| OCR Text |
Show 364. appeared as b l o t s on t h e l a n d s c a p e. I t is f o r t u n a t e t h a t S c r i b n e r ' s did not p u b l i s h h i s essay. When, in 1882, he r e c o n s i d e r e d the m a t e r i a l a f t e r working as a farmer for s e v e r a l y e a r s , he expressed h i s t r u e and complex attitude toward the developing a g r i c u l t u r e of C a l i f o r n i a. Now, walking through what i s l e f t of the S t r e n z e l ranch in the Alhambra Valley, surounded by suburban sprawl, one can appreciate the v i s i o n of a d e s o l a t e f u t u r e which Muir projected in "Bee Pastures of C a l i f o r n i a . " This essay was h i s final and distopian view of the C a l i f o r n i a n P a s t o r a l. BEE PASTORAL Wild animals were always the best guides to the harmonious working of Nature's economy- If the water ouzel inhabited the canyons, the Douglas squirrel was master forester, the wild sheep travelled the alpine peaks, then the bee was the gardener of California's flora. Surely Muir would sense the ironic connection between the symbolic significance of the free and happy Shasta bees he wrote about in 1874, and the insignia of the State of Utah, a great hive of bees with the motto "Industry" printed below. The bee could be seen as a symbol with more than one meaning. Muir thought the industry of Utah's men was most unbeelike. Polygamy, he thought, "exerts a more degrading influence upon husbands than upon wives. The love of the latter finds expression in flowers and children, while the former seem to |
