EXPERIENCE. 81 



stock, while most of my neighbors lost over four- 

 fifths, and others lost all. 



In anticipation of such loss, I concluded to try and 

 retrieve my fortune in California. In pursuance of 

 this resolution, I sailed from New York October the 

 27th, 1854, and landed at San Francisco November 

 the 20th of the same year. 



After a residence of two and a half years in Cali- 

 fornia, I returned East, and arrived at my old home 

 on the 2d of June, 1857. 



During my absence, Quinby's " Mysteries of Bee- 

 keeping Explained," and " Langstroth on the Honey 

 Bee," (both valuable works) had been introduced 

 into the libraries of some of the bee-keepers, where 

 I saw and read them for the first time. 



The Langstroth hive had also been introduced into 

 a number of apiaries, ours among others. From 

 the glowing accounts which I had Heard of it while 

 in California, I expected to find the desideratum long 

 sought for by apiarists, and as a result of its introduc- 

 tion into our apiaries, that they would be in a highly 

 flourishing condition, particularly that portion of the 

 stock contained in the new style of hive. In this I 

 was doomed to disappointment, as most of the bees 

 that had been put into them had died of starvation, 

 they having eaten all the stores from the bottom to 

 the top of the hive, in the center of a diameter equal 

 to the size of the cluster, leaving an abundance of 

 stores still within the hive, but owing to the severe 

 cold, the bees were unable to reach them. 



