WILD BEE GARDEN
IN THE SAN GABRIEL VALLEY.--WHITE SAGE
A BEE-RANCH ON A SPUR OF THE SAN GABRIEL RANGE.--CARDINAL FLOWER
WILD BUCKWHEAT.--A BEE-RANCH IN THE WILDERNESS
A BEE-PASTURE ON THE MORAINE DESERT.--SPANISH BAYONET
A BEE-KEEPER'S CABIN




CHAPTER I


THE SIERRA NEVADA

Go where you may within the bounds of California, mountains are ever in
sight, charming and glorifying every landscape. Yet so simple and
massive is the topography of the State in general views, that the main
central portion displays only one valley, and two chains of mountains
which seem almost perfectly regular in trend and height: the Coast Range
on the west side, the Sierra Nevada on the east. These two ranges coming
together in curves on the north and south inclose a magnificent basin,
with a level floor more than 400 miles long, and from 35 to 60 miles
wide. This is the grand Central Valley of California, the waters of
which have only one outlet to the sea through the Golden Gate. But with
this general simplicity of features there is great complexity of hidden
detail. The Coast Range, rising as a grand green barrier against the
ocean, from 2000 to 8000 feet high, is composed of innumerable
forest-crowned spurs, ridges, and rolling hill-waves which inclose a
multitude of smaller valleys; some looking out through long,