THE A3IERICAN APICULTURIST. 



65 



notes from california. 

 Ed. Am. Apiculturist : 

 Dear Sir, 



It is now an established fact tliat 

 California is always going to have 

 control of the honey markets of 

 the Pacific slope and the islands of 

 the Pacific. Possibly, during an 

 occasional dry year she may not 

 be able to place sufficient honey 

 in some cities, and consequently 

 some may have to be brought 

 from elsewhere. Still, on account 

 of the cold climate and excessive 

 rainfall in Oregon and Washington 

 Territory, these places will never 

 make any great strides apicultur- 

 ally. Those who have tried bee- 

 keeping for profit in the Web-foot 

 state and in the Territory are, in 

 the majority of cases, and in the 

 remainder are well nigh, fit subjects 

 for the column of despondents. 

 The apiculturists of California have 

 good reason to ■ feel grateful for 

 their success financially and other- 

 wise although during the past 

 year they had to battle against low 

 prices. Prices will not always be 

 low. The wheat-growers of the 

 Golden State were well nigh on 

 thepointof abandoningthe plough, 

 reaper and thresher ; for, as is well 

 known, wheat took a tumble and 

 quite nearly if not really broke up 

 many of the farmers who devoted 

 all their land to wheat-growing. 



The culture of fruit seems to be 

 the main stay with those who wish 

 to make anj'thing out of the soil ; 

 thus many farmers who see a gloomy 

 future for wheat-growers have be- 

 gun to devote some of their land 

 to such use and intend to extend 

 the limits of their orchards every 

 year. 



The climate of the state is ad- 

 mirably adapted to fruit culture 

 and all fruits are to be found flour- 

 ishing here. 



The prices range at a figure that 

 7 



warrants the fruit culturists to 

 know that as the population and 

 demand increase, the price will 

 never fall below a pajdng basis. 



THE horticultural APICULTURIST. 



The beekeepers of the State have 

 their eyes open, and they, too, are 

 not to be found napping. They 

 know the excellence of the soil and 

 climate. Many of them are locat- 

 ed in cosey little valleys where 

 warmth and good soil produce 

 trees as it were by magic and 

 where fruit comes in earlier than 

 in many places to be found else- 

 where. They, as we were going 

 to say, are planting trees for the 

 fruit they will yield, notwithstand- 

 ing that they keep bees and that 

 bees are said to do great damage to 

 such crops. 



It bids fair that every apiary in 

 the land, no matter where located, 

 will have its fruit trees growing in 

 close proximity to the hives. 

 Where a sufficient acreage will 

 warrant,many trees will be set out ; 

 the fruit, if raised too far from city 

 markets, will be dried on the prem- 

 ises, or sent to the nearest fruit 

 cannery or canned by a new process 

 now being much used in the states 

 right at home. Thus it will be seen 

 the California apiarist is not going 

 to starve. He can, in a dry year, 

 irrigate his trees, for he generally 

 lives where water can be easily 

 conveyed in ditches to any desired 

 spot. If at any time the bees 

 make a raid on the fruit, as many 

 fruit men claim they do, then away 

 he can send them to the moun- 

 tains, further up their sides, till 

 the fruit season is over, which 

 is not, by the way, a long season 

 for stable kinds. The raising of 

 honey and fruit in a practical way 

 by our apiarists is something that 

 is hoped will be a success. It will 

 add materially to the prosperity of 

 the commonwealth to say nothing 



