THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



489 



All the seasons of the great plain 

 are warm or temperate, and bee- 

 flowers are never wholly wanting ; 

 bnt the grand springtime— theannual 

 resnrrection— is governed by the 

 rains, which nsually set in abont the 

 middle of December or the beginning 

 of January. Tlien tlie seeds, that for 

 six montlis have lain on tlie ground 

 dry and fresh as if they had been 

 gathered into barns, at once unfold 

 their treasured life. The general 

 brown and purple of tlie ground, and 

 the dead vegetation of the preceding 

 year, give place to the green of 

 mosses and liverworts and myriads of 

 young leaves. Then one species af- 

 tei another comes into (lower, gradu- 

 ally overspreading the green with 

 yellow and purple, which lasts until 

 May. 



The " rainy season " is by no means 

 a gloomy, foggy period of constant 

 cloudiness and rain. Nowhere else in 

 North America, perhaps in the world, 

 are the months of December, Janu- 

 ary, February and March so full of 

 bland, plant-budding sunshine. Re- 

 ferring to my notes of the winter and 

 spring of 1S7S-9, every day of wliich I 

 spent out-of-doors, on that section of 

 the plain lying between the Tuolumne 

 and iMerced rivers, 1 (ind that the 

 first rain of tlie season fell on the 18th 

 of December. January had only si.x 

 rainy days— that is, days on which 

 rainfell ;"February tliree, Marcli live, 

 April three, and May thr&e, complet- 

 ing the so-called raiiiy season, which 

 was about an average one. The ordi- 

 nary rain storm of this region is sel- 

 dom very cold or violent. The winds, 

 which in settled weather C(«ue from 

 the north-east, veer round into tlie 

 opposite direction, the sky hlls gradu- 

 ally and evenly with one general 

 cloud, from which the rain falls 

 steadily, often for several days in 

 succession, at a temperature of about 

 45-' or 50^. 



More than 7.5 per cent, of all the 

 rain of this season came from the 

 soutli-east. One magnificent storm 

 from the nortli-west fell on the 2Ist 

 of March. A massive, round-browed 

 cloud came swelling and tliumlering 

 over the flowery plain in most impos- 

 ing majesty, its mossy front burning 

 white and purple in the full blaze of 

 the sun, while warm rain poured 

 from its ample fountains like a cata- 

 ract, beating down flowers and bees, 

 and flooding the dry water-courses as 

 suddenly as those of Nevada are 

 flooded by " cloud-bursts." Jkit in 

 less than half an hour not a trace of 

 the heavy mountain-like cloud-struc- 

 ture was left in the sky, and the bees 

 were on the wing as if nothing more 

 gratefully refreshing could have been 

 sent them. 



. By the end of January four plants 

 were in flower, and live or six mosses 

 had already adjusted their lioods and 

 were in the piiiue of life, but the 

 flowers were not suflicientiy numer- 

 ous to affect greatly the general green 

 of the young leaves. Violets made 

 their appearance on the first week of 

 February, and toward the end of this 

 month tlie warmer portions of the 

 plain were already golden with myri- 

 ads of the flowers of rayed compositiu. 



This was the full spring time. New 

 species bloomed every day. The sun- 

 shine grew warmer and riclier. The 

 air became more tuneful from day tp 

 day with humming wings, and sweeter 

 with the fragrance of tlie opening 

 flowers. Ants were getting ready for 

 their summer work, rubbing their 

 benumbed limbs, and sunning them- 

 selves on the husk-piles before their 

 doors, and spiders were busy mending 

 their old webs or weaving new ones. 



In March, vegetation was more than 

 doubled in (iejitli and splendor ; clay- 

 tonia, calandrinia, a large white gilia, 

 and two nemophilas were in bloom, 

 together with :i liost of yellow com- 

 posilaj, tall enough to bend in the 

 wind and show wavering ripples of 

 shade. 



In April, plant-life as a whole 

 reached its greatest height, and the 

 plain over all its varied surface was 

 mantled with a close furred plush of 

 purple and golden corollas. By the 

 end of this month most of tlie species 

 had ripened their seeds, but nnde- 

 cayed, still seemed to be in bloom 

 from the numerous corolla-like invol- 

 ucres and whorls of chaffy scales of 

 the compositie. In May, the bees 

 found only a few deep-set liliaceous 

 plants and eriogonums in flower. 



June, July, August and September 

 was the season of rest and sleep — the 

 winter of dry heat, followed in Octo- 

 ber by a second outburst of bloom at 

 the very driest time of the year. 

