758 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



December, 1921 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



do) I let thciii samjjle and ask them to 

 buy. 



I may not sell, but I give them my card, 

 and hope that I have booked a customer for 

 another beekeeper, if not myself. If they 

 tell me that they buy regularly from an- 

 other fellow, I inquire his name, and con- 

 gratulate them on their good fortune in 

 dealing with a good man (for Milwaukee 

 County beekeepers are good men) and advise 

 them to continue. They may never buy from 

 me, but that pasteboard is not wasted. Last 

 Saturday afternoon I took a load of honey 

 to a public market, talked until my tongue 

 was tired (that means something for me), 

 came home with $33.00 in my daughter's 

 pocketbook (you can't trust a Scot with 

 money), and my lone competitor had sold 

 two quarts. And think of the fun I had in 

 addition, and the infectious joy of it! And 

 as I "stepped on her," the rustling autumn 

 leaves floating in the sky seemed as banners 

 that God himself has put out. 



My good, dear friends, get some joy out 

 of your selling. Grace Allen (bless her) is 

 doing her best to add romance to your bee- 

 keeping. E. E. Root is doing his share in 

 trying to make your business a success, but 

 they are as voices crying in the wilderness 

 until you learn to talk entertainingly and 

 convincingly of your product. 



West Allis, Wis. Joseph S. Barr. 



ANOTHER HARBISON BEE BOOK 



Published in i860. Written by W. C. Harbison, 

 Brother of John S. Harbison 



Beekeepers are generally familiar with 

 ' ' The Beekeeper 's Directory or the Theory 

 and Practice of Bee Culture in all its De- 

 partments, ' ' written in 1861 by John S. 

 Harbison, who introduced commercial bee- 

 keeping into California and laid the solid 

 foundation for the industry in that State. 

 It may be a surprise to many, as it was to 

 me, to know that his brother, W. C. Harbi- 

 son, also wrote a book on beekeeping, issued 

 in 1860. Since a copy of this interesting 

 book came to me this summer, it may be of 

 interest to share a few facts about it with 

 others. - 



W. C. and John S. Harbison were the sons 

 of William and Margaret Curry Harbison 

 and grandsons of John and Massy White 

 Harbison, and were born in western Penn- 

 sylvania. Margaret Harbison was the 

 daughter of William Curry (or Currie, ac- 

 cording to the war records of the Eevolu- 

 tionary War), and while the author's 

 initials only are given in the W. C. Harbison 

 book, one will probably not be far wrong 

 in guessing that his full name was William 

 Curry Harbison and that both brothers 

 were named for grandfathers. The father, 



William Harbison, was a beekeeper, and in 

 both of the Harbison books reference is 

 made to the fact that the authors learned 

 beekeeping in their youth. John S. was en- 

 gaged with his brothers (three sons and one 

 daughter in the family) in the nursery busi- 

 ness in western Pennsylvania, and they also 

 kept bees. In 1854 he could not withstand 

 the temptation to go to California for gold, 

 and he sailed down the Atlantic Coast, 

 crossed by the Nicaragua route and went 

 to Sacramento. He soon found gold hunting 

 unattractive and started in the nursery 

 business, but, as is well known, he soon took 

 up beekeeping, after going east for some 

 colonies of bees. 



The first shipment in the spring of 1857 

 was made by John* alone, but in the fall of 

 1858 he made another trip east for bees,' 

 and this time his brother W. C. returned to 

 California with him. In both of the Harbi- 

 son books directions for shij^ping bees to 

 California are given. Evidently California 

 did not have the attraction for W. C. that 

 it had for his brother John, for he returned 

 to Chenango, Lawrence County, Pa., in time 

 to write his bee book and publish it in 1860. 



The two books are not at all alike in 

 make-up, so that they were obviously writ- 

 ten independently, and, in fact, I have failed 

 so far to find in either one any reference to 

 the other book. W. C. wrote his book in 

 time to have it published in 1860, while John 

 did not get his out until 1861. Both books 

 show evidences of a thoro study of the bee- 

 keeping literature available at the time, and 

 one must conclude that the Harbison broth- 

 ers were thoro students in their chosen field. 

 The shallow Langstroth hive did not appeal 

 to either of them, and while they give great 

 credit to Langstroth for his invention and 

 work on beekeeping, they both preferred a 

 deeper hive. The Harbison or California 

 hive was invented and patented in 1859 by 

 John S. Harbison, and in both books this 

 hive is described and recommended. 



A biographical sketch of John S. may be 

 found in vol. II of "A History of Califor- 

 nia," written by James M. Quinn, and from 

 this sketch it is clear that the Harbison 

 family was a notable one. The records of 

 the family run back to the year 1435 in Ire- 

 land, and several ancestors of the Harbison 

 brothers had experience in the early Indian 

 wars and in the Revolutionary War. Their 

 grandfather, William Curry, was chief ar- 

 morer in the field under General Washing- 

 ton, was in eight battles, was present when 

 Washington crossed the Delaware, and was 

 in charge of the armory at Carlisle in which 

 many noted British prisoners were impris- 

 one. 



Little information is available regarding 

 W. C. Harbison, except the information as 

 to his keenness of observation which he has 

 shown in his book. He preferred the quiet- 



