358 THE MOUNTAINS OF CALIFOENIA 



which, will certainly reach far beyond bees and bee 

 keepers. 



The plow has not yet invaded the forest region 

 to any appreciable extent, neither has it accom 

 plished much in the foot-hills. Thousands of bee- 

 ranches might be established along the margin of 

 the plain, and up to a height of 4000 feet, wherever 

 water could be obtained. The climate at this ele 

 vation admits of the making of permanent homes, 

 and by moving the hives to higher pastures as the 

 lower pass out of bloom, the annual yield of honey 

 would be nearly doubled. The foot-hill pastures, 

 as we have seen, fail about the end of May, those 

 of the chaparral belt and lower forests are in full 

 bloom in June, those of the upper and alpine 

 region in July, August, and September. In Scot 

 land, after the best of the Lowland bloom is past, 

 the bees are carried in carts to the Highlands, and 

 set free on the heather hills. In France, too, and 

 in Poland, they are carried from pasture to pasture 

 among orchards and fields in the same way, and 

 along the rivers in barges to collect the honey of 

 the delightful vegetation of the banks. In Egypt 

 they are taken far up the Nile, and floated slowly 

 home again, gathering the honey-harvest of the 

 various fields on the way, timing their movements 

 in accord with the seasons. Were similar methods 

 pursued in California the productive season would 

 last nearly all the year. 



The average elevation of the north half of the 

 Sierra is, as we have seen, considerably less than 

 that of the south half, and small streams, with the 

 bank and meadow gardens dependent upon them, 



