a river, the Sacramento from the north, the San Joaquin from the south, with noble tributaries sweeping in at right angles from the mountains, dividing the plain into sections fringed with trees.

5. My first view of this central garden, the most extensive and best defined of all the bee-pastures of the State, was obtained from the summit of the Pacheco pass, about the middle of April, 1868, when it was rejoicing in all its glory. Along the eastern horizon rose the mighty Sierra, white and jaggéd with snowy peaks along the top, dark with forests in the middle region, and purple with grasses and flowers and chaparral at the base, and blending gracefully in smooth hill undulations into the glowing yellow plain, which, like a cloth of gold, was seen flowing away to the north and south as far as the eye could reach: hazy and vanishing in the distance, distinct as a new map along the foot-hills at my feet-the sunny sky arching over all.

6. Descending the eastern slopes of the Coast Range, through beds of gilias and lupines, and around many a breezy hillock and bush-crowned headland, I at length waded out into the midst of the glorious field of gold. All the ground was covered, not with grass and green leaves, but with radiant corollas, about ankle-deep next the foot-hills, knee-deep or more five or six miles out. 7. Sauntering in any direction, hundreds of these happy sun-plants brushed against my feet at every step, and closed over them as if I were wading in liquid gold. The air was sweet with fragrance; the larks sang their blessed songs, rising on the wing as I advanced, then sinking out of sight in the polleny sod, while myriads of wild bees stirred the lower air with their monotonous hum-monotonous, yet forever fresh and sweet as everyday sunshine.

8. How long the various species of wild bees have lived in this honey-garden nobody knows; probably ever

since the main body of the present flora gained possession of the land, toward the close of the glacial period. The first brown honey-bees brought to California are said to have arrived in San Francisco in March, 1853. The little emigrants flourished and multiplied in the bountiful pastures of the Santa Clara Valley, sending off three swarms the first season. Two years later a single swarm was taken over from San Jose, and let fly in the Great Central Plain.

9. The present condition of the Sacramento Basin is very different from that which we have sketched. The arch-destroyers have been the shepherds with their flocks of hoofed locusts, sweeping over the ground like a fire. The bee-pastures of the coast ranges last longer and are far more varied than those of the great plain, on account of differences of soil and climate, moisture and shade.

10. 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 elevations, each with its own peculiar climate and exposure, possess the required conditions for the development of species and families of plants widely varied.

DEFINITIONS.

co rol'la, the most conspicuous
part of the flower, usually
brightly colored.

man za ni'ta, an evergreen shrub
of the heath family, with red
bark, and drooping clusters of
white or pink flowers.
pol'len y, abounding with the dust

of the anthers of flowers. ru'bus, a genus of the rose family of plants. The kinds here referred to are blackberries and thimble-berries.

chap ar ral', a thicket of low ever-
green shrubs.

ne moph'i la, a genus of low herbs
with usually blue flowers.
cas til le'ia, a genus of plants pop-
ularly known as squaw-pinks,
or painted-cups.
gil'ia, a genus of plants of many

species, with phlox-like flowers. pe dic u la'ris, a genus of plants resembling castilleia.

com pos'it æ, plants of the sunflower family, as the daisy.

7. THE BEE PASTURES OF CALIFORNIA.

PART II.

1. The Sierra region is the largest of the three main divisions of the bee-lands of the State, and the most regularly varied in its subdivisions, owing to their gradual rise from the level of the Central Plain to the Alpine summits. Up through the forest region, to a height of about nine thousand feet above sea-level, there are ragged patches of manzanita, and five or six species of ceanothus, called deer-brush or California lilac. The pines furnish unlimited quantities of pollen and honeydew.

2. The product of a single tree, ripening its pollen at the right time of the year, would be sufficient for the wants of a whole hive. Along the streams there is a rich growth of lilies, larkspurs, pedicularis, castilleias, and clover. The Alpine region contains the flowery glacier meadows, and countless small gardens in all sorts of places full of flowers.

3. I have seen wild bees and butterflies feeding at a height of thirteen thousand feet above the sea. Many, however, that go up these dangerous heights never come down again. Some, undoubtedly, perish in storms, and I have found thousands lying dead or benumbed on the surface of the glaciers, to which they had perhaps been attracted by the white glare.

4. Bears too, roam the sweet wilderness; and though the California bears have as yet had but little experience with honey-bees, they often succeed in reaching their bountiful stores, and it seems doubtful whether bees themselves enjoy honey with so great a relish. By means of their powerful teeth and claws they can gnaw and tear open almost any hive conveniently accessible. Most honey-bees, however, in search of a home, are wise enough

to make choice of a hollow in a living tree, a considerable distance above the ground, when it is possible.

5. Here they are pretty secure, for though the smaller black and brown bears climb well, they are unable to break into strong hives while compelled to exert themselves to keep from falling, and at the same time to endure the stings of the fighting bees without having their paws free to rub them off. But woe to the black bumble-bees discovered in their mossy mouse-nests in the ground! The bears with a few strokes of their huge paws lay the entire establishment bare, and, before time is given for a general buzz, bees old and young, larvæ, honey, stings, nest, and all, are taken in in one ravishing mouthful.

6. A good many of the so-called bee-ranches of Los Angeles and San Diego counties are still of the rudest pioneer kind imaginable. A man unsuccessful in everything else hears the interesting story of the profits and comforts of bee-keeping, and concludes to try it, buy a few colonies, or gets them from some overstocked ranch on shares, takes them back to the foot of some canyon where the pasturage is fresh, squats on the land, with or without the permission of the owner, sets up his hives, makes a box cabin for himself scarcely bigger than a bee-hive, and awaits his fortune.

7. The Santa Lucia, San Rafael, San Gabriel, San Jacinto, and San Bernardino ranges are almost untouched as yet save by the wild bees. Some idea of their resources, and of the advantages and disadvantages they offer to bee-keepers, may be formed from an excursion. that I made into the San Gabriel range about the beginning of August of "the dry year." This range, containing most of the characteristic features of the other ranges just mentioned, overlooks the Los Angeles vineyards and orange groves from the north, and is more rigidly inaccessible in the ordinary meaning of the word