582 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



High Elevation for Bee Hives. 



EDWARD MOORE. 



Some advise to place tlie hive 2 to 4 

 inches from the surface of the ground, 

 in order that the bees coming home 

 with their heavy load may not rise to 

 the hive, as they would if it was set 

 higher. It is not at all likely that 

 bees in general will fly so low, no mat- 

 ter how they are loaded. When I 

 watch my bees coming in, or going 

 out (as I often do), I think they fly 

 more like 8 or 9 feet from the ground 

 than anything less, rising to it and 

 falling from it, only a few yards from 

 the liive. Compare this with the top 

 of stores, as stated in Cook's Manual. 

 My hives are at least 16 inclies above 

 the surface, and I think I have seen 

 others about the same height ; be- 

 sides, when they are so low they are 

 in the most impure air, composed, as 

 it is. of carbonic acid gas. AVhat 

 height is considered sufficient to keep 

 them clear of that impure air ? or, as 

 the atmosphere in so low a position is 

 poisonous, how are creeping insects 

 and other small animals able to thrive 

 in ity as they are generally unable to 

 be in any other atmosphere. Are they 

 differently constituted V Is tliat which 

 is poisonous to us, good for them ? 

 Decomposition is constantly going on, 

 and, of course, as that goes on in the 

 same proportion is the poisonous gas 

 created. It is reasonable to suppose 

 that where the gas is confined, it is 

 most injurious, and 1 suppose is 

 accounted for to some extent in that 

 way. 



Will some of our scientific men 

 please give the less favored some light 

 on this subject, especially with re- 

 spect to bees, and I shall be glad if it 

 is extended as much as may be con- 

 sidered advisable, to other objects. 



Another thought. How often we 

 hear of bees who have gone off to the 

 bnsh, and I don't remember hearing 

 of any that were not at least several 

 feet up, and may I say this has been 

 their choice. It may have been, in 

 some cases, that they could not find a 

 home nearer terra firma. I speak of 

 bees that are likely to be of service to 

 man. Of course, there are bees that 

 have their nests in the ground, but 

 they are of no value. 



I have a paper before me that tells 

 lis that in Britain alone there are 

 more than 2.50 different species of 

 bees, besides a variety of domesti- 

 cated kinds, also the adding of fresh 

 introductions. Whether these 2-50 

 species build in the earlli, or in walls, 

 or attach their nests to ceilings I do 

 not know. Their habits may be, and 

 most likely are, very much varied, as 

 we know there are some wasps' nests 

 in the ground, some build a kind of 

 nest attached to a spar, and some who 

 are called by the name of mason 

 wasp, because they excavate a hole in 



the wall. I need not try to enlarge on 

 this, as it is likely most intelligent 

 people at least know all I have written 

 on the subject, and more. I see in 

 the number of the Bee Journal 

 dated August 30, which I have re- 

 ceived to-day (Srpt. 2), something 

 about toads preying upon bees. I 

 have had them at my hives in that 

 praying (preying) attitude, and with 

 all the devotional appearance. After 

 driving them away a few times, the 

 little patience I had has been ex- 

 hausted, and I have sent them to 

 Davy Jones', althougli I never could 

 approve of tlieir setting themselves 

 so near my hives, so long as they kept 

 about the garden I would not hurt 

 them. I consider that for reasons of 

 this kind it is better to raise hives at 

 least sufticiently to prevent toads, or 

 any such visitors coming in too close 

 proximity, as I don't think they can 

 climb up the upright leg of the bee- 

 stand. 

 Barrie, Ont., Sept. 2, 1882. 



From the Century. 



The Bee-Pastures of California. 



JOHN MUIR. 



The bee pastures of the coast-ranges 

 last longer and are far more varied 

 than those of the great plain, on ac- 

 count of difference of soil and cli- 

 mate, moisture and shade, etc. Some 

 of the mountains are upward of four 

 thousand feet in height, and small 

 streams and springs, oozy bogs, etc., 

 occur in great abundance and variety 

 in the wooded regions, while open 

 parks flooded with sunshine, and hill- 

 girt valleys lying at different eleva- 

 tions, each with its own peculiar cli- 

 mate and exposure, possess the re- 

 quired conditions for the development 

 of species and families of plants 

 widely varied. 



