848 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



November, 1917 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



Motoring thru California 



For a quarter of a century I did my 

 traveling' by rail, except one trip down the 

 Sacramento River by boat and another up 

 the San Joaquin by like conveyance. At 

 another time I journeyed up tha rugged 

 northern coast counties in a two-wheeled 

 rig drawn by a jointo bronco. This was 

 mostly in company with the late J. H. 

 Martin, known by his writings in Glean- 

 ings as the " Rambler." Three years ago, 

 having more leisure than formerly, I decid- 

 ed to see California in bigger chunks tlian 

 I had hitherto; therefore I bought an auto- 

 mobile; and, feeling as independent as any 

 railroad president, I began my travels. 



E. T. Flanagan, formerly of Texas, but now of 

 San Gabriel, Cal. 



On our first run south we also visited 

 E. T. Flanagan, from whom I had previous- 

 ly purchased gladiolus bulbs while he was 

 living in Illinois. He is a Virginian by 

 birth, I believe, but lived many years in 

 Texas, where he had large apiaries. For 

 years lie was an apiarist and dealer in bee- 

 supplies at Belleville, 111., but now is prac- 

 tically out of the bee-game, keeping bees 

 only for the honey they supply his table. 



While motoring to San Diego I came 

 across an apiary on the roadside just after 



An apiary on the Mexican border in California 

 to which the bees undoubtedly smuggled honey across 

 the line. 



emerging from Boquet Canyon, in Los An- 

 geles County, where there was a small wind- 

 mill pumping a li/j-in- stream into a barrel. 

 At the discharge end of the pipe a gTain- 

 saek had been tied, and draped in such a 

 way that it carried the flowing water to the 

 edges of the aforesaid barrel, some entering 

 it, and more, I suppose, running down the 

 exterior and the wood-work below. All 

 over this water-drenched surface there was 

 a mass of bees. They were literally falling 

 over each other in their mad scramble to 

 suck up a fill of the water. The day was a 

 hot July one, and, I presume, there was no 

 other water nearer than a mile or so, for 

 we had not seen much in the lower part of 

 the canyon we had left. No attempt was 

 made to regulate the supply. It went trick- 

 ling and dripping to the ground, except 

 some which was piped to the house several 

 hundred yards awav. 



Oakland, Cal. " W. A. Pryal. 



Nothing better than a' piece of wet burlap to 

 vide water for Lues. 



