AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



T61 



Season of 1§92— Bees in a Flood, 

 Etc. 



Written for the, American Bee Journal 

 BY W. J. DAVIS, 1ST. 



Dear Old Journal : — After six or 

 seven years of almost honey famine, 

 and when it began to look as though the 

 keeping of bees must be abandoned, we 

 have been favored again with a fair 

 honey yield. 



The season of 1891 was particularly 

 bad in Northwestern Pennsylvania — but 

 little heney, and that of poor quality — 

 and as a consequence the spring of 1892 

 found many empty hives, some small 

 bee-keepers losing every bee, and my 

 own apiary reduced to about 50 colo- 

 nies. Notwithstanding ithe almost con- 

 stant rains during the whole month of 

 May, the colonies left picked up wonder- 

 fully. 



On the night of June 4th, an awful 

 flood of water came pouring down the 

 valley of the Brokenstraw river, destroy- 

 ing quite a number of colonies. My 

 home apiary — the very cream of hun- 

 dreds of colonies selected as the very 

 best for seven years past — would all 

 have been swept away, had I not, with 

 the help of a neighbor, carried them to 

 places of safety. With lanterns we 

 waded the swiftly running and rising 

 waters, and saved all but six. 



At the same time that the Brokenstraw 

 was overflowing all its banks, Oil Creek 

 was carrying death and destruction on 

 its mad waves, to the cities of Titusville 

 and Oil City. The great loss of human 

 life, as well as property, in the two 

 cities mentioned, caused their calamities 

 to be duly chronicled in the daily papers 

 far and near, while the loss of $100,- 

 000 to $150,000 in property, in the 

 valley of the Brokenstraw attracted but 

 little attention, as no human lives were 

 lost. 



Sunday morning, June 5th, dawned 

 bright and warm upon the earth. The 

 locust, the blackberry, and the rasp- 

 berry were beginning to open their 

 nectar-yielding bloom, and the bees 

 sallied forth to secure the tempting 

 sweets ; but, lo ! my bee-garden was a 

 different looking place from the day be- 

 fore. The waters still prevented the 

 placing of the stands, many of which 

 were piled against a picket fence. The 

 only alternation was to shut some of the 

 colonies in with wire-cloth, and others 

 went to work and were allowed to re- 

 main five or six rods from their former 

 location ; so changed was everything that 



they worked from their new location 

 without loss. 



From berry blossoms, clover, bass- 

 wood and buckwheat, I have secured an 

 average of about 40 pounds per colony, 

 of comb honey, and an increase of 100 

 colonies, all heavy in stores of the best 

 quality. So we are thankful that the 

 dark clouds that have so long hung over 

 our chosen pursuit, have shown their 

 " silver lining," and we have some cour- 

 age left to struggle on against adversi- 

 ties. 



Long live the old, reliable American 

 Bee Journal. 



Youngsville, Pa., Nov. 16, 1892. 



Bees In California— Tbeir Intro- 

 duction ; Harbison, et als. 



WritUn for the American Bee Journal 

 BY W. A. PBYAL. 



A Californlan can look back with a 

 commendable degree of satisfaction 

 upon the progress his State has made in 

 apiculture. This industry is more re- 

 cent in the Golden State than most of 

 the other rural pursuits carried on there. 

 We know that pure agriculture was in- 

 troduced into California by the Roman 

 Catholic missionaries some years before 

 the Revolutionary Fathers thought of 

 striking for American independence. 

 These padres planted the vine, the olive, 

 and other fruits, and even grains when 

 the Pacific portion of our vast dominion 

 was unthought of by the denizens of the 

 Eastern part of the American continent. 



But while the pioneers of Californian 

 civilization and agriculture did so much 

 to develop rural economy, they did noth- 

 ing for apiculture which we can thank 

 them for, for we have not heard that 

 they brought the toiling bee with them 

 when they planted the seed of those 

 fruits which have since made California 

 the most world-renowned fruit-land in 

 the world. 



As far as we can learn, the introduc- 

 tion of the honey-bee Is due to a later 

 period, and to secular enterprise. There- 

 fore, while Californians have much to 

 thank the aforesaid missionaries for, 

 they also owe a big debt of gratitude to 

 the men who caused the honey-bee to 

 roam at will through its wonderfully 

 fruitful valleys and balmy-laden hills 

 and mountains. 



As a branch of rural economy, apicul- 

 ture can hardly be said to be second to 

 none other in the State named. It will 

 be unnecessary for me to dwell upon the 



