THE BEE-PASTUBES 355 



pines themselves furnish unlimited quantities of 

 pollen and honey-dew. The product of a sin 

 gle tree, ripening its pollen at the right time of 

 year, would be sufficient for the wants of a whole 

 hive. Along the streams there is a rich growth of 

 lilies, larkspurs, pedicularis, castilleias, and clover. 

 The alpine region contains the flowery glacier 

 meadows, and countless small gardens in all sorts 

 of places full of potentilla of several species, 

 spraguea, ivesia, epilobium, and goldenrod, with 

 beds of bryanthus and the charming cassiope cov 

 ered with sweet bells. Even the tops of the moun 

 tains are blessed with flowers, dwarf phlox, pole- 

 monium, ribes, hulsea, etc. I have seen wild bees 

 and butterflies feeding at a height of 13,000 feet 

 above the sea. Many, however, that go up these 

 dangerous heights never come down again. Some, 

 undoubtedly, perish in storms, and I have found 

 thousands lying dead or benumbed on the surface 

 of the glaciers, to which they had perhaps been 

 attracted by the white glare, taking them for beds 

 of bloom. 



From swarms that escaped their owners in the 

 lowlands, the honey-bee is now generally distrib 

 uted throughout the whole length of the Sierra, 

 up to an elevation of 8000 feet above sea-level. At 

 this height they flourish without care, though the 

 snow every winter is deep. Even higher than this 

 several bee-trees have been cut which contained 

 over 200 pounds of honey. 



The destructive action of sheep has not been so 

 general on the mountain pastures as on those of 

 the great plain, but in many places it has been 



