The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-10-24
ARIZONA BEES ARE BUSY They Have Laid up Sweet Treasures
 in Hidden Places

The greatest crop of honey ever known | in Arizona is that of the present year
 The average product of the territory is l This year it will be far in excess of | that amount-probahly double. The greater part of this honey will find market in Chicago.
 Strange as 1t may seem. the mesquite aud cactus. which flourish without wa
 ter, provide the bees with honey far superior to that from cultivated plants,
 and the blossom and fruit of the cactus
 ere even better than the mesquite blos- som. The most handsome of desert flowers grow on the hundreds of vari-
 cites of cactus One of the most beau tiful is that of the Cerrus Glga ntCus
 the organ cactus. generally known by its Spanish appellation of the 'Sagu- ara" ArizCna's most typical plant that
 towers in great. green, futed shafts the
 all the plains. In the late springtime
 each saguara is crowned by a mass of brilliant, silKen white fOwerS- some
 times over iOc in bunch Each bios som is about four inches across. Nearly all develop to fruit, the "pethaya." the
 most palatable of the wild products, and in the blossom and the frut the wild
 bees an1 the tanned ones find the es- sence of honey. The prickly pear, the night-bloomed cerous, he cholla, the doubly barbed terror of the desert, the ocatilla and many others give honey to the bees. while the wiid roses of the rocks and the thousands of smaller flowers aid in furnishing the most deli cately faN ored honey known to the apl- aries.
 In the Salt River Valley bees work for a longer period than in any other locality crop of POO pounds of honey to each hive being not unusual, while an average of 100 pounds for the season is maintained From Phoenix and Tem pc alone are shipped about 100000 pounds of honey each year, nearly all of it be- ing separated or strained.
 The wild bees of the desert and moun- tains present an interesting study and honey-hunting Is most unique sport, which is not without its dangers. but with recompense suftici ently delightful to repay one for it's difficulties In the cavities of the highest rocks the bees gather in great swarms and store their supply of food. With remarkable sit gacity they choose the most inaccessible baffle all ingenuity of even the Indian, the most persistent seeker of honey. Frequently great hordes of honey are found in caves and down the sides of steep cliffs. where thousands of bees
 have stored their products for perhaps scores of years, and sometimes as much
 as thousand pounds of honey are taken from such places. The Indian bee hunt CT many times risks his life to oDtlIn the nectar of the wild bees. and swings himself at the end of a frail rope far down the sides of a steep precipice.
 Neither is his danger ended there. for if not we'll protected from the onslaught of the bees sometimes in dense swarms of thousands. he is likely to become q victim of the angry defenders. Indeed. | not long since Papago young man was stung so badly while robbing wild
 hive that he died soon after his com
 rades had pulled him up to the top of | the cliff.
 l On the desert. too, the bees make their l homes. sometimes swarminG in the shell | of the decayed cactus and often in caves
 along arroyos and the beds of the large | streams. Very often they swarm close | to the agricultural districts and it is
 d frequent and very easy thing for the
 ranchers to gather them into hives and | hold them One rancher a few miles | southeast of Ph )eniN has on his prop
 ertv a small isolated butte, near the | top of which is a small cave From this piece of rock the owner has gathered | honey enough to pay for his ranch 1 Several years ago a great swarm of bees
 settled in the cave and the owner has