1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1565 



BEE-KEEPING IN CALIFORNIA. 



M. H. Mendleson and his Apiaries; Power- 

 driven Extractors; Melting up the Cap- 

 pin ;»:s as Fast as they are Shaved off 

 the Combs. 



BY E. R. ROOT. 



During the last few months I have adopted 

 in these columns the plural pronoun we, for 

 the very reason that often, after talking with 

 my associates, I give a composite view of our 

 whole staff; but for the purpose of this arti- 

 cle I propose to go back to the singular pro- 

 noun /. 



It was in 1901, along about the middle of 

 June, that I bunked with Mr. M. H. Mendle- 

 son in his ranch house in Rattlesnake Can- 



get some first-handed California experience 

 in extracting honey in a wholesale way. He 

 was delighted with the proposition, because, 

 he explained with a twinkle, there were some 

 things he wished to impress on a certain ed- 

 itor in Ohio which he could not very well 

 do on the written page. Yes, he would put 

 rne at turning the crank of a Root Company's 

 six-frame extractor; that would be nice ea^y 

 work. "Oh, yes!" I said, "I shall be very 

 glad to do that. A little exercise will do me 

 good." But I little realized then that there 

 was "method in his madness." My hands 

 were tender; and if ever in my life I was im- 

 pressed with the fact that I was a "tender- 

 foot" I knew it then. I turned the crank 

 while the sweat poured off my brow. The 

 boys also appeared to be in league with the 

 boss, for they piled the combs on to me at a 



FIG. 1. — APIARY OF M. H. MENDLESON. 



yon, located some twenty odd miles from 

 Los Angeles, in one of the most picturesque 

 spots in all California. I regret that no 

 photo, nor painting either, for that matter, 

 can give a correct idea of the various tints of 

 the mountains towering up to great heights 

 from all sides. But I took one picture (see 

 Fig. 1) and the same has appeared in several 

 editions of the A B C of Bee Culture, and as 

 here reproduced it gives one a faint idea 

 of the beauties of this mountain scenery. 



When I called on Mr. Mendleson, 1 said 

 that I desired to spend several days with him, 

 and that, if he were short of help, as, fortu- 

 nately, he was, I should like to turn in and 



hot pace. 1 had agreed that, with an ex- 

 tractor of our own make, I could extract the 

 combs as fast as they could be uncapped. 

 But how bitterly did I repent of my bargain! 

 But I would not give up, and at the end of 

 half a day I was ready to sit down to a din- 

 ner of bacon, eggs, and fried potato that Mr. 

 Mendleson served up for us. Say — did any 

 thing else ever taste half so good? That 

 mountain air, the exercise, were a wonder- 

 ful bracer. 



I saw the game on the part of Mr. Mendle- 

 son and his boys was to impress on me the 

 fact that a six-frame extractor was too large 

 for man power, and that we ought to get up 



