California Agriculturist akd Live Stock Journal. 



,7 H, see where robb'd, and murdered, in that pit 

 Lies the ntill heaving liivel at evening Bnatcli'd, 

 Beneath the cloud of ynilt-coneealiug niplit, 

 And fix'd o'er Bulphur: while, not dreaming ill, 

 The happy people in their waxen cells, 

 e)'Kc) Sat teudiiiK public cares, and planning schomcB 

 ^^ Of temperance, for winter poor; rejoiced 

 To mark, full flowing round, their copious stores. 

 Sudden the dsrk oppressive steam ascends; 

 And, used to milder scents, the tender race, 

 By thousands, tumble from their honey'd domes, 

 Convolv'd, ana agtmizing in the diist. 

 Ah I was it then for this you roaru'd the spring. 

 Intent from flower to tlower: for this y(>u toil'd 

 Oiu^'i less the burning summer-heats away? 

 Fur this in autumn search'd the blooming waste, 

 Nor lost one snnny gleam, for this sad fateV 

 Oman! tyraimic lord! how long, how long. 

 Shall prostrate Nature groan beneath your rage. 

 Awaiting renovation? Of their ambrosial food 

 Can you not boirow: and, in just return, 

 AJlord them shelter from the wintry winds? 



Bee Farming in Los Angeles County. 



Among tlio manifold products exported 

 from this county, tliat of honey promises 

 at no distant day to assume an important 

 position. During late years several par- 

 ties have entered into the business of bee 

 farming systematically, using the valley 

 lands principally for that purpose. The 

 honey that has been raised in the valleys, 

 has not, however, been altogether free 

 from blemish, and could not compete suc- 

 cessfully in the San Francisco and home 

 markets with Eastern-made honey, being 

 of a dark, yellowish color and of a some- 

 what sickly taste. 



During the last year or so bee-keepers 

 have had their attention turned toward 

 the mountain lands, previously consid- 

 ered worthless, and along the foot hills of 

 the San Bernardino range apiaries are now 

 scattered hither and thither. Like the 

 land of Can.aan, the foot hills and moun- 

 tains in this country flow with honey, 

 swarms of wild bees hiving in the crev- 

 ices of the rooks and in the rotten trunks 

 of trees. There are not a few men actu- 

 ally engaged in noting else than hunting 

 swarms of bees and robbing their hives 

 ■with considerable profit to themselves. 



The sloping lands of the foot hills have 

 as a rule, little vegetatiou other than 

 groose-wood and wild sage; but these 

 bloom so profusely as to afford the best 

 kind of bee pasturage. A league of such 

 land, with a small stream of water the size 

 of one's finger for the use of the Ijees to 

 make their wax, is considered ample for a 

 bee farm of at least five hundred swarms. 

 Almost every ravine on the mountain 

 sides contains such a sti'eam of water. 



The first consideration with the bee 

 farmer after securing a good location is to 

 commence the stocking of his farm. Dur- 

 ing winter, it is an easy matter to obtain 

 swarms for about .'ili2 each, and with 

 twenty hives to commence, the bee-keeper 

 considers himself fortunate, always pro- 

 viding, of course, that ho understands the 

 business. With careful management, 

 these swarms will multiply to tliree or 

 four times that number during the .sea- 

 son, besides yielding some whore in the 

 neighborhood of two hundred pounds of 

 lioney per hive. It is usual, however, tor 

 bee keepers to increase their stock with 

 swarms of wild bees, whenever occasion 

 permits them to hunt. 



To the inexperienced, hunting for a 

 wild bee's hive, mtist ai)pear a hopeless 

 undertaking; but the bee hunter views it 

 as being exceedingly simple. It is done 

 somewhat after the following fashion: 

 proceeding out of the range of the pas- 

 urage of his own bees, he places a piece 



of burning wax on the ground, and ad- 

 jacent to it he deposits a little honey. If 

 there are any bees in the vicinity the 

 burning wax attracts them to the spot, 

 and they soon alight upon the honey. 

 The hunter watches the bee until it ob- 

 tains its till, when it at once takes flight 

 for its hive. Sometimes he waits the re- 

 turn of the bee, which never faili^ to do 

 so, accompanied by several of its confed- 

 erates. Some of these the hunter cap- 

 tures and places in a box. He then pro- 

 ceeds in the direction of the first bee. 

 Having gone far enough according to his 

 judgment, he liberates one of the bees 

 held captive, which flies onward in case 

 the hive is not already p.assed; if other- 

 wise, the bee returns and the hunter has 

 to retrace his steps. Whenever he deems 

 it necessary, the process of wax-burning 

 is repeated. By these means it seldom 

 takes many hours for the hunter to find 

 the cave, rob it of comb, honey and swarm 

 and carry all triumphantly to his own 

 apiary. 



The bee hunter has three enemies, with 

 whom he is constantly at war — tlie moth, 

 the bee-bird and the lizard. The moth 

 works its way into the hive, and if per- 

 mitted to remain will soon destroy the 

 strongest swiirm. The bee-bird bears a 

 striking resemblance to the common 

 camp-jay or butcher-bird, and feeds alto- 

 gether upon bees, as the craw of every 

 bird killed is found to be filled with their 

 carcasses. Bees are alsoa dainty titbit for 

 lizards. These reptiles are exceedingly 

 numerous everywhere throughout tlie dry 

 foot hills, and wherever a bee alights for 

 the purpose of collecting honey, if dis- 

 covered, she is at once snapped up by one 

 of these voracious little reptiles. 



