The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1897-03-10

lowed 10 spend the vacation. as We
wished. my brother and ] had 70 pull
weeds. on the last day. having finish
90 our TASK I tried 70 persuade my
brother 10 ask permission Of my father
no go mp in the mountain and find odd
OaEum."
Knowing well my fathers stern
ness. ne declined. Then I mustered up
the necessary courage but when L
reach q the door of the house | be
came very humble. and in that CON
diJion asked and received permission
TO 20 % the mountains and find the
man VINO had so often frightened us.
Climbing over the cEesr OF Tantalus
and descending a hundred feet or
more. we found old Oakum' chop
ping away at fallen tree. He made
no objections 70 our being there, but
cautioned us to look out for the bees.
When he had chopped sufficiently he
reached in with his hand and eX
rTacted The honey He told us then
THAT ne would sell the combs for $3.50
or $500, according TO the size. One
thing about Holcomb | could not un-
derstand; he would handle the bees
without protection TO his hands or
face. and was seldom stung. Occa-
sionaIiy he would get a nip, but he
did not seem TO mind It. That was
thirty years ago, and as far as my in
formation goes, Dwight HolcOmb was
the first man TO gather wild honey
for the Honolulu market"
Twenty years ago John Farnsworth
came here from Virginia City, Ne
vada. A year later a colony of bees
swarmed on his place. \ day or two
after hiving them a man came along
and claimed the bees, but settled for
small sum, and from this colony Mr..
Farnsworth got a start from which
resulted most of the colonies in Ho-
nolulu.
After conducting the business alone
for a number OF years, Mr.. Farms
worth took in as partners u. Thomp.
son of Kamehameha School. prac-
tical apiarist. and e. w. Jordan, and
nearly all of tha ir hives are kept in
the neighborhOod of Kamehameha,
the conditions there being excellent
for the purpose. \ few hives, how
ever. are kept on the Waikiki road
in the vicinity of the groves of AL
geroba trees. the blossoms of which
furnish an excellent quality of honey
In 1885 Thomas Newcastle decided
to embark in the business, and pur-
chased a stand of bees from Mr..
F'arnSwOrth. He has today about 800
hives, 200 of which he keeps in Pawaa
and 100 hives on Kinau street. During
the past few years he has found a
fairly profitable market for his honey
in Liverpool and Londo!I. shipping
his product through Theo. II. Davies
* Co.
Mr. Newcastle states that in 1896
he averaged between 40 and 30 pOu1ds
of honey per hive, but in good years
ic
colonies are located in places convent
ent to algeroba trees, and his honey
is consequently of a beautiful white
variety Sometimes his bees go off
among the lantana, and the result is
honey of a darker shade and less
sweet.
Mr. Newcastle considers that the
radius Of the flight of bees is about
a mile and half, and he believes that
rival bee men make a mistake when
they put their hives at a shorter dis
lance than that from their neighbors.
The bees in Honolulu produce honey
only during May. June. July and
August. and as the feeding grounds
are limited the business of growing
honey in the Hawaiian Islands is al
ready overdone. The foreign market
is blOckaded with a duty of 3 cents
a pound in England and 10 cents
gallon for honey going into the Unit
ed States. In Honolulu the market is
limited. the sales not amounting TO
500 per month.
The business being limited Mr.
Newcastle thinks the bee men of Ho-
noluIu should consolidate and pro-
tect each other, as they do in Califor
MIA Aside from the algerOba and
few flowers. the only honey bearing
blossoms in the Islands are those of
the Royal palm, and as the supply OF
this is. TO an extent. limited, the re-
suit TO the individual producers is not
large.
From another extensive dealer in
bees the following information is OBJ
tanned:
During the past five years the care
and culture of the honey bee has been
given the utmost care and attention
by experienced and capable veterans
in bee culture. Blacks. Hybrids and
Italians have all been imported at
great expense. These are forwarded
through the mail in small cells especi
ally constructed for them; but as the
time they are necessarily imprisoned
is long. many die before they reach
their destination. and as the queens
cost upwards of Sc each. the loss is
cOnSldera bic.
Regarding the honey producing
plants here, every one. including the
celebrated White Mountain sage, that
which has made California honey ia
nous the world over. has been tried
here. and so has the Eastwood tree
from Ohio. but without success. Ha- !
waiian honey has been on the market
for twenty years. 1t is fair color,
with a good taste Recent shipments
TO the English market have brought
21-2 TO 3 1-2 cents a pound. The
small area on which bees can be cult
waited is a great drawback to the eX-
tension of the business. The lantana. !
too. which covers so much of our
waste lands. produces honey much too |
dark for consumption.
Our bees gather the honey from |
the eucalyptus trees and the different /
flowers which decorate so many OF
Honolulu's beautiful gardens.