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American Vee Journal 



tioned, and a third, Homer A. King, 

 famous in the bee-world of a genera- 

 tion and more ago. The subject of 

 this sketch had little to do with the de- 

 veloping of the first bee-hive factory 

 ever,started — it was H. A. and Nelson 

 King who industriously pushed the 

 American bee-hive to the front in the 

 60's ; their factory at Nevada, Ohio, 

 was kept running night and day to sup- 

 ply the demand. About this time Albert 

 went to California to introduce the 

 King hive into that State. There he 

 found the Harbison hive in full swing, 

 and it remained so until the early 70's. 

 In the Golden State the latter brother 

 fell into the ways of a pedagogue, and 

 for some years was engaged in tutor- 

 ing the savage young Californians in 

 the walks of every-day life, especially 

 in "teaching their young ideas how to 

 shoot." It was in this way that I fell 

 under the sway of the bee-keeper 

 school-master. 



It was around the middle CO's that a 

 school-house was built in our district, 

 and a gentleman from Ohio, who had 

 recently moved to the district, was in- 

 strumental in inducing Mr. King to 

 come to the district, with a promise of 

 installing him master of the new school. 

 The latter came, built himself a home, 

 and — only to find that his would-be 

 friends went back upon him, and were 

 going to elect some one else teacher! 

 Just then an election of school trustees 

 took place which upset the plans of the 

 tricksters, if they might be called such. 

 On the new board was the writer's 

 father. Mr. A. D. Pryal, recently de- 

 ceased, and he and another new mem- 

 ber, Mr. John Kearney, I believe, saw 

 that Mr. King was treated as he should 

 have been — so he taught the school 

 until he resigned some years later. It 

 was in this way as a youngster that I 

 became acquainted with this gentle- 

 man, who, a few years later, played 

 quite an important part in the early 

 history of bee-keeping in the United 

 States. 



After leaving California, Mr. King 

 went East, and was soon associated 

 with his brother. Homer A. King, in 

 the publication of the National Agri- 

 culturist and Bee Journal. Later this 

 paper was merged into the Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Magazine. The first issue of the 

 latter was published in the fall of 187'^, 

 and so, if it were still in existence, it 

 would rank as the second oldest bee- 

 l)aper in America. A few years later 

 the senior brother withdrew from the 

 publishing business, and the subject of 

 this sketch continued the editorial 

 management of the paper quite suc- 

 cessfully until about 1885, when he sold 

 his entire interests in the paper and 

 supply business to others. Some of 

 the best articles on bee-keeping that 

 ever appeared in any bee-publication 

 were published in the Bee-Keepers' 

 Magazine, the editor being fortunate 

 in securing the services of the leading 

 solid weights in apicultural work of the 

 times. 



It was during Prof. King's editorial 

 management of the Magazine that the 

 great fight over the invention of the 

 manufacture of comb foundation be- 

 gan. Mr. King found that the preten- 

 sions of the would-be patentee were 

 groundless, and he went to work and 

 in a masterly wa.T -■■ade a clean expose 

 of the whole affair leading up to the 



invention of comb-foundation manu- 

 facturing, including the making of the 

 embossed rolls, which are now used in 

 the making of this most useful adjunct 

 of the apiary. How soon we forget the 

 past ; 33 or 3."> years ago the gentleman 

 I write of was putting in his best ef- 

 forts to give to the bee-keeping world 

 the free use of comb foundation, and he 

 did so. How few of today recall the 

 time, or give him that meed of thanks 

 he is so much entitled to. And it was 

 he who also did much to popularize the 

 bee-smoker. The times were ripe for 

 this invention. In connection with the 

 late Moses Quinby and T. F. Bingham 

 (each separately), he perfected the 

 smoker so that the ones in use at this 

 time are much the same as the later 

 products of A. J. King. And in the 

 matter of improving bee-hives this bee- 

 keeper was ever alert. He turned out 

 several splendid hives that would have 



Ai-BEKT J. King. 



