70f) 



rJe:ulin2 the i-ecord of a prize queen. 



Hawaiian Islands as the *' Huuey King," is. 

 like most truly great men, modest. He has 

 always made it a rule to avoid publicity, 

 and so for that reason his name is practi- 

 cally unknown to beekeejiers outside of the 

 islands. 



At the present time Mr. Gilbert has on 

 the island of Oahu about one hundred 

 apiaries. As to number of colonies in each 

 apiary, they will i^robably average up Avith 

 these of the extensive beekeepers of New 

 York and Colorado — jDerhaps 100 to 125. 



Another thing that will, i^erhaps, be a 

 surprise to those that think a hundred colo- 

 nies of bees sufRcient to occupy one man's 

 attention, is that the bees are but one of 

 sevei'al business ventures in which Cswald 

 St. John Gilbert and his brother, Lee St. 

 John Gilbert, are jointly interested. 



1 spent one entire day with Mr. Gilbert 

 visiting a few of his many apiaries, and it 

 was one of the most pleasant days of my 

 life. He is a prince of good fellows, and 

 one whose good nature always remains on 

 top, even tho the roads are rough. He is 

 of Finglisl' parentage, boi'n in Australia; 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



and so while he is luil an American he i.s 

 the nearest thing tn one. His entry into 

 the ranks of the honey-iM'cdueers was one 

 of those matters that just naturally happen. 

 The particular event that was responsible 

 occurred one Sunday nKU'ning in 1893 when 

 the trade winds blew a stray swarm of bees 

 into the dooryard of the Gilbert home. Lee 

 St. John Gilbert, Oswald's brother, decided 

 that he would hive the swai'm; but incse 

 ])articular bees had no desire to be hived, 

 and it was not until the operation of hiving 

 them had been repeated six times that the 

 bees made up their minds that they had in 

 fact been hived, and decided to remain. Both 

 of tlie Gilberts at that time were innocent of 

 any knowledge pertaining to bees or bee cul- 

 ture; but after the trouble tiiey had taken 

 to hive this particular swarm they were 

 detei-mined to see Avhat could be done with 

 the bees. With a copy of the ABC of Bee 

 Culture as their sole guide, and theii' lone 

 swarm of bees as a foundation, the Gilbert 

 brothers built up the greatest chain of 

 ajiiaries, and the best system of apiary 



Mr. Gilbert considers the gluebnsli a great forage- 

 plant for stoti-;, 



