352 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 15 



been recognized in his own State of Wiscon- 

 sin, but he is known and respected by the 

 two or three thousand members of the Na- 

 ticmal Bee-keepers' Association. 



The senior France has been in failing health 

 for a number of years. He had a fall last 

 October from which he never fully recovered, 

 and which was really the immediate cause of 

 his death. During the time of the last meet- 

 ing of the National at Harrisburg, Mr. N. E. 

 France felt that he would not be able to leave 

 his father; but the latter, I understand, 

 urged him to go, which he did. It must have 

 been a comfort to the old father in his last 

 days to learn of the sincere appreciation in 

 which his son is held by the members of the 

 National, as was shown at the Harrisburg 

 convention. 



HENRY ALLEY. 



BY W. K. MORRISON. 



The readers of Gleanings have already 

 been informed of the death of the veteran 

 queen-breeder whose name is inscribed above. 

 The Salem, Mass., Evening Netvs of Feb. 11 

 thus alludes to the event: 



Henry Alley, one of the best-known and most re- 

 spected citizens of this town, died at his home on 

 Larch Row last night, aged 72 years, after a brief ill- 

 ness of heart trouble. 



He was born in Newburyport, but had lived in this 

 town practically all his life. He was long active in 

 town affairs, and was frequently heard at town meet- 

 ings. He had served as a police officer, on the board 

 of health, and as cattle-inspector for many years. He 

 was an ardent Republican, and had long been a mem- 

 ber of the town committee. 



Mr. Alley was known all over the county as an ex- 

 pert in bee culture, and had edited many standard 

 works on that topic. His queen-bees and a patented 

 appliance for handling bees were sent all over ihe 

 world. For the last five years he had done a big bus- 

 iness in curing hams, he having devised a process 

 which won him much fame in this line. 



Thus disappears from view one of the ear- 

 ly lights of American apiculture, the last of 

 a brilliant galaxy which included such names 

 as Langatroth, Quinby, Gallup, Hethering- 

 ton, Wagner, Grimm, King, Gary, and Mrs. 

 Tupper. He was the pioneer in scientiflc 

 queen-rearing, and did much to place Amer- 

 ica far in advance of all other countries in 

 bee-breeding — a lead which it still maintains. 



Of course he had the advantage of being 

 first in the field; but this does not detract in 

 the least from his reputation, for he had to 

 blaze out his path alone and unaided To 

 his credit be it said he was one of the first to 

 appreciate the supreme value of Langstroth's 

 invention, and always vigorously defended 

 him when others attempted to lay claim to 

 the rights of the father of American apicul- 

 ture. Mr. Alley was no mean inventor him- 

 self, for, besides inventing and devising a 

 system of queen-breeding, he also invented 

 the Bay State hive, Alleys drone and queen 

 trap, Alley's nursery cage, and baby-nuclei 

 hives. 



It may be well to state that here in Medi- 

 na, after faithfully trying all sorts of de- 

 vices, the queen-breeders of The A. I. Root 

 Co. have returned to a modification of Alley's 



baby nuclei as somewhat superior to any 

 other. They have also returned to the use 

 of Alley's nursery cage and nursery frame, 

 and that, too, after experimenting with and 

 using many similar devices 



It may be well to say something right here 

 about Mr. Alley's system of queen-breeding. 

 He never practiced "grafting," but, on the 

 contrary, held it was very injurious to the 

 young queen. One reason he gave was that 

 handling so de icate a creature with an ear- 

 spoon is hurtful; als > that it is treated as a 

 worker for two or three days, and for that 

 reason is stunted for want of royal jelly at a 

 critical time. 



He claimed for his larvae that they were 



HENRY ALLEY. 



fed royal jelly immediately they hatched 

 from the egg. He laid special stress on this 

 point; but it must be admitted that very tine 

 queens are also reared by the grafting pro- 

 cess which is now so popular. It is, how- 

 ever, only fair to say that some of the very 

 best queens ever used here at the Home of 

 the Honey-bees were purchased from Mr. Al- 

 ley, and it is well known his queens were 

 uniformly good. 



One of his pupils was Mr. E. L. Pratt, bet- 

 ter known as Swarthmore, whose system of 

 queen-raising is based on that of Alley's. 



As already intimated, he commenced bee- 

 keeping very soon after Langstroth's hive 

 appeared, and very soon thereafter proceed- 

 ed to contribute to the pages of the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal. He was severe on what 