Next tlie plain there is, first, a series 

 of smooth hills, planted with a rich 

 and showy vegetation that differs but 

 little from the i)lain itself— as if the 

 edge of the plain had been lifted and 

 bent into flowing folds with all its 

 flowers in place, only toned down a 

 little as to their luxuriance, and a few 

 new species introduced such as the 

 hill lupines, mints and gilias. The 

 colors show finely when thus held to 

 view on tlie slopes— patches of red, 

 purple, blue, yellow and white blend- 

 ing around the edges, the whole ap- 

 pearing at a little distance like a map 

 colored in sections. 



Above this lies the park and chapar- 

 ral region, with evergreen oaks 

 planted wide apart, and blooming 

 shrubs from three to ten feet high — 

 manzanita and ceanothus of several 

 species, mixed with rhamnus, cercis, 

 pickeringia, cheaiy, amelanchier, and 

 adeiiostoma, in shaggy, inter-locking 

 thickets, witli many species of ho- 

 sackia, clover, monardella, castilleia, 

 etc., in the openings. 



The main ranges sends out long 

 spurs somewhat parallel to their axes, 

 inclosing level valleys, many of them 

 quite extensive, and containing a 

 great profusion of sun-loving bee- 

 flowers in their wild state ; but these 



are in great part, already lost to the 

 bees by cultivation. 



Nearer the coast are the giant 

 forests of the redwoods, extending 

 from near the Oregon line to Santa 

 Cruz. Beneath the cool, deep shade- 

 of these majestic trees the ground is 

 occupied by ferns, chiefly woodvvardia 

 and aspidiums, with only a few flower- 

 ing plants— oxalis, trientalis, erythro- 

 niuni, fritiUaria, sniilax and other 

 shade-lovers. But all along the red- 

 wood belt there are sunny openings on 

 hill-slopes looking to the south, where 

 the giant trees stand back and give 

 the ground to the small sun-flowers, 

 and the bees. Around the lofty red- 

 wood walls of these little bee-acres 

 there is usually a fringe of chesnut, 

 oak, laurel and madrona, the last of 

 which is a surpassingly beautiful tree, 

 and a great favorite with the bees. 

 The trunks of the largest specimens 

 are seven or eight feet thick and about 

 fifty feet high, the bark crimson and 

 chocolate, the leaves plain, large and 

 glossy, like those of Magnolia c/randi- 

 ^ora, while the flowers are white and 

 urnshaped, in well proportioned pani- 

 cles from five to ten inches long. 

 When in full bloom, a single tree 

 seems to be visited at times by a whole 

 hive of bees at once, and the grand 

 hum of such a multitude of wings, 

 makes the listener guess that more 

 than the ordinary work of honey-win- 

 ning is going on. 



How perfectly enchanting and care 

 obliterating are these withclrawn gar- 

 dens of the woods— long vistas open- 

 ing to the sea— sunshine sifting and 

 pouring upon the flowery ground in a 

 tremulous, shifting mosaic, as the 

 light-ways in the leafy wall open and 

 close with the swaying breeze — shin- 

 ing leaves and flowers, birds and bees,, 

 mingling together in springtime har- 

 mony, and nectarous fragrance ex- 

 haling from a thousand thousand foun- 

 tains! In these balmy, dissolving 

 days, when the deep heart-beats of 

 nature are felt thrilling rocks and 

 trees and everything alike, common 

 business and friends, children and 

 wives, are happily forgotten and even 

 the natural honey-work of bees, and 

 the care of birds for their youngs 

 seem slightly out of place. 



To the northward, in Humboldt and 

 the adjacent counties, whole hill-sides, 

 are covered with rhododendron, mak- 

 ing a glorious melody of bee-bloom 

 in the spring. And the western azelea, 

 hardly less flowery, grows in massy 

 thickets three to eight feet high 

 around the edge of groves and woods, 

 as far south as San Luis Obispo, 

 usually accompanied by manzanita, 

 while the valleys, with their varying 

 moisture and shade, yield a ricE 

 variety of the smaller honey-flowers, 

 sucli as nientha. lycopus, micromeria, 

 audibertia, trichnostema, and other 

 mints, with vacciiiiuni, wild straw- 

 berry, geranium, callas and golden- 

 rod ; and in the cool glens along the 

 stream-banks, where the shade of 

 trees is not too deep spirsea, dogwood, 

 photinia, and calycanthus, and many 

 species of rubus, form interlacing 

 tangles, some portion of which con- 

 tinues in bloom for months. 



Though the coast region was the 



