. American bee journal. Bee culture; Bees. Major Gustavus F. Merriam G. F. Merriam was born in Leyden, Lewis Co., New York, Oct. 17, 1835, and died in Los Angeles, Calif., Jan. 2t), 1914. He was educated at the United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, Md. He resigned and enlisted in the War of the Rebellion as First Lieutenant, and was promoted to Major and Chief of Artillery of the Department of West Virginia, in command of Maryland Heights and Bollivar Heights at Har- per's Ferry. At the close of the war he moved to Topeka, Kan., and entered into the wholesale and retail dry goods business. I
. American bee journal. Bee culture; Bees. Major Gustavus F. Merriam G. F. Merriam was born in Leyden, Lewis Co., New York, Oct. 17, 1835, and died in Los Angeles, Calif., Jan. 2t), 1914. He was educated at the United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, Md. He resigned and enlisted in the War of the Rebellion as First Lieutenant, and was promoted to Major and Chief of Artillery of the Department of West Virginia, in command of Maryland Heights and Bollivar Heights at Har- per's Ferry. At the close of the war he moved to Topeka, Kan., and entered into the wholesale and retail dry goods business. In 1875 he moved to California, chiefly in quest of his wife's health, and settled on a ranch in San Diego county, which he named Twin Oaks, and which still bears the name. His great love for beekeeping prompted him to bring 40 colonies with him from Topeka, but the long, slow route to San Francisco, and thence to San Diego by steamer, and last but not least the trip through the rugged mountain trail of 40 miles proved too much for the little fellows, and he arrived with but three colonies alive. Beginning with these, and with what he could dig out of the caves and trees, he soon worked up a fine apiary of nearly 200 colonies. Then came the long series of drouths that the bee man of California learns sooner or later but inevitably to bear. From 1879 to '83 he saw his hard earned apiary gradually shrink until the early spring of '84 found him with but 63 colonies to begin work with again. Then came the " turn in the ; The extremely wet season and consequent profusion of wild flowers that so abounded in thiscountryin those days allowed him to increase over four to one, and make liOO pounds of ex- tracted and 50 pounds of comb honey to the colony, the largest yield in the history of the country before or since. He introduced and always used his own make of hives and frames, and the Merriam hive and Merriam self-spac- ing frame is still generally used over southern Ca
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, booksubjectbees, bookyear1861
