THEE JSMERICJtK BEU JQIIRKJEI^. 



229 



W. Z. IIUTCHIIVSON. 



This week we present to our readers 

 the likeness of Mr. W. Z. Hutchinson, 

 who is well and favorably known to 

 our readers as a correspondent for 

 years, and at present the editor of the 

 Bee-Keepers'' Review, which is now in 

 its second year. Dr. C. C. Miller gave 

 this biographical sketch of Mr. H. in 

 Gleanings for Dec. 15, 1888 : 



W. Z. Hutchinson is one of the 

 many, who, although born in the East, 

 have spent in the West all of life that 

 can be remembered. Born in Orleans 

 Co., N. y., Feb.17, 1851, he was taken, 

 four years later, with his father's 

 family, to the dense forests of Genesee 

 Co., Mich., where his father literally 

 hewed out a farm. W. Z. had the full 

 benefit of pioneer backwoods life ; and 

 although hunting, trapping, etc., had 

 a full share of his time, his natural 

 bent was toward machinery. Thi 

 passion for maclnnery was, as he ad- 

 vanced in his " teens," put to practi- 

 cal use by building a turning-lathe, 

 and beginning the manufacture of 

 spinning-wheels and i-eels. These he 

 continued to make for several years, 

 peddling them out in the surrounding; 

 countrj-. 



At 18 years of age he began teaching 

 school winters. While thus "boarding 

 around," a copy of King's "Text- 

 Book " fell in his way. It was to him 

 a revelation. He learned that the 

 owner had about 50 colonies of bees 

 down cellar, which he was not long in 

 asking to see, and for the first time he 

 looked upon a movable-comb hive — 

 the American. 



The next season, in .swarming time, 

 he visited this friend, and the charms 

 of bee-keeping appeared greater than 

 those of anj' other business. Although 

 not reallj' owning a bee till the lapse 

 of many months, he Ijecame then and 

 there in spirit a bee-keeper, reading 

 all he could find on the subject, and 

 visiting bee-keepers. The introduction 

 of woolen-factories compelled him to 

 abandon the spinning-wheel trade ; 

 and one afternoon in June, while ped- 

 dling out his last lot, he made a sale 

 to a farmer about 16 miles from home; 

 and although it was only about four 

 o'clock, he begged to be allowed to 

 stay all night, urged thereto by the 

 sight of a long row of brightlj- painted 

 hives. This bee-keeper had an only 

 daughter, and the reader can weave 

 his own romance, upon being told that 

 the father, Mr. Clark Simpson, l)ecame 

 the father-in-law of Mr. Hutchinson. 



In 1877 he began bee-keeping witli 

 4 colonies, and an excellent theoretical 

 knowledge of the business. Mr. H. has 

 never kept a very large number of col- 

 onies, but has made a comfortable liv- 

 ing by the sale of comb honey. In 

 1887 he removed frdui Rogersville to 

 Flint, Mich., where he established the 

 Bee-Keepers'' Rcvieio, which fills a place 

 not previously oceuiiied, and is edited 

 with the ability that might be expected 

 from one who has been so favorably 

 known through his many articles pub- 

 lished in the bee-periodicals and other 

 papers. 



In appearance, Mr. H. might more 

 readily be taken for a professional 



W. Z. HVTCBINSON. 



man than for a farmer or bee-keeper. 

 Tall, straight as an arrow, with side 

 whLskers, and rather dark complexion, 

 ho presents a conspicuous figure at the 

 gathering of bee-keepers, where he is 

 always in oflice, whether the gathering 

 be local or national. 



In the last Bcvicw, Bro. Hutchinson 

 copies our article from page 83 on the 

 unhealthy increase of bee-papers, and 

 adds : 



The last 25 years have witnessed 

 wonderful progress in the arts and 

 industries. Bee-keeping has not lagged 

 behind. With this progress came an 

 increase in journalism, and in the pub- 

 lication of books, but the production 

 of apicultural literature has not been 

 multiplied to any greater extent than 

 has that devoted to other rural indus- 

 tries. It is true that many bee-papers 

 have been born only to struggle and 

 die ; but the same is true of many a 

 venture in all the fields of journalism. 



It is true that competition is one 

 factor in the combination of causes 

 that has brought failure to so many 

 journalistic efforts, but tliere is more 

 than one /:mrf of competition. Brother 

 Newman has mentioned one kind, the 

 competition of numbers, but that of 

 qualiii) is pa.ssed unnoticed. We believe 

 that, in the field of apicultural journal- 

 ism, more failures have come from the 

 superior qualities of competitors than 

 from their numbers. 



This competition among bee-papers 

 is really a benefit to bee-keepers. It 

 acts as a spur to the editors ; and, in 

 their efforts at vicing with one another, 

 better journals are produced. Too 

 many bee-papers have been started 

 with no intention of competing in the 

 race for quality; the primary object 

 being simply that of furnishing an 

 auxiliary to a supply trade — a sort of 

 side-issue. Others have been started 

 with no conception of the obstacles to 

 be met and overcome. Many a journal 

 has gone to the wall because the edi- 

 torial work has been done in a listless, 

 dreary, half-hearted way that actually 

 courted failure. 



" 'Tis not wealth, nor rank, nor state. 



But its ' Kit up and sit ' tliat makes men great." 



To succeed in apicultural journalism, 

 there must be a thorough, practical, 

 working knowledge of bee-keeping ; a 

 personal acquaintance with apiarists 

 and with the hobby of each ; and the 

 journal must stand first in the afi'ections 

 of its editor. In the highest and truest 

 sense, it must be his " baby." For it 

 he must be willing to rise early and 

 work late ; to wear plain clothes, yes, 

 patched clothes, if necessary ; to live on 

 simple fare ; and there must be no 

 hesitation as to whether he can aft'ord 

 this or that for his journal ; he must 

 simply pull out his pocket-book and 

 lay it on the altar. 



Neither will it answer for him to sit 

 in his office week after week and 

 month after month ; he must work with 

 the bees, get out among bee-keepers, 

 visit conventions and apiaries, and 

 know what is going on ; in short, he 

 must leave no stone unturned in his 

 efforts to bring his journal up U> the 

 highest standard. This is only apart 

 of the price that must be paid for suc- 

 cess in apicultural journalism, and he 

 who cannot pay it willingly,cheerfully, 

 yea, iirondly, would better adopt some 

 other style of wooing the fickle god- 

 dess. 



As to the hard work, expense and 

 "o-i-it" necessary to succeed in the 

 publication of a bee-periodical, the 

 above are some graphic remarks from 

 one who has " been there," and knows 

 all about it. The Review is a home- 

 made periodical. Bro. Hutchinson is 



