THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



April 



they are not of much force any way. 

 Give me the drone trap in preference 

 to the self hiver, as they work better 

 here for rne in the Sunny Side apiary, 

 than do the self hi vers. 



Friends : do you know that queens 

 reared here in ihe North in this cold 

 climate and wintered on the summer 

 stands are more hardy, industrious, 

 and more prolific than those queens 

 reared in the Sunny South and then 

 shipped to this cold climate? They 

 are for me. 



Sunny Side, Md. 



The San Gabriel River. — Mov- 

 ing to the Willows. 



BY C. \V. DAYTON 



After wandering about for sixty to 

 eighty. miles in the San Beruernadiuo 

 range of mountains and being joined 

 by smaller streams, the San Gabriel 

 plunges out of its canyon and takes 

 its course across a gradually sloping 

 plain to the sea forty miles distance. 



The land in close proximity to the 

 mountains is composed of large and 

 small boulders mixed with gravel. 

 These boulders, which are rounded 

 and smooth, were once roughly broken 

 rocks which became detached from 

 the sides of the canyon and were 

 worn smooth by grinding against one 

 another as they were hurried down 

 the rock- bound stream. 



In some instances when the water 

 and stones fall from a precipice or 

 jump from some high ledge, I have 

 seen round holes worn into the solid 

 rock where they strike at the bottom 

 fifteen or twenty feet deep and ten to 

 fifteen feet in diameter. These cavi- 

 ties filled with pure crystal water 

 form the homes of the mountain 



trout, and are wonderfully interest- 

 ing. That part of the rocks which 

 wears off becomes a sand and is car- 

 ried further away to the sea. 



The river flows through an exten- 

 sive bed of sand for about twenty 

 miles. Underlying the sand and the 

 stony land by the mountains, and per- 

 haps extending under the mountains 

 there is a broad level apron of hard- 

 pan. Against the mountains the 

 rock and gravel have accumulated to 

 the depth of two or three hundred 

 feet; while the sides and bottom of the 

 canyon are unbroken rock. 



The San Gabriel is a rushing and 

 roaring torrent even in times of low 

 water. Usually the descent is rapid, 

 but there are accasional stretches 

 where the force of water is less and 

 there are deep accumulations of rocks 

 and gravel into which the water en- 

 tirely looses itself to reappear again 

 further down the canyon. Thus it is 

 after this river emerges from its 

 mountain crevice, it is lost in these 

 accumulated rocks and gravel lying 

 outside, and filters itself away down 

 to the hard-pan, and on this creeps 

 out toward the sea. 



The great amount of rock and 

 gravel and porosity of the material, 

 causes the river to move under ground 

 for ten miles or more leaving a dry 

 cacti field above it. The sand being 

 less porous and less in quantity, the 

 water reappears and flows in a visible 

 stream. The country through which 

 it flows is very flat, and the sand is 

 constantly filled with water. In the 

 dry season the stream is small with 

 low banks. When the rain comes 

 the volume of water increases perhaps 

 a hundred-fold, and in consequence it 



