470 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 1 



NOTES OF TRAVEL. 



A Visit to the Home and Apiary of J. F. Mclntyre, 



Fillmore, Cai. ; the Most Celebrated Apiary in 



the World ; a few more Remarkable Honey= 



yields ; some of the Secrets of Mc!n= 



tyre's Success. 



BY E. R. ROOT. 



After leaving Los Ang-eles, as explained 

 in our last issue, I made my way to P^ill- 

 more, near which place is located the most 

 celebrated apiary in the world. Pictures 

 of it have appeared in all the bee journals; 

 and photos showing- the mountains tower- 

 ing thousands of feet above the bee-yard 

 are very striking to say the least. In 

 Gleanings for Oct. 1, 1891, are given two 

 of the views of this remarkable j'ard, a 

 yard which contains on an average 500 col- 

 onies, and which has maintained that num- 

 ber for the last twenty or thirty j'ears. 



It was formerly owned by Mr. R. Wilkin, 

 Mr. Mclntyre's father-in-law; but Mr. W. 

 died just a year ago now. But during the 

 last fifteen or twenty years, perhaps, it has 

 been the property and under the manage- 

 ment of its present owner. While the loca- 

 tion is an exceptional one, the men who 

 worked the bees in it have been exception- 

 al bee keepers — successful, because the}^ 

 have been able to adapt themselves to con- 

 ditions. Mr. W^ilkin acquired quite a prop- 



erty; and Mr. Mclntyre, I should judge 

 from his general surroundings, is well sup- 

 plied with the things needful to make one 

 happy and prosperous. All of this has 

 come from the bees. Mr. Mclntyre has 

 never yet had to borrow a dollar, for he 

 told me he had never paid any interest 

 money. 



But our friend is not successful only 

 in that which goes to make up material 

 prosperitj'; for with all his wealth-getting 

 he and his family are pictures of health. 

 When I visited him, a little less than a year 

 ago, he seemed to take considerable pride 

 in the fact that he had never employed a 

 physician or lawyer, and the members of 

 the famil}' look as if they had never expe- 

 rienced sickness, got into or borrowed trou- 

 ble. 



While I thought, perhaps, the apiary of 

 Mr. Mendleson, located down deep in the 

 canyon, was more beautiful for its sur- 

 roundings, yet others, when they come to 

 look at Mr. Mclntyre's apiary, might con- 

 clude otherwise. I leave the reader to judge 

 as best he may from the photos, which come 

 very far short of showing up the immensity 

 of the scenery roundabout. Fig. 1 is taken 

 off from a high bluff looking eastward, and 

 it is very similar to the one we showed in 

 Gleanings on page 772, for 1891, now seen 

 in the ABC book, with the exception that 

 the orange-trees have now grown to be of 

 considerable size — so much so that it takes 



FIG. 1. — SESPE APIARY, NEAR FILLMORE, CAL. 



