AMERICAN BEE JOURNAE. 



489 



Bcc=Culture in California. 



The following article is from the pen of 

 Ninetta Earaes, and was written for the 

 Overland Mnntlily, " the Representative 

 Magazine of the Pacific Coast," an ad- 

 vertisement of which may be found on 

 another page. . The engravings are used 

 by courtesy of the publishers of the 

 Overland. These must have made quite 

 plain to its readers many interesting 

 things about the honey-product of that 

 " land of sunshine and flowers." 



Over forty years ago, in a statement 

 made to Congress of his investigations 

 on the Pacific Coast, Gen. Fremont ex- 



In conformity with such erroneous 

 impressions, the first extensive apiaries 

 of the coast were established along the 

 Sacramento River. This precinct is still 

 prolific of honey, as statistics show that 

 in 1887 there were shipped by rail from 

 the city of Sacramento upwards of 

 100,000 pounds, nearly half of which 

 found an Eastern market. 



To-day, however, the typical bee- 

 ranch of California occupies the high, 

 gravelly ground of her foothills. At all 

 seasons these elevations are bristling 

 and fragrant with chaparral, or smoothed 

 into velvety softness by lapping mats of 

 clover and alfilerilla. This vegetation 

 furnishes almost inexhaustible forage 

 for bees. In fact, no month, in these 

 sections, is wholly devoid of honey-pro- 

 ducing plants. Here one is sure to run 



TWIN-OAKS APIARY, LOS ANGELES.— PHOTOGRAPHED BY BUTTERFIELD. 



pressed the belief that the honey-bee 

 could not exist west of the Sierra Neva- 

 das. This renowned explorer but shared 

 a prevalent opinion, based on the cli- 

 matic conditions of a country whose 

 rainless Summers seemed to imply a uni- 

 versal absence of the flora essential to 

 insects of the Mellifera order. 



As late as the year 1865, an able 

 writer on California's resources, unhesi- 

 tatingly declared: "A farmer In this 

 State who would successfully keep bees, 

 must cultivate such plants as will bloom 

 in the long, dry Summers. The hives 

 should be set near a river or moist low- 

 land. In the wide valleys, and on the 

 mountains,many bees perish after the first 

 months of Spring, unless allowed all the 

 honey they have previously gathered." 



across Lilliputian cities of hives, dotting 

 sagey slopes, or scattered about the 

 grateful shade of canyons, which open 

 their arms to the opulent plains below. 



In March, 18-53, the first bees were 

 brought to California. A traveler cross- 

 ing the Isthmus on his way to this State, 

 purchased 12 colonies at Aspinwall, and 

 landed them safely in wSan Francisco. 

 During the ensuing Winter, the colonies 

 dwindled to one, which was removed to 

 San Jose in the Spring. Here, in the 

 valley of Santa Clara, with its prodigal 

 provision of honey-hearted blossoms, the , 

 bees thrived and multiplied rapidly. Col- 

 onies sold for $100 each, and honey 

 at wholesale from $2 to $4 per pound. 



Spurred by these phenomenal prices, 

 an enterprising neighbor immediately 



