(528 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug 1. 



my earliest swarms, about the 8lh and 10th of 

 May, are now full, the sections being ready to 

 come off. I keep Italians from six or eight 

 diffei'ent breeders. All are pretty and good; 

 but Doolittle's select tested queens have given 

 me the greatest satisfaction. 



Sti'awberry season is ovei'. I have gathered 

 a good crop. My largest berry was the Mam- 

 moth, bought a few years since by a friend 

 from a nurseryman in New Jersey. The ber- 

 ries were the lai-gest I have ever seen, and I 

 have been raising berries foi' maTket for nearly 

 20 years: and during that time I have tested 

 more kinds than I could name. About one- 

 fourth of the fruit was tiat, or coxcombed. 

 The largest specimens were shaped more like a 

 cantaloupe than any thing else I can think of. 

 A few ladies ottei'ed me 5 cents foi' one berry. 

 Of course, it was given them without money, as 

 I was selling them for 1,5 cents per quart. If I 

 live I shall await with a great deal of anxiety 

 the equal contest between them and the Saun- 

 ders, next season, so highly recommended by 

 you and friend Crawford. The most prolific 

 variety was the Old Kentucky, which I have 

 cultivated for a dozen or more years. It has 

 always been in the lead as to productiveness. 

 Last year I sold the Kentucky for 12h' cents l)y 

 the crate: this year, 8 and 9 cents by the crate, 

 when others, before they came in. wei'e selling 

 for 6 cents per crate. I always get from 3 to 4 

 cents more for the Kentucky than the medium 

 crop brings. I had my first strawberry feast on 

 Sunday. May 10: my last yestfiday. the 19th, 

 being 41 days. I was selling about 30 days. 

 My earliest berry I bought for Sharpless: but 

 it is something else, being both moi'e acid and a 

 darker red than the Wilson: about as dark as 

 the Cramer. I have been taking runners off 

 from them to-day, and find a good many ber- 

 ries here and there now, notwithstanding they 

 had ripe fruit 41 days ago. By the way, I 

 bought some Ohio fi'om Mr. G. L. Miller, of 

 your State: he claims that it is a seedling of the 

 Kentucky, and considerably later and more 

 prolific. If this should prove true with me I 

 intend to give him a nice suit of clothes, for 

 introducing such a bonanza. R. Jeff. Jones. 

 Design. Va.. June 20. 



AKIZONA AS A HOME FOR BEE-KEEPEKS. 



AX IXTEIiESTING I.KTTEH FIJOM A. .J. KING IX 



KEGAIil) TO THE GREAT AI.FALFA 



FIEI-DS IX ARIZOXA. 



When writing the articles on Cuba for 

 Gi^KANiXGS a few years ago I little dreamed 

 that there was a country anywhere in Uncle 

 Sam's dominions rivaling if not excelling that 

 fanions island as a paradise for the bee-keeper: 

 yet such is the fact, and Salt River Valley in 

 Maricoi)a County, Arizona, is that country. 

 Fully equal to Cuba in honey resources, it is 

 not be.set with the many disadvantages of that 

 beautiful island, such as the laci< of good socie- 

 ty, schools, churches, the universal prevalence 

 of a language foreign to our own: the unjust 

 exactions of the Sininish government, and, 

 lastly, the duties — both export and import — on 

 honey, amounting to over two cents per pound. 

 A country ever so well adapted to the keeping 

 of bees, yet wanting in these and other impor- 

 tant resp(>cts. we could not conscientiously ivc- 

 ommend as a desirable place lor the "many 

 home-seekers of the East, so we will briefly de- 

 scribe this country before speaking of its adap- 

 tability to honev production. 



By reference to a map it will be seen that 

 ]\Iaricopa County is situated sonunvhat south of 

 the cent(>r of the Teiritory. being a little larger 



than the combined areas of Massachusetts and 

 Delaware. Salt River Valley occupies the cen- 

 ter of the county, and extends east and west. 

 It is at an elevation of 1200 feet above the sea 

 level, and walled in by mountains. The valley 

 is ^0 miles in length by about fifteen in width: 

 and the Salt River, running near its center, 

 travels its entire length froth east to west, the 

 valley gradually sloping in the same direction. 

 It also slopes from the base of the mountains on 

 either side down to the river, the inclination 

 being about ten feet to the mile. Along the 

 bases of these mountain chains, canals extend 

 neai'ly the entire length of the valley, receiving 

 their "water from the river far up in the moun- 

 tains. The water is soft, clear, and fi'esh, be- 

 ing the product of melted snow. From the ca- 

 nals, laterals extend at convenient distances 

 toward the river: and from these, ditches are 

 dug. so that the entire country is well Irrigated. 

 The soil is deep and exti-<'mely fertile, produc- 

 ing not only the crops raised in the East, but 

 the semi-tropical as well. The farmer having 

 lain (irrigating water) just when needed, a 

 failure in crops is unknown. 



Here is the home of most of the semi-tropical 

 fruits, figs yielding two and three crops each 

 season, and gi'apes two crops. Oranges, lemons, 

 dates, olives, pomegranates, almonds, walnuts, 

 peanuts, etc.. all grow in profusion. Better 

 j)eaches. apricots, pi'unes, and pears I never 

 saw or tasted than were produced here the past 

 season. Apples do fairly well in the more ele- 

 vated places near the mountains, but not so 

 well a.< in more noi'thei'u latitudes. Stock of all 

 kinds thrives prodigiously on the thousands of 

 acres of alfalfa (Chilean clovei-). forming a lich 

 green carpet the year round. This clover is cut 

 fiom four to six times during the season, and 

 yi(>lds about two tons per acre at each cutting. 



This valley has been well denominated •" a 

 beautiful oasis in the dreary desei't that 

 sti'etches from the cornfi(^lds of Kansas to the 

 orange-groves of Southern California." Well 

 do I remember the feelings of joy which came 

 over me on leaving Maiicopa, a station on the 

 S. P. R. R.. and running 30 miles north over the 

 de.seit: of the sudden appearance, on nearing 

 Tempe. of the green fields sti'etching away as far 

 as the eye could reach, and covered wilh groups 

 of fat horses and cattle. The mental picture I 

 had formed of the countiy from reading the 

 glowing accounts of others, I foiuid. were liv- 

 ing realities: and now aftiM' more than a year's 

 residence I find the picture is not dimmed, but 

 heigiitened and bright(Mn'd in nearly every par- 

 ticular. 



The climate is something wond(M-ful to ex- 

 perience, having, on an average, about 300 

 cloudless days in the year. We liave neither 

 the cyclones' and blizzards affecting the coun- 

 tries further east, nor the fogs and dampness of 

 the Pacific coast. Malaria, rlu'umatism, and 

 all diseases of the throat and lungs, find no 

 lodgment here: and persons so aft'ected— if not 

 too far gone — receive immediate and permanent 

 relief in the dry and salubi'ious atmosphere. 



June. July, and August are sometimes incon- 

 veniently hot. the thermometer ranging from 

 80 to 11": yet the hottest days, owing to the al- 

 tnost total lack of moisture in the air. are more 

 endurable than a temperature of 80° in the At- 

 lantic States: and were it not for the thirmom- 

 eter. one could not believe it so hot. The work 

 of the agriculturist and horticulturist go stead - 

 ilvon: and th(^ first case of sunstroke has yet 

 to be recorded. The nights are all enjoyable, 

 and the total absence of dew renders sh'eping 

 out of doors in the open air on cots both agree- 

 able and fashionable. 



The evenings and mornings are something 

 grand to behold. The twilight lingers far into 



