980 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec 



straight lines every time. Can any of our 

 readers tell us how it is done V 



We are now near Minersville ; the train 

 has been running about half a mile from a 

 range of mountains running east and west. 

 The foot of the mountains slopes tovs'ard the 

 south, and therefore toward tiie train. 

 Well, for miles we have had on this slope 

 the most beantiful gardens imaginable, each 

 owner seeming to vie with his neighbor as 

 to whose shall be most attractive. 



I have as yet said but little in regard to the 

 eucalyptus,"or blue-gum tree. It is planted 

 here as an ornamental tree, and because 

 it grows so fast ; also on account of the ex- 

 quisite perfume it sends out. As you go 

 along in a city, you begin wondering what 

 gives you such a pleasant thrill ; then you 

 perceive it is the perfumed air, and present- 

 ly a blue-gum tree with its handsome rank 

 foliage comes into view. It is planted 

 largely as a future supply of fuel, and Mr. 

 Harbison showed us some 8 years old, from 75 

 to SO feet in length, and over a foot through. 

 They had just cut down one of the group, 

 and measured it. Trees 6 inches tall will 

 often grow 10 feet the first season. 



We are now in the city of Pasadena, the 

 only large city where there are no saloons— 

 a lady says right here I am mistaken, for 

 Riverside is also an anti-saloon town. 



Thanksgiving Day.— I am back again at 

 triend Woodberry's. The first thing I saw 

 this morning to usher in the day was a 

 gaudy hummingbird on the flowers around 

 the door. During my absence the hills that 

 were so sear and brown have turned to a 

 beautiful green, under the influence of the 

 rain. Barlev and alfalfa are the principal 

 sources of tlie green. Friend W. sold $80.00 

 worth of strawberries, and sold his turkeys 

 for 20 cts. per pound, live weight, and the 

 olil hen hatched her chickens, all of which 

 happened while I was away. Although 

 cliickens can be hatched all winter, without 

 any care at all, the price of poultry and eggs 

 is away up. Strawberries are, in San Diego, 

 2.") cts." wholesale and 35 cts. retail, and not 

 nearly as fine as Mr. Woodberry's. Ilis Cuth- 

 bert raspberries are equal in size and flavor 

 to any I ever saw. I have found the apples 

 and all other fruits fully equal in every re- 

 spect to our fruits in the East. 



We have just passed through a tunnel in 

 the mountain, H miles in length, ft is just 

 before we reach Newhall. Near by we see 

 an oil-well, with tanks of oil loaded on the 

 cars. 



There are some very nice new fruits here, 

 that we know little or nothing of in the East. 

 -Japanese persimmons are very plentiful, 

 but they must be fully ripe to be good. (Ju- 

 avas, especially the strawberry variety, are 

 delicious. They grow on a shrub, some- 

 thing the size and shape of a dewberry. 

 Pomegranates are rather nice, but not equal 

 to the guavas. Olives are a great staple, 

 for oil and for food, but they must be pickled 

 to be eaten, and even then no one likes them 

 until he acquires a taste for them. They 

 are said to be very nourishing, because they 

 are so rich in oil. Last, but not least, the 

 ever-present prickly-pear cactus produces a 

 most luscious fruit, if you take it on a fork 



and pare it with a knife, so as not to get the 

 prickers in your mouth or fingers. The 

 children understand it to perfection. The 

 prickly pear in California often grows high- 

 er than the tops of the fences. 



At Santa Paula, where we stop for dinner, 

 the scheme of making travelers pay 75 cts. 

 a meal seems to be broken ; for a very re- 

 spectable hotel, right beside the railroad 

 eating-house, proclaims in letters a foot 

 long, " Meals, 25 cents.'' A man also pro- 

 claims it as the passengers alight. The 25- 

 cent house carries nearly all the crowd. 

 California people at large are not at present 

 prepared to pay 75 cts. a meal. I omitted 

 to say that, at the Dairy in San Diego, they 

 furnish a very nice milk toast for only 10 

 cts. The waiter takes three slices of bread 

 from the little table where you sit down. 

 They are toasted in a twinkling, well but- 

 tered, then each slice is cut in two diago- 

 nally. This makes six 3-cornered pieces, 

 which are arranged like a bouquet (pardon 

 the illustration), in a good-sized bowl, then 

 hot milk, fit)m a silver-plated urn, is drawn 

 on until the bowl is full, and you have an 

 excellent supper, both food and drink, for 

 only 10 cts. And, mind you, they do this 

 when butter and milk cost nearly hcice what 

 they do east. I feel a great deal better aft- 

 er such a supper than when I have eaten a 

 75-cent one, and I have tried both kinds a 

 good many times. 



Nov. SO.— Here we are at San Buenaven- 

 tura, the home of R. Wilkin, the place he 

 selected as his future home for the culture 

 of bees and honey. I have really been out 

 fishing in the ocean, while watching for the 

 sun to rise. I caught one fish, and had it for 

 my breakfast. To-day we have had a long 

 ride through the mountains to many moun- 

 tain apiaries, and finally to the Ojai hot 

 springs. On the way we saw bitumen, or 

 mineral tar, oozing out of the mountain- 

 sides, and liardening in the wind, until it 

 looks as one might suppose lava to look. It 

 will, when hard, hold up a horse, and, in 

 fact, it is largely used for making bitumen 

 pavements. Mr. Mercer, who drove the 

 team, tells us he has a lot of it he drew 

 home when returning from his apiary, and 

 that it makes excellent fuel when used 

 with a little wood. Mrs. Mercer, who took 

 the trip with us, and who, by the way, is a 

 bee-keeper, as well as her husband, says it 

 burns a long while, and in a grate or fire- 

 place it lights the whole room. I broke off 

 hard chunks and chewed them, and it tastes 

 like Huber's '' black jack '" gum. Any 

 quantity of it is to be found at many spots 

 in the mountains. \'entura Co. also fur- 

 nishes a great tiuantity of dark lubricating 

 oil, which is carried in" large pipes as much 

 as -10 or 50 miles, to this place, when it nms 

 into immense tanks, and is then loaded on 

 the cars, or on to vessels on the ocean, to be 

 carried to any pai't of the world. At one 

 time one of the pipes bursted ; a quantity 

 ran out on the ground in puddles which any- 

 body was allowed to get who wanted it. 

 Friend Wilkin filled one of his large honey- 

 tanks, and now he uses it for a novel sort of 

 fire-kindler. -Just fill a large tin box or pail 

 with sawdust, and saturate it with oil, and 