 Then, after tlie shrunken mass of 

 leaves and stalks of the dead vegeta- 

 tion crinkle and turn to dust beneath 

 the foot, as if it had been baked in 

 an oven, Hemizonia viryata, a slender, 

 unobtrusive little plant, from six 

 inches to three feet high, suddenly 

 makes its appearance in patches miles 

 in extent, like a resurrection of the 

 bloom of xVpril. I have counted up- 

 ward of three thousand flowers, fs of 

 an inch in diameter, on asiaigleplant. 

 Both leaves and stems are so slender 

 as to be nearly invisible amid so 

 showy a multitude of flowers. The 

 ray and disk flowers are both yellow, 

 the stamens purple, the texture of the 

 rays being rich and velvety, like the 

 petals of garden pansies. The pre- 

 vailing wind turns all the heads 

 round to the south-east, so that in 

 facing north-westward we have the 

 flowers looking us in the face. In 

 our estimation, this little plant, the 

 last- born of the brilliant host of com- 

 posita? that gliirify the plain, is the 

 most interesting of all. It remains 

 in flower until November, uniting 

 witli two or tliree species of wiry 

 eriogonums, wliieli continue the floral 

 chain around December to the spring 

 flowers of January. Thus, although 

 tlie main bloom and honey season is 

 only about three months long, the 

 floral circle, however thin around 

 some of the hot, rainless months, is 

 never completely broken. 



How long the various species of 

 wild bees have lived in this honey- 

 garden nobody knows ; probably ever 

 since the main body of the present 

 flora gained possession of the land, 

 toward the close of the glacial period. 

 Tlie lirst brown honey bees brought 

 to California are said to have arrived 



in San Francisco in March, 18.53. A 

 bee-keeper by the name of Slielton 

 purchased a lor, consisting of 12 colo- 

 nies, from some one at Aspinwall, 

 who had brouglit thein from New 

 York. All the hives contained bees 

 when landed at San Francisco, but 

 they finally dwindled to one colony, 

 which was taken to San Jose. The 

 little emigrants flourished and multi- 

 plied in the bountiful pastures of the 

 Santa Clara valley, sendingoff swarms 

 the first season. 



Local Convention Directory. 



1^*>*'J. Time and Place oj Meeting. 



Auk. 10— Maine State, at Harmony, Maine. 



Wm. Iloyt, Sec. 

 Sept. S-N. W. 111. and S. W. Wis., at Rockton, 111. 



Jonathan Stewart, Sec. 

 Oct. 3-6 -North American, at Cincinnati, O. 



Dr. Ehrlck Parmly, Sec, New York City. 

 5— Kentucky Union, at Shelbyville, Ky. 



G. W. Uemuree, Sec, Christiansburg, Ky, 

 Tuscarawas Valley, at Newcomerstown, O. 

 J. A. Bncklew, Sec, Clarks, O. 



^tW~ In order to have this table complete, Secre* 

 tarjes are requested to forward full particulars of 

 time and place of future meetinKs.— En. 



The National Convention. 



The following is the official call of 

 the Secretary, Dr. Parmly, for the 

 Convention of the North American 

 Bee-Keepers' Society. We hope there 

 will be a large attendance : 



The North American Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Society will hold their 13th an- 

 nual meeting at Washington Park 

 Hall, Cincinnati, O., across Washing- 

 ton Park from the Exposition build- 

 ing. Time, Oct. 3rd to 5tli, 1.S82. 

 First session Tuesday, 10 a. in., Oct. 

 3. We are encouraged to hope that 

 this will be a very profitable meeting, 

 as we are promised papers from, and 

 the presence of, a large number of 

 our most prominent bee-keepers both 

 in the United States and Canada, and 

 essays and implements of the apiary 

 are expected from abroad to add to 

 the knowledge imparted by the re- 

 search and inventive skill and meth- 

 ods of our countrymen. 



Eaiiicic Parmly, Sec. 



New York, July 12, 1882. 



1^ The bee-keepers of Boone Co., 

 Indiana, are invited to meet in Leba- 

 non, at Barton Iliggins' office, over 

 Jaskson's bee hive, on the west side 

 of tlie square, to organize an auxiliary 

 County Association, on Aug. 10, 1882. 



George J. Frey, ) 



Ora Kxowlton, y Executive Com. 



3 AS. H. Orear, } 



1^" The summer's meeting of the 

 Cortland Union Bee-Keepers" Asso- 

 ciation, will be held in Cortland, N, 

 Y., on Tuesday, Aug. 8, 1882. 



M. C. Bean, Sec. 



