92 



GLEANINGS IN BF.E CULTURE. 



Ff.b. 1. 



have to go to Fort Jones for their liquidation. 

 So much, then, for Scott Valley and its 

 people. Continuing the theme of bee-keeping 

 I will call attention to the various bee-keepers 

 in the valley, and their methods of manage- 

 ment. 



Jake Lewis, about a mile north of us, owned 

 an apiary of about sixty colonies, all in Har- 

 bison hives. In early days, when Oro Fino 

 was a more numerously populated town, he 

 gathered the golden coin by fiddling for the 

 miners ; and instead of spending it, as many 

 such men do, at the saloon or card table, he 

 hoarded it, and now in his old age owns a 

 large and fertile ranch. Uncle Jake had also, 

 in his youuger days, been a famous bear- 

 hunter. Scores of bears and deer have fallen 

 before his trusty rifle. 



His method of securing honey was in those 

 old-fashioned twelve-pound boxes. They were 

 put on the hives early in the season, and taken 

 off in the fall. As there was no glass in the 

 ends of the boxes, whereby their interior con- 

 dition could be examined, the fullness of the 

 box wis determined by rapping upon it -with 

 the knuckles. If it gave the proper sound it 

 was removed. 



Mr. Moxlev, ex-sheriff of the county, and a 

 wealthy farmer, also had a small apiary, with 

 Harbison hives, and managed them in the 

 same old-fashioned way, with the exception 

 that he depended upon some outside aid to 

 remove the honey. I had the pleasure of aid- 

 ing him, and learned how to find a full box by 

 the rapping method. 



There were several other bee-keepers who 

 managed their bees in this primitive way; and 

 when I first took up my line of work in the 

 valley I feared that so many bees in the im- 

 mediate vicinity might make our honey-yield 

 somewhat less; but I find that bees managed 

 in that manner are not much hindrance. The 

 bees were not worked to their highest capacity 

 in honey production. They fill their boxes 

 early, and then swarm and loaf on the hives. 

 Many swarms escape to the woods ; they are 

 in evidence in many trees. One of Uncle 

 Jake's sons has developed into a bee-hunter, 

 and has found and put his mark on over thirty 

 bee-trees in the vicinity. The bee keeper who 

 works his bees according to modern methods 

 is the only one to fear in such a field. We 

 had such bee-keepers in the valley. Well up 

 at the south end, and out of range of our bees, 

 I found Mr. Charles Oltman. Sixteen miles 

 intervened between us ; and upon my fii st 

 visit to his apiary, about May 1, I found his 

 bees at work in sections while the Levering 

 bees were not making a living. The reason 

 for this prosperity, I found, came from an 

 abundance of wild-cherry, willows, and locust, 

 which were not so plentiful in our end of the 

 valley. Mr. Oltman commenced the season 

 with 140 colonies and increased to 160. His 

 enthusiasm, however, for early honey was 

 considerably subdued; for, during the interval 

 between the blooming of these plants and 

 alfalfa, there came a cool frosty term, and the 

 bees consumed all of their early honey. Mr. 

 Oltman is not discouraged over these little 

 circumstances, but will enlarge his business 



another year by starting another apiary. His, 

 bees were in the L. hive, and, having heard 

 much about large hives, he constructed a few 

 having 16 frames. He seemed somewhat dis- 

 gusted with the jumboes, from the fact the 

 bees swarmed from them before they had filled 

 all the frames. 



Mr. Oltman is an enthusiastic gardener, and 

 supplies the people far and near with his 

 products from soil and hive. He is, further- 

 more, a good-looking bachelor, quite popular 

 with the ladies, and is bound to be successful. 



E. G. Gerbrich, at Fort Jones, in another 

 portion of the valley, is another bee-keeper 

 who will make his mark in honey production. 



One bright Sunday morning I was sitting in 

 the cabin door, when, slowly approaching 

 across the lawn, I saw a young man and feeble 

 old woman. He was tenderly supporting her 

 upon his arm. restraining his energetic pace, 

 and patiently conforming to her slow motion. 

 I arose as they approached, and he introduced 

 himself and then introduced his mother. 



I immediately felt a deep respect for Mr. 

 Gerbrich; for, of all the beautiful things told 

 by tongue or pen, there is none more beautiful 

 than the story of reciprocal love between 

 parent and child ; and here before me was a 

 scene that angels love. 



Mr. Gerbrich came to seek information 

 respecting some points in bee culture, and Mr. 

 Levering and I tried to give the information 

 sought. The gentleman was something of an 

 itinerant peddler through the scattered towns 

 of California and Oregon; and after obtaining 

 this, his first honey crop, he proposed to take 

 honey with his other articles in trade, and in 

 this way work up a home trade. He afterward 

 told me that, had he depended upon honey 

 alone, he could not have paid expenses. 

 Honey, by most people, is considered a luxury, 

 and only a small quantity is purchased at a 

 time. He could, however, dispose of it to 

 good advantage in connection with his other 

 goods. 



In one of the side canyons I found bee- 

 keeper N. J. Mallow. He is the owner of 

 about 100 colonies of bees in four apiaries. 

 These are, of course, mere nucleus apiaries, 

 which he hopes to increase to a hundred in 

 each. He makes his calculations, however, 

 with the proviso that we always used back 

 east — I will do thus and so if they winte - well. 

 A burnt child dreads the fire, and Mr. M. has 

 has had the experience of losing 89 colonies 

 out of 90, and that proves that che wintering in 

 Northern California is attended with disaster. 



I have before stated that there is much 

 honey-dew in this portion of California, and it 

 seems to be more plentiful the further we pen- 

 etrate into the mountains. Mr. Mallow gave 

 me the information that the honey-dew found 

 on the oak in the spring was whi'er in quality 

 than alfalfa honey, and of good quality, and 

 will not granulate, even if kept two years. 

 The honey-dew that is gathered in the fall is 

 not so good, and I am inclined to think that 

 his great loss of bees previously mentioned, 

 was owing to too much of this kind of honey. 

 The honey-dew in these mountain regions is 

 so plentiful sometimes that hunters, in going 



