350 THE MOUNTAINS OF CALIFOKNIA 



as completely as if the whole plain were a cottage 

 garden-plot without a fence. But notwithstanding 

 these destroyers, a thousand swarms of bees may be 

 pastured here for every one now gathering honey. 

 The greater portion is still covered every season 

 with a repressed growth of bee-flowers, for most 

 of the species are annuals, and many of them are 

 not relished by sheep or cattle, while the rapidity 

 of their growth enables them to develop and ma 

 ture their seeds before any foot has time to crush 

 them. The ground is, therefore, kept sweet, and 

 the race is perpetuated, though only as a sugges 

 tive shadow of the magnificence of its wildness. 



The time will undoubtedly come when the entire 

 area of this noble valley will be tilled like a garden, 

 when the fertilizing waters of the mountains, now 

 flowing to the sea, will be distributed to every acre, 

 giving rise to prosperous towns, wealth, arts, etc. 

 Then, I suppose, there will be few left, even among 

 botanists, to deplore the vanished primeval flora. 

 In the mean time, the pure waste going on the 

 wanton destruction of the innocents is a sad 

 sight to see, and the sun may well be pitied in 

 being compelled to look on. 



The bee-pastures of the Coast Eanges last longer 

 and are more varied than those of the great plain, 

 on account of differences of soil and climate, 

 moisture, and shade, etc. Some of the mountains 

 are upward of 4000 feet in height, and small 

 streams, springs, oozy bogs, etc., occur in great 

 abundance and variety in the wooded regions, 

 while open parks, flooded with sunshine, and hill- 

 girt valleys lying at different elevations, each with 



