AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



443 



single Italian colony. If the day be 

 propitious, a colony will gather from 10 

 to 12 pounds of honey. There was an 

 active demand for California honey last 

 season, owing to the failure of the East- 

 ern crop. The wholesale price per pound 

 varies from 10 to 12 cents for that in 

 the comb, and 5 to 6 cents for the best 

 extracted. In Wartham Canyon, near 

 Fresno, the owner of a large apiary 

 gathered 80 tons of honey in one Sum-- 

 mer. Half of this he extracted and put 

 up in 5 and 10 pound cans, before send- 

 ing it to New Mexico and the territories. 



those on bottom-lands, have taken a hint 

 therefrom, and cultivated fields of lucern 

 near their apiaries. It renews its blos- 

 soms after every re-current cutting of 

 the stalks, thus providing a continuous 

 feast for the bees. No caprice of the 

 season can rob them of the crystalline 

 globule hid in each tiny chalice. They 

 dip into it with an eager, confident air 

 delightful to their master, who looks on 

 with a deep serenity ; such active con- 

 tentment augurs a bountiful increase of 

 stores, and the future hides her face in 

 roseate draperies. 



A LILLIPUTIAN CITY NEAR SANTA BARBARA.— PHOTOGRAPHED BY WATKINS. 



From early Spring until far in Autumn 

 the country in this vicinity is an endless 

 garden plat, whose nectar-laden blooms 

 rapidly succeed each other in unnum- 

 bered diversities of form and hue. 



Besides wild pastures of sage, buck- 

 wheat, rhubard, honeysuckle, and ceano- 

 thus, there are grown acres of that 

 admirable forage plant lucern, familiarly 

 known by its Spanish name of alfalfa. 

 Its purple heads arouse a passion of 

 acquisitiveness in the bees. They crowd 

 upon them in advance of the sun, and 

 not till latest twilight do the tireless 

 wanderers reluctantly drag their burden 

 of sweets homeward. 



Since the general introduction of 

 alfalfa into Colorudo, the honey industry 

 there has become conspicuously profit- 

 able. California' bee-men, particularly 



The strip of country along the Sierras 

 lying within the eastern boundaries of 

 the State, has excellent bee-pastures, 

 with an altitude of 5,000 feet above the 

 sea level. Snow sometimes falls here to 

 a depth of 10 or 15 feet, but Spring 

 usually opens out with almost tropical 

 warmth and brilliancy. Then the bees 

 search the mountain swales for the 

 downy catkins of the willow, the sunny 

 exposures for the delicate pea-flowers of 

 the cercis, and the dry shelves of the 

 steeps where the red arms of the manza- 

 nita swing their pendulous pink cups. 



Later on they visit the sandy levels, 

 where dwarf phlox flames the June days 

 through ; while in July and August every 

 busy worker devotes itself to the Alpine 

 sage, which thrusts its golden spikes 

 from bramble brake and gorge. Each 



