GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 1. 



up gold in the Golden State; for, go where you 

 will, in valley or remote mountain, you will 

 find the mark of the prospector's pick or shovel. 

 The ground has been well inspected. There 

 are yet undiscovered gold-mines, but the novice 

 will hardly find them. 



The cultivation of the soil, and making the 

 various products grow, is at present producing 

 more gold for California than are her mim^s of 

 yellow metal. If you wish to enter the ranks 

 of this class of workers, I will answer the 

 questions that have been directed to me. and 

 thereby try to aid you in a decision for future 

 action. 



The majority of my questioners are bee- 

 keepers, and are not only anxious to keep bees 

 but to secure a fruit-farm in connection with it. 

 There are ranches where, in some ca-es. beps 

 and fruit are kept: but the cases are excep 

 tional. The fruit- ranch di stroys all wild 

 flowers that produce the large yields of honey; 

 and unless the ranch is well back in the foot- 

 hills, where bees from it can reach the sage and 

 other wild flowers, the apiary will have to be 

 planted, as it usually is, in some remote place, 

 to secure the best results: therefore, to keep 

 bees and run a fruit-ranch will necessitate two 

 locations. Continuous employment can not be 

 secured on a bee-ranch. The bees need but 

 little attention for sev(m or eight months. In 

 the other four or five the main work is done, 

 and men and boys are then hired. Some bee- 

 keepers run their help in gangs, going from one 

 apiary to another during the extracting season. 

 Others put a man in an apiary, and expect him 

 to be enough of a hustler to care for it. The 

 pay for such a helper is all the wav from !?25 to 

 $50 a month. At $2:^ a month he 'is boarded; 

 but at $nO he boards himself. 



There are hut few chances to work apiaries 

 on shares. Where they can be found, the right 

 man can do bettei- than io work by the month. 

 Bees and apiaries are as salable property as 

 horses or cattle, and many apiaries change 

 hands every season. Above all other plans. I 

 would advise those who come here to do so 

 prepared to purchase. Easy terms are usually 

 granted, and a small apiary in a good season 

 can be increased to quite a large one. An ex- 

 perienced bee-keeper can easily double his 

 number, while many have increased ten to one 

 hundred— remember, in a good season. The 

 time to buy is from January to March. Colo- 

 nies can be purchased, all the way from .*1.00 to 

 *.5.00: the average price is. perhaps. $3.00. The 

 11.00 colonies are in nondescript boxes. The 

 f.").00 colonies are in good movable-frame hives. 

 Con-idering every phase of the business, I know 

 of nothing else that can be started into with so 

 small a capital, and which gives so sui'e and 

 (luick returns as bee-keeping. The above does 

 not apply to a person who never managed bees, 

 but to a man of experience, and a moderately 

 good season. 



Southern California has been the center of 

 the bee-industrv for several years; but in the 

 northern counties there are many splendid 

 localities for be es that are as yet unoccupied, n 



rsCxi to the production of honey, information 

 in I'elation to friiit-ranches is sought. Fruit- 

 ranches are usually sold in 5. 10. and 30 acre 

 lots: the average is about 10 acres. The chief 

 fruit here is the orange, with a s[)rinkling of all 

 other fruits. A fruit-ranch of any kind, except 

 grapes and small fruits, is several years getting 

 into bearing. Raisin grapes, perhaps, bring 

 the quickest and most permanent returns. 

 These fruit-ranches can be purchased on easy 

 payments; but the purchased' should he careful 

 to have some money ahead, or some business to 

 earn money (an apiary, for instance), or he may 

 wake up some morning in arrears, and his 



ranch, with what improvements he has put 

 upon it, is taken possession of again by the 

 Land & Water Company. Many such episodes 

 happen every year. 



Fruit-lands unimproved, but under irrigation, 

 are held at fi-om .*100 to f350 per acre. Some 

 companies give a perpetual water-right, while 

 others collect a tax for the number of inches of 

 water used annually. Improved lands with 

 bearing orchards are held at SIOOO. and even up 

 to S^SOOO an acre. A twelve year-old orange- 

 orchard in full bearing will give a profit of $1000 

 an acre. 



The style of houses that people live in liere is 

 of great variety. Just now aiound Redlands 

 there are scores of tents. During a greater por- 

 tion^ of the year a tent will be comfortable. 

 Some prefer to sleep outdoors, and gain liealth 

 in so doing. A tent is preferable to many of 

 the shanties that are occupied. Almost any 

 kind of covering will do until the rainy season 

 commences. In December and January the 

 cold, though not below 24° above zero, takes 

 hold quite severely. Rain is not continuous, as 

 many suppose, but it comes down freely for a 

 few days, then there is a week or more of beau- 

 tiful weather: so, ordinarily, what is called the 

 " rainy season " is not any more so than Eastern 

 people have all the time. 



Lumbei' is more expensive than in the East, 

 and a good house will, therefore, be quite a 

 luxury. In this portion of the State, wood and 

 coal are scarce and dear. Oak wood is $8.00 a 

 cord: chemise roots. $5.00 a load; soft cotton- 

 wood. $3.00 a cord: choyo, a species of cactus, 

 and sunflow^er- stalks, are gathered for fuel. 



The cost of living here is more than in the 

 East. Good board is 25 cts. a meal, or $4.00 a 

 week: a furnished room $4.00 to .$10.00 a month. 

 A person can board himself for about $2.00 a 

 week, and so thousands " bach " it on this coast, 

 and live well, and have more luxuries and 

 greater variety than he gets in a dining- hall. 



From the number of idle men about our 

 towns, I doubt whether permanent employment 

 can be had by the year on a ranch or in the 

 trades. There are times when everybody is 

 busy; then come the idle days. There is but 

 little done in the manufacturing line, and the 

 surplus labor is not absorbed. A new comer 

 has not so good a chance to get work as one 

 who has been here a year and has made some- 

 thing of a reputation. Wages by the day is 

 usually $1..50 to $2.00. The laborer finds himself, 

 except his dinner. On the large ranches, away 

 from towns, he is boarded on the ranch, and 

 sleeps as described in Ramble 07. The trades 

 are quite full, and the carpenter and brick- 

 layer complain that there are too many for 

 profit. .Still. I have heard of no starvation -or 

 want in that quarter. Ready-made clothing 

 can be purchased liere nearly if not quite as 

 cheap as in the East, while clothing made to 

 order will cost more. 



A person in Kansas asks, "Shall I bring my 

 teanC?"' It would, perhaps, pay a man no fur- 

 ther east than Kansas to bring the team if it 

 is worth, say. $300. Good horses are in demand, 

 and teamwork is sought after. Very good fur- 

 niture can be purchas(^d here at second-hand 

 stores, at reasonable rates. 



In relation to shipping bees from the East, it 

 would hardly pay unless a car is chartered for 

 other things, and then a few colonies of a choice 

 strain could be put in as well as not. Ten 

 colonies, say. and a lot of hives in the flat, would 

 give an outfit that could soon be increased to a 

 fair apiary. Still, it is a question whether it 

 would pay to ship them. Government land 

 can be found, but it is in remote districts, and 

 not subject to irrigation without much labor to 

 develop water. 



