1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



599 



NOTES OF TRAVEL. 



R. A. Holley and John H. Martin ; the Editor and 

 Rambler in California. 



BY E. R. ROOT. 



After visiting- Mr. J. F. Mclnt3're in his 

 Sespe apiary home I visited Mr. R. A. Hol- 

 ley, a former student of Mr. James Hed- 

 don's, and who is now located some four or 

 five miles from the Mclntj're bees. I found 

 Mr. Holley pleasantly situated in the val- 

 le3', with mountains on either side of him. 

 In the evening' Mr. Mclntyre came over, and 

 we had a little unconventional convention, 

 the main topic of our discussion being long-- 

 tongued bees. I will not attempt to g^o 

 through the details of the discussion, but 

 simply record that we arrived at the con- 

 clusion that such bees would be very desir- 

 able in California with the flora as it now 

 exists. Mr. Holley owns and operates some 

 450 colonies, in two yards. He was doing 

 the work alone with the help of his sister. 



Before leaving- I asked Mr. Holley to step 

 out in the front yard, as I desired to take a 

 picture of him with those magnificent moun- 

 tains for a background; and here he is as 

 taken with my little pocket kodak. 



He seemed to be a thoroug-hly competent 

 bee-keeper — one whom it is a pleasure to 

 meet. While he does not have wheels in his 

 head exactly, he has in his head an extract- 

 or on the reversible automatic principle that 



will extract 

 of the other. 



KAMBL1',K AS HK GREliTED THE EDITOR. 



R. A. HOLLEY. 



two sets of combs, one in front 

 In other words, his extractor 

 would have double pockets 

 on the Coggshall plan, with 

 a sheet of tin between, but 

 v\ath this difference, that 

 the machine would be re- 

 versible. He hopes in time 

 to develop the idea into a 

 working model. But of this 

 we shall possibly hear lat- 

 er. 



After leaving this beauti- 

 ful valley, far famed for its 

 honey resources, I went di- 

 rectly northward into Cen- 

 tral California, and called 

 on Mr. Madary, at Fresno, 

 who seemed to be the lead- 

 ing supply - manufacturer 

 for that portion of the coun- 

 ;ry. Mr. Madary is very 

 favorably located for lum- 

 ber, and his hives are made 

 of sugar pine — a grade of 

 lumber that is very much 

 like the ordinary white pine 

 of this part of the country. 



After leaving Fresno I 

 took a short run up to 

 Keedley. I had not notified 

 Mr. Martin just when I 

 would call on him ; but, 

 sure enough, he was at the 

 station waiting for me. It 

 had vbeeu just ten years 

 since"! had seen him; and 

 instead of .the sprightly 



