274 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 1. 



several times; result, I returned to ray cabin a 

 dusty, sorrowful rambler. I felt this time as 

 though something was going to happen, and, 

 sure enough, it came like a clap of thunder 

 from a clear sky. It was in the shape of that 

 open letter to Rambler, on page 181 of Glean- 

 ings. It was a g) eat shock to my nervous sys- 

 tem, to drop from such delectable heights to 

 such a sad condition; and I wish right here to 

 reprove your artist for picturing my happy 

 state after reading that Morse letter. The hap- 

 py state and songs were all before. Afterward I 

 was sad, and there were no warbles in my lungs. 

 To escape the visitation was my study night 

 and day, and it was with joy I had a chance to 

 go 60 miles from my usual haunts into a wild 

 portion of San Diego County. Oak Grove Api- 

 ary, on the head-waters of the San Luis Rey 

 River had to be moved, and surely no Eugenia 

 would follow me into that sylvan seclusion. 

 But I reckoned falsely; for, while laboring at 

 the bees in my fancied security, a robust foi"i. 

 like unto what I had pictured Eugenia to be, 

 was rapidly whirling toward the ai)iary. on a 

 bicycle. Had it been Jake Smith, or some oth- 

 er musty old fellow, I should have been calm 

 and collected; but seeing itwas the one who 

 bore the name of Eugenia, and under all of the 

 delicate surrounding circumstances, please give 

 me a little hcmor if I confess that I resolved to 

 flee. But to flee from an expert bicycler, such 

 as Eugenia p.'oved to be, was beyond my pow- 

 er, and a friendly oak-tree received me gra- 

 ciously upon one of its generous limbs. The 

 cycle had to halt. Thank fortune, it could not 

 climb; but the Eugenia form sat itself down 

 upon a stone and gathered from the pocket an 

 opera-glass, and commenced the siege. Euge- 

 nia was not much acquainted with the country, 

 and I had a gleam of satisfaction in knowing 

 that, ere the shades of night had deepened, the 

 form would leave that stone. With a tremu- 

 lous voice Eugenia cried: 



"O cruel Rambler! long have I yearned for 

 you: and now after long journeys, night and 

 day, for you thus to flee from me and treat me 

 so!" 



"Aye!" said I, " yearn on and on; this heart 

 of mine is as hard as adamant. Long years 

 have passed since woman's wiles have turned 

 one drop of blood more scarlet than the rest. 

 Go, bold being, to your home, and let me rest." 



" Nay, Rambler mine, the mission to take the 

 heart so hard, and face so stern, and mold like 

 unto an angel's, come from that leafy perch 

 among the boughs, and let these hands, this 

 voice, and these tears, minister to your com- 

 fort." 



"O Eugenia! knowest thou not that it is the 

 sphere of man to woo, and not yours? Know- 

 est thou not that, where such a one as you so 

 forgets place and station, and would to me 

 a- wooing come, your words, your tears, only 

 steel the heart the harder toward your kind? 



Away, ere the shades of night and beasts and 

 creeping things come in these lonely wilds to 

 startle and destroy." 



"O Rambler! knowest thou not that woman's 

 sphere enlarges! To vote, to woo, to legislate, 

 is the fashion of the hour. O Rambler! sit not 

 like some gnome in the gathering darkness; 

 to my petition wilt thou listen? Wilt thou 

 turn one sympathetic glance? Wilt thou?" 



"No. no, Eugenia; though your words are 

 fair, 'tis not for such as me to wilt unseemly. 

 Would it be for me to wilt? Should I wilt 

 forth. I'd go to scorn. No, your glances, your 

 words, your tears, are not enough to make me 

 wilt. Away! I'll fly to sterner mountains, 

 rocks, caves, ruin, desolation; among these 

 hardened scenes I'll never wilt." 



The stars were out; there was a crackling in 

 the brush — a howl, a shriek. Rambler. 



(Concluded in our next.) 



THE HONEY-MARKET IN SOUTHERN CALI- 

 FORNIA. 



Bil Pnif. A. J. Cook. 



The third subject which elicited great inter- 

 est at the State Association was that of mar- 

 keting the honey product. It was felt that, 

 with such a sure production, such anomalous 

 yields, and such excellent honey, the present 

 haphazard method of getting the product to 

 market was away behind the times; that it 

 should be speedily superseded by some sys- 

 tematic plan in which all should be interested, 

 and should help to carry out. The Citrus Fruit 

 Association, or Exchange, of Southern Califor- 

 nia, was referred to, and the subject was refer- 

 red to the Executive Committee, with the hope 

 that, after a complete investigation, a plan 

 might be formulated that would secure the 

 objects desired. At the monthly meeting of 

 the Los Angeles County Association, held last 

 Saturday, the subject was again debated, and 

 the writer was appointed to investigate the 

 matter as fully as his time would permit. 



There is no doubt that organized union in all 

 such matters is very desirable. It is equally 

 evident that the great success of commercial, 

 manufacturing, and such other enterprises as 

 railroads, etc., is largely due to the fact that 

 they can and do work together. It is just as 

 patent that the farmer has been kept back by 

 his isolation, which stood in the way of such 

 cooperation. The ditificulty to-day rests in the 

 fact that it is almost impossible to secure una- 

 nimity in any proposed scheme, no matter how 

 wise or how well planned. The inexperience, 

 too, of such producers has not fitted them to 

 plan the most wisely, and so it is exceedingly 

 important that, in making any move toward 

 cooperation, great caution be exercised, or false 

 steps will be taken that will imperil the whole 

 undertaking. 



