GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



somewhat acquainted with the history of 

 the beekeeping of the i^ast, and I feel justi- 

 fied in pointing- with pride to these forty- 



seven years of devotion which should war- 

 rant the name of " Father of practical com- 

 mercial beekeeping in America." 



UNCLE QUINBY IN THE OLD DAYS 



BY ins NEPHEW, T. S. UNDERBILL 



In calling up early boyhood remembrance 

 of Uncle Quinby I make note of a few 

 distinctive features of intimate social or 

 family characteristics which were of a cor- 

 dial, happy nature, such as playing the 

 flute, his military outfit as captain of militia, 

 and i^articularly his quaint sayings and 

 axioms for which he was noted, such as : 

 " Subdue your appetites and you conquer 

 human nature ;" " What you get for noth- 

 ing is apt to be mighty expensive;" "When 

 a man boasts of acting disinterestedly, it's 

 safe to say he has an ax to grind ;" " The 

 lucky man is one who locks the door before 

 the horse is stolen." One time, when, boy- 

 like, I was proudly sporting a finger-ring, 

 he said, " Tommy, I have always noticed 

 that pigs that have to root for a living don't 

 want to be rung." 



His helpfulness and wise counsel were 

 widely recognized. To us boys he Avas un- 

 doubted authority and an impartial judge. 

 I well remember the early rural home in the 

 town of Coxsackie, New York, where the 

 Quinby residence was on a hill that we 

 called " Honey Hill," in contradistinction 

 from the valley called " Honey Hollow," of 

 which the creek fed the mill-dam pond at 

 the foot of the hill. This early remem- 

 brance dates from about 1840, when I was 

 five years old — at least before my school 

 age, as I would go with an older brother on 

 his way to school and spend the day at 

 Uncle Quinby's. This boyhood association 

 with Uncle Quinby was maintained all 

 through j^outh and early manhood. I re- 

 member the milldam, the water-wheel, and 

 the turning-lathe in his cabinet-shop were 

 the wonder and delight of my boyhood days. 

 A day at Uncle Quinby's was a rare treat. 

 " Honey Hill " was a veritable garden of 

 Eden, paths bordered with flowers and 

 fruits in abundance, and the bread and 

 honey Avas, perhaps, best of all. 



The most prominent recollection of the 

 early beekeeping days, before and up to the 

 time of publishing the first edition of "Mys- 

 teries of Beekeeping Explained," was the 

 great attraction of his observatory hives, 

 common box hives with glass sides and 

 wood shutters. There is where his first 

 stndv of the habits of the bee commenced. 



I remember it was my delight to watch these 

 inspections, his sliowing me the bees at work, 

 and pointing out the different kinds of bees, 

 especially the queen, and exiDlaining the 

 head of the colony was a queen and not a 

 king as it was usually called in those days. 

 He showed the different cells, particularly 

 the queen-cell, with its wonderful history of 

 construction, and told that at its completion 

 and maturity the young queen would make 

 a piping sound, which would foretell a com- 

 ing swarm, and then we would, at evening 

 time, listen for the signal at a hive that 

 showed indications of swarming. Sure 

 enough, next day the swarm would come 

 forth, the mother queen with them. This 

 we knew from the fact that I had seen 

 Uncle Quinby catch her in a tumbler as she 

 came out ; and wherever he placed her the 

 swarm would alight. These observations 

 and experiments are still fresh in my mem- 

 ory, and in a measure will show the difficul- 

 ties that attended this early research in 

 those primitive days of beekeeping. From 

 these primitive methods was evolved not 

 only the nature and habits of the honeybee, 

 but the successful practical management of 

 bee culture for producing honey in quanti- 

 ty in marketable form. 



This led to the larger field of operation 

 in the Mohawk Valley from 1853 to 1859, 

 during which time I was associated with 

 Uncle Quinby in the management of a 

 number of apiaries in Montgomery and 

 adjoining counties. 



In these old box-hive days, the fire and 

 brimstone period of beekeeping, the devel- 

 opment of the honey-box Avas as f oUoavs : 

 First : surplus honey in wooden boxes from 

 the top of the Wa'c; next, Iavo 6x12 boxes 

 with glass on four sides, under one cover; 

 then four boxes, 6x6; after which six 

 boxes, 4x6, under, the same Avooden cover. 

 This was the method emploj^ed in securing 

 surplus honey up to 1859, Avhen my connec- 

 tion Avith the business ceased. 



This Avas the evolution 1 saAv develop 

 under the guidance and direction of Uncle 

 Quinby, Avhose standard of life Avas of the 

 highest order, and Avhose bequest of practi- 

 cal beekeeping was excelled only by his 

 exemplary character, honesty, and integrity. 



