188 
THE AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEPERS’ JOURNAL. 
yet the story is constantly appearing in print 
in America, Europe — and not long ago even in 
Australia. It has found its way into a peri- 
odical of as high repute as the British Bee Jour- 
nal, and it sometimes seems to have a greater 
vitality for mischief, than when at first started 
out on its hurtful career. 
Prof. Wiley, when called upon to aeeount for 
fabricating such a story, thought it a sufficient 
excuse to say that he meant it only a9 a ‘'scientific 
pleasantry Could any one wish him a harder 
task than over his own signature to try to stop 
the march of such an inexcusnble utterance? 
Could there be a stronger condemnation of his | 
conduct in this matter, than the words of Holy 
Writ ? “ As a madman who casteth firebrands, 
arrows and death, so is the man that deceiveth 
his neighbour and saith, Am I not in sport ? ” — 
Prov. xxvi. 18, 19. 
Dayton, 0., March S, 1880. 
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 
From British Bee Journal. 
The lioney-bee was introduced into Southern 
California in March, 1855, by Mr. O. W. Childs, 
who purchased a few colonies in San Francisco, 
paying 8 ICOO per colony' for them in that port. 
Under his care and management the bees mul- 
tiplied and produced large quantities of comb 
honey, which he sold readily at 81 per pound. 
His success started a boom in the bee business, 
and in three years afterwards nearly every 
American resident in Los Angeles city had 
bees to sell, but the price was a shade 
lower than that paid by Mr. Childs in San 
Francisco, for many were anxious to sell their 
bees at. 85 per colony. The price of honey had 
gone down to 15 cents per pound. Swarms of 
bees had escaped from the apiaries and located 
in hollow trees, clefts in the rocks, and holes 
in the ground, so that the land was literally 
flowing with honey. About this time the 
fruit-growers began to complain that the bees 
destroyed fruit, and most of the bees were re- 
moved to a, distance from the city and located 
in the foothills and at favourable spots, along 
the foot and the sides of the mountains. In 
their new homes the bees produced a better 
quality and a much greater quantity of honey, 
found in the bloom of the black and white 
sages that abounded in the hilly and mountain- 
ous regions, besides the nectar-yielding indi- 
genous shrubs and plants so abundant in 
Southern California in those days. From 40U 
to 500 pounds of honey per hive was considered 
a fair yield ; and as the quantity of honey in- 
creased the price decreased, so that 4 and 5 
cents per pound was about all that good honey 
would command. Most of the honey was 
shipped by sea to foreign countries. ;A sn all 
quantity found a market in New York. The 
crop of honey in 1876 was enormous, thousands 
of tons being gathered in Los Angeles county 
alone, and equally large yields were produced 
in San Diego county, one person being credited 
as the owner of 6000 colonies of bees and pro- 
ducing §50,000 worth of honey and beeswax. 
The next year, 1877, proved most disastrous by 
reason of an extremely dry season. Thousands 
of colonies of bees perished for want of food, 
and the spring of 1878 found many apiaries 
entirely destroyed. Discouragement took a 
fast hold of the average beekeeper, and to such 
an extent, that he quitted the business in dis- 
gust and never embarked in it again. Low 
prices for honey have been the rule since 1876 
until the present year, when, by reason of a 
short crop, and the meagre supply of honey on 
hand, both in California, the Eastern States, 
and the West Indian Islands, the price of honey 
has gone up nearly one-half more than it was 
one year ago, and this right in the face of low- 
priced sugar, an article that has heretofore 
governed the price of honey to a great extent. 
Amongst the men of means now pouring into 
Southern California in search of a salubrious 
climate and a rich soil, that has never failed 
to give a fine crop of fruit in a hundred years, 
no doubt many may be found who have in their 
old homes handled the honey bee, either for 
profit or pleasure — that, pleasure, derived from 
investigating the habits and peculiar instincts 
of the most -wonderful creature in animated 
nature, seemingly endowed with an intelli- 
gence that mail himself can hardly measure. 
To such men, coming, as they mostly do, from 
northern latitudes, where winter care of bees 
is often greater than the care and labour 
bestowed in summer, I would say. Take hold 
of the bee business in this land of sunshine, 
where, on an average, there are not 15 days 
out of the 365 of the year in which the bee is 
not on the wing — in this land of perpetual 
| bloom, where the honey bee may gather nectar 
every day in the year. Take hold with your 
experience, and, keeping step with the progress 
and advancement that permeates every other 
branch of business, help the honey bee to 
gather and store the unlimited quantity of 
nectar that burdens the bloom of millions on 
millions of flowers in this favoured land of 
ours, and safe from the wild winds this wealth 
of sweetness, that would otherwise be for ever 
lost to mankind. The health-seeker can hardly 
find a business so conducive to perfect restor- 
ation of health, and the student of science can 
nowhere, find a field that will afford a more 
interesting and absorbing study than that 
; furnished by the apiary. Very many of our 
prominent beekeepers have turned their at- 
tend ion to town sites and corner lots, quitting 
1 a business that had heretofore yielded them 
health and wealth, without the risks of spe- 
1 dilation, and to-day there are fewer men in 
the business than there were fifteen years ago. 
The orchard and vineyard, the grain field 
and town site have displaced many a splendid 
apiary that was considered a good property 
three or four years ago. Our extensive 
mountain-ranges afford an abundance of bee 
pasture in localities where the plough, the 
