OCTDBKR, 1922 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



651 



A nice gentleman Avitli a conifortnbh! car 

 picked me up here at home, drove clear down 

 to the city for the busy man, who had gone 

 to the office for two or three hours' work, 

 drove across the city to Hollywood to pick 

 up another interested man, then on through 

 Eagle Eock City to Altadena where we 

 stopped at an apiary to ascertain what its 

 inhabitants thought of aluminum lioney- 

 comb. 1 did not participate in the intrusion 

 into the private habitations of the bees, nor 

 did the supposedly interested gentleman we 

 picked up in Hollywood. Instead he stole 

 a couple of peaches (at least, I did not see 

 him pay for them), j)reseuted me Avith one 

 and retired behind the trunk of a large eu- 

 calyptus tree to enjoy his peach and permit 

 me to do the same with my share of the 

 stolen goods. 



A California peach, unless peeled and 

 sliced into a plate and eaten with a fork, 

 should be enjoyed in private, for it is the 

 largest, juiciest and finest-flavored article of 

 the name I have ever eaten. And don't 

 jump to the conclusion that the juice is a 

 product of copious irrigation, for I believe 

 the latest way is not to irrigate such fruits, 

 but to depend upon cultivation to conserve 

 the moisture of the soil. Although I have 

 lived near the peach belt of Lake Erie all 

 my life heretofore, I must admit that I never 

 realized how fine a peach could be until this 

 summer in California. Our peach tree, 

 within a few feet of nie where T am writing, 

 is so loaded with luscious fruit that in spite 

 of many stout props it resembles a weeping 

 willow. And I just stepped over to it, select- 

 ed a great red-cheeked, golden peach, washed 

 it and ate it, and it was even finer than 

 the stolen Altadena peach. That peach tree 

 is conspiring with the nectarine tree near it 

 to give me many warm hours of canning, for 

 their fruits are ripening together. 



Speaking of California fruits, not even a 

 glowing seed catalog description could do 

 justice to the cantaloupes, Casabas and hon- 

 eydew melons. 



To be strictly honest and to ))rov(> tli.at 1 

 ana unprejudiced, let me confess that I do 

 7iot think such grapes as the Dehnvnre, Niag- 

 ara, Concord and Catawba are quite as largo 

 and fine here as in the East, althougli they 

 are A'cry good. And tomatoes arc a disap- 

 pointment. Having read that tomatoes are 

 a tropical vegetable, I supposed thev would 

 do wonders in this so-called semitropical 

 state. What was my surprise, therefore, to 

 find thnt tomatoes hnve developed tempera- 

 ment in this locality. They blight on the 

 slightest provocation, they run to leaves if 

 you irrigjite them, and sulk and bear snuill 

 toiujitoes if you don't. Tt isn't strange tiiat 

 the price of tomatoes continues ridiculously 

 high for the time of year. 



To return to Altadena, when I had finished 

 the peach I washed my juicy fingers in a 

 trough where some young Thanksgiving din- 

 ers were drinking, ioined tlie other mem- 

 bers of the party who li;id finished tlicir in- 



vestigations and we drove on down to Pasa- 

 dena for lunch. 



After lunch we drove over Devil's Gate 

 dam through Flintridge to La Canada Val- 

 ley through to Sunland and across the desert 

 country beyond where one has a fine view of 

 the gorgeously colored mountains. On our 

 way to San Fernando we passed a hirge 

 commercial rose farm with its thousands of 

 blooming roses, two great reservoirs in which 

 the Los Angeles city water is stored, saw 

 the large aqueducts and the open aqueduct 

 in which the water is aerated as it pours 

 down over a hill, and passed the largest 

 olive ranch in the world. Then we went on 

 through Newhall tunnel into a hot, largely 

 desert valley to Saugus and beyond to the 

 Mint Canyon road. It always impresses me 

 with the foresight of the Californians to 

 ride over such perfect roads as cross these 

 desert valleys. 



We stopped at the homes of several bee- 

 keepers. Don't expect me to tell you about 

 what our party found in reference to the 

 aluminum eomlDS, for I should speedily get 

 beyond my depth; but I believe they found 

 these particular bees gracefully accepting 

 the short cut and their keepers Avell satis- 

 ed. 



Those hot valleys, cut off from the cool- 

 ing ocean breezes by mountain ranges, are 

 interesting and full of possibilities for those 

 who can stand the climate; but the country 

 around Los Angeles never looked more beau- 

 tiful to us than when we finally came back 

 to it with its green trees, its many blos- 

 soming trees (the trees of July with their 

 blue violet-like blossoms are gone, but there 

 are many other trees with bright blossoms 

 now), its flowers and fruits, beautiful homes 

 and cool ocean breezes. It is true we have 

 our hot days, and perhaps I shouldn't men- 

 tion it, but we did have four or five warm 

 nights in succession, regular corn-growing 

 nights. But any old Californian will tell 

 you that those nights were very, very un- 

 usual: in fact, it almost never happened be- 

 fore, and between you and me. there is one 

 eight months' old Californian who hopes it 

 will never happen again. But the warm 

 nights of this summer have been so few 

 that we mav c;ill tlieiii the exception thnt 

 proves the rule. 



Little Cocoanut Cake.. 



% cup. margarin or but- About 1% cups sifted 

 ter or a mixtuvp of pastry flour 



both 3 teaspoons baking pow- 



1 cup granulatpd sucav der 



2 eegs ■'•^ teaspoon salt 

 ■Milk 1 teaspoon vanilla 



treasure tlie margarin by filling a measuring 

 CUD % full of water and adding the margarin until 

 full. Cream the margarin and sugar until smooth. 

 Break the eggs in a measuring cup, break up with 

 a fork and add milk until the cup is full. Then 

 add to the first mixture a little of the egg and 

 milk mixture and a little of the flour, beat until 

 smooth and repeat until all of both are uspd. Add 

 flavor and beat vigorously for one minute and 

 bake in 20 small muffin pans which have been well 

 greased and lightly dusted with flour. They should 

 b;ike in 10 to 15 minutes. Cover with steamed 

 frosting sprinkled liberally with cocoanut. 



