1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1025 



the rest; and when we g'et through we ex- 

 pect to have a lot of nice queens ready for 

 delivery next spring, and some experience 

 not of the kind that Josh Billings tells 

 about, that " kums hi." 



Our Mr. Green took along a little kodak 

 and took two pictures of our bees in Cuba. 

 The accompanying illustrations will give 

 something of an idea of the Root Co. 's 

 venture as it finally landed in that far- 

 away isle of the tropics. 



WATSON'S RANCH IN NKBRASKA; THR LARG- 

 EST FARM UNDER ONE-MAN OWNERSHIP 

 IN THK UNITED STATES; 3000 ACKES OK 

 ALFALFA ; HARVESTING AI,FALKA. 



Heretofore my travels have related to the 

 irrigated regions, or very largely so; and 

 now I wish to introduce the reader to some 

 1 )calities in the West much drier than here 

 in the East, or east of the Mississippi. Too 

 remote from the mountains or anv natural 

 water supply for irrigation, these western 

 prairies seem dreary and monotonous and 

 almost deserted. 



As our train snailed along, details were 

 given me of how this one and that one had 

 bought land at high prices during boom 

 days, when it had yielded large crops of 

 corn, but how now in these latter days fre- 

 quent drouths had made it waste, and the 

 land had gone down in value until the 

 owner was glad to sell it at any price. I 

 naturally came to the conclusion that, if I 

 ever went west, the once great environment 

 of the buffalo would not be a place where I 

 would make a permanent home. 



While in attendance at the Denver con- 

 vention I fell in with a young man at the 

 liotel, Mr. R. A. Wilson, of Kearney, Neb., 

 who said he was working on a ranch con- 

 sisting of 10,000 acres, 3000 of which was 

 in alfalfa. He further stated that he had 

 been specially requested by the owner of 

 that ranch, Mr. H. D. Watson, to bring me 

 home with him, for Mr. Watson had gotten 

 the bee-fever, and wished to talk bees. As 

 with all his other operations he desired to 

 go into the business on an extensive scale; 

 and as he had done before in his other 

 ventures, he wished to talk with one whom 

 he deemed competent to advise him as to the 

 possibilities of bee-keeping where the bees 

 would have a range of 3000 acres of al- 

 falfa. 



Never having seen alfalfa growing in the 

 semi-arid regions, and having supposed 

 that that locality was practically a desert, 

 I eagerly availed myself of the invitation; 



and after the convention I went directly to 

 Kearney. 



The Watson ranch, at Kearney, Neb., 

 known all through that portion of the 

 country', and perhaps throughout the world, 

 is located on the line of the Union Pacific. 

 So important has it become to that great 

 belt line, that it has actually put up a 

 depot, and the same is christened Watson's 

 Ranch. Notwithstanding the ranch is only 

 about three miles from Kearney, the com- 

 pany deemed it advisable to put up a sta- 

 tion at which the product of that great farm 

 could be received and shipped, and here it is. 



FIG. 1. — 1 HE WATSON RANCH DEPOT, FROM 



WHICH THE PRODUCTS OF A 10,000- 



ACRE FARM ARE SHIPPED. 



Mr. Wilson pointed out to me the depot as 

 we sped on the train through that great 

 ranch. But in this case the train did not 

 stop. By a previous arrangement Mr. 

 Watson himself met us at the train at 

 Kearney. I had imagined that I would 

 find the proprietor so busy and absorbed in 

 the details and management of his great 

 ranch that I should have but little oppor- 

 tunity to see or talk with him; but imagine 

 my surprise to find a large stalwart fine- 

 looking man, fairly bubbling over with en- 

 thusiasm. He was very glad to see me, and 

 in regular lawj'er fashion plied me with 

 questions regarding the possibilities of bee- 

 keeping. He proposed to make no mistakes, 

 and was eager to get hold of every scrap of 

 information that would lead to success. 



Perhaps I should explain that one secret 

 of Mr. Watson's marvelous success lies in 

 the fact that he does not himself try to look 

 after every department of his g-reat ranch. 

 He has called in experts, one to look after 

 the dairying department, another for the 

 stock-raising, another for hog-raising, still 

 another after the care of the ranch, that is, 

 the growing of crops; and Mr. Wilson, a 

 college student, was called in as an expert 

 on bee-keeping. Said Mr. Watson, as we 

 were driving through the ranch, "I do not 

 believe in worrying nor being in a hurry; 



