AUGUST 15, 19ir 



FLORIDA APIARY OF 

 W. J. DRUMWRIGHT 



BY M. L. BREWER 



Each year we spend 

 our vacation in Flori- 

 da, about twelve miles 

 below where A.I. Root 

 has his winter home. 

 Wliile there it is al- 

 ways a pleasure to 

 meet the beekeepers of 

 that section. One that 

 I met in the winter of 

 1910, Mr. W.J. Drum- 

 wright, is one of the 

 veterans. It is a pleas- 

 ure to talk with him. 

 Mr. Drumwright went 

 to Florida a little 



more than thirty years ago with his family, 

 himself broken in health. He selected a 

 spot on Phillip Creek, about eight miles be- 

 low Sarasota, when Tampa was his nearest 

 market. He built Ms home there among 

 the oaks and palms, and cleared and plant- 

 ed his citrus groves, and twenty-eight years 

 ago he started in with bees. He has made 

 them a specialty since that time. 



In 1910, with til colonies, spring count, 

 Mr. Drumwright harvested 400 gallons of 

 extracted honey ; 800 pounds of comb hon- 

 ey in sections, and 80 pounds of wax. 



Mr. Drumwright is now about 77 years 

 old, and very rugged for one of his years. 

 He says that he has seen hardly a sick day 

 since going to Florida. 



No. 1 shows his old home where he reared 

 his family, who are now all married and 

 gone from home. The wife of his joys and 

 younger days has been called to the other 

 world, and now he is left with his bees for 

 companions. The old place was too large 



Hume of W. J. Drumwright, near Sarasota, Fla. 



for his needs, so at the time of our visit we 

 found him moving on up the creek about 

 half a mile. He had sold the old i^lace. 

 The bees were then nearly all transferred 

 to the new localitj^, and we noted that they 

 were in modern hives, painted white and 

 fresh, and systematically set in regular 

 order. 



The new place is a twelve-acre tract with 

 a nice young grove just coming into bear- 

 ing. The honey-house was built, and at the 

 time of our visit the foundation for the 

 home of the faitliful horse was being laid, 

 and the house was to follow. 



No. 2 shows a portion of the creek and 

 the honey-house, so built that loading and 

 unloading from the launch could be done 

 with ease. The apiary is located just be- 

 yond the honey-house. 



No. 3 shows a portion of the apiaiy with 

 Mr. Drumwright sitting on one of the hives. 

 A small portion of the creek is visible 

 through the palms. 



The honey-house on the creek. 



