1918 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



47 



Beemen of the Present— M. H. 

 Mendelson 



By W. A. Pryal 



AMONG the many beekeepers in 

 California who have produced 

 honey on a large scale few 

 have exceeded the operations of Mr. 

 M. II. Mendelson, whose apiaries 

 have done much to make Ventura 

 county famous as a honey-yielding 

 section of the Golden State. 



It was in the early winter of 1892, 

 I believe, that I first met Mr. Men- 

 delson at a meeting of beekeepers in 

 Los Angeles. At that time he began 

 to agitate for beekeepers of the 

 State making a presentable exhibit 

 of their apiarian resources at the 

 Columbian Exposition to be held the 

 following year in Chicago. And a 

 year or two following he did his ut- 

 most to make the beekeepers show 

 at the Midwinter Exposition to be 

 held in San Francisco during 1894 a 

 success. 



M. H. MENDELSON IN WORKING GARB. 



One of his hired men is gathering the 



"Queen Crop." 



He also worked strenuously to 

 have a creditable exhibit of Califor- 

 nia's bee products at the great expo- 

 sition of 1915. He had outlined a 

 plan that would have done credit not 

 only to our apiarists, but those of 

 all the world. But through the med- 

 dling of others, the plans had to be 

 abandoned, and there was no exhibit 

 of the apiarian industry worthy of 

 the name, though a few individuals 

 and firms made good scattering ex- 

 hibits of bee supplies. 



While on my trip through Califor- 

 nia south of here, in 1916, I made it 

 a point to visit Mr. Mendelson. I 

 hoped to find him at his big apiary 

 some two and one-half miles south of 

 Piru, but on enquiring at the largest 

 store in that town as to the best auto 

 road to take, I was informed that he 



A VENTURA COUNTY BEAN FIELD- 

 the busy bee and the buttery Lima Be; 



i.nd there are miles and miles of them. How doth 

 that helps make everything so sweet and hopeful. 



had left that location a day or two 

 previously for his Ventura place. 



At Fillmore I thought I would take 

 a run out to see the Mclntyre api- 

 aries. I was told that it was not 

 likely I should find Mr. Mclntyre 

 there ; that the bees were being at- 

 tended to by his wife and daughters. 

 I did not try to find the location. 

 Later I learned why Mr. Mclntyre 

 suspended apicultural operations. I 

 was sorry to hear of this and I trust 

 he has been able to take up the pur- 

 suit in the large way that he had 

 conducted it so successfully for over 

 a quarter of a century. As it was, I 

 learned that the women folks of the 

 household managed the bees as com- 

 petently as of yore, and why not? 

 Who in the country could be more 

 competent than the daughter and 

 granddaughters of the late R. Wil- 

 kin? 



Our trip from Fillmore to Ventura, 

 or rather for many miles west of the 

 former town, was over one of the 

 vilest roads we ever traveled. The 

 main highway was under reconstruc- 



tion, and a Mexican we met at the 

 crossroads gave us wrong directions 

 as to the best temporary route. 



On the State highway something 

 less than three miles east of Ven- 

 tura, we found what Mr. Mendelson 

 calls his camp. While I had written 

 to Mr. Mendelson that I hoped to 

 call upon him on my way home, he 

 did not recognize me, neither would 

 I have known him should I have 

 chanced to meet him in town or on 

 the highway. Nigh a quarter of a 

 century had made changes in us 

 both. 



Some 200 colonies of bees had been 

 moved into the place a few days pre- 

 vious to our visit, and the hives were 

 arranged all around the house and 

 outbuildings. Some of them had 

 swarmed, even as late as the latter 

 part of August, when we were there. 

 One of the little girls of our party 

 discovered a swarm hidden away 

 among the leaves of a large palm 

 tree. 



Many of the colonies were used for 

 queen-rearing purposes. The ten- 



FLOWERING PLANTS AND FRUIT TREES GROW ALL ABOUT MENDELSON'S 

 COTTAGE BEE-CAMP 



