1899 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



793 



and electricity are the powers applied; and 

 what nice streams are poured out upon the 

 thirsty land ! and what nice fields of alfalfa 

 were growing ! 



"Why, Bro. Brodbeck," said I, "it is only 

 a question of time when this whole valley will 

 be under cultivation, and thousands of acres 

 of alfalfa will be grown ; and then, instead of 

 there being no bees down here in the valley, 

 there will be many apiaries." 



APIARY IN THE' SAN GABRIEL CANYON. 



"Yes," said Mr. Brodbeck ; "then see the 

 long avenues of gum-trees already here. This 

 will certainly be a paradise for bee-keepers 

 some time." 



We camped that night in the mouth of the 

 San Gabriel Canyon, and near one of those 

 pumping-plants. A company had dammed 

 the river here, and they were pumping a large 

 stream of water, and sending it in pipes to the 

 valley; but there is not a drop of water in 

 sight in the river — nothing but great bould- 

 ers, and no signs of a dam. Back 

 east we build a dam across a stream 

 and depend upon the overflow ; 

 but conditions are different here. 

 The water follows along the bed 

 rock, and in this case it is 80 feet 

 from the surface. A well was first 

 sunk — they call it a shaft here — 

 then a tunnel is cut across the 

 river upon the bed-rock, and a 

 dam the whole length of the tun- 

 nel. Of course, the river is 

 dammed, and there are no signs 

 of it upon the surface. 



The first bee-ranch we encoun- 

 tered was near the pumping plant, 

 and is owned by Clarence A. Hoag. 

 Clarence said he had kept bees 

 several years ; and while he had 

 been living a bachelor's life he 

 had experienced very good luck, 

 and much quiet and happiness ; 

 but he was married a few years 

 ago, and somehow since that time 

 dry seasons had been the order; 

 and to keep his family alive he 

 had to rustle into other work, and 

 was then working in that tunnel, 

 eighty feet under ground, on the night shift. 

 He looked somewhat sad and dilapidated, 

 and I could imagine how he would yearn for 

 those bachelor days, when his wife would 

 arouse him in the night and say, "Clarence, 

 dear, it is time for you to rustle into that hole 

 in the ground." But, a-lack-a-day ! bachelor 

 bee-keepers have not much peace of mind 



themselves during these dry seasons. Mr. 

 Hoag had lost quite a number of his colonies, 

 and was evidently following the plan of al- 

 lowing the fittest to survive. I suppose that, 

 owing to the fact that there was no end of 

 stones in the wash just below the apiary, 

 there was a whole wheelbarrow load upon 

 every hive. 



Several miles up the canyon we struck an- 

 other bee-man. Mr. Porter had lived in the 

 canyon 25 years ; had usually se- 

 cured 8 tons of honey every year 

 from his 100 colonies ; but for the 

 past five years he had taken no- 

 thing ; and during the past two 

 years he had lost three-fourths of 

 his bees, and was still losing. Mr. 

 Porter did not seem to be anxious 

 to talk about his bees, and he was, 

 perhaps, excusable under the cir- 

 cumstances ; but he had one thing 

 on his ranch that he could brag 

 about, and that was a fine spring of 

 water. 

 "Say, gentlemen," said he, " go right down 

 over the river bank and you will find the best 

 water you ever drank. It is better than all 

 the beer in Los Angeles." 



I agreed with him promptly there, even be- 

 fore I drank the water; for any kind of water 

 is better than beer. Mr. Brodbeck is getting 

 to be quite a temperance man too. Of course, 

 I suppose he always favored temperance ; 

 but to tempt him I offered to treat at every 

 saloon we passed upon the trip ; but he stead- 



a hold-up. 



ily refused, and even hinted that he would 

 vote the Prohibition ticket next fall. No fleas 

 on Bro. Brodbeck that time, sure. 



The San Gabriel Canyon has the worst road 

 in seven counties. It is very well to have a 

 road paved with stones ; but when they are 

 boulders of various sizes, the frolicsome way a 

 wagon jolts along is extremely irksome, and I 



