1908 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE, 



361 



E. FRANCE. 



Trapper, Naturalist, Bee-keeper, and Fruit- 

 grower. 



BY E. R. ROOT. 



Mr. Edwin France, father of N. E. France, 

 General Manager of the National Bee-keep- 

 ers' Association, passed away on the morn- 

 ing of Feb. 7, at the ripe age of 84 years. 

 But the senior France was not illustrious 

 simply because of his illustrious son, but for 

 what he has done himself. He produced, 

 during the 80's, some immense crops of hon- 

 ey, and at one time he was regarded as 

 one of the most successful bee-keepers in 

 Wisconsin. Beginning in 1880, and all dur- 

 ing that decade, and till 18y5, he was a fre- 



E. FRANCE. 



quent and valued contributor to these col- 

 umns. He began his writing about the time 

 the present editor began to take charge of 

 this journal. Looking back over these 25 

 years and more, I take just a little pride in 

 having "discovered," as I believe, a real and 

 original genius — one whose articles fairly 

 bristled with practicalities, for whatever he 

 undertook paid. 



While not an educated man, it was very 

 evident that E. France was a wonderful stu- 

 dent of nature. Incidentally I learned that, 

 through his early experiences as a trapper, 

 he came in close contact with animal life, es- 

 pecially that in its wild state; and when it 

 came to knowing bee nature he was one of 

 the best-posted men in our ranks. He was 



indeed a very keen and close observer — a 

 man who could see not only beauties in na- 

 ture, but turn his knowledge to a practical 

 account. He made money, not only with 

 bees, but in growing fruit and in farming, 

 and, what was more, he had a faculty of tell- 

 ing others how to do it. No wonder that the 

 junior France, under the tutelage of such a 

 father, has been so useful a man to the bee- 

 keeping interests at large. To be reallj use- 

 ful means far more nowadays than to be 

 only great. The world, though somewhat 

 tardily, is beginning to see this. 



The senior France really began bee-keep- 

 ing about the year 1870; but he had had con- 

 siderable experience some years before that. 

 Starting with 123 colonies in 1871 we find 

 him making a gradual increase until 1886, 

 when with 395 colonies he took nearly 43,000 

 lbs. of honey, increasing to 507 colonies. 

 While he had some I'everses he seemed to 

 have a faculty of keeping up these remark- 

 able yields for a number of years. But dur- 

 ing these days he had the support of a son 

 who seems to combine all the qualities of his 

 father, and who, in later years, assumed 

 charge of the bee business of E. France & Son. 



The senior France was a believer in large 

 hives and strong colonies. Starting with a 

 very deep frame he finally settled upon the 

 Langstroth, adopting what is known as the 

 France quadruple tenement hive. This con- 

 tains four powerful colonies, the same being 

 wintered outdoors, for the hive is double- 

 walled. His honey-extractor (for he pro- 

 duced only extracted) was of the non-revers- 

 ible type; and with this simple machine it 

 was remarkable the amount of honey he 

 could take in a day. 



I said that Mr. France was a naturalist, and 

 so he was; and being one of the pioneers ho 

 ti'apped and hunted during the winter, at 

 which times he endured all kinds of hard- 

 ships, many and many a time the Indians 

 camping on his trail. The stories he could 

 and did tell of wolves and wolf-hmnts would 

 doubtless interest many of our boy readers, 

 for he knew wolf nature as very few men 

 do. Too bad that some of his experiences 

 in his early life could not have been put in 

 book form. 1 can imagine that, during his 

 declining years, he must have smiled broadly 

 at some of the nonsense written by nature- 

 fakirs, especially when they attempt to tell 

 some of the wonderful performances of bears 

 and wolves. 



But if I were to attempt to give a complete 

 life-history of the elder France I would also 

 have to write a biography of his son, N. E. 

 France, for their lives were very closely in- 

 terlinked. But our older readers, at least, I 

 assume, are familar with the fact that the 

 junior France is not only the General Man- 

 ager of the National Bee-keepers' Association, 

 but foul-brood inspector for Wisconsin, pres- 

 ident of the Wisconsin Bee-keepers' Associ- 

 ation, and lecturer at farmers' institutes. 

 The fact that he has served in these various 

 capacities for so many years is ample proof 

 of the appreciation in which he is held. In- 

 deed, his genius and ability have not only 



