GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 1. 



only in flower-pots, or to make mosslike banks 

 in public parks. It is mesembryanthemum, 

 and produces an abundance of tine-flavored 

 white honey. I am getting it well started here; 

 you can see the possibilities for the plant in 

 this valley. Give it a good rooting-place, and 

 it will hang over these rocky surfaces; and the 

 beauty of it is, that it covers the portion of the 

 valley that stands up edgewise. This," said 

 the doctor, as they mounted another terrace, 

 "is my shrubbery terrace, such as veronica, 

 heliotrope, etc. These shrubs bloom almost 

 continually in this valley; and, see how indus- 

 triously the bees work upon them. Then in 

 the lower part of the valley I have the sugar- 

 gums in their variety. Yonder is a terrace de- 

 voted to the sages, while on the level portions 

 I have alfalfa and other plants. If we sow 

 merely low-growing plauts we can not go be- 

 yond our ground acreage; but he who plants a 

 tree puts the acreage in the air; and with the 

 growth of the tree the acreage is permanently 

 increased every year." 



" I have often thought of that," said Fred, 

 " while watching year by year the growth of 

 our basswood trees in the East; what an im- 

 mense acreage of bloom was carried high in 

 the air! But the average bee-man is looking 

 to immediate returns, and thinks it a waste of 

 time to plant for the future; but the fact re- 

 mains that the noble tree makes the permanent 

 pasturage." 



" Yes, Fred, and I am thoroughly of the belief 

 that, if people were dependent upon the bee- 

 hive for their sweets, the production of honey 

 would have been enlarged; the growing and 

 development of honey-producing flora would 

 have been pursued upon scientific principles 

 until production would keep pace with the 

 demand. But cane sugar relegated honey and 

 the prospective development to the back- 

 ground." 



" Well, doctor, that Is something I had scarce- 

 ly thought of; still, such development of honey 

 flora may be possible. You said a moment ago 

 that you now study honey production from 

 square feet instead of square miles. Have your 

 experiments in that line led you to determine 

 the number of square feet that would sustain 

 profitably one colony of bees ? " 



"Approximately I have proved near enough 

 to satisfy myself; and, to speak in round num- 

 bers, one colony could find support and give a 

 good surplus of, say, 300 lbs. on 1000 square feet 

 of territory, or ten colonies to the acre; or 5000, 

 say, to the square mile." 



" Let's see," said Fred, r "A thousand square 

 feet would be about four square rods. Whew! 

 that statement would sound Quixotic to every 

 bee-keeper in Christendom. This valley must 

 be more wonderful than any thing of/which 

 bee-men have ever dreamed. Just] imagine 

 5000 colonies of bees in this little valley!" 



" I know," said the doctor, " that this valley 

 can be made to produce more than any other 

 place, and it will take several years to get this 

 up to its best; but it must be evident to you 

 that any favorable location under an intelli- 

 gent planting of trees, shrubs, vines, and plants, 

 could, in a series of years, be brought up to a 

 high state of production." 



" Doctor, I must acknowledge that to be a 

 fact. Why! bee-keepers, as a rule, have 

 scarcely ever tried to increase their pasturage 

 beyond what nature gives them ; and the honey- 

 flora of the world has not been one hundredth 

 part exploited." 



" Furthermore," said the doctor, " instead of 

 hunting new races of bees I would hunt honey- 

 producing flora and adapt it to our country. 

 There is a world of study and experiment await- 

 ing somebody in this field." 



They had now reached the upper terrace, and 

 beyond it there was a natural formation that 

 attracted Fred's attention, and he halted his 

 burro, and exclaimed, " Why, doctor, what a 

 terrible-looking place that is! it looks like an 

 acre of glass butcher knives and cleavers, all 

 points and edges up. Why! a man couldn't 

 walk in there five feet without cutting his feet 

 all to pieces; and if he should fall down he'd 

 be a dead man, sure. Ugh!" said Fred, with a 

 shudder. 



"Certainly, Fred, that is a bad piece of na- 

 ture; and now while I think of it I'll show you 

 some more like it;" and, alighting from their 

 burros, they climbed a niche in the side of 

 the cliff, and at the top they stood upon a little 

 cleared place. 



" Now what do you see? " asked the doctor, 

 turning to Fred. 



"This is truly wonderful," exclaimed Fred, 

 as his eyes followed the circle of the valley and 

 beyond. " The surface of this whole mountain 

 outside of the valley is butcher-knives and 

 cleavers; and now at least one mystery about 

 this valley is solved; that is why no one ever 

 attempts to cross the mountain." 



"That is precisely so, Fred; and, further- 

 more, no one has a suspicion that a beautiful 

 valley lies beyond such a terrible surface." 



"Then from the appearance of things I should 

 think this whole region is of volcanic origin." 



" It certainly is, and I believe that this valley 

 was a volcanic crater years ago; there are 

 even now occasional rumblings, and there are 

 boiling hot sulphur springs in the center of it; 

 but it is now lunch time, and we will hasten to 

 the oak-trees. Sam has not arrived," said the 

 doctor, as they approached the trees; "but he 

 will be here in a few minutes. Let the donkeys 

 graze. Stretch yourself upon this mossy bank, 

 and rest. We would take our lunch at the 

 apiary; but Sam is an arrant coward when 

 near the bees. Hello, Sam ! I guess you heard 

 my compliments to you." 



