IMOl 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



983 



NOTHS OF TRAVEL 



The MosrExtensive Bee=keeper for his Age in the 



United States ; More about Arizona Bee= 



i<eeping. 



BY E. R. ROOT. 



I desire to introduce to you to-daj' the 

 j'ouug'est "big''" bee-keeper in the United 

 States, Mr. W. L. Chambers, of Phoenix, 

 Ariz. For one so young he owns more bees 

 than any other person in the land. Short 

 in stature, slight in frame, bo_vish in face, 

 he has achieved results in the little time he 

 has kept bees that even some of our veterans 

 who have been years in the business mig-ht 

 well env}'. At the age of 15 he started with 

 seven colonies which he bought and paid 

 for out of his own savings in chicken money. 

 But. unfortunately, foul brood got into those 

 precious seven the first season; but, nothing 



\v. L. cha.mbi:ks. 

 The youngest big bee keeper in the world. 



daunted, he went about to cure them. Said 

 his neighbors, " //t' never will make a bee- 

 keeper; he is too frail — too small. He 

 would have done better to stay in the chick- 

 en business;" and when foul brood broke 

 out and his $15 investment nearly proved a 

 failure they said, " I told you so. " But give 

 up bee-keeping just because he had a little 

 bad luck at the start? Not he. He was 

 made of better stuff. Even if he was small 

 and only a boy, he meant business. In 

 spite of his loss from foul brood he saved 

 out of what was alive more than enough to 

 make up for his loss. Listen: He actually 

 made one colony out of the seven the next 

 season bring him in a revenue of $20 of 

 clean cash. If we add to this the increase 

 and what the other colonies did we can see 



tliat his investment panned out probably 

 better than the chicken business would have 

 done. But this was because he started 

 right and had a business head, because he 

 adopted the good rule of making the bees 

 pay their way; for the only money he ever 

 invested outside of that earned by the bees 

 themselves was that $15 of chicken money. 

 He soon increased the seven colonies up to 

 a fair-sized apiary. His bee money, as 

 fast as he earned it, he kept and invested it 

 in more bees and hives. So successful was 

 he in his management that fie boii<^/it one 

 iv/iole yard outright, arid made tliat yard 

 pay for itself in one season. 



He could not afford to buy factory sup- 

 plies; but somehow he managed to get a 

 foot-power buzz-saw operated by means of a 

 crank. He was too small and light to fur- 

 nish the power, so he hired a man, turning 

 the crank while he did the cutting- of the 

 boards. Mere boj' as he was, there are no 

 factory hives that are better made, and I 

 think I know what I am talking about. He 

 kept on working this way economically, 

 keeping alwaj's before him the good rvile of 

 investing no money unless the bees furnish- 

 ed it; and so successfully has he carried 

 out this policy that now he has over 500 col- 

 onies, and is t;;//)' 20 years old. Think of it. 

 This feat is the more remarkable from the 

 fact that he was so frail and health so poor 

 that he had to be taken out of school early. 

 He could not do the ordinary hard work on 

 the fruit-ranch of his father; neither could 

 he confine himself to school, and therefore 

 he took up bee-keeping. With the exception 

 of the little help he hires, he does all the 

 work himself. By using brains he man- 

 ages to avoid the lifting of heavj' extract- 

 ing-supers, and thus saves his back (none 

 too strong for such work) some strains that 

 might otherwise be put upon him. Since 

 engaging in bee-keeping he has had fairly 

 g-ood health, and, what is more, he not only 

 makes both ends meet in his business but 

 he is making money. 



As .soon as Mr. Chambers found I was in 

 that vicinity he chased up and down the 

 country on his bicycle, trying to find me. 

 Finall3s after going hither and yon, just 

 missing me, he located me out in the coun;^ 

 try, going to the home of Mr. Wm. Rohrig 

 in the night. I then made an appointment 

 to meet him the next day, and, sure enough, 

 brig-ht and early he was on hand with a 

 pretty' little trotter and a nice light easy 

 single buggy, both of which were bought 

 and paid for out of the profits of his bees. 



We first drove over to his father's, who, 

 we found, was running a fruit-ranch in one 

 of the most favored sections in all Arizona, 

 for that business. And such fruit I On 

 arriving at his home a big dish of luscious 

 mammoth strawberries was placed before 

 me. Hot and drj' as I was, those berries 

 filled a long-felt want. While engaged in 

 taking care of the fruit a younger sister of 

 Mr. Chambers brought out an old hen 

 which had come from an egg that had been 

 hatched on the shelf in the house; for you 



