748 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 1 



fore coucludes in a recent report that the 

 McEvoy treatment, after all, is the only re- 

 liable one for the average person to use. 



LUMBER FOR HIVES. 



Some Interesting Data on the Way Lumber is be- 



in$r Cut and Exported from this Country; 



the Giant Trees ; California Redwood. 



BY W. A. PRYAL. 



The editorial remarks in Gleanings of 

 May 15, concerning- the destruction of Mich- 

 igan's pine forests, were timely and to the 

 point. More should be done by the State 

 and Federal authorities to preserve our 

 timber-trees from wanton destruction. In 

 California, too, in the past, much valuable 

 timber has been ruthlessly ruined. To day 

 government forest-rangers patrol our timber 

 sections and thereby save them to quite an 

 extent. 



A writer in the April number of the Re- 

 view of Reviews says: "At present there is 

 ruthless destruction and waste going on in 

 southern forests — destruction which, in 

 years to come, will be wondered at. What 

 were, a short time ago, virgin tracts of tim- 

 ber-land, DOW are blackened, desolate bar- 

 rens, swept yearly by forest fires, produc- 

 ing nothing except scrub oak and gnarled 

 little field pines, each year becoming hope- 

 lessly an unprofitable desert." 



And what has been helping to denude the 

 yellow-pine forests of the South and the 

 white-pine forests of Michigan and other 

 Northern States has been playing like havoc 

 elsewhere in the United States. I have 

 seen long stretches of mountain-sides in 

 Santa Cruz Co., California, cleaned of pine 

 and fir trees by forest fires. Only here and 

 there would remain a blackened shaft to 

 tell the tale that once on those grand slopes 

 stately trees reared their tops to heaven. 

 The California redwocd fares better, for it 

 is a sort of salamander among trees. While 

 the fire-fiend is not so apt to do it any last- 

 ing harm, still the vandal woodman too oft- 

 en depredates the sacred precincts where 

 it grows. Too o't, I say, its noble form is 

 laid prone upon the hillside there to decay, 

 all for the reason that the timber hunter 

 wanted to get a few feet of the straight- 

 grained wood from its trunk for shakes, 

 shingles, railroad ties, or "split" rails. 

 The portion that would make boards with 

 but few knots is left to rot or burn. 



The present consumption of timber for do- 

 mes' ic use and fDr export trade in the Unit- 



ed States is something astounding. Few 

 persons have any adequate conception of the 

 output of our kimber-mills. The writer 

 above referred to states that " the output of 

 Southern yellow-pine mills during 1902 was 

 over 9,500,000,000 superficial feet . . . and 

 that if this lumber were in the form of boards 

 one inch thick and one foot wide, and these 

 boards were put end to end, they would 

 form a continuous belt running from the 

 earth to the moon over seven times." Add 

 to this the output from the remainder of the 

 country, and what a vast quantity of lum- 

 ber itmustbel We are living too fast — yea, 

 we are consuming the blessings given us. 

 at a rate that may leave future generations 

 to sit out in the cold and freeze to death. 



The great lumber section of this country 

 at the present time is in the North > est — 

 Washington, Oregon, and the northern por- 

 tion of California, including a narrow strip 

 extending down the Sierra Nevadas into 

 Southern California. It is to this portion 

 of the United States that the East is looking 

 for its future supply of building material. 

 It has caused more than one railroad mag- 

 nate to extend his bands of steel to the Pa- 

 cific, there to tap the pine forests. To-day 

 railroads are being built into the redwood 

 forests of California. Until recently the 

 trade was satisfied with what would come 

 to market by coasting vessels. 



And now across the continent comes the 

 question, "What shall we bee-keepers of 

 the East make our hives of when our sup- 

 ply of white pine is exhausted? " To this 

 Californians can answer, " We can give 

 you the finest hive material in the world. 

 We have two kinds of wood to offer you, but 

 our redwood is the best of all." Yes, and 

 it is to be had in abundance. As is pretty 

 well known, this tree is to be found in 

 Northern California along the coast. I 

 have often thought it a shame that so fine a 

 wood should be used for hive material. But 

 why should we hesitate to convert it into 

 hives when the Californian uses it for pig- 

 stys, hen-coops, watering- troughs, wine- 

 vats — in short, every thing that he uses on 

 the ranch, orchard, vineyard, mine, and 

 factory is made out of this great utility 

 wood. It is an easy wood to work, and it 

 is still sold at a reasonable price. It forms 

 the shingles that shelter the Californian 

 from the elements above; it makes the mud- 

 sills that support the house as well as the 

 rustic who encloses it about; and when the 

 time comes for his worn-out remains to be 

 put in their last resting-place, a redwood 

 casket becomes his final home. W^hat a 

 generous wood I what a glorious and all- 

 seeing Providence, to provide so liberally 

 for the inhabitants of the Sunset Land! It 

 would seem that it was no afterthought of 

 the Creator in thus placing forests of 8U3h 

 valuable wood in what may be said to be 

 the last great land thrown open to civilized 

 man. There, half a century ago, were dis- 

 covered trees that were bigger before Adam 

 was created than were the trees the aver 

 age man sees in his daily walks, if we can 



