of the peaks in Colorado and 

 California. 



I stopped in Portland for only a very 

 short time. I found the country, as I had 

 expected, neither hot nor cold. The tem- 

 perature was delightful and pleasant. I 

 had heard that it rained in Portland every 

 day in the year, and this daily program 

 was in nowise changed while I was in the 

 city. But the rains come and go like our 

 April showers here in the East — a light 

 little dash that soon passes off, followed by 

 the sun in all its glory as it plays peek-a- 

 boo behind the clouds. I believe it is not 

 necessary, at least during soine seasons of 

 the year, to carry an umbrella; for these 

 little light sprays between, of but a few 

 minutes' duration, can at most dampen the 

 clothing, which soon dries off. 



Bee-keeping throughout Oregon, so far as 

 I could discover, is not carried on in the ex- 

 tensive way that it is in Central and South- 

 ern California, in Arizona, Colorado, and 

 Texas. The apiaries are smaller, and the 

 business, as nearly as I could judge, is not 

 nearly as profitable, although I believe it 

 is more sure of uniform results than in 

 Southern California. As a honey State it 

 would rank with Michigan and Illinois. 



I was pleased to note the beautiful green, 

 at least in the northern parts of Oregon. 

 This was in delightful contrast to some of 

 the arid portions of the West where I had 

 been traveling. Clover and the natural 

 grasses of the East were growing luxuri- 

 antly. 



I met a number of local bee-keepers in 

 the vicinity, particularly the supply deal- 

 ers — among others Buell Lamberson's Sons 

 and the Portland Seed Co., both of whom 

 handle supplies. During the short time I 

 was in the city I was entertained most hos- 

 pitably by representatives of both compa- 

 nies and by some of the local bee-keepers 

 who came in to meet me on the evening of 

 my departure. I should be glad, if it were 

 a matter of general interest to bee-keepers, 

 to tell of the beautiful scenery up the Co- 

 lumbia River, which it was my pleasure to 

 take in and enjoy, the general magnifi- 

 cence and grandeur of which, I am told, 

 surpasses that on the Rhine. I should also 

 like to tell something about the salmon fish- 

 eries, but all of this would be of little in- 

 terest to our friends who are getting their 

 bread and butter from the bees. 



But it may be a matter of some interest 

 to know that the time may come, and that 

 within twenty or thirty years, when the 

 lumber for all their hives will have to come 

 from Oregon. The timber of Northern 

 Michigan and from many portions of Cana- 

 da is already very scarce; and when this 

 supply is exhausted we shall have to look 

 to California and Oregon for our supply of 

 bee-hive boards. At the present time it is 

 estimated that Oregon contains a much 

 larger area of forest than any other State 

 in the Union. So much is there of it, in 

 fact, that the lumber is wasted. Some of 

 the trees are cut 20 feet from the ground be- 

 cause at the butt they are too large to han- 

 dle with the saws at the mills. Instead of 



