632 



GtEANlNGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 1. 



yard. I might mention that none of these 

 apiaries are located at the owners' homes. JNIr. 

 Morrison has about "200 colonies, and he uses 

 largely the Simplicity hive. I spent the night 

 wdth him, and very nuich enjoyed hearing 

 him relate some of the incidents connected 

 with his work in the willow-herb section. I 

 had always supposed that, in moving an apia- 

 ry to catch a honey-flow, a good deal of time 

 would be lost by the bees, even after reaching 

 the new field ; but when Mr. Morrison told me 

 he found bees coming back loaded with honey 

 in seventeen ininiiles after the entrance was 

 opened on the new ficM, I thought very differ- 

 ently. Indeed, I believe now more than ever 

 that it will pay bee-keepers to use such hives 

 as can be readily moved from one place to an- 

 other without loss of time, and with no annoy- 

 ance to the bees or apiarist. 



[Mr. Boyden, the writer of the foregoing, is 

 Mr. Calvert's right-hand man and stenogra- 

 pher. It was Mr. Boyden who, during Mr. 

 Calvert's absence for nearly a month, assumed 

 much of the work that devolves on my broth- 

 er (-in-law) John. Before coming here he 

 was engaged in the supply business in Michi- 

 gan, and had quite an extended experience as 

 a bee-keeper. He is now one of the old stand- 

 bys of the office. In our next issue Mr. Boy- 

 den will relate something further in regard to 

 his trip. — Ed.] 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 



BY J. T. CALVERT. 



After leaving Reno we ascended the Sierras 

 to the summit, 7017 feet above the sea, and 

 above the snow-line, even in July. The de- 

 scent into the beautiful State of California was 

 a panorama of ever-increasing beauty. At 

 Auburn we were greeted by the Christian 

 Endeavorers, and treated to a bouquet of 

 flowers for every one. Fruit was abundant 

 and luscious, and cheap. When passing 

 through Clipper Gap I learned that S. ¥. 

 Woodworth, who has been making bee-sup- 

 plies and fruit-boxes at that place, had recently 

 been burned out — a total loss and no insur- 

 ance. If your property is not insured, see 

 that you have it done before you are a day 

 older. 



The C. E. convention was one of unusual 

 interest and power. It has received such full 

 notice throughout the religious and secular 

 press that I will not attempt a report here. I 

 set out to make notes of special interest to 

 bee-keepers, and hope I may not entirely fail 

 to do so. 



I called on W. A. Pryal, of Oakland, who is 

 still interested in bees. He had had the 

 pleasure, a few weeks previously, of showing 

 about the city Mr. Thos. Wni. Cowan, editor 

 of the British Bee Journal. Mr. Cowan has 

 a son in California, \rith whom he and Mrs. 

 Cowan have been spending the past winter. 

 They are so well pleased with California that 

 they expect to remain another year and enjoy 

 its delightful climate and beautiful scenery 

 and abundant natural resources. 



The great wheat - harvesters of California 

 were a sight worth mentioning. These ma- 

 chines, drawn by 24 to 30 horses or mules, 

 and cutting a swath 18 to 24 feet wide, cut the 

 grain off just low enough to secure all the 

 heads. The grain is thrashed, and put into 

 sacks. The chaff and straw are either drop- 

 ped in a swath, or, if it is desired to stack and 

 use it, it is collected and dropped off in bundles, 

 forming a winrow ready to be gathered and 

 stacked. The grain, cleaned ready for market, 

 is dumped off two or three sacks at a time, 

 gathered up on wagons, and corded up in the 

 fields. There are no barns or granaries, every 

 thing being left in the open air. As no rain 

 falls except during a few winter months, there 

 is no need of the protection required in other 

 sections of the country. Single fields cover 

 hun(h-eds and sometimes thousands of acres. 

 I was told that they usually get two crops of 

 wheat each year. The second crop is self- 

 seeded from the first, and is usually much 

 lighter. As I passed down the San Joaquin 

 Valley much of the crop was already harvest- 

 ed. The immense wheat-storehouses at the 

 stations along the way were nearly full. 

 Thousands of sacks were corded up in the 

 fields. Otlier fields were not yet harvested, 

 and, as far as the eye could see on either side 

 the track, there was little to be seen but wheat- 

 fields. As I looked on this immense stock of 

 golden grain, and noted that the market price 

 was advancing, I concluded that here were 

 gold-fields of more value than those of Alaska, 

 and that they would feed more people, and 

 bring more blessing to mankind. 



I stopped a few hours with M. R. Madary, 

 of Fresno, who handles most of the bee-sup- 

 ply trade of the San Joaquin valley. He re- 

 poited that, up to about the 10th of July, the 

 bees had barely made a living, and bee-keep- 

 ers had begun to feel rather blue. But at the 

 time I was there, Jiily 14, they were rolling in 

 the honey at a very lively rate, and prospects 

 were favorable for a fairly good crop. The 

 main dependence here is alfalfa, and a very 

 good quality of honey is produced. A cool 

 backward season seemed to be the cause of a 

 lack of honey earlier. 



My next stop was at Los Angeles, where I 

 spent several days. On the way there, near 

 Acton and Newhall we passed apiaries near 

 the railroad. From the looks of the moun- 

 tains and country generally, at this season, as ' 

 we passed along down the canyon, we won- 

 dered where the bees got so much beautiful 

 honey as has been gathered in this section this 

 year. The latter rains did not come, hence 

 the honey-harvest was cut off earlier than it is 

 when they have an ideal season. The sage- 

 brush and other shrubs that produce honey 

 were pretty well dried up at this time of year. 



I found John H. Martin (the Rambler) at 

 the office of the California Bee-keepers' Ex- 

 change, 330 South Broadway. He had had 

 previous notice of my coming, and had noti- 

 fied a few of the bee-keepers near the city. In 

 a little while Mr. Bennett, of the Pacific Bee 

 Journal, dropped in ; also Geo. W. Brodbeck. 

 vSoon half a dozen of us were together having 

 a little bee convention all to ourselves. The 



