766 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 1. 



but where cuttings are used it will require 

 about two years for the same result. 



There are uo fleas or bedbugs here, and very 

 few mosquitoes; but at certain seasons the flies 

 and ants are rather bad. The former we screen 

 against, and the latter are most effectually de- 

 stroyed by flooding and drowning. Lizards and 

 horned toads abound, but are perfectly harm- 

 less; and, besides, they are useful in destroying 

 insects. Scorpions are very scarce, and I have 

 not yet seen a tarantula here. We occasionally 

 meet with the large yellow rattlesnake: but. as 

 "every man's hand is against them." they are 

 fastdisappearing. The abundance of jack-rab- 

 bits renders it desirable to fence orchards and 

 vineyards with poultry-netting, from theground 

 upward for from 2>.2 to .3 feet. This, with a 

 barbed wire above, makes a fence which is 

 durable, and proof against every thing that can 

 not fly. The posts are usually cottonwood- 

 trees. which grow rapidly, and soon afford a fine 

 shade, and make the best kind of windbreaks. 



Quails, doves, blackbirds, and, indeed, nearly 

 all species of the feathered tribe, abound in this 

 valley, and occasionally do considerable dam- 

 age to fruit crops; but by destroying all nests, 

 and by the general use of shotguns, they will 

 gradually disappear. 



The Lidian question is hardly worth consid- 

 ering. I have not yet seen an Apache. The 

 Maricopas and Pimas are small tribes whose 

 reservations are from twelve to twenty miles 

 away. They are self-supporting, very friendly, 

 and it is their boast that they have never yet 

 killed a white man ; but they are the mortal 

 enemies of the Apaches. 



As to fish, they are plentiful in the river and 

 canals: but any one having a little land can 

 easily and inexpensively have his own carp- 

 pond. 



There is no government land left in this val- 

 ley. Town lots in Phoenix are .50 by 150 feet, 

 and vary in price from 6150 to •'Pl'^OO. accoiding 

 to location. Unimproved land, from two to ten 

 miles from Phoenix, sells at from 1100 down to 

 $25 per acre, water included, the price varying 

 with its distance from town. Very fine land 

 can now be obtained within from five to six 

 miles of Phoenix at from 640 to $75 per acre. 



Our school system is of the best, being mod- 

 eled after California's. School year is eight 

 months, compensation $75 per month. The ex- 

 amination of teachers occupies three days; is 

 critical, and the standard high. The applica- 

 tions always greatly exceed the numbers em- 

 ployed. The cost of living here is, on the whole, 

 about the same as in the Northern States. 



Do not bring bees, as the cost of transporta- 

 tion would equal or exci^'d their price here. 

 Our home market for honey and other produc- 

 tions is limited, and large producers ship their 

 overplus to other localities. We have as yet 

 but one railroad, the Phoenix & Maricopa, 

 which intersects the Southern Pacific Railroad 

 30 miles south. The necessary [)apers are al- 

 ready siji-iied by the Santa Ve company for the 

 construction of a north and south I'oad from the 

 Central Pacific to this point, which will proba- 

 bly be completed within the next two years; 

 and as it will pass near the second largest pine 

 forest in America, lumber, which is now worth 

 from $25 to $45 per KXX), will drop to reasonable 

 prices; and the enormous freight charges now 

 demanded by the Southern Pacific will drop off 

 a half, and at the same time I'eal estate will 

 surely advance to probably three tinu's the 

 prices now asked. Why not? Ours is a still 

 milder climate than that of Southern Califor- 

 nia. We produce all that they do. Our fiuits 

 ripen from three to six weeks earliei-, and we 

 are .500 miles nearer the eastern market. Law- 

 yers and doctors will not find this an inviting 



field; but to energetic men and women who de- 

 sire to build up prosperous and happy homes, I 

 know of no country otfering better inducements. 

 Phoenix, Ariz. A. J. King. 



[Friend King, we ai'e glad of this second let- 

 ter of yours, as it modifies somewhat some of 

 the encouraging things you said in your other 

 one. Permit me to add a word here' in regard 

 to those orange-groves worth 62.500 per acre. I 

 saw just such groves while at Riverside: and I 

 saw some that had recently been sold for large 

 sums of money. Now. I think I am right when 

 I say there is only occasionally a man who has 

 enough energy, and love for the business, to 

 manage successfully an orange-grove after he 

 owns it. It is exactly like the fruit-farms of 

 the Eastern States, that yield great results. It 

 is the result of hard work and brains; and right 

 in Riverside — or. at least, not manj' miles away 

 — there are hundreds of orange-groves going to 

 ruin and decay because their owners hadn't en- 

 ergy or interest enough in the business to give 

 it the necessary care. Great sums of money 

 have been made fi'om single acres of strawber- 

 ries; and almost every locality can furnish one 

 or more examples of what maybe done by an 

 enterprising man: but it takes "the man to do it, 

 after the locality has been found. In the arti- 

 cle following this we have a very truthful 

 statement from a resident, in regard to the state 

 of bee-keeping in Aiizona at the present time.] 



A.I. R. 



ARIZONA AS A HONEY COUNTRY. 



SOME COKUECTIONS. 



In the August 1st number of Gi.eaxixgs, Mr. 

 A. D. King, of this valley, has an article in re- 

 gard to this country and its honey-producing 

 capacity. Mr. King is a comparatively new 

 comer, and, like all such, seems to see only the 

 advantageous points of the valley, and to have 

 them magnified in his mind. This valley has 

 many good points, and. like all places on the 

 globe, some poor ones: but I wish to write of it 

 only from the honey-producer's standpoint. Mr. 

 King's article would lead one who is unac- 

 quainted with our valley to overestimate its 

 honey resources, both as to yield and the extent 

 of our range. 



There is no doubt that Dr. Gregg extracted 

 an average of 480 lbs. of honey per colony from 

 12 colonies in one year; but that was years ago. 

 before the land around his place was cleared of 

 mesquite, and made mostly from that tree. 

 There were no bees but his 12 stands in his vi- 

 cinity, and it was an extra good year. Now 

 there are very few localities where mesquite is 

 fovuid in any quantities near alfalfa-fields, and 

 the country is full of bees. In the neighbor- 

 hood where my apiary is situated, a circle five 

 miles in diameter, with my apiary as the cen- 

 ter, would contain fully 1(X)0 colonies of bees; 

 and the land within the circle, although only 

 part in alfalfa, would contain the majority of 

 that plant growing in the vicinity of Tempe. 

 On the north side of the river, in the neighbor- 

 hood of Phoenix, the range is nearly as thickly 

 populated with bees. There are nearly, if not 

 quite. 4(X)0 colonies of bees in the valley now; 

 and. as I said before, there is very little mes- 

 quite now, except on the desert, beyond range 

 of cultivated ground, so that alfalfa is almost 

 our sole dependenci; for surplus. The other 

 honey-producing plants mentioned by Mr. King 

 grow mostly out on the desert, away from the 

 alfalfa, and so can not be utilized. 



Of alfalfa there are from 18.000 to 2.5.000 acres 

 growing in the valley; but of this a large num- 