become standards among bee-keepers 

 if it were not for the fact that Ameri- 

 can bee-keepers demand the lowest 

 possible cost along with utility in all 

 the appliances used in the apiary. This 

 is owing, mostly, to the fact that the 

 product of the apiary has to be sold at 

 a price that does not warrant the pro- 

 ducer spending much capital for equip- 

 ment, etc. In England and on the con- 

 tinent of the Old World this is not so; 

 there, costly hives are the rule. 'Tis 

 true, perhaps, that a cheap hive will 

 often allow a colony of bees to pro- 

 duce as much honey as the more ex- 

 pensive one, so, on the whole, the 

 American bee-keeper is justified in 

 being economical. 



While in the great city of New York, 

 Prof. King demonstrated that bees 

 could be profitably and successfully 

 kept on the roofs of buildings. There 

 he maintained several apiaries; often 

 reporters from the city press would 

 visit some of these roof-apiaries and 

 forthwith would appear " How doeth 

 the busy bee" in Gotham. All of which 

 attracted attention to the industry and 



helped to whet the appetite for honey. 

 And in even more did he show his 

 skill as an educator in the noble ^t of 

 tending bees. While conducting his 

 bee-publication and supply business, 

 he instituted a bee-college, as it were, 

 and had classes in apiculture at his 

 office in New York. The students came 

 from the city and adjacent country. 

 Often after instruction in the "class "- 

 room an adjournment would be made 

 to the roof-apiary above, where the 

 practical side of apiculture would be 

 demonstrated. 



In 1873 Prof. King brought out a re- 

 vised edition of his brothers' "Bee- 

 Keepers' Text-Book," which up to that 

 time had had the largest circulation of 

 any bee-book ever published. He also 

 prepared articles for several permanent 

 works, notably for the Ninth or Ameri- 

 can edition of the great Encyclopedia 

 Britannica. This article stands as a 

 lasting monument to Prof. King's con- 

 tribution to the bee-literature of this 

 country. 



Here I might mention that Prof. 

 King's Practical College of Apiculture 

 attracted a good deal of attention at 

 the time; it was so novel to find such a 

 school that many persons other than 

 the news-gatherers came to see it. 

 The " College apiary " occupied a space 

 on the roof 25x75 feet, and I think I am 

 free to state that many of our agricul- 

 tural colleges at this time cannot boast 

 of a larger or better equipment. This 

 school — or college — apiary was illus- 

 trated and described in Harper's Mag- 

 azine at that time. It was from the 

 reading of, an article that Prof. King 

 contributed to the Scientific American 

 that induced Cuban capitalists to secure 

 his services in establishing a large api- 

 ary in Cuba. He had previously estab- 

 lished several apiaries on the same 

 island for other parties. About this 

 time he was elected president of the 

 Eastern Bee-Keepers' Association, but 

 his absence in Cuba prevented him 

 doing active work for the association. 



Prof. King was a frequent exhibitor 

 of apiarian appliances and literature, 

 as well as Italian bees and queens, at 

 the American Institute in New York 

 city, and on several occasions he was 

 awarded the highest premium ever 

 given an .American bee-keeper. Sev- 

 eral of the gold and silver medals be- 

 stowed on him he highly prizes at even 

 this late date. 



To illustrate still further the cam- 

 paign of enlightment in the modern 

 field of bee-keeping he brought about, 

 Prof. King was secured by Cooper's 

 Institute to lecture on several occa- 

 sions before the Farmers' Club, on 

 "Modern Bee-Keeping." 



Reverting to the invention of comb 

 foundation, I might here remark that 

 during I'rof. King's hunt for evidence 

 to overthrow the pretensions of the 



We have about 30 copies left of the 

 book, "Langstroth on the Honey- 

 Bee," of the edition just preceding the 

 last. It is practically equal to the 

 latest edition, and we will mail them so 

 long as they last, for 90 cents a copy. 

 (The regular price is $l.i!0.) Or, we 

 will send one of the above 90-cent 

 copies with the American Bee Journal 

 one year — both for $1.75. Address the 

 American Bee Journal office. 



