VOL. LXI— NO. 



HAMILTON, ILL., JANUARY, 1921 



MONTHLY, $1.50 A YFAR 



Sixty Years of Beekeeping in California 



BY J. E. PLEASANTS 



Beekeeping was introduced into 

 the west by men of courage and en- 

 thusiasm. The distance from the 

 older settled centers was great ; 

 travel was slow, accomplished by 

 primitive methods and fraught with 

 difficulties. 



We are indebted to that intrepid 

 enthusiast, John S. Harbison, for the 

 beginning of our industry. From Mr. 

 Harbison's own account we get the 

 following data of the pioneer apiary 

 of California. John Harbison came 

 to California in 1854, and for two 

 years he studied the flora of the 

 State, while engaged in the nursery 

 business. At the end of this time, 

 he sold out his nursery and returned 

 to his old home in Lawrence County, 

 Pennsylvania, with the intention of 

 bringing out bees. 



Mr. Harbison had learned the care 

 of bees from his father in boyhood, 

 so was well equipped for his under- 

 taking. He tells of the care with 

 which he prepared his shipment, 

 which was to make the long journey 

 by water from New York to San 

 Francisco via the Isthmus. He had 

 the lumber for his hives sawed three- 

 eighths of an inch thick to save on 

 weight, as the freight from Newcas- 

 tle, Pa., to San Francisco was very 

 high. The hives, of course, were 

 small, so Harbison added a chamber 

 about 3.x8.\13, well ventilated with 

 screen, as a place for the bees to get 

 oflF the combs and carry out the dead. 



He started with 116 colonies, and 

 lost only six on the journey. 



Being a man of pleasing address. 

 Mr. Harbison made friends with all 

 with whom he came in contact, and 

 was accorded all possible assistance 

 by the ship's officers. 



His first apiary was located in the 

 Sacramento Valley. He readily sold 

 all the bees that he was willing to 

 dispose of at $100 per colony, and 

 mentions colonies being re-sold at 

 $200. The cost of bringing the 110 



colonies from Pennsylvania to Cali- 

 fornia was about $1,800. 



Mr. Harbison made the first ship- 

 ment of honey that went east from 

 California. This was sent with the 

 first carload of green fruit that was 

 shipped to Chicago. In 1869 Mr. Har- 

 bison moved his bees to San Diego 

 County, in the extreme southern part 

 of the State, where he continued in 

 the business until the time of his 

 death, in 1914. At one time he kept 

 3.750 colonies, divided into twelve 

 apiaries. He sent the first carload of 

 honey to go east from his San Diego 

 apiaries. This honey was sold in 

 Chicago at 27 cents per pound. 



Mr. Harbison was a producer of 

 comb honey. He invented a hive 

 which was used in California until 

 the introduction of the Langstroth 

 hive here. He used two-pound sec- 

 tions. He was at one time one of 



Wm. Muth'Rassraussen, of Independence 



the largest comb-honey producers in 

 the world, and took many prizes for 

 his exhibits at the Centennial and 

 later exhibitions. Even a short time 

 before his death he outlined a plan 

 for a model apiary to be placed on the 

 San Diego Exposition grounds ir< 

 1915. He was the author of a book 

 on beekeeping, and his interest in his 

 chosen pursuit never flagged. 



Among other pioneer beekeepers 

 were Mr. Wm. Muth-Rasmussen, Dr. 

 Elisha Gallup, John F. Corey, R. Wil- 

 kin and N. Levering, the editor of 

 the first bee publication on the Pa- 

 cific coast. This was the "California 

 Apiculturist." which was first pub- 

 lished in 1882. Mr. Muth-Rasmussen 

 was probably the first in California 

 to use an extractor. He brought out 

 a Peabody extractor in 1871. Prior to 

 this all honey had been rendered out 

 in sun extractors. Mr. Muth-Ras- 

 mussen writes that about three 

 years after this he found others us- 

 ing home-made extractors run by 

 gear wheels. In 1873 he and Captain 

 J. T. Gordon called a meeting and or- 

 ganized the Los Angeles Beekeepers' 

 Association, the first beekeepers as- 

 sociation on the Pacific Coast. Mr. 

 Muth-Rasmussen afterward moved 

 to Inyo County, California, where he 

 has since lived, and is a producer of 

 comb honey. 



There is an interesting storv told 

 in Gleanings of one of Mr. Corey's 

 experiences, which well illustrate his 

 determination to overcome difficul- 

 ties. In the early days he was a mait 

 carrier in the mountain regions of 

 Northern California. On one of his 

 trips he bought a small swarm of 

 bees (probably a nucleus). This he 

 carried on his shoulders over a hun- 

 dred miles, part of the way on snow- 

 shoes. 



The first Langstroth hive was used 

 here in about 1872, by Mr. John Beck- 

 ley. 



Among later men notable for their 



