VOL. XXIII.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., SATURDAY, DEO. 15,1888.
NO. 50
Written for the Indian* Farmer.
California Notes.
BY J   P. HKNDENHalL.
la my notes of July 27th, I spoke of the
foothills of the Sierra Madre mountains
ts a field remarkably rich in bee pasturage Slncethonl have had occasion to
travel over many miles of these foothills,
and am inclined to think there is room
for a million hives instead of the twenty-
five or thirty thousand we now have. The
demand for pure
CALIFORNIA HONEY
is increasing, and prices now are higher
than they were two years ago. If our finest comb honey could be shipped East as
cheaply as the extracted, the demand
would be great. The home demand for
for best grades of comb is large, and the
wholesale price now is 12 to 15 cents per
pound, while the extracted sells at four
to six cents per pound. The extra white
and extra light amber brings the highest
price, and that put on the market in July
or August is the best, or, at least, should
be the best, for the silver sage blossoms in
Jane, and no flower in the world produces
a sweeter honey than the white, or silver
sage.
A lot of 643 cases, or about 80,000 pounds
of extracted honey were shipped from
here the past week,and the previous week
120,000 pounds. In October a shipment
almost as large was made. The entire lot
wasBBfit'M England, by steamer from
Sin Francisco. I am told a nice old bachelor drove into Orange one day the past
rammer with 11 tons, or
TWENTY TWO THOUSAND POUNDS OF HONKY.
So much sweetness was irresistible, and
since then the quiet old bachelor has taken
a help-meet.
Bees swarm about the same time they
do in the Eastern States, and occasionally
a stray swarm flies as late as November.
They find lodgings in all sorts of places,
such as in chimneys,house gibles, porches,
stone piles and even on the large mustard
plants. An Indian ian traveling through the
country the past summer saw a swarm of
bees lodge on a small tree, and like a
thrifty Hoosier set about to capture them.
Not having a box of any sort to put them
n he was somewhat pnzzlrd to know how
to get them home. He happened to have
one of those old-fashioned carpet bags at
hand, a roomy concern that would hold a
bushel. Into this empty bag he hustled
the bees and turned the key on them.
When he arrived at home he hung the bag
of bees on a shade tree and forgot them
for a week or two. The bees found a little hole in the lower corner of the bag.and
thinking their new home quite roomy and
comfortable, they went to work, and by
the time the owner called around bad several pounds of fine honey along the ridge
Pole of the carpet bag. All Mr. Hoosier had
to do was to turn the key, cut out a few
pounds of comb and lock the bag again.
At last accounts the bees were doing well
and storing up sweet nectar for our Indiana friend, at the rate of nearly a pound
•day.
A few weeks ago Mr. J. Ii, Hunt and
brother, of Indianapolis, invited me to
Join them in a trip to
Wilson's peak,
one of the highest points of the S'erra
Madre range, a few miles northeast of
Pasadena. After packing a goodly basket
°f provisions and getting blankets and
overcoats, we set out for Sierra Madre
vUlage.some 15 miles to the east,where the
trail begins. Under a grove of gum trees
*• the foot of .the mountains we took our
t-oon lunch and prepared for a few hours
°f hard climbing. We secured a gooi
donkey from a corral In the village to car-
-7 our provisions, blankets, etc., and at
one o'clock started up the seven or eight
■Bile trail on foot. The trail winds along
*he Bide of the mountain, and makes sev
eral hundred turns before reaching the
top, or the point called Wilson's Peak,
some 6,000 "feet above the sea. At times
the little narrow path seemed quite dangerous. To our left we could look down
2,000 feet or more, and on the right the
mountain rose out of sight. Occasionally
a huge boulder would go tumbling down,
and we could hear it crashing through the
mountain shrubbery and over the stones,
with a sound like muffled thunder. The
mountains are covered in most parts with
a dense shrubbery and gnarled underbrush, making it impossible to travel over
them except on a well worn trail. In
many places are little forests of pine and
fir trees, some ot them four or five feet in
diameter, and over 100 feet in height.
