1899 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



759 



RAMBLE 177. 

 At Mr. Elon Hart's; the Pasadena Ostrich-farm. 



BY RAMBLER. 



The beautiful city of Pasadena (the crown 

 of the valley) is but a few miles from Los 

 Angeles, and nestles close to the foot of the 

 Sierra Madre Mountains. Good wagon, elec- 





MR. ELON HART. 



trie, and steam roads connect the two cities, 

 and now a cycleway is under construction. 

 The roadbed will be of Oregon pine, ten feet 

 wide, and protected on the sides by wire net- 

 ting. Electric lights at the prop- 

 er time will flash on either side 

 at intervals of every few yards, 

 and, when completed, it will be 

 the grandest thing in the world 

 — so the local papers say. 



Mr. McNay and I could not 

 wait for the completion of this 

 cycleway, and we rotated our- 

 selves over a fairly good road to 

 Pasadena. Many bee - keepers 

 find here congenial and happy 

 homes in the fragrant shade of 

 the orange-trees and the climb- 

 ing roses. It was here in the 

 flower - embroidered crown that 

 Mr. C. A. Hatch and family, of 

 Wisconsin, made their headquar- 

 ters during their stay in Califor- 

 nia ; and since their return east I 

 understand that they are pining to return 

 again to live among the roses. This is always 



to be expected ; for when a person makes a 

 short sojourn here in this favored clime he is 

 quite sure to get back some time, and that is 

 what we may expect Mr. Hatch to do. 



Mr. Farr, who moves his bees to Utah by 

 the carload, and clears thousands of dollars 

 by his enterprise, also owns a flower-embower- 

 ed home here. Our journey was aimed toward 

 the residence of Mr. Elon Hart, one of the 

 most prominent bee-keepers in Southern Cal- 

 ifornia. He has a nice residence within the 

 city limits ; can sit at ease under his own 

 orange - tree ; has sons and daughters and 

 grandchildren to rise up and call him to din- 

 ner. Mr. Hart has about 150 colonies of bees, 

 and during a greater portion of the year they 

 are kept in the home apiary. The bees get a 

 good start, and sometimes much surplus from 

 the orange and other fruit bloom ; then the 

 apiary is moved to the hills to catch the sage 

 bloom. 



I am inclined to think that Mr. Hart would 

 have struck a good thing if, several years ago, 

 he had started into the manufacture of bee- 

 keepers' supplies, for he is a good manipulator 

 ot tools ; but the only thing in the mechanical 

 line that he has attempted is the manufacture 

 of foundation, of which he has made several 

 tons for the bee-keepers near him. 



Mr. Hart held the office of foul-brood in- 

 spector for Los Angeles County for several 

 years, but he has lately retired from the posi- 

 tion, and there are no complaints rising up 

 against him. 



He is part owner in the right to manufac- 

 ture and sell the Heddon hive for several 

 counties of Southern California; but the man- 

 ufacture and sale have never been pushed ; 

 and now Mr. Hart, instead of using the regu 

 lar Heddon frame, uses a frame with closed 

 ends, but deeper than the Heddon. This 

 seems to be satisfactory, and it is in line with 

 the ideas of several bee-keepers who seem to 

 be level-headed. After experimenting upon 

 several sizes of hives, they have in use a frame 

 about 7 inches in depth, and using nine or 

 ten frames in a hive ; and we are assured that 

 their hives are the very best for the develop- 

 ment of the swarm and the honey crop. But 



MR. HART'S APIARY. 



no hive or bee or bee-keeper has yet been 

 found to flourish during the dry seasons of 



