764 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 15 



Only when the seasons are personified should 

 they have capitals. The same correspondent 

 suggests that all slang be omitted from the 

 bee journals. There is slang and slang. 

 Some so-called slang is too coarse for print, 

 while other slangy expressions are so directly 

 to the point that they soon become univer- 

 sally adopted. The slang of to-day is the 

 language of to-morrow. It is easy to use 

 slang to too great an extent. In descriptive 

 matter, such as the bee journals use mostly, 

 plain and direct language is the best. We 

 expect a good joke in nearly every sentence 

 a Hasty writes, but none at all from a Doo- 

 little; and yet each is a model writer in his 

 way. 



CLEANINCSfROM m PACIFIC COAST 



^ By Prof.A1J.Gook. Pouaoha C01.1.EC.E. Cal. 



ARID REGIONS. 



As some of our most excellent bee locali- 

 ties are in arid regions, these sections be- 

 come of more than ordinary interest to bee- 

 keepers. By ' ' arid regions ' ' we refer to 

 those with limited rainfall. Different writ- 

 ers place the limit at varying amounts; but 

 I should say that any country that has an 

 average rainfall of less than 20 inches— some 

 put it at 25, others at 30— might very prop- 

 erly be regarded as arid. 



Another definition for an arid region might 

 be one where general farming could be car- 

 ried on only through irrigation. There are 

 many arid localities in our country included 

 in the plateau regions, or region of the great 

 parks— Colorado, part of Utah and New 

 Mexico, etc. —the Basin region, that section 

 of our country between the Rocky Moun- 

 tains and the Sierra Nevada, including Ne- 

 vada, Utah, and Arizona, and the southern 

 part of California. It is true that in these 

 countries there is sufficiefit rainfall to grow 

 a grain crop without irrigation, though even 

 this is uncertain, for often the rainfall is so 

 slight that there is not enough moisture in 

 the ground to carry the crop through. 



There are some striking peculiarities in 

 the soils of arid regions. There is always 

 likely to be in our country, and, in fact, in 

 all countries, a gi'eat deal of native fertility 

 in the soil unless it has been washed out. 

 Of course, it has not been washed out in 

 arid regions, and so those who have not 

 been used to such soils are always surpris- 

 ed, upon first examination, to note their ex- 

 ceeding fertility. These soils are not only 

 very rich but are often very deep. I heard 

 Dr. Hilgard remark once, facetiously, that 

 the Southern Cahfornia farmer is a very 

 fortunate man, for, although he purchased 

 but a single farm, he would have several, 

 each on top of the other. It is well known 

 that in the East we often entirely destroy 



the fertility of our soil if we drag the sub- 

 soil to the top. I had an interesting expe- 

 rience on my place here at Claremont. Al- 

 though I graded my lots down some feet, I 

 found that the entire lot, after the grading, 

 was wonderfully productive. In arid re- 

 gions, then, if we only have water, we usu- 

 ally find that we can count on wondrous fer- 

 tility. This is, perhaps, the greatest reason 

 why, with plenty of water, agriculture is so 

 profitable in arid districts. 



VEGETATION IN ARID CLIMES. 



Every student of plants is aware of the 

 great amount of transpiration that takes 

 place in the growing of any of our farm 

 crops. I have seen the statement that a 

 single rank crop of red clover or alfalfa 

 would carry off, through transpiration, six 

 inches of rainfall. We can see, then, that 

 it would be greatly to their advantage in an 

 arid region if the plants could in some way 

 lessen this transpiration. By "transpira- 

 tion " we mean the moisture sent off by the 

 leaves, and thus lost to the plant and soil. 

 It is very interesting, in studying the plants 

 of an arid region, to see how they have 

 managed, if we may so speak, to lessen this 

 loss of water. It is the leaves, or foliage, 

 that carry on transpiration. In all of the 

 yuccas and cacti we have no foliage, and 

 the stems do the work of leaves. Here, 

 then, the surface is reduced to the limit, 

 and this forai of vegetation can endure the 

 greatest excess of drouth. We understand, 

 then, why we see the great cacti in the des- 

 erts of our mid-continent. In humid re- 

 gions the leaves are broad, as this fosters 

 transpiration and encourages growth, for 

 here water is plenteous. In arid regions, on 

 the other hand, the leaves are reduced in 

 size, and often finely divided, and thus 

 again we have the leaf surface at a mini- 

 mum. In other cases we find the leaves 

 varnished, and often very viscid, both of 

 which conditions lessen transpiration, and 

 so save the plants in time of extremely dry 

 spells. 



Another way that this same result is ac- 

 complished is by fine hairs or minute scales 

 on the plant, which serve greatly, without 

 doubt, in many cases, to lessen transpira- 

 tion and conserve the moisture. This ex- 

 plains the white appearance of white sage 

 and many other plants of arid districts. 



There is just one other provision that I 

 think of that works toward this same end. 

 Of course, the direct rays of the sun would 

 hasten transpiration ; therefore we often 

 find the leaves turned so that their edge 

 rather than their face may be exposed to 

 the direct sunlight. 



PLANT ECCENTRICITIES IN ARID REGIONS. 



When I first came to California I was con- 

 stantly surprised at the curious ways of 

 many of our plants, as they seemed to act 

 almost as though intelligence might direct 

 them. We have only to remember that, in 

 all arid regions, vegetation at certain sea- 

 sons would be very slight. Perennial plants, 

 unless remarkable, could not exist; so plant- 



