1899 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



91 



of stores are bound to produce, with a queen 

 to match, a more satisfactory colony. 



There is one item which we have not con- 

 sidered. I have often heard it said that the 

 size of the hive was a question of locality. 

 Whether there is a point in this remains to be 

 tested. It is quite possible that, in countries 

 where the winter changes suddenly, and in a 

 very few days to summer, the prolificness of 

 queens may have but little chance of becom- 

 ing fully developed. If such were the case it 

 would indicate that northern countries could 

 better adopt small hives than southern lati- 

 tudes. But in my mind this is debatable. A 

 strong large colony, wintered in a cellar, ever 

 so far north, if safely wintered, ought to be 

 able to develop the prolificness of its queen 

 within a very short time; and as it takes only 

 22 days for the worker bee to hatch, a space 

 of two or three months would be much more 

 than ample to repopulate a hive to its utmost. 

 Are there very many localities where the 

 height of the honey-flow does not last beyond 

 60 to 90 days after the opening of spring. 



I thank you for your kind words on my ar- 

 guments. I have really said more on this sub- 

 ject than I expected, and I shall be very glad 

 if the subject proves of any future use to the 

 bee-keeping public at large. I can assure 

 you, however, that, in any case, we are with 

 the large hives ourselves, to stay. 



One word aside from the subject of bee cul- 

 ture. I see on page 11 that you mention the 

 question of government ownership of rail- 

 roads. That has been one of my hobbies for 

 a long time. Don't understand me as being 

 one of those cranky paternalists who expect 

 the government to take possession of every 

 thing, and even grow our wheat for us, but I 

 do believe that the only solution of the trans- 

 portation question, which is now agitating the 

 whole country, and the big centers more than 

 the rest, lies in the management of public ser- 

 vices by the public. We are daily brought to 

 see that the transportation companies become 

 more and more of a power, more and more of a 

 tax, and there is no possible solution except the 

 managing of the railroads, of the telegraphs, 

 and of the telephones, by the same straight, 

 economical, and wise method as that of the 

 mail service. But we must first destroy the 

 spoils system, or run the risk of seeing our 

 beloved republic become corrupt, and sink, 

 much in the way that the Greek and Roman 

 republics did in past centuries. 



[I indorse every word of the foregoing, even 

 to the matter of government control of rail- 

 roads; but this latter question is not debata- 

 ble in Gleanings for such questions should 

 be discussed in papers devoted to those sub- 

 jects. — Ed ] 



E. C. M., Mass. — There is no reason why 

 you can not keep bees near the sea. If you 

 have had unusual loss it must be due to other 

 causes than the weather ; but when bees are 

 kept near bodies of water they should be pro- 

 tected thoroughly from prevailing winds, ei- 

 ther winter or summer. 



RAMBLE 160. 



Scott Valley ; Among the Miners. 



BY RAMBLER. 



Scott Valley and its outlying arms, one of 

 which is Oro Fino, is eminently a little world 

 in itself. A rugged divide known as Indian 

 Hill separates it from the conveniences of a 

 railroad and modern civilization, and all sup- 

 plies from the outside world have to be 

 freighted over said divide in those great 

 wagons and by many teams. 



The alfalfa hay grown here is all fed out to 

 the stock in the valley. If there are not cattle 

 and horses enough in the valley to consume 

 it they are driven in from other portions of 

 the State, for it is cheaper to drive the cattle 

 to the feed than to freight the hay to the cattle 

 outside. The farmers grow their own wheat, 

 and it is ground in their own roller mills at 

 Fort Jones or at Etna. 



The butter and cheese produced in the val- 

 ley are largely consumed there, for the miners 

 on every mountain stream are not producers 

 of food, but their hard labor makes them large 

 consumers, and a large amount of their shin- 

 ing metal gets indirectly into the hands of the 

 farmer 



It is hardly possible that a railroad will ever 

 be built into the valley, for it is not large 

 enough to produce a surplus of either popula- 

 tion or products to sustain one ; furthermore, 

 the farmers are content with things as they 

 are, and do not want a railroad ; and, though 

 they talk hard times, there are no people with 

 whom I have come in contact who are so ex- 

 empt from hard times. 



In religious matters the people are in what 

 might be t-rmed a primitive backwoods con- 

 dition. This is especially the case in Oro 

 Fino. There is a little church, but no regular 

 pastor. The preaching is given by ministers 

 from Fort Jones or Etna. When I went there 

 in April the services were held at three o'clock 

 p. m., but the baseball game which came off 

 every Sunday afternoon at the same hour so 

 depleted the audience that the services were 

 held during the rest of the baseball season on 

 a weekday evening. 



Dancing seemed to be the chief amusement 

 of the young and middle aged, and a fine new 

 dancing-hall was built during my sojourn, 

 and the floor was kept well warmed with trip- 

 ping feet. 



The disregard for the Sabbath might come 

 from the way the mines are run, for there is 

 no Sabbath in a mine. The hydraulic giant 

 is washing down the hillside night and day 

 and every day of the seven; or if it is a quartz 

 null the stamps keep up their clamor in like 

 manner. 



This example set by the mines seemed to 

 be contagious ; and the work on the ranch, 

 though eased up a little, goes right along with 

 more or less vigor. On due occasions, how- 

 ever, these people are generous, even to prod- 

 igality, and we might easily scare up a Bret 

 Harte angel in any of these mining camps. 

 Another redeeming feature with the Oro Fino 

 people is the absence of the saloon. Topers 