There are millions of feet of lumber in
these mountain forests but it is inaccessible. Five hours of hard travel brought
us to the "notch," where we encamped for
the night. We managed to sleep pretty
well on a bed of brush, in spite of the
thought that a wild cat or bear might be
promenading along our mountain trail.
The following morning,a brisk half hour's
climb brought us to the top of the moun
tain. We arrived at the most favoraole
time of the day, j ast when the sun was at
the proper angle to contribute largely in
enhancing and beautifying thes cene. The
beauteous grandeur with which nature
has so lavishly endowed this most wonderful region suddenly, presented itself in
one
GRAND   PANORAMA.
Pasadena, a few miles to the west, and
some four thousand feet below us looked
like a city of lilliputians, and with the aid
of a good opera-glass I could locate our
house in Los Angeles, some fifteen miles
to the west, which did not look quite as
large as a page of the Indiana Farmer.
Beautiful ranches, stretching away to the
west, and up and down the valley as far
as the eye can reach, contain a luxuriant
growth of orange, lemon, apricot, peach,
grape, pomegranate, fig and almost all
kinds of tropical and semi-tropical fruits,
which attain to great perfection here. The
beautiful landscape is interspersed with
fields of alfalfa, barley, wheat and oats.
Four or five railways are ln view, but it
is difficult to make out moving trains
without the aid of a glass. The fifteen
hundred acres of grapes of the San Oabriel
Wine Co., look like a small garden farm,
and the Sinta Monica hills, which took
me a good hour to climb, looked much
like potato ridges. To the north and east
extending many miles Is one vast panorama of hills, ridges and mountains, rising higher and higher, until cut oft on the
east by "Old Baldy," now covered with a
cap of snow. Deer, bears, wildcats, foxes
and occasionally a mountain lion, roam
over the hills and valleys unmolested.
During the day the air was quite warm,
about 75° in the sun, but in the shade
there was a marked difference, and at
night the air was quite cool, making a
roaring camp fire very desirable. We reluctantly left
THE CAPTIVATING SCENE,
and made the descent in just four hours
and ten minutes, feeling that it was about
the hardest half-day's work we had ever
done.
We read of fearful storms and great
drifts of snow in the Eastern States,and of
some lives lost by the cold. This is quite
different from the weather we have here.
The past month has been remarkably
pleasant—regular Jane weather—and tender flowers are in foil bloom. Not even
the shadow of a frost for Thanksgiving
day.
Daring November we had about three
inches of rain, and the grass has been
growing wonderfully. Gardeners are
busy, and some fruit growers are beginning to.set trees.   This work will be con
tinued until next Miy.   Seems to me this
country is a
PARADISE FOR OARDENERS
and fruit growers. Over 150,000 fruit trees
of various kinds were planted last season
in the vicinity of Los Angeles, and I think
over 200,000 will be set this winter. The
farmers will sow more wheat this season
than usual, and the indications are for
splendid crops of all kinds. Our Chinaman gardener brought us fine strawberries
the 20th of October, and they will begin
to come in again about the middle of December. I saw a few boxes in market today. New peas and string beans are plenty in market, and lettuce,splnach,radishes
etc., we have the year round. Grapes,
pears, plums, quinces and figs are still in
market, but of inferior quality. Persimmons as large as tea cups are plentiful on
the fruit stands, and oranges and lemons
are beginning to ripen. The crop of these
will be very heavy this season.
THANKSGIVING    PRICES
in Los Angeles: Live turkeys 20 and 25
cents a pound; cranberries 15 cts. a quart;
eggs 35 cts. a dozen; butter,best creamery,
40 cts. per pound; choice potatoes 2 cts.,
and sweets VA cts. per pound; grapes 5
cts , pears 5 cts. and apples 3 cts. to 10 cts.
per pound; Washington naval oranges,
select 50 cts. per dozen; English walnuts
10 to 12 cts. per pound; best roller process
flour 151.40 per one fourth barrel; corn
meal 3 cts. per pound; baled hay,all kinds,
65 cts. per 100 pounds; rolled barley, for
feed, one cent per pound; lumber, rough
Oregon pine, or red wood $25 per 1,000;
surfaced, $37.50; shingles $3.60 per 1,000.
