AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



43 



J. S. HARBISOX. 



Mr. W. A. Pryal, of North, Temescal, 

 Calif., has kindly furnished the follow- 

 ing interesting biographical sketch of 

 one of the most noted bee-keepers the 

 world ever knew : 



J. S. Harbison ! What a name was 

 this in California a quarter of a century 



J. S. HARBISON. 



and less ago. And the golden boundaries 

 of the Sunset State were not sufficient 

 to keep that name within its confines, 

 for we read that it was known all over 

 America, especially among the bee-keep- 

 ers who were seeking after new and ap- 

 proved methods of caring for bees, and 

 the latest devices of securing honey. 

 And yet, after all those years have gone, 

 this name is still known and talked 

 about in the Golden West. 



John S. Harbison did not begin his 

 bee-keeping career in the State he has 

 since helped to make famous by the 



marvelous crops of honey he has secured 

 from his bees. He was born in Beaver 

 county, Pa., in 1826. It was on the 

 parental farm in that State that he im- 

 bibed his love for the insects he has done 

 so much for ever since. His father was 

 considered one of the leading bee-men 

 in that part of Pennsylania, and, though 

 he kept his bees in the log-gums and 

 straw-skeps so common in those days, he 

 managed to make quite a success of the 

 colonies he owned. 



The subject of this sketch was not 

 slow in recognizing the merits of the 

 " Week's " hive, which came into use 

 about 1843. The young enthusiast im- 

 proved upon the hive, and his inventions 

 were so successful in obtaining better 

 results from his bees, that he determined 

 to make further improvements in bee- 

 hives. 



And yet, while he was getting larger 

 crops of honey, and carrying his bees 

 through the severe winter with more 

 satisfactory showings than his neighbors, 

 or, for that matter, any one for miles 

 around, he came to the conclusion that 

 to make a complete success of bee-keep- 

 ing, the apiarist would have to locate 

 his apiary in a country where the condi- 

 tions of the climate were such that there 

 would be little trouble in wintering the 

 bees. In the early history of California, 

 and the State was yet young, he had 

 heard of the evenness of the climate of 

 that new and then wonderful country. 

 His enthusiasm was such that he had to 

 " make off" for the new Eldorado to try 

 his luck in the gold fields, as well as in 

 the fields of apiculture and horticulture. 



He set out for the fruitful fields of 

 California in 1854, and first tried his 

 hand at mining in Amador county. Gold 

 not panning out well, he sought work in 

 a sawmill, but he soon saw that he was 

 wasting his energies at this laborious 

 employment. His tastes were in the 

 line of cultivating the soil and caring 

 for the toiling bee. He, therefore, re- 

 turned to his native State, and we soon 

 find him on the way back to California 

 with an assortment of trees and seeds, 

 chiefly of fruits. With these he started 

 a nursery near the city of Sacramento. 

 He was also one of the first importers of 

 bees to this State. As the early history 

 of the bee in California was dwelt upon 

 at length by the writer in the last De- 

 cember issues of the American Bee 

 Journal, it will not be necessary to 

 again refer to it here. Suffice it to say, 

 however, that Mr. Harbison, though not 

 the first to bring bees to California, was 

 the first to bring any considerable num- 



