Mar. 14, 1907 



207 



American IB^e Journal 



'eeiaomites^ 



is: 



ANDREW U. PRYAL 



Among the few remaining bee-l<eeper6 of 

 California may bo named Andrew D. Pryal, of 

 Oakland. He was born, as it were, one of 

 Nature's noblemen. His earliest recollections 

 were those of the trees, flowers, bees, and 

 birds when he was a child upon his father's 

 place in Ireland, where his father conducted 

 the Crowbill Nurseries, in County Mayo, and 

 there the son learned the business which he 

 has followed the greater portion of his life. 

 Owing to the harshness of the then land- 

 laws of that land, coupled with the failure of 

 crops, the father lost his holdings, and he and 

 his family removed to England. There the 

 younger Pryal worked as a landscape gar- 

 dener most of the time, or until he came to 

 America. For several years he lived in Ala- 

 bama and Louisiana. In 1854 he went to 

 California, where he has since resided. 



He was not long in that State before he 

 recognized the fact that gardening and horti- 

 culture offered great possibilities for the tiller 

 of the soil in those directions. So he never 

 " went to the mines," as nearly every early 

 Californian did. He soon had a garden in 

 San Francisco, where, in addition to raising 

 plants, shrubs, flowers and strawberries, he 

 also tended a patch of vegetables. In those 

 days it was no uncommon thing to sell a rose- 

 bush for the sum of $10, and other plants in 

 like proportion. 



Mr. Pryal held the first plant and tree auc- 

 tion that was held in San Francisco, and it is 

 needless to say that the financial returns were 

 quite satisfactory. His nursery was near 

 what was then called " Russ's Garden," in the 

 neighborhood of 6th and Folsom streets. Just 

 after the big fire of last April, Mr. P. re- 

 marked that he "saw San Francisco almost 

 houseless when he came there in the early 

 days, and he had lived to see it practically 

 houseless again, after it had a half-century of 

 remarkable growth." Recently he made sev- 

 eral visits to that city, and he was struck with 

 the rapidity with which it is being rebuilt, 

 and he called it the " old California pluck " 

 that was again exerting itself. 



After marrying, he assumed charge of the 

 " Mission" gardens, at Mission San Jose, in 

 Alameda county, the oldest in the vicinity of 

 San Francisco. From there he was called to 

 superintend the planting of some of the 

 largest vineyards and orchards in the cele- 

 brated Napa Valley. Being a friend of United 

 States Senator Gwin, that gentleman had him 

 look after one of his big holdings in what is 

 now almost in the center of Oakland. When 

 the war broke out, the Senator wanted Mr. 

 Pryal to purchase the property — something 

 over 160 acres — but owing to its closeness to 

 the bay, and, consequently the climate being 

 more or less cold (he was then slightly sub- 

 ject to rheumatism), he decided not do so. 

 He, however, purchased from the same person 

 a small tract of land 4 miles further north, 

 and lying close up to the foot-hills, which 

 has been the family home ever since. There 

 the climate is almost perfect. It is considered 

 one of the prettiest spots, naturally, in the 

 country, and it has been improved by judic- 

 ious planting and cultivation. There Mr. 

 Pryal conducted his nursery business and 

 horticultural pursuits. He loved to experi- 

 ment, and he has the honor of being the first 

 person in the State to raise new varieties of 

 fruits and vegetables, and this long before 

 Luther Burbank became a resident of that 



stair. In fact, he sold the latter, in the '70's, 

 some of the trees that he (Burbank) used to 

 help him in his experiments. One of Mr. P.'s 

 worriments during his present illness, is that 

 he can not get out and superintend the plant- 

 ing of a field to a new variety of potato of his 

 originating, that he lays great store upon. 



For years he has been a prominent citizen 

 of his county. He held a position as member 

 of the Horticultural Commission Board of 

 Alameda for 31 years— the longest period any 

 one man has held the office in that county. 

 Then he was a member of the Oakland Board 

 of Trade for several terms. 