Los Angeles, Cal.
Farm Notes.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
The frequency of the articles on various
subjects that appear so regularly in our
agricultural publications,by some of their
gifted contributors, would seem more like
emanating from the brain of theorists
than those engaged in the practical every
day life of the average farmer,and I know
that the idea is very general with the
farming class that many of the frequent
contributions on farm topics and farm
management are made by theorists.
Is it not a fact that if the average farmer
who is engaged in gardening and stock
raising would, should, or more probably
could, put hla plans, successes or failures,
on paper, they would appear in a far different light than what they commonly do?
For it can be said that of all kinds of labor
engaging the attention of mankind none
is more complicated than that of the average farmer.
Where is the farmer that can enumerate
definitely the details of labor to be performed on the farm in the course of a
twelvemonth? So various, and so event-
ful.one part following directly in the path
of another and all so dependent on one
another that it becomes like a vast piece
of machinery, demanding constant attention and skillful management, that all
parts may smoothly work in full harmony
to meet the ends of "standard time."
Miello.
The Philadelphia Times brings the debts
ot European countries together in one
statement. France has the greatest, being
$5,902,800,000, to which must be added
$432,000,000 in life annuities, expiring with
the lives of their owners. "Of the other
European nations the debt of Russia
is the greatest amounting to $3,605,600,000.
Bat Russia has a population of 80,000,000,
while France has but little more than 30,-
000,000. The per capita debt of Russia Is a
little less than $50, while that of France is
nearly $200. The English debt is next in
groBS amount, being $3,665,800 000. Italy
owes 52,226,600,000; Austria, $ 1,857,600,000;
Spain, $1,203,400,000; Prussia, $962,800,000,
and Hungary, $635,600,000."
THE INDIANA FARMER
ONE OF
The Most Practical and Popular Agricultural Journals Published in
TBE WESTERN STATES.
The intenely practical character
of the Indiana Farmer is what has
given it the immense popularity it
now enjoys among fartiiers. Indiana has come to be known as one of
the best agricultural States in the
world, according to area, in the pro-
ductiou of all the staples, and in live
stock. The Indiana Farmer has
kept pace in this movtment to the
front rank until the agricultural importance of the State is fully reflected
in its pages. A State is largely
measured by those outside, by its institutions. The great and rapidly
growing circulation of the Farmer
has enabled us to show that the agricultural industries and improvements
of the State have kept pace with
Its Railway extensions.
Its growing Manufactures.
Its Mining industries.
Its developing Cities and Towns.
The farmers of Indiana, and of the
sections of other States naturally and
practically allied to us in trade, know
the value and importance of a representative of their interests. The
census to be taken in about a year
from now will it is believed, show
that the center of population of the
Nati-n is near the center of Indiana.
We want by that time to double our
present number of constituents, the
readers of the Farmer. "We appeal
to the State pride of our farm naders
to stand by their own representative,
which stands by them. We do it in
confidence, for the past is the assurance for the future. Twenty-five
thousand more readers will add so
much more to our effectiveness and
ability in holding up the agricultural
interests. All other industries are
heartily supporting and advancing
their own class interest**. In the
heart and center of population, let
us keep agriculture in the front rank
also. And the Farmer proposes to
do its part in the work.
It is the largest weekly agricultural paper now published for $1 a
year. Each one of our present subscribers can with a word or two secure us one more, and that would be
a small work for each, but great in
the aggregate good that it would enable us to do for the farm interests of
the State.
Try it, and report to us. .
• Sample copies will be sent if requested.
'   THE INDIANA FABMEB 00.,
Indiaunolis, Ind, ■