All pieces of comb of any size are taken 

 out and placed in a revolving machine, 

 which, in its revolutions, throws the 

 honey from the cells. When the honey 

 is extracted from the comb, it is placed in 

 a hive and the bees set at work immedi- 

 ately to refill it. The old system is to 

 melt the honey out of the comb by the 

 heat of the sun, the result being the dis- 

 coloring of the article by the melting of 

 the bee-bread, and the destruction of the 

 comb. It is a saving of two or three 

 week.s' honey-making to a bee-keeper to 

 bo able to place the old comb back in the 

 hive, as it would take all of that time for 

 the swarm to make new combs. 



Honey from tho mountain apiaries is 

 much paler than that collected by bees 

 working in the valleys, and is entirely 

 free from the sickly taste belonging to the 

 latter. Honey thrown from the comb by 

 the machine before referred to is as clear 

 as crystal, and brings the highest prices 

 in the market; which is at present from 

 fifteen to twenty cents per pound' — Bee- 

 Keepers' Mayazliie. 



About Bees; forChildeen. — Have you 

 ever, children, watched the bees in their 

 hive'? Their hive is their little city, and 

 each little citizen works hard to build up 

 the wonderful comb in which they store 

 their winter's supply. There are no 

 harder working, busier little creatures in 

 the world than these little insects. They 

 seem also to have a wonderful amount of 

 wisdom and knowledge in their little 

 heads. A lady in Providence relates in 

 tho LillU: Oorporata\tiry interesting story 

 about bees, which shows their wonderful 

 power of instinct. 



Her father, she tells us, once brought 

 liome a molasses hogshead, to be used as 

 a water tank. On washing day, her 

 mother said, "Lot us throw tho suds into 



it, to soak the molasses from the bottom." 

 Tlie instant she had done she exclaimed, 

 "O, I have drowned hundreds of our 

 neighbors' bees." 



The hogshead was black with bees, that 

 were busily appropriating the sweets from 

 what they must have considered an enor- 

 mous blossom. The good lady made 

 haste with her skimmer to skim the beo.s 

 from tho top of the water, and spread 

 them on a board in the sunshine; but they 

 seemed drowned and nearly dead, and she 

 was very sorry. 



All the bees that were around the hogs- 

 head had flown away at the dash of the 

 water, but in a few minutes they returned, 

 accompanied by scores of others. Then 

 began a curious work. They immediately 

 went to work upon the unfortunate bees, 

 turning them over and over and working 

 upon them constantly with their heads, 

 feet and atennfe. The result of their 

 busy labors was, that one after another 

 gave signs of life, stretched its limbs and 

 wings, crawled about and dried itself in 

 the sun, and flew away. The lady said 

 there were half a pint, at first, and that 

 there remained only about a dozen hope- 

 less cases, beyond the humane efforts of 

 their brothers. 



Facts and Fancies. — Never feed bees 

 cane sugar syrup, for as its water dries 

 from it, it crystalizes. The sugar should 

 have added to it three drops of sulphuric 

 acid which, upon being boiled changes 

 the cane sugar into grape sugar (the form 

 in which sugar occurs in honey) , which 

 will not crystallize, and which is more 

 natural as food and better for storing than 

 cane sugar. Grape sugar can be pur- 

 chased at eight cents per pound and 

 comes in solid cakes in boxes containing 

 about one hundred pounds. 



The demand for beeswax is always 

 equal to the supply. Circumstances, 

 which to the casual observer would seem 

 upimportant, .affect its price; for instance, 

 if gold is high, wax is high, and the low 

 price of gold has a corresponding effect 

 upon wax. In case the Pope dies, the 

 ceremonies in every Catholic church 

 throughout Christendom would be of tho 

 most elaborate chai'acter and long contin- 

 ued. In this ceremony the consumption 

 of wax candles would be so great and im- 

 mediate that commercial oiserators esti- 

 mate the advance would be at least 20 or 

 25 cents per pound. Last year, our 

 readers will remember, he was not ex- 

 pected to live, and wax advanced to 10 

 and 11 cents. — Bee-Keepers' Macjazine. 



A Ventilation Joke. — They have a 

 good joke on a "profes.sor of ventilation" 

 down East, who being put into a room at 

 a hotel with another guest, asked tho lat- 

 ter to raise a window at night, as tho air 

 was so close. "I can't raise it," said tho 

 guest, after working at tho window ii 

 while. "Then knock a pane of glassout," 

 said tho professor, which was done. Af- 

 ter a while the professor got up and 

 knocked out another i>ane, then ho was 

 able to .sloop; but in the morning ho dis- 

 cov(ned that he had only broken Into a 

 book-case! 



The French have a tool called a thistlo-pnl- 

 Icr, niado of wood, and looking very much 

 likd a jiair of bliicksuiith's tongs. Five or six 

 old women, armed with this iustrnmeut, can 

 clear an acre of ground of its thistles in an 

 incredibly short space of time, and with littlo 

 more lioinHuf^ of tho body than a house maid 

 displays while sweeping a carpet. 



