THE AMERICAl^ BEE JOURNAL. 



487 



sons too numerous to add to this al- 

 ready lengthy article. The tO-frame 

 Langstroth hive was once a standard ; 

 many have been the changes to both 

 larger and smaller hives. Those that 

 have enlarged their hives have re- 

 turned ; those that have contracted 

 them have been pleased with their 

 new position, and remained in it. 

 This has been the rule, with but few 

 exceptions. 

 Dowagiac, p Mich. 



roT tlie American Bee JoumaL 



Grizzly Honey-Eater of California. 



•W. A. PETAL. 



Oft in our childhood days have we 

 beard bear stories innumerable which 

 made our slumbers of those days un- 

 pleasant ones. Though these animals 



after gold cared not to come face to 

 face. Not far from San Francisco 

 there is a spot where a rancher thirty 

 years ago was killed by one of these 

 beasts. The place is not three miles 

 from where I write, and is known as 

 Grizzly Peak, and overlooks the State 

 University building at Berkeley. 



This reminds me of a young, tame 

 grizzly bear that had such an attach- 

 ment for its owner, who lived in one 

 of the mining counties, that it would 

 follow him wnere he went, and would 

 moan in disappointment and distress 

 whenever he took his rifle down for a 

 hunting trip, and showed any signs 

 of leaving it behind. On one occa- 

 sion, when engaged in hunting, he 

 shot at and wounded a large grizzly, 

 and being unable to escape from his 

 vengeance, was about falling a victim 

 —his dog and the young bear set upon 

 the enraged grizzly from behind. 



are becoming scarce, and bear stories 

 are not told now as frequently as they 

 were in the past, still the animals are 

 to be found in some parts of the 

 United States, and occasionally we 

 read in the daily papers accounts of 

 their depredations among the farmer's 

 flocks and the bee-keeper's bees ; and 

 sometimes of causing the death of 

 some persons who were suddenly sur- 

 prised by coming upon them unpre- 

 pared. 



To the sturdy pioneers of the West 

 these monarchs of the mountain 

 fastness were a source of annoyance. 

 Many are the ugly encounters, severe 

 wounds, hair-breadth escapes, and 

 often fatal results of those who pene- 

 trated the unknown fastness of the 

 mountain regions of our new country. 



In California the grizzly bear was a 

 thing with which the early seekers 



::>^^ 



when he immediately turned to give 

 them battle ; in the meantime the 

 hunter had regained his feet, got pos- 

 session of his rifle, and from a shelter 

 behind a tree, kept firing until the 

 bear was killed, but not before his 

 devoted animals were severely 

 wounded. 



To the farmer the grizzly has been, 

 and in some localities is still, a depre- 

 dator on his sheep and stock, and in a 

 short while his flock is decimated 

 greatly ; and to the California apiarist 

 his visits are not unknown. In the 

 stilly hours of the night, when every 

 thing is quiet, save now and anon the 

 screech of an owl is heard about the 

 trees by the brook, or the loud-voiced 

 watch-dog down at the nearest neigh- 

 bor barks at the moon, or at the 

 approach of some unwelcome visitor, 

 then his lordship comes stealthily 



prowling about the apiary in quest of 

 bee-hives. Having a " sweet tooth " 

 in his massive head which delights 

 in smashing the waxen cells of the 

 honey-comb and letting the luscious 

 liquid trickle down his expansive 

 throat, which, by the way, though it 

 delights in quafllng nectar, still is 

 about equally favorable to allowing 

 some of the dainty morsels of the 

 human body to descend the same 

 route. 



Some years ago I gave in these 

 pages an account of the depredations 

 of these monsters in some Los Ange- 

 les county bee-ranches, and how the 

 owners laid in wait and treated the 

 trespassers to a dose of cold lead. 

 Some apiarists and stock-raisers, too, 

 set poison for them, but when they 

 can they i)refer to practice with a rifle 

 on them, and thus obtain a nice cut 

 of bear steak. On this page is pre- 

 sented to the readers of the ISee 

 Journal a good illustration of one of 

 these California grizzlies. 



North Temescal,*o Calif. 



For the American Bee Jouraal. 



Discoveries in Cross-Fertilization. 



CLARENCE M. WEED. 



Few subjects are of more vital 

 importance to bee-keepers just now, 

 than that of the mutual relations of 

 bees and flowers. Hence, somQ notes 

 concerning the early history of the 

 subject may be of interest, for if bee- 

 keeping is to remain on a Arm basis 

 and not suffer from continual flings 

 of fruit and flower growers, the pub- 

 lic must be educated to a realization 

 of the fact that bees do far more 

 good than harm to the blossoms they 

 visit ; that to the flowers it is "a giv- 

 ing which is receiving," and that 

 without such visitations many fruit- 

 farms would be a failure. 



Nearly one hundred years ago, a 

 European naturalist. Christian Con- 

 rad Sprengel, while examining the 

 blossoms of tlie wood crane's-bill 

 {Oeranium sylvaticum), a species nearly 

 related to our common spotted crane's- 

 bill (G. niaculatum), discoveied drops 

 of honey hid below the inconspicuous 

 hairs covering the lower portion of 

 the petals. A little observation 

 showed that this nectar could be 

 easily reached by insects, but was so 

 protected that rains could not wash 

 it away. This led him to examine 

 other flowers, and he discovered many 

 similar instances, all of which he 

 thought pointed to the conclusion 

 that " the nectar of these flowers ia 

 secreted for the sake of insects, and 

 is protected from rain in order that 

 insects may get it pure and un- 

 spoiled." 



For two years, from 1787 to 1789, 

 Sprengel believed th.at the honey was 

 secreted only for the benefit of in- 

 sects ; but in the latter years while 

 studying the flower-structure of an 

 iris, he found that there was iio pos- 

 sible way in which the pollen of the 

 stamens could reach and fertilize the 

 pistils, unless some insect entered the 

 blossom and brushed the pollen from 

 the one to the other. 



