Oct. 29, 1903. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



693 



Miss Elizabeth Smith started a lirush-fire near the school, and a Ptrung 

 wind scattered the sparks, llradmaster S. D. Thatcher called out the 

 pupils to prevent damage. This was at 10 o'clock, and bef:irc luion 

 Thatcher was compelled to telephone to Postmaster Smith at Nordholl 

 (or assistance. 



This nuirning the wind carried the flames to the northwest. With- 

 in three hours' time the houses of C. E. Sackelt, Edward Senior, and 

 W. J. Davies were destroyed. The latter also lost his pumping plant, 

 water-tanks and outhouses. The barn of .lames C. Leslie was burned 

 and his house caught lire, but neighbors saved io. He lost many colo- 

 nies of bees. They would have been saved, but the angry bees drove 

 the firemen away. One man was badly stung. 



The tire isstill raging, and it is an inspiring spectacle as the 

 flames leap from the timber and brush. The entire damage can not 

 be estimated, but it will run into thousands of dollars. 



We suppose those of us who live in a prairie country have no 

 adequate idea of the conflagration that takes place during a mountain 

 Are. It must be something terrible when everything is as dry as it 

 was last August when we were in California. With a strong wind a 

 tire at spch a lime, and in some places, would be simply irresistible, 

 and would consume all things in its way. 



[ Convention Proceedings | 



THE LOS ANGELES CONVENTION. 



Report of the Proceedings of the 34th Annual 



Meeting- of the National Bee-Keepers' 



Association, Held at Los Ang-eles, 



Calif., Aug-. 18, 19 and 20, 



1903. 



(Continued from page 680.) 



SECOND DAY— Evening Session. 



After the opening of the evening- session a telegram 

 from Wm. A. Selser, of Philadelphia, was read, as follows : 



"I send greetings. Wish you a prosperous session." 

 Wm. A. Selser. 



It was moved and carried that the secretary be in- 

 structed to write a recognition of this telegram to Mr. 

 Selser. 



Pres. Hutchinson — I have the extreme pleasure of 

 bringing to your notice a name loved in every household 

 throughout the land, Mr. A. I. Root, who will talk to us on 



REMIMSCENCES OF BEE-KEEPINQ AND BEE-KEEP- 

 ERS IN THE EARLY DAYS. 



It is a great pleasure to meet you all, friends, and it 

 will be a great pleasure to me to tell you some of the things 

 that happened in regard to bee-culture perhaps before many 

 of you were born. 



When I was a small boy I took a great notion to ants, 

 bees, insects of all kinds. I wanted a hive of bees, but my 

 good father objected. He said, in the first place, " They 

 would sting the children." I was one of seven, half way 

 between. He classed bees with dogs, guns, and some of 

 those things that you trade for a brush-heap, and then set 

 fire to the brush-heap and burn it up. 



When I got married and was boss of a ranch, I said we 

 were going to have some bees. And. by the way, I did not 

 do much good anywhere in this world until I got married. 

 The best investment, I think, I ever made— I don't know 

 that it was my investment — the best in"estment Mrs. Root 

 ever made, so far as I am concerned, was when she invested 

 in my poor self. 



Well, we got some bees, and I set them in a window in 

 a hot day in summer, and the sun got so hot they flew 

 away. Pretty soon I got a colony of an old farmer in a box- 

 hive. Then I began ransacking agricultural papers, etc., 

 to learn all I could about bees. I was a jeweler at that 

 time, and my sister said that every old farmer that came 

 into the store was pumped dry on the subject of bees. I 

 kept that questioning up for about 40 years. I don't know 

 that I have gotten entirely through yet. 



Pretty soon I went down to the city of Cleveland and 

 inquired for bee-books. There were only two then. I was 

 very lucky in choosing L.L.Langstroth. I sat up that night 



and read the book. I do not suppose any urchin ever read 

 " Robinson Crusoe " with more pleasure and interest than 

 I read that book. 1 sat up until after midnight, perhaps, 

 and read it over and over again. I found that L L. Lang- 

 stroth was still living, and I started a correspondence with 

 him. I found he had only one queen imported from Italy. 

 He did not want to spare her, but would let me have her for 

 $20. Twenty dollars were not very plenty in those days, but 

 I spent it for "the bug," as the neighbors said. 



Of course, I had the colony removed to a frame hive, 

 and went through that awful job of transferring. It made 

 me sweat, you may be sure, but I got the combs into the 

 hives, and I got my Italian queen introduced, but had to 

 take her out four or five times a day to see that she was 

 doing all right ! I saw her lay her eggs ; saw the larvae 

 grow in size. I think I saw the first bee that came out, and 

 contrasted its color with that of the other ones. 



You that have been through that know something about 

 the wonderful interest and joy with which I watched the 

 new bees. And the neighbors came around to see the little 

 bees. I remember that our eldest boy, Ernest, whom some 

 of you know, at the time these bees got out for a flight, 

 was, perhaps, two years old. Of course, he was interested 

 in everything that his papa was interested in. Mrs. Root 

 missed him for awhile one day. My Italian colony was all 

 around him. She said when she found him the yellow bees 

 were all through his yellow hair so that she could hardly 

 tell which was which ! So it was but natural that Ernest 

 should be interested in bees. 



I counted up just how many days until the bees should 

 be flying. Then the problem came up. how far they could 

 fly. It was an easy matter then to tell just how far they 

 flew, because there was no such thing anywhere around as 

 yellow bees. 



Everything went on prosperously until winter came on. 

 Then the old farmer said, " Mr. Root, there are not bees 

 enough, not a quarter enough, to winter over." I tell you 

 that was sad news. I thought it was a pretty good lot. 

 " No," he said, " they would not winter." I finally bought 

 a larger colony of bees, with which, very triumphantly, I 

 united my colony and made a larger one. 



The next spring, from my nucleus, I began rearing 

 queens. I first got a lot of little hives — frames three or 



four inches square. I had them in the garden under the 

 currant bushes. At one time there was a little swarm of 

 bees hanging on nearly every currant bush in the garden. 



Pretty soon I learned that there had been a bee-journal 

 published, and I hunted it up. This was the old American 

 Bee Journal of 1861. 



Then I commenced a correspondence with Samuel Wag- 

 ner, which was kept up for several years. Mr. Wagner 

 said the paper had not paid expenses. Then the war came 

 on, and it was dropped. Through my influence, perhaps, 

 as well as other influences, he re-commenced the publica- 

 tion of the American Bee Journal after the war. 



