1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



629 



the night: and the constantly changing huos of 

 the sky form an ever vaiying picture of beauti- 

 ful colors, fit only to be described by the pen of 

 an artist deeply imhiicil with a love fur the 

 grand and beautiful in nature. That thi>^ no- 

 ble valley has so long escap(>d tlie notice of 

 most travelers and immigrants is probabK ow- 

 ing to its distanc(> from the great thoiougbfai'es 

 of travel extending frimi the Atlantic to the 

 Paci tic. coupled with the lonely aspect of the 

 country lying between. That it was. ages ago. 

 densely populated by a comparatively civilized 

 people, is attested by the remains of ancient 

 canals, cities, and towns, together with iiottery 

 and implements of slt)ni' scattei'ed ovei' its en- 

 tire surface fnmi end to end. It now contains 

 quite a numbei' of towns, tlie chief of which is 

 PlKpnix — now the capital — which has a popu- 

 lation now estimated at SOtKJ. The buildings, 

 mostly of brick, are tasty and substantial. It 

 has one I'ailroad. two horse-cai" lines, three dai- 

 ly and two weekly papers: is lighted by elec- 

 tricity; has fine schools, and churches i-epre- 

 senting all the prominent denominations; and. 

 in short, it compares favorably with any city of 

 like population in the East. 



The (Mitii'e valley is well provided with 

 schools wherever tln' population will justify. 

 and the same buildings are occupied on Sun- 

 days for religions purposes. No one n(M^d hesi- 

 tate to emigrate here on account of any lack 

 of moral and intellectual facilities. W<^ should 

 like to expand the descriptive pai't of our arti- 

 ticle to include many subjects that space in a 

 bee-journal would hardly permit: so we will 

 devote the remainder to apiculture. 



Bees were originally brought here from Cal- 

 ifornia, and are nearly all hybrids, being the 

 common bee mixed with Italians and Syrians. 

 They are large and industrious, being fully 

 equal to pui-e Italians in honey-gathei-ing qual- 

 ities: but their tendency to bunch on the 

 combs, hang down in festoons, and finally drop 

 from the frame, renders it difificult to find the 

 queen. Such qualitii'S, inherited from the 

 blacks, are so objectionable that I shall re- 

 queen with pure stock, and advise my neigh- 

 bors to do the same. Unlike the East, "here the 

 farmers nearly all keep bees — enough, at least, 

 to supply their own tables: yet only a few un- 

 derstand bee-keeping well enough to produce 

 honey for the markets. The f(nvwhodoare 

 making the business quite profitable, usually 

 averaging from 200 to 300 pounds to the hive. 

 Dr. Gregg, of Tempe. told me that twelve hives 

 once averaged him 480 pounds each. This will 

 doubtless look like a " fish story " to some of 

 your readers: yet. knowing the immense honey 

 resources of the valley, and the character of 

 the man, I can easily credit the statement. 



The greatest source of supply is alfalfa, of 

 which there are thousands of acres. It is mo\\n 

 frotii three to six times during the season, and 

 affords a constant succession of bloom. The 

 honey is light-colored, of excellent quality, and 

 commands the highest price in market. Next 

 in importance is the mesquite. which is abun- 

 dant in all parts of the valley. The honey is 

 thick, light, and of excellent flavor. The tree 

 much resembles the locust, and blooms two and 

 three times a year. Next in importance among 

 the trees are the ironwood and palo verde (or 

 green pole) — both evergreen — which produce a 

 honey much like the mesquite, only not so 

 thick. The palo verde is highly ornamental, 

 the bark being perfectly smooth and apple- 

 green. It blooms profusely, and its large tress- 

 es of small yellow flowers are fragrant to a sur- 

 prising degree. The cactus family is well rep- 

 resented, and are all honey-producers. The 

 giant cactus, of which there are thousands in 

 the foot-hills, attains a height of from 20 to 50 



feet, and a circumference of from 3 to 6 feet. 

 It usually has from three to seven branches, 

 each of which is surmounted by a crown of 

 large white trumi)et-shaped flowers, rich in 

 nectar, which attracts the bees the same as 

 does the bass wood in the East. The fruit ripens 

 in June, is about the shape of short plump cu- 

 cumbers, which they much r(>semble. each of 

 which is filled with a rich pulp, which looks 

 and tastes like stiawberries. Other honey re- 

 sources are cat's-claw. arrow-weed, greasewood. 

 Cottonwood, asters (all vaiieties). and thousands 

 of beautiful flowers, the names of wliich I 

 would not attempt to enumerate, and which 

 afl'ord a constant season of bloom, so that there 

 is not a month in the year when the earth 

 is devoid of flowers, or in which the bee is not 

 at least self-supporting. If this letter draws 

 forth any questions, please send the same to 

 the editor and I will answer them through the 

 columns of Gleanings. A. J. King. 



Phoenix. Arizona. June 8. 



[Perhaps some of oui' readers may think that 

 fiiend King has r-ithei' overdrawn his bright 

 picture of Arizona. Either our good friend K. 

 has not had Gi.kanings during the past year, 

 or he forgets that we have had a couple car- 

 hjads of that same Arizona honey, and quite a 

 few of the readersof Gleanings will remember 

 that Arizona, at some seasons of the year at 

 least, produces some very pour honey, "as -jvell 

 as some equal to any found in the world. The 

 jjiire alfalfa, and perhaps also the pure mes- 

 quite. is certainly good enough for any market. 

 But I suspect there ai'e many other kinds that 

 are liable to get mixed in at cei'tain seasons of 

 the year. As my next younger brother has for 

 some time been a resident of Tempe, Arizona. I 

 have had occasional glimpses all along of al- 

 most eveiy thing that friend King mentions: 

 and I believe it is true that the particular val- 

 ley of which he speaks promises a great future, 

 not only in bees and honey, but for fruit, veget- 

 ables, and almost every thing else that grows. 

 By the way, why can't we have some of those 

 cacti fruits ■? My brother found some growing 

 by the roadside in Southern California, which I 

 came pretty near pronouncing the most deli- 

 cious fruit I ever tasted. Has anybody ever 

 tried it. to see whether they would bear ship- 

 ment to the East ? The writer of the above, 

 A. J. King, will be recognized by many as the 

 former editor of the Bee-keepers' yT({(j(tzine, of 

 New York.] 



Mi ^ 



UNITED STATES HONEY - PRODUCERS' EX- 

 CHANGE. 



REPORT UP TO JULY 10, 1891. 



Our reports from most States are veiy com- 

 plete this month. We have devised a plan 

 whereby the questions are sent out on three dif- 

 ferent dates. In this way the reports from dis- 

 tant points reach usas quickly as those near by. 

 They were answered from the <3th to the 13th 

 of July, the average date for the whole of the 

 reports being July 10. 



The average crop of honey gathered up to 

 date for the whole of the U. S. is 47 per cent. 

 This is much better than last year up to this 

 time. In many of the Northern States linden 

 was just opening when the reports were made 

 out. and the prospects for a good flow from 

 that source were reported to be excellent: but 

 advices since, received from portions of New 

 York and Vermont, say that linden is almost a 

 failure. There are some localities in several of 

 the Northern States where the season has not 

 been as good as last, and bees have had to be 

 fed up to July 1st, to keep them from starving. 



