436 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 1. 



Alone o'er steeps and foaming falls to lean, 

 This is not solitude; 'tis but to hold 

 Converse with nature's charms, and view her stores 

 unrolled. 



Therefore if there is any apology to offer for 

 rambling again it must be attributed to a dry 

 season and a desire to find pastures even in 

 California, where the nectar of flowers invites 

 the bee to gather it, and where the bee-keeper 

 can have the pleasure of subgathering. 



Before setting out upon this ramble, for 

 which I have purchased a thousand-mile right 

 of way, I wish to write a few words about Los 

 Angeles, and ramble with a few of the bee- 

 keepers in its vicinity. 



Ciudad de la Reina de Los Angeles, as the 

 Spanish have it, and the City of the Queen of 

 the Angels, as the Americans have it, or, for 

 short, Los Angeles; the Americans have not 

 time to utter long names ; and this name, like 

 many others in this State, has been materially 

 shortened. 



This city was founded under the rule of the 

 Spanish padres about one hundred years ago, 

 and had a sort of lethargic existence with a 

 population of a few hundred Spaniards, Mex- 

 icans, and Indians, all living in adobe houses. 

 From all accounts it was a very sleepy town ; 

 but one morning in 1847 it was shaken out of 

 its ease and dreams by our Col. Fremont and 

 his rangers ; and since that event it has never 

 relapsed into its former condition ; 

 and now the City of the Angels is 

 the most wide-awake community on 

 the continent. Up to 18(S8 the pop- 

 ulation had increased to about 

 50,000 ; but in the last ten years the 

 city has made an unprecedented leap 

 ahead, and now numbers a little 

 over 100,000 ; and from the energy 

 with which the hammer, the saw, 

 and the trowel are being wielded, 

 there will be another doubling in the 

 next ten years. 



The mild climate has attracted 

 many wealthy people, and their cash 

 and taste have created here most 

 beautiful homes. The climate adds 

 its influence to the adornment ; for 

 where roses climb and bloom all the 

 year, and a majority of the trees are 

 evergreen, there is no stretch of the 

 imagination for us to say that we 

 are favored with perpetual summer. 

 While wealth in a private way adds 

 to the beauty of the city, means are 

 not stinted when called upon for any 

 public enterprise. In the winter of 

 1897, when the worthy poor were unable to 

 secure work, and the gaunt figure of want sat 

 at their doors, over §20,000 was raised by 

 private subscription, and these people were 

 set to work in the public parks, and the be- 

 nevolent enterprise will redound to the 

 credit and beauty of the city and to the donors 

 for ever. 



For adornment the eucalyptus and the pep- 

 per tree are largely planted. If massed in one 

 tract the result would be something of a for- 

 est. When these trees are in bloom, which is 

 several times during the year, the bees work 

 upon them industriously. The honey-bee, 



however, is an ostracized individual in this 

 city; the city fathers have passed an ordinance 

 prohibiting the keeping of bees within the 

 city limits; but in spite of ordinances the bees 

 of their own accord have taken possession of 

 many vacant spaces in residences, and there 

 may be a hundred or more such colonies with- 

 in the city limits. In some instances unused 

 chimneys are occupied by bees. In one such 

 instance the bees became so prosperous that 

 they filled the chimney and gnawed through 

 the paper that covered the stovepipe hole, and 

 commenced operations in the good people's 

 spare room. The mistress of the house had an 

 idea they would fill the house with honey if 

 they were let alone ; but when they withdrew 

 she thought the bees had given up the job in 

 despair (they had evidently swarmed). 



There are some thirty bee-keepers in the 

 city ; but their apiaries are located all the way 

 from ten to a hundred miles from their homes; 

 a few small apiaries are located in the suburbs 

 of the city, and one almost in the business 

 center where the acreage is limited. As will 

 be seen by the photo, the apiary is used in 

 queen-rearing, and the b^es are of a peaceable 

 strain, as the presence of the child will show. 

 Not wishing to have the police get after the 

 owner I forbear to give the name and the loca- 

 tion. 



THE MEDDI^ESOME POLICEMAN. 



The city ordinance has never been applied 

 to force bees from the city, for the bee-keepers 

 comply with the ordinance except in a few 

 instances like the foregoing. The only attack 

 that has come to my notice was by a brave 

 policeman who, wishing to make the bees 

 comply with city regulations, kicked the hive 

 over, to the delectation of the small boys who 

 were quite numerous in the vicinity. There 

 was a counter-attack that made the policeman 

 think there was something hot in the vicinity, 

 and it was several days before he could see 

 clearly to walk his beat. 



The City of the Angels is a center of distri- 



