Jan. 7, 1904. 



TH£ AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



15 car-loads of extracted honey, ahead of the season, at 4'.; cents a 

 pound. When he came to buy the honey to fill his order, he had to 

 pay 5 cents a pound. He will know better next time. 



Mr. Mercer says the Association expects to be in a position 

 another season to furnish certain lines of bee-supplies to its members 

 at greatly reduced rates. Keep an eye on those California folks. 

 They are out to do business. With the bee-keepers of Colorado, and 

 California, and Texas, organized to accomplish results, something 

 worth while may be expected. Success to allot them. They are on 

 the right track. 



( 



Sketches of Beedomites 





DEATH OF HM. R. GRAHAM, 



Wm. R. Graham died at his residence in North (ireenville, Tex., 

 Nov. ST, 1903, in the 76th year of his age. 



Mr. Graham was born .Jan. 14, 1S2S; his wife, who was Miss Eletta 

 Poteet, was born .June 5, 1S30; they were married Aprils, 1851. They 

 were born, reared and married in Lee Co., Va., where they resided 

 until they came to Greenville, Te\., in 1874. 



When the Civil War broke out, Mr. Graham enlisted in the Con- 

 federate Army. 



Shortly after coming to Texas he became interested in scientific 

 bee-culture. He was the prime mover in the organization of the Texas 



WM. R. GRAHAM. 



State Bee-Keepers' Association, which was organized in IS"?. Mr. 

 Graham was the first president. The late and lamented .Judge W. H. 

 Andrews, of McKinney, Tex., was elected president in 187S, which 

 position he held up to the time of his death in ISS", when Mr. Graham 

 was again elected president. In isill, the late Rev. W. K. Marshall, 

 of Marshall, Tex., was elected president, and held the otUce up to the 

 time of his death. In 1895 Mr. Graham was for the third tipe elected 

 president of the association, which honor he bore with distinctive 

 pleasure and pride up to the time of his death. Outside of three 

 meetings held at .Judge Andrews' residence, in McKinney, all of the 

 conventions have been held at Mr. (iraham's home in North Green- 

 ville. This association is now the oldest organization in the State, 

 being 26 years old, and has never missed a single annual meeting. 

 The writer is the only original charter member living. 



The writer, in ISSO, established, on a small scale, a manufactory 

 and sale of bee-keepers' supplies a few miles northwest of Greenville, 

 which soon grew to such proportions that it became necessary to move 

 it to Greenville, where, in 1884, in company with Mr. Graham, it was 

 enlarged to supply the increased demands. Mr. (iraham, the same 

 year, became sole proprietor, and the following year erected at his 

 home suitable buildings for his business. His popularity as a practi- 

 cal bee-keeper and a home manufacturer increased the demands, so 

 that in 1893 he built and equipped a large factory, to which was later 

 added machinery for general work ; this was operated under the firm 



name of W. R. Graham tt Son. This is the oldest and largest estab- 

 lishment of the kind in the State. 



In the death of Mr. Graham the Texas State Bee-Keepers' Associa- 

 tion has lost an honored president and faithful worker, the community 

 a valuable citizen, each personal acquaintance a noble brother, and his 

 family a devoted companion and loving father. 



W. R. (irahani was an exemplary Christian and lovable character 

 from his early life. For the last three years he was an invalid, for 

 nearly a year entirely helpless. Through all of his alllictions he never 

 murmured ; he patiently awaited the final summons, often praising 

 the Lord ; he passed away without even the appearance of a frown, 

 to that peaceful sleep of the lust. 



Mrs. Graham is now 73 years old, and in good health for one of 

 her age. During her 53 years of married life she has lived to see her 

 children grow up to useful men and women, and become honored 

 citizens. While death has claimed her dear companion and four of 

 her children after arriving at mature age, she has yet five children to 

 make her remaining days less lonely, and her burdens lighter. The 

 surviving children are: Mrs. H. L. Russell, Wm. M. Graham, .John 

 E. Graham, Marion R. Graham, and Mrs. .J. W. Morrow. 



Wm. R. Howard. 



It was our good fortune to meet Mr. Graham at the National con- 

 vention of bee-keepers in 1893, during the World's Fair in Chicago. 

 He was an ardent friend and continuous subscriber to the American 

 Bee Journal for many years. We are glad to give space here for his 

 picture and biographical sketch. The old leaders in bee-keeping are 

 fast passing on. May their equals succeed them in their beloved pur- 

 suit of bee-keeping. 





Contributed Articles 



1 



Keeping Bees Near the Blossoms. 



BY G. M. DOOLITTI,E. 



SOME six or eight weeks ago a correspondent wrote me 

 that he had not seen anything from my pen in the 

 American Bee Journal of late, and wished I would write 

 again, sending along a question on which he desired my 

 opinion in the paper mentioned. As I was too busy then to 

 answer his questions, and as they would keep, I have defer- 

 red the matter till the present time. The question sent in 

 is as follows : 



" I must change my abiding place during the coming winter, and 

 I desire to locate my apiary about a mile and a half from the thickest 

 pasturage of the vicinity to which I am going : but I am undecided 

 what to do for fear my bees will not do nearly as well as they would if 

 I sacrificed my own convenience and moved right in among the flowers 

 of the best bee-pasturage. What would be the difference, if any, in 

 the quantity of honey gathered from a certain field of clover, basswood 

 or buckwheat, if my apiary is right among the blossoms, or from one 

 to one and a half miles away * Please tell the readers of the American 

 Bee .Journal what you think in this matter." 



Some claim that a colony whose bees all have traveled 

 one or two miles from home for their stores will soon be- 

 come depopulated, the result being a half less honey, with 

 very weak colonies in the fall, over what would accrue had 

 the apiary been located right in the midst of the flowers. 

 Others claim that every young bee that enters upon the ser- 

 vice of field-worker must learn where the best forage- 

 grounds are before it can work to the best advantage ; while 

 theory claims, in view of the fact that bees do not know in- 

 stinctively how to go directly to the nectar-bearing flowers 

 in the vicinity of their homes, but must depend upon their 

 smell and an industrious search for profitablt. honey-gather- 

 ing, that therefore it stands to reason that less time would 

 be lost in getting the whole force at work on the honey-pro- 

 ducing flowers, where the latter are plentiful very near the 

 apiary, than would be the case if the pasture were from one 

 to two miles away. Probably no one could give a very 

 definite answer to the question without trying the experi- 

 ment with a number of colonies right in the midst of the blos- 

 soms, and an equal number one or more miles away, for a 

 number of years ; and this is something that I have never 

 done, therefore I cannot be considered as authority in this 

 matter. I can only give my experience, which the ques- 

 tioner and others can take for what it is worth. 



My experience would indicate that those who argue 

 that bees must be set right down in the very center of the 

 honey-producing flora do this more from theory than from 

 actual knowledge ; for I am led to believe that there would 

 not be enough difference in the results, at the distance 



