GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



en the public as to the good uses of honey. 

 1 saw no department where people were so 

 deeply interested as in our small honey- 

 gatherers. The time I was present { and he 

 told me it was the same the entire four 

 days), Mr. Creighton was constantly busy 

 explaining the various operations of the 

 hive. He showed them the queens deposit- 

 ing eggs the same as if in their own yards. 

 This aroused considerable interest. 

 Cincinnati, Ohio. 



FRANK RAUCHFUSS 



BY WESLEY FOSTER 



Tlie Germans are the greatest beekeepers 

 in the Avorld. The largest beekeepers' asso- 

 ciations are in Germany. Furthermore, 

 many of our American beekeepers are de- 

 scended from German stock. For instance, 

 my grandmother Schnee never learned to 

 read English; but her German Bible was 

 her comfort. My father was half German, 

 and so my instinct for beekeeping and the 

 taste for honey was early manifested. 



The four best apiaries in Colorado, in 

 point of care and tastefulness of arrange- 

 ment are owned by three Germans and one 

 Swede, and the Swede learned his beekeep- 

 ing from a German neighbor. Mr. Frank 

 Rauchfuss is one of the Germans. There 

 is no beekeeper in the West, or in Colorado 

 in particular, but that knows Frank Rauch- 

 fuss personally or by reputation. Coming 

 to this country when but a lad, he clerked 

 and kept books, and managed departments 

 in mercantile establishments in New York. 

 Louisville, and Denver. While in these lines 

 of work he became familiar with American 

 business conditions. For several years he 

 managed the bee-supply department for the 

 L. A. Watkins Mdse. Company, of Denver, 

 and while there his career began as chief 

 organizer of the Colorado Honey-produc- 

 ers' Association. 



With his brother Herman the Rauchfuss 

 foundation-fastener and section-press was 

 brought out, and practically every special- 

 ist in Colorado has one. A simpler and 

 more efficient machine has not been made. 



In 1899 the Colorado Honey-producers' 

 Association was organized, and Mr. Rauch- 

 fuss was made manager. A room was rent- 

 ed beside the L. A. Watkins Mdse. Com- 

 pany's warehouse, and there the beemen 

 hauled their honey and received their sup- 

 plies on Saturday afternoons when Mr. 

 Rauchfuss was off duty at his regailar em- 

 ployment. The business soon grew so that 

 it was necessary to keep the store open 

 every day. Mr. Rauchfuss resigned his 

 position with The L. A. Watkins Co., and 



has been manager of the Honey-producers' 

 Association ever since. He is a quiet, un- 

 assuming man, of definite ideas. Any one 

 acquainted with him knows of his strong 

 characteristics in this line. One of the book- 

 keepers of the Association once told me that 

 when a beekeeper who had been doing 

 faulty gTading came into the store she left 

 the office because she could not stand it to 

 hear Mr. Rauchfuss " go " for him. 



Mr. Rauchfuss has hobbies the same a^' 

 all of us. He has a spotless little place out 

 in Aurora, a suburb of Denver, where he 

 pursues gardening, poultry-raising, beer 

 keeping, and the raising of goats. At the last 

 account he had five goats, I think. If you 

 never drank goat milk you don't know that 

 the Jersey cow has a superior in the way 

 of a cream-produeer. Mr. Rauchfuss told 

 of an amusing experience he had at the in- 

 terstate fair in Denver. The judges tested 

 the milk that he exhibited, and found it so 

 much richer in butter fat than any other 

 tliat they charged him Avith having mixed 

 cream with it, which charge he denied with 

 all the earnestness possible. Later, when 

 he told them that it was goat milk, he had 

 the laugh on them. 



Mr. Rauchfuss works in his garden a 

 good deal, and I liave been told that a weed 

 could not be found inside the fence. It is 

 probably true, for I never saw any there. 

 With the few lots for garden and fruit, 

 the poultry, the bees, and the goats, the 

 income is no doubt augmented several hun- 

 dred dollars yearly. A better example of 

 intensive gardening could hardly be found 

 than the one I am describing. Mrs. Rauch- 

 fuss took the first prize at the interstate 

 fair in Denver not long ago, and her honey- 

 cooking recipes exhibited on the demonstra- 

 tion train delighted every one, which is only 

 a proof of her excellent cooking. Mr. and 

 Mrs. Rauchfuss have a litle son, Walter, 

 who can talk German, but thinks it more 

 polite to talk English because the other 

 boys do. 



After having told you these rambling 

 things about our friend, you will be inter- 

 ested in visiting him any day at the office 

 of the Colorado Honey-producers' Associa- 

 tion in Denver. You will find that he can 

 tell many interesting things about western 

 beemen and western conditions in general. 



Boulder, Colo. 



Slabs of Candy for Winter Stores 



Last winter, in my own apiary there was no loss. 

 I wintered out of doors in common dovetailed hives. 

 I kept slabs of candy on top of frames, chaff cushion 

 on that. My bees were stronger April 1 than they 

 were Nov. 1, making honey on the first bloom at 

 present. 



Morrisville, Mo., May 1. H. Cl.w D.^y 



