THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



35 



The Pacific Coast, its Magnitude and 

 Honey Fastnrage. 



" A good land : a land of wheat, and barley, 

 and wines, and pomegranates ; a land of oil 

 olive ; aland flowing with milk and honey." 



RECENTLY 

 there has 

 beeu an item 

 going the 

 rounds of the 

 California pa- 

 pers showing 

 the estimate 

 English peo- 

 ple have of the 

 size of our 

 country. Having in mind their little sea 

 girt Island, the same scale is applied to the 

 measure of other countries. An English- 

 man having a friend in Denver and another 

 in San Francisco, wrote to the Denver friend 

 that seeing he lived so near the S. F. friend 

 he wished he would run in some day and 

 see him. 



Although not quite so far off in relation to 

 distance, our Eastern friends often get 

 things sadly mixed, and fail to appreciate 

 the vast empire we have upon this coast. 

 For several years past the bee-keeping world 

 has had its attention almost wholly called to 

 the wonderful honey yields of California, 

 until this State seems to be the only El Do- 

 rado for honey as well as for gold. 



California is indeed a great common- 

 wealth and worthy all of the songs of praise 

 bestowed upon it, and is every year growing 

 in power and wealth. 



But instead of confining our range of vis- 

 ion to this State alone, let us broaden it and 

 take in the whole Pacific Coast. This view 

 would embrace all of that country beyond 

 the great central basin of Utah, and extend 

 from the British possessions to the extreme 

 end of lower California, a distance of nearly 

 3,000 miles, or nearly equal to the distance 

 from New York to San Francisco. The 

 northern portion of this great area may not 

 be very prolific in its honey production but 

 if there is any deficiency caused by humidi- 

 ty or cold, it is made up the further we move 

 toward the south ; and when we get down 

 well into Mexico we find a bee pasturage 

 that would rival the famous fields of Cuba. 

 The honey resources of this immense region 

 are as varied as the climate itself which gives 



frost and snow and perpetual summer. Of 

 Washington and Oregon we have but limited 

 statistics in relation to honey production, 

 but enough has been given to prove that bees 

 do well for their owners, gathering a fine 

 quality of honey. 



Northern California and especially the 

 north-east part is as yet an undeveloped 

 country and rich in nectar secreting flowers 

 that waste their sweetness from the lack of 

 bees to gather it. The rail roads and the 

 tide of emigration have been directed further 

 south, and this portion of the State has 

 been neglected ; but, recently, attention has 

 been called to the Honey Lake region and 

 we may expect to hear that bee-keepers as 

 well as fruit men are going up to possess the 

 rich fields. Western Nevada and eastern 

 California give us the beautiful alfalfa hon- 

 ey, and it is here that stock raising and 

 honey production go hand in hand and the 

 respective herders of bees and cows live in 

 harmony together. In these rugged valleys 

 of the Sierras alfalfa has proved its efl&ciency 

 as a honey plant, and wherever it is grown 

 under irrigation, the crop never failing, and 

 if there is any business that looks promising 

 for the future it is in the raising of alfalfa 

 for the above purposes. We claim Arizona 

 also as in the Pacific Coast region and al- 

 falfa is commencing to play an important 

 part there for the production of a beautiful 

 grade of honey. For southern California 

 the sages will not play so important a part 

 as they have in the past. Large areas are 

 being cleared up for agricultural purposes 

 and the mountains alone will not furnish a 

 supply to compete with the other grades. 

 Just now lower California is attracting at- 

 tention to its abundant honey flora and the 

 enormous yields wherever the fields have 

 been developed (and the further into Mex- 

 ico we go the better the field seems to be) 

 cause us to look for a great development of 

 those fields in the near future. 



The Pacific Coast is eminently noted for 

 its great enterprises. Bee-keeping has never 

 been able to cope in a business view with 

 these enterprises and bee-keeping since the 

 palmy days that followed the first introduc- 

 tion of the honey bee has been to many a 

 alow method of securing a fortune. Bee- 

 keeping, however, plays an important part 

 as a stepping stone to something higher, for 

 there is no business into which a person can 

 enter with so little capital and be sure of 

 such quick returns. But just as soon as the 



