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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



July 6, 1905 



would be right for May 15 of a certain year in 

 a given locality might be the right thing for 

 June 1 of another year. Supposing, however, 

 it could be easily done, it would have to be 

 much the same for each year, and those who 

 had been taking the Journal a year or more 

 would object to having space thus occupied. 

 It would be proper matter for publication in 

 a book of instruction, which is expected to 

 give general instructions. Even the books of 

 instruction do not all count it feasible to give 

 such plans of operation. 



All this is said with no feeling of criticism 

 against our correspondent. It is always 

 desirable to know what our readers want, and 

 just so far as practicable it is intended to 

 gratify their desires. 



Gentleness of Caucasian Bees 



A correspondent, after a visit to Prof. Frank 



Benton at Washington, writes with regard to 

 a colony of Caucasian bees : 



" It was simply wonderful the way he han- 

 dled them. I do not think anything that has 

 been written has been overrated. He first be- 

 gan by taking them out and handling them 

 the same as we do the ordinary bee; he then 

 blew on them ; shook them ; kicked the hive, 

 and put them to all the tests that you or I 

 could think of to make an ordinary bee get up 

 and sting. After all these tests they still 

 clung to the frame and did not show the 

 slightest intention to sting." 



While many bee-keepers prefer bees having 

 sufficient resentment in their make-up to keep 

 at a respectful distance any one inclined to be 

 light-fingered, there are others who would be 

 glad to have bees without any sting. Next to 

 a stingless bee is a bee with a sting it will not 

 use upon its owner. Let us hope that these 

 very gentle bees may at the same time distin- 

 guish themselves as honey-storers. 



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Rev. John Dooly, of Berkshire Co., 

 Mass., wrote an interesting article on the 

 honey-bees for beginners, which appeared in 

 The Courier, of Chatham, N. Y. If every 

 bee-keeper who can do so would follow Mr. 

 Dooly's example, and write an article on bees 

 and honey for his local newspaper, it would 

 doubtless help to increase the demand for 

 honey, and also would afford an opportunity 

 to correct the comb-honey misrepresentation 

 that has appeared so often in print. If all 

 would help in this matter we believe the tide 

 would soon be turned in the direction of 

 honey as a daily food. 



enjoy a view of the rich farming country with 

 which Iowa abounds. It seems to us we 

 never before had seen such abundant fields of 



Kretchmer Mfg. Co. — For a long time 

 we had been promising Mr. E. Kretchmer, of 

 the Kretchmer Mfg. Co., Red Oak, Iowa, to 

 visit him and their factory. Finally we found 



.TUSTUS C. KKETCHMJSK. 



the opportunity to make the trip, starting 

 from Chicago the night of June 12, and arriv- 

 ing there about 1:30 p.m. the next day. 



Red Oak is 450 miles west of Chicago, so we 

 had a ride almost across both States of Illinois 

 and Iowa. We arrived at Burlington, Iowa, 

 about daylight, so fjom there on we could 



bees, and in 1860 purchased an Italian queen 

 of the first importation by S. B. Parsons, pay- 

 ing for her §150. At .?S a month it took quite 

 a long time to pay for that queen. Italian 

 queens are somewhat cheaper now, it seems. 

 Mr. Kretchmer is the oldest bee-supply 

 manufacturer in America. He began to make 

 hives by hand in 1x64, on a carpenter's work- 

 bench under a tree. From that humble be- 

 ginning his business has grown until now 



GEO. A. SMITH. 



white clover in full bloom. The tempting 

 fragrance could be inhaled from the open car 

 windows as we sped swiftly along. 



Mr. Kretchmer kindly met us with horse 

 and buggy at the train as it rolled in at the 

 Red Oak station. We rode through the town 

 and on beyond about a half mile to his resi- 

 dence, which adjoins the factory, and all of 

 them being located quite a distance from 

 neighboring buildings. 



The factory is on the left side of the road, 

 as we drove to the entrance, and some 10 rods 

 back, with a nice apiary of about 80 colonies 

 of bees between, right on a carpet of white 

 clover. We never saw quite so thick a mat of 

 white clover in any apiary before. The bees 

 had begun to work on the endless fields of 

 clover just two or three days preceding our 

 arrival, and were doing a hustling business. 

 In fact, it seemed that all through the State 

 of Iowa there was promise of a rich harvest 

 of white clover honey. 



Mr. Kretchmer located his factory in Red 

 Oak 15 years ago, coming from Coburg, a few 

 miles away , where he had taken up his residence 

 over 30 years before. He came from Germany, 

 and began to work on a farm at ^ a month. 

 In 1S57, we believe it was, he got his first 



CHARLES W. KKETCHMBR. 



there are 60 employes in the factory, divided 

 into a day and night shift. We were sur- 

 prised to learn that the Kretchmer Mfg. Co. 

 now makes everything used by up-to-date bee- 

 keepers excepting bee-hats, excluder zinc, 

 and comb foundation. They used to make 

 the last-named article, but now handle 

 Dadant's brand. Their section-making capac- 

 ity is about 25,000 per day. Their output last 

 year of all kinds of bee-supplies was some- 

 thing like 60 car-loads. At the rate they were 

 running when we were there we should think 

 their total sales this year would exceed last 

 year's. 



An uncapping fork is one of the new things 

 offered. Mr. Kretchmer imports them for his 

 trade. 



Mr. Kretchmer is founder and president of 

 the Kretchmer Mfg. Co., his son, "Justus 

 C," is vice-president, and Geo. A. Smith, a 

 brother of Mrs. Kretchmer, is the secretary. 

 Another son, " Charles W.," is also in the 

 business. There is still a third son, "Ray," 

 who is expected to be a part of it a little 

 later on. 



The Kretchmer Mfg. Co. issues its full 

 catalog also in the German language, the only 

 one of its kind in the world. 



Mr. and Mrs. Kretchmer have three sons 

 and three daughters, all of whom are mar- 

 ried, we believe, and also have nice homes. 

 Mrs. K. is a motherly woman, a good, practi- 

 cal housekeeper, and takes a deep interest in 

 the success of her husband and children. 



We shall not soon forget the genuine cor- 

 diality with which we were received and en- 

 tertained at the Kretchmer home and factory. 

 May their success continue, and ever continue 

 to be well-deserved. 



Red Oak is an ideal city of 5000 inhabi- 

 tants, and not a sitigle saloon. It has 13 good 

 church buildings, one of which, the Metho- 

 dist—a new one— cost over -¥60,000, with a 

 seating capacity of about 2000 people. It is 