Mr. Pryal's wife, who died in December, 

 1896, was an estimable lady, and was the 

 mother of 9 children, all of whom grew to 

 manhood and womanhood, though 2 sons and 

 2 daughters are deceased. Those, as well as 

 the remaining 3 sons and 2 daughters, attained 

 to more or less prominence in their several 

 callings. The parents gave them, in addition 

 to a public school training, a Christian educa- 

 tion — an inheritance they haVe reason to be 

 thankful for. 



It was in 1865 that Mr. Pryal secured his 

 first bees— some 10 colonies in movable-frame 

 hives. This apiary is in existence to-day, and 

 it is probably the only apiary that has been 

 continuously kept in one place for so long a 



period in California. Since 1876 the bees have 

 been the care of his oldest son (W. A.), who 

 has considerable reputation as a bee-keeper. 



In I8(!6, .Mr. Pryal was one of the trustees 

 of the district school of which Albert J. King, 

 an authority on bees, was teacher. .Mr. King 

 was afterwards publisher and editor of the 

 Bee-Keepers' Magazine. The senior Mr. 

 Pryal never claimed to be an expert in bee- 

 matters — he was more of a student of insect 

 life injurious to the plants, trees and vegeta- 

 bles of the Golden State. 



Few Californians have rounded out a more 

 honorable and useful life than has the subject 

 of this sketch, who Is now well passed the 

 allotted three score and ten. and it Is to be 

 hoped that he will be restored to health and 

 live as long as, or longer than, his father, who 

 was over 90 years of age when he died. 



The subject of the foregoing interesting 

 sketch is the father of Mr. W. A. Pryal, who 

 "reflects "on bees occasionally, the first In- 

 stallment of which appears in this issue of 

 the American Bee Journal. 



" W. A." was in Chicago during the 

 Columbian Exposition, in 1893, when we bad 

 the rare privilege of making his acquaintance, 

 which has grown into a prized friendship dur- 

 ing the passing years, although over 2000 miles 

 lies between us. He is an entertaining writer, 

 which, with his bee-keeping experience and 

 large familiarity with things apiarian in gen- 

 eral, make him one of the best contributors a 

 bee-paper can have. 



The Chicago-Northwestern ConTen- 

 tion Photograph was taken Dec. 6, 1906. 

 which was very good indeed. Price, post- 

 paid, in mailing tube, 60 cents. Send orders 

 to the office of the American Bee Journal, 

 and we will see that the pictures are mailed. 



eonfribufedl 

 Articled i 



The Production of Comb 

 Honey 



BY ALLEN LATHAM. 



A correspondent has requested that 

 I write an article for the American Bee 

 Journal describing the hive I use and 

 the plan I follow in producing comb 

 honey. Now it so happens that I do not 

 depend upon my bees for a livelihood, 

 my work with the bees being my avo- 

 cation, and thus it follows that my plan 

 and plans are forever undergoing a 

 shake-up due to my love for experi- 

 menting. Also my profession — teaching 

 — has occasioned more or less moving 

 about, so that I have had to vary my 

 methods to suit the varying local condi- 

 tions. IMy method which I followed so 

 successfully in the home of my youth 

 proves impracticable where I now live. 

 In this article I can give in a general 

 way only the practice which I follow, 

 and in doing tliis I fully realize that it 

 is the plan generally followed by suc- 

 cessful apiarists, and that I shall offer 



nothing new of great importance. 



As to describing my hive: I hesi- 

 tate, for space would scarcely allow a 

 complete description, and without a 

 complete description I could not do jus- 

 tice to the hive which I now use. Per- 

 mit me therefore to state briefly that 

 my hive is one of my own make, in 

 many particulars like the hive I des- 

 scribed in these columns somewhat over 

 a year ago. It is double-walled, air- 

 spaced, frames closed-end and hanging 

 crosswise. The hive is set perfectly 

 level, the inner bottom sloping to the 

 front so that space under the front 

 frames is an inch or more deep. The 

 entrance is about one inch deep and 

 full width of hive. T use ii frames, 

 inside measure ioxi2 inches, the fol^ 

 lower at the rear held by two st' 

 springs. The super is of such size a. 

 to take in a section-case holding 24 

 plain 4 1-4 sections, or 28 7-to- the-foot 

 sections. Fence separators are used 

 with the plain sections, and no separa- 

 tors with the other sort except on the 

 outside rows. This latter device — sec- 



