1887 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



m 



g&n to invest and deal in real estate, and ultimately 

 sold out his business, and for a time devoted him- 

 self to the development and improvement of the 

 village. In this he was prospered, so that, before 

 long:, he saw his way to the erection of a store three 

 times the size of his former one, with a residence 

 attached. While comparatively at leisure during' 

 the interval that he was out of storekeeping, he 

 bought a couple of colonies of bees in Langstroth 

 hives, which revived his youthful and inherited in- 

 terest in bee-kcci)ing. Meantime he resumed mer' 

 cantile business; both apiary and store flourished; 

 and Mr. Jones, like his father before him, fought 

 the beemoth, but with more perseverance and 

 better success. Like most beginners in bee-keep- 

 ing he had to invent a hive, which was duly patent- 

 ed, July 15, 1870, and was called "The Jones Per- 

 fection bee-hive." It was double-walled, with an 

 ingenious complication of tin and glass inside, 

 specially contrived to checkmate the moth, of 

 which he had received, by tradition from his fore- 

 fathers, a wholesome dread. These complications 

 in due time disappeared; and their inventor, like 

 many more, became quite content to try his luck 

 with a simple hive, constructed after the Lang- 

 stroth model. 



While inventing, experimenting, and making 

 known the supposed merits of his patent hive, he 

 fell in with Mr. J. H. Thomas, then ol' Brookline, 

 Ontario, who may justly be regarded as the father 

 of improved bee-keeping in Canada. He wrote 

 largely for the bee-department of the Canada 

 Farmer, then under the editorship of the writer of 

 this sketch; exhibited bees, honey, and apiarian 

 requisites at fairs, and was, by all odds, the fore- 

 most bee-man in our country. A little hand-book 

 entitled, "The Canadian Bee-keeper's Guide," 

 selling for 35 cents, of which he was author, did 

 much to spread a knowledge of improved bee- 

 keeping throughout the Dominion. Mr. Jones was 

 not slow to recognize in Mr. Thomas one who could 

 impart valuable information on what was now be- 

 coming to him a favorite pursuit, and he improved 

 the opportunity presented. From Mr. Thomas he 

 first heard of the honey-extractor, also of the 

 American Bee Journal, and other publications con- 

 cerning apiculture.* His progress now was rapid. 

 A good location and favorable seasons enabled him, 

 by the use of the extractor, to obtain marvelous 

 quantities of honey, and bee-keeping soon became 

 his absorbing pursuit. Again he retired from 

 store-keeping, and now set himself to extend and 

 multiply his apiaries. In 1878 he commenced, in a 

 small way, the manufacture of bee-keepers' sup- 

 plies, which has now grown to be an extensive 

 business, employing a large number of hands. 



In 1879-'80, acting on the determination to find 

 out whether there was any better bee in the world 

 than the Italian, he went to Cyprus and Palestine, 

 incurring enormous expense, and braving many 

 dangers and exposures. This tour led to the estab- 

 •lishmentof a queen-breeding station at Larnaca, 

 in the island of Cyprus, of which Mr. Frank Ben- 

 ton was in charge for some time. It also led to the 

 establishment of queen-breeding Italians on sever- 

 al islands in the Georgian Bay, Ontario, about 100 

 miles north from Beeton, where, for several years, 

 Mr. Jones carried on costly experiments in order to 

 obtain the best bee available for honey produc- 



*By the way. who can tell what has become of J. 

 H. Thomas?— Ed. 



tion. By these enterprising schemes, carried out 

 with wonderful energy, regardless of expense, Mr. 

 Jones has laid the bee-keepers of this continent 

 and of the world under a weighty obligation. 

 They have not been money-making schemes to 

 him. He would have been many thousand dollars 

 richer had he let them alone. But the work needed 

 to be done by some one. Government would not 

 undertake it, and the task fill to an enterprising; 

 public spirited man, who did it thoroughly, and the 

 apicultural world enjoys the benefit of his Jabofs. 

 The question as to the best races of bees has been 

 probed to the bottom, and practically settled. 



Mr. Jones was the chief if not the sole meads Of 

 getting up the grand exhibit of honey and supplies 

 which is now annually made in Toronto, and forms 

 such a conspicuous and attractive feature in 

 "Canada's Greatest Fair." He was also largely in- 

 strumental in bringing about the display of Cana- 

 dian honey which was made on such a magnificent 

 scale at the Colonial and Indian Exhibition held in 

 London, England, last year, and was himself one of 

 the commissioners, four in number, who took 

 charge of the exhibit, and conducted it to such a 

 successful issue. 



In April, 1885, in company with a nephew of Mrs- 

 Jones, Mr. F. A. Macpherson, he commenced the 

 Canadian Bee ./ouourl, himself taking the position 

 of senior editor, and his associate acting as publish- 

 er and assistant editor. It was a bold venture, es- 

 pecially as it was issued at the low figure of one 

 dollar per annum, which, for a weekly magazine, 

 with a tinted cover, was a phenomenon in apicultu- 

 ral literature. It has had a phenomenal success, 

 notwithstanding the number of ably conducted 

 bee-journals already in the field. Much of this suc- 

 cess is to be attributed to Mr. Macpherson, who is 

 not only a thorough practical printer, but possess- 

 es literary ability of a high order, and is full of 

 youthful fire and energy. The Canadian Bee Jour- 

 nal not only fitly represents the bee-interests of the 

 Dominion, but has a large circulation in the United 

 States, and a considerable patronage among the 

 more intelligent bee-keepers of the Old World. 



Mr. Jones is a versatile and many-sided man, a 

 good citizen, broad and liberal in his views, public- 

 spirited, and ready to take part in any movement 

 calculated to benefit humanity. He has been for 

 many years, and is still, the leading spirit in every 

 thing calculated to advance the material and mor- 

 al interests of the community and district of coun- 

 try in which he resides. 



Beeton is now an important railroad point. It \6 

 not only a considerable station on the Hamilton & 

 Northwestern K. R., which Mr. Jones was the chief 

 means of locating on the route finally adopted, but 

 it is a junction, whence lines to Toronto and points 

 east and south connect; also a road to Barrie north, 

 connecting with the Canadian Pacific, and so 

 with the Lake Superior region, Manitoba, and the 

 Northwest. He is reputed to have made some 

 money out of these railroad enterprises, and well 

 deserves to have done so, for he has worked hard 

 in securing their development. Mr. Jones is post- 

 master in Beeton, and proprietor of the Beeton 

 World. As yet he does not seem to have been smit- 

 ten with political aipbition, and it is to be hoped he 

 will not be, as there are plenty of politicians who 

 can not do the work he has done and is capable of 

 doing in the promotion of bee-keeping, which is 

 worth far more to the national welfare than most 



