bi4 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 15. 



one sense, and discouraging in another; and, 

 as the lawyers say, we rested the case. 



That night Mr. H. must have enjoyed very 

 pleasant dreams; for in the morning he relent- 

 ed from his previous position, and said that 

 their most remote apiary, near Riverside, he 

 would rent providing Mr. Wheeler had not 

 already rented it; but Mr. W. was at the gold- 

 mine, and it would take a week to hear from 

 him. How those few words did elevate my 

 hopes, only to be jounced down again! I re- 

 solved to hold on to this hope, but at the same 

 time pursue a further search. Train time in 

 an hour; live minutes' walk; umbrella, grip, 

 and hat near at hand. Just then Mr. Gunther, 

 a bee-keeper of Redlands, a very pleasant young 

 gentleman, and locally noted for his musical 

 talents, came in, and the conversation flowed 

 so pleasantly that the hour passed, and the 

 train also. But this is a very enterprising 



the settlement seemed to be very thrifty. Here 

 was formerly an adobe mission; but the walls 

 have crumbled to dust, and all that remains to 

 mark the site and to remind one that people 

 were called here to worship is an old Mexican 

 copper bell. Some kind hands rescued it from 

 the ruins, and it is suspended from the broken 

 branch of a dead cotton wood -tree, mute and 

 tongueless. To the lover of the chiming bells 

 this one is in a condition to excite sentimental 

 and retrospective thoughts. 



I found the apiary of 15.3 colonies located 

 upon th- northeastern point of the Jurupa 

 range of hills, and in front of it was the broad 

 Cucaraonga Valley, bounded in the distance by 

 the snow-capped San Bei'uardino mountains. 

 It was a mile from any occupied dwelling; and 

 as far as loneliness is concerned it would suit 

 almost any hermit. Water, that necessary ar- 

 ticle for man, beast, bee. or vegetation, was a 



THE CABIN WHERE KAMBbER KEEPS BACHELOR'S HALL. 



country. There are two railroads, and trains 

 run often; but before the next one arrived, 

 something happened. Mr. Wheeler, the much- 

 unexpected and much-wanted, arrived, and in 

 a few minutes I learned that I could have the 

 Riverside apiary if it suited me. Of course. I 

 knew it would suit, or, in other words, I would 

 iivike it do so. 



With the burden of doubt and uncertainty 

 rolled away, it was with a felicitous feeling 

 that I started out with the stalwart Mr. Curl 

 thn next forenoon for a ride of a dozen miles to 

 inspect the apiary. My escort was also in a 

 felicitous state of mind, and beguiled the jour- 

 ney with stories and bee- talk, and calling at- 

 tention to things of interest by the way. Within 

 two miles of the apiary we passed through an 

 old Spanish settlement, and these people were to 

 be ray most numerous neighbors. Their adobe 

 houses and wide verandas had an air of com- 

 fort; and from the number of urchins around. 



mile away; and what was used had to be car- 

 ried by horse or man power. The ground all 

 around the apiary was littered with tin cans, 

 packing-cases, and various utensils. A very 

 good honey-house, 12x8 feet, a six-ton honey- 

 tank, and a sun wax-extractor, were on the 

 grounds. The wax-extractors used in Califor- 

 nia are no such small things as we find in the 

 East. The glass surface is usually 23^x5 feet, 

 and sometimes much larger, and they are 

 capable of reducing to wax all the combs in an 

 apiary. It was something of a nov(>lty to ex- 

 amine the colonies in mid-winter, and find them 

 carrying in pollen and rearing brood, and in as 

 flourishing a condition as we usually find them 

 in the East in May. Remembering some of my 

 disastrous wintering experiences I exclaimed to 

 Mr. Curl: 



" What a terror in the shape of winter the 

 California bee-keeper does escape!" 



'• Yes," said he; " the only terror here is now 



