486 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 



J. F. McINTYRE. 



OXE OF C.Vt.IFOK,NIA'S BEE-KEEPERS. 



California, th^t wonderful State border- 

 ing on the Pacific coast, where fortunes are 

 made and unmade in a day, as it were, is 

 not only one of the most favored sections in 

 the world for fruit-growing, but it is hardly 

 less remarkable as a great bee-country. In- 

 stead of furiiishing localities that will sup- 

 port only 75 or 100 colonies, as many as 500 

 are kept in a single location. Bee-keeping 

 in California, like that on the island of Cu- 

 ba, is carried on on ah immense scale ; and 

 we hope in our future issues to give more 

 importance to this land of the setting sun. 

 There are many extensive and distinguished 

 bee-keepers in California. Some of the most 

 successful ones are those who will not write 

 for the public. There are others who are no 

 less successful, but are able and willing to 

 impart their knowledge to the bee-keeping 

 world. Among this number is J. F. Mcln- 

 tyre, of Fillmore, Cal., who is not only an 

 extensive bee-keeper himself, but has been 

 associated with one of the oldest and best 

 bee-keepers, Mr. R. Wilkin, for several 

 years. For the present Me take pleasure in 

 introducing to you — 



J. F. m'intyre. 



Our friend was born Nov. 1. 1857, in Onta- 

 rio, Can., eight miles from Brantford, where 

 the last International Bee-keepers' Conven- 

 tion was held. Like many other sterling 

 sons of toil he was raised on a farm, going 

 to school in winter and helping to do the 

 farmwork in summer. He was the oldest 

 son in a family of three sonS and three 

 daughters; He' Xvas of an investigating 

 turn of mind, and liked gardening ; but 



farming he detested. His father did not 

 keep bees, but his neighbors did. Interest- 

 ed and charmed by what he saw of them, at 

 the age of fifteen, with a capital of $12.00, he 

 made a start, $7.00 of which he invested in a 

 colony of bees. Later he saw advertised the 

 bee-books of Quinby and Langstroth. The 

 former he purchased, because that explained 

 the mysteries, and very soon he constructed 

 a movable-comb hive — the first one he ever 

 saw. He afterward came in possession of 

 Cook's Manual and the A B C, and sub- 

 scribed for Gleanings and the American 

 Bee Journal. He then bought a honey-ex- 

 tractor. With this he took, on an average, 

 150 lbs. of honey per colony from his apiary. 

 As has happened to many other growing 

 and successful bee-keepers, it set the neigh- 

 bors wild. They all wanted to embark in 

 the business. So many, in fact, went into 

 it that it ruined his location. 



Some articles which he saw in Gleanings 

 and in the American Bee Journal, particular- 

 ly some from E. Gallup, caused him to 

 make up his mind that California was the 

 place for a man who desired to make the 

 culture of bees a specialty ; and on the 7th of 

 December, 1881, he bade good-by to his rela- 

 tives and friends, and started for the land of 

 gold and honey, but not, he says, without 

 some regret on his part as he looked back 

 and saw his mother standing in the door, 

 with her handkerchief to her eyes. He 

 reached Los Angeles, and was just in time 

 to attend a session of a bee-keepers' con- 

 vention there. Here he met a large number 

 of old pioneer bee-keepers, who, he says, 

 running over with hospitality, made him an 

 honorary member of the association. He 

 had been informed that Mr. Gallup wished 

 to sell an apiary of 70 colonies in Ventura, 

 ( 'al. This, with another apiary of 40 colo- 

 nies, he purchased. He built a small house 

 on government land, and for two seasons he 

 kept " bachelor's hall." The first season, he 

 says, was not a very good one, but he made 

 nearly $800. In the meantime he formed 

 the acquaintance of R. Wilkin, who, the 

 next year, desired him to work for him for 

 two months. Now, Mr. Wilkin had a daugh- 

 ter. Miss Hattie, who. naturally enough, 

 was a bee-keeper herself. It is not necessa- 

 ry to tell the rest : enough to say, that, fol- 

 lowing in the wake of many another bee- 

 keeper, he found a helpmeet among the 

 bees. In 1886, Mr. Mclntyre, and his wife to 

 Iielp, took 42,000 lbs. from 240 colonies, the 

 l)roceeds of which were sold for $2000 cash. 

 Two years later Mr. Wilkin sold 200 colonies 

 in Sespe Apiary to Mr. L. E. Mercer, and 

 moved the rest to his home apiary in Ventu- 

 ra, leaving his old location to his son-in- 

 law. He bought up bees in the vicinity, and 

 made it his home apiary. He had 150 colo- 

 nies on the government claim, three miles 

 distant, for an out-apiary, which was run 

 during the seasons of 1888 and '9 by one of 

 Mr. Heddon's apprentices, Mr. R. A. Hol- 

 ley, who has since bought it. Mr. Mclntyre 

 has now 500 colonies on the old Wilkin 

 place, on Sespe Creek. He says it is all his 

 location will stand. It seems remarkable 

 that any location in the United States can 

 stand that much. From this we get some 



