What a lesson this teaches! Here was a large colony of bees perishing with famine, as one single individual; so unselfishly had they divided their family stores amongst themselves that when relief did come, though not till their dire extremity, there was no practical loss of life. Before I close I cannot resist the temptation to tell how my bees have been carrying in meal, and prancing gaily on the alighting boards with their white pellets exposed to the best advantage.
No doubt but by this time many of the Eastern bee-keepers are looking to this far-off “land of milk and honey,” as of late years it has been called. Perhaps the reason is partly because here abundant warm rains have fallen all over the State, and the world-renowned honey region has received its complement of the down-pour; in fact, the inhabitants hardly ever saw so much rain visit that section at the right time.
There are now signs, however, that indicate the sun will shine with its usual brightness; that those delightful spring days, which are so peculiar to this fair land, are about to favor us. Let this be the case and the bees will soon be flying out by thousands, and the willow blossoms will each and all receive a welcome visit from those industrious insects. Their journeyings will not be confined to the banks of the creeks where the willows grow, but the woodland, where the Australian blue-gum (_Eucalyptus globulus_) has been planted by the hand of man, and which holds out its bounteous chalice for the busy bee to come and sip of nectar deep and sweet.
While the loss in bees will in all probability be great in the States east of the Rocky Mountains, here the loss, if any, will not be quite as bad as it has been other years. Thus it will be seen that our eastern brethren will have to commence the season with greatly reduced forces, while the apiarists in this State will commence operations with more colonies, and, consequently, with more bees. Last season was a good one, and the bees went into winter quarters with abundant stores, which have carried them through the mild winter safely. The bee flora having had ample rains to insure a most thrifty growth, will bloom for a longer period than it has heretofore, and, of course, will insure an enormous yield of honey.