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Show 126 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONEB OB INDIAN AFBAIRS. told the Indians that if they would set up hives they might have the swarms. Eight young men got bees the first year, but only three kept at the business enough to learn much about it. They have persevered and, thrn Mr. Gebby's instructions, they now understand how to put together the hives and frames, to hive the swarms, arrange the colonies, extract the honey, and requeen the hives. During the last year the National Indian Association put $254 into the business, which bought 31 colonies of bees, 53 hives, honey cases, frames, and other supplies. There has been a net increase of 8 swarms, worth $5 each, and $91 worth of honey has been sold. The field matron says : The abundant growth of mesquite and catdaw, as well as sagebmsh bloom and desert flowers, on the Camn MeDowell Reservation makes it an ideal locality for the bee industry. It is estimated that the reservation will sustain from 1,W to 2,000 colonies of bees, and if properly cared for on good years they will average $5 a colony. * * The production of a pure-food product for the Indians at a very moderate price is a great gain. Leonard Hay, one of the three boys who have bees, also keeps the store, and I find he can well afford to sell honey In a glass, glass and all, for 10 cents. This Is 5 cents cheaper than It can be bought in Phoenix and benefits all the Indians on the reservation. * * * Dwight Campbell's efforts at catching swarms put him in possession of two colonies of bees, but he would mt stag at home long enough to learn anything ibout their care, so I demanded that he withdraw from the association by exchanging his bees for a Une yearling heifer. CALIFORNIA INDIANS. The Indian appropriation act for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1905, authorized an investigation of existing conditions among the Indians of northern California and directed that some plan for their improvement be submitted to the next Congress. Mr. C. E. Kelsey, formerly secretary of the Northern California Indian Association, was designated a special agent to make the in-vestigation. He entered upon his duties on August 8, 1905, and during the next seven months personally inspected almost every Indian settlement between the Oregon line and Mexico. He found that there were more than 17,000 full-blood Indians jn the State, of whom only, about 5,200 were. living on reservations, leaving a nonreservation population of some 11,800 scattered, under a great diversity of conditions, in little settlements of from 20 to 250 in-habitants. Only 3,000 of the nonreservation Indians own land, and three-fourths of what they doown is worthless. Of the remaining $800 landless Indians, 1,181 live within the boundaries of forest reserves, in which they had had their homes long before the estab-lishment of the reserves. There are also 1,011 mixt bloods, of whom 812 are homeless. Most of them never knew their white ancestors, and have grown up in the Indian camps as Indian in sentiment as the full bloods themselves. They consider themselves Indians and have to be treated as such. |