1898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



543 



far below in the gulch, springs of transparent 

 water trickle from the rocks, which nourish 

 the fern, wild honeysuckle, and other plants 

 that hide in the cooling shades where the sun's 

 rays never enter. 



Abruptly rising above this are shelves and 

 piles ot rocks, above which may be seen enor- 

 mous boulders projecting far out of reach of 

 the ordinary footman, and where the wild 

 eagle is wont to hide his nest. But we must 

 hasten. 



As we near the final termination of our 

 descent we enter a beautiful shaded live-oak 

 grove, equipped with rostrum for a speaker, 

 and seating capacity for an audience of several 

 hundred. It is here that the spiritualists hold 

 their annual camp-meeting. 



In accord with instructions given us we 

 found the unfinished adobe house, turned 

 abruptly to the right, and half a mile up the 

 huge canyon we reached the unpretentious 

 domicile of our friend. 



J. p. ISRAEL, THE MAN WHO HAS BROKEN THE 

 RECORD IN COMB-HONEY PRODUCTION. 



Mr. Israel's daughter was at home, being 

 the vacation from fruit-packing, at which she 

 is an expert, and commands a good salary in 

 Fresno during the packing season. We found 

 Mrs. Robinson a very pleasant and accom- 

 plished hostess. 



Our reception was most cordial and hospi- 

 table, and our visit very enjoyable. Mr. 

 Israel is a very entertaining conversationalist, 

 and his humorous anecdotes and pioneer ex- 

 periences in California are very fascinating. 

 A synopsis of his life, as nearly as I could 

 gather, is about as follows : 



Mr. Israel related to me that, being an 

 Israelite, he came of a warlike race. All wars 

 of the United States — the Revolutionary War, 

 War of 1812, and the Mexican War — had a 

 representative from his family. The late 



Rebellion would have had, only the recruit- 

 ing officer declared he would be killed, or run 

 away in the first battle, and in either case a 

 worthy citizen and most excellent soldier 

 would be lost to the Union ; therefore he was 

 rejected, and the war prolonged at least two 

 years. 



He was born in that sooty, smoky city of 

 Pittsburgh, Pa., Nov. 6, 1822. When quite 

 young he went into a wholesale grocery and 

 iron-house, and learned the business in all its 

 details. He served under the same employer 

 as office boy, packing clerk, shipping clerk, 

 salesman, drummer, and collector throughout 

 Western Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, 

 and Illinois, until 1849, when he came to 

 California. For two years he did some trad- 

 ing and mercantile business. 



In 1851 he went into the mining business, 

 but did not succeed. From thence he went 

 to San Francisco, and was head manager for 

 Adams & Morgan, contractors in filling in 

 water lots. With 200 men under his super- 

 vision his salary was !?16.00 per day. In 1852 

 he went back to his old home in Pennsylvania, 

 but came back to California the same year, 

 remaining until 1856, again returning to his 

 native heath. In 1872 or '7.3 he chanced to 

 get hold of a leaflet of the infant Gleanings 

 IN Bee Culture, which inoculated his sys- 

 tem with the bee-fever microbe, which raged 

 with unceasing fury. He described it to me 

 as the worst spell of sickness he was ever 

 called upon to endure. It raged night and 

 day. He sent immediately to A. I. Root for 

 a nucleus colony, and started on a small scale 

 in the business. 



Nothing of a startling nature developed 

 from his efforts in Pennsylvania, and in 1882 

 he moved permanently to Escondido, Cal., to 

 follow his chosen pursuit on a more extended 

 scale. His brother had preceded him, and 

 had fifty colonies of bees. He took charge of 

 them and increased them to 101 colonies. 

 This he did on shares, half the product and 

 half the increase. In the spring of 1883 he 

 moved them into the country, six miles from 

 Escondido. This proved to be the dryest 

 year known in fifty, according to the old 

 Spanish residents; and, through the rascality 

 of a boy robbing them, and exciting the rob- 

 bing fever, they dwindled down to 16 colonies. 



The year 1884 was the reverse of the former 

 one. More water fell during the months of 

 February, March, and April, than had fallen 

 during a whole winter in many preceding 

 years. The sages and other honey-producing 

 plants took on an enormous growth, and he 

 increased them from 16 to 69 colonies, and 

 harvested 10,592 pounds of comb honey in 

 two-pound sections — an average of 662 pounds 

 to the colony, spring count. This seems to 

 be a big stor}', but Mr. Israel is willing to 

 make affidavit to its truthfulness. Besides, 

 there are three witnesses yet living who will 

 testify to its correctness. 



This I believe to be the largest yield of comb 

 honey on record. An Australian, I believe, 

 claims a yield of 700 pounds of extracted 

 honey, which sinks into insignificance when 

 compared with 6(52 pounds of comb. 



