180-1. 



tiii: ameuh'.w iu:i:-ki:ei'eii. 



105 



losl a good friend of their industry 

 when Prof. Cook left them and came 



to this country. We ( 'ali i uniin us feel 

 that in this great fruit and honey 

 country the Prof.'s field will he great- 

 ly broadened, and the educative influ- 

 ence he can exert here, will result in 

 greater good than in any other portion 

 of our country. The Prof . comes to 

 us and stands between two great in- 

 dustries, fiuit growing and hee-keep- 

 ing, as a veritable peacemaker 



" Blessed are the peacemakers for 

 they shall be called the sons of God." 



Iu my school boy days we used to 

 sing a lively song, the inspiring chorus 

 of which ran thus : "Swinging, swing- 

 ing, 'neath the apple tree." Alas! 

 we have none of those old apple trees 

 with dense shade, and brawny arms in 

 this valley ; and a sorry swing we 

 could have among the sage and grease- 

 wood bushes. But, say friends, I have 

 a hammock on the veranda of my 

 habitation, and allowing the coastwise 

 breeze to swing me in that, revives 

 memories of old, in a location 3,000 

 miles away. Now, I would tell how 

 this hammock of mine is made, for it 

 is a home-made affair, but as the read- 

 ers of the Review insist upon a fellow 

 talking bees, and nothing but bees, I 

 shall say nothing about the burlap 

 sacks sewed together.with sticks across 

 the end, and swung up with baling 

 wire ; but I tell you friends, this ob- 

 scure hammock is just the thing to 

 dump one's self into and to think 

 about the honey bees. 



While thus comfortably fixed and 

 thinking of the half-a-mile walk that 

 that I have to perform every time I 

 visit the apiary, it occured to me that 

 if bee-keepers in this State, could each 



and every one, have their apiaries 

 located near their residences, and 

 under their own vine and fig tree, 

 where they could, all the year round, 

 hear the busy hum of their workers 

 and be upon more intimate terms with 

 them, I really believe the bee-keeping 

 industry would take upon itself a 

 phase for the better. 



In all of the East there is scarcely 

 an apiary that is located away from 

 the residence of the owner thereof ; 

 or, if he has several apiaries they are 

 located near the residences of other 

 persons. It is needless to say that the 

 practice is reversed here, for the apiar- 

 ies are nearly all located out in some 

 lonely nook in the plains, or in the 

 foot hills. A greater number of these 

 apiaries are in such a forlorn condition 

 with old unpainted hives, with brush 

 growing at will amongst them ; and 

 yes, now and then a rattlesnake raises 

 its warning rattle, or if he does not 

 raise it, his slimy folds are seen wrig- 

 gling through the brush. A club or 

 a stone soon puts a quietus to his ca- 

 reer, and his rattlers always pay the 

 forfeit as a trophy. With such for- 

 lornness, and with bees with an inten- 

 sified iracible disposition, who can 

 blame the bee-keeper for keeping 

 away from it as much as possible. It 

 is no wonder that bee paralysis and 

 foul brood get possession of the hives, 

 and that the Eastern bee-keeper com- 

 big immediately from a pretty apiary 

 in which are flowers and trailing vines 

 and a place in which it is a pleasure 

 to sit down and beholding the con- 

 dition of things here exclaims against 

 the general apathy of the fraternity. 



The above conditions are, however. 

 all changed even here iu California, 



