THE BEE-PASTUKES 359 



are less abundant. Around the head waters of the 

 Yuba, Feather, and Pitt rivers, the extensive table 

 lands of lava are sparsely planted with pines, 

 through which the sunshine reaches the ground 

 with little interruption. Here flourishes a scat 

 tered, tufted growth of golden applopappus, linosy- 

 ris, bahia, wyetheia, arnica, artemisia, and similar 

 plants; with manzanita, cherry, plum, and thorn 

 in ragged patches on the cooler hill-slopes. At the 

 extremities of the Great Central Plain, the Sierra 

 and Coast Eanges curve around and lock together 

 in a labyrinth of mountains and valleys, through 

 out which their floras are mingled, making at the 

 north, with its temperate climate and copious rain 

 fall, a perfect paradise for bees, though, strange to 

 say, scarcely a single regular bee-ranch has yet been 

 established in it. 



Of all the upper flower fields of the Sierra, 

 Shasta is the most honeyful, and may yet surpass 

 in fame the celebrated honey hills of Hybla and 

 hearthy Hymettus. Eegarding this noble moun 

 tain from a bee point of view, encircled by its 

 many climates, and sweeping aloft from the tor 

 rid plain into the frosty azure, we find the first 

 5000 feet from the summit generally snow-clad, 

 and therefore about as honeyless as the sea. The 

 base of this arctic region is girdled by a belt of 

 crumbling lava measuring about 1000 feet in ver 

 tical breadth, and is mostly free from snow in 

 summer. Beautiful lichens enliven the faces of the 

 cliffs with their bright colors, and in some of the 

 warmer nooks there are a few tufts of alpine daisies, 

 wall-flowers and pent stem ons; but, notwithstanding 



