1900 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



233 



0. O. POPPLETON. 



Of the beacon lights of American 

 bee-keeping but few shine more 

 brilliantly than Mr. O. O. Poppie- 

 ton, wliose portrait we are pleased 

 to be able to present in this num- 

 ber; and those "few" only by rea- 

 son of their more extensive writ- 

 ings. 



Mr. Popple ton is one of the very 

 few with whom honey producing 

 has been a successful and life-long 

 specialty. He has operated quite 

 extensively in Iowa, Cuba and 

 Florida; being at present one of 

 the largest producers of extracted 

 honey in the latter state. The 

 "Long Ideal" is his favorite hive, 

 and is used exclusively. His nap- 

 tha launch; "Thelma, "' is a com- 

 modious transport, built especially 

 for his bee-keeping work, and is a 

 well-known craft along the east 

 coast of Florida. The solar wax- 

 extractor, now so commonly in use 

 throughout the world, is a product 

 of his ingenious mind. 



Mr. Poppleton is a veritable 

 cyclopaedia of apicultural know- 

 ledge, an accomplished though 

 modest conversationalist and a 

 gentleman whom to know is to 

 esteem most highly; The portrait 

 herewith presented is his latest and 

 best; having been taken in Septem- 

 ber last while on his trip to the 

 National Convention of Bee-keepers 

 at Chicago. 



If you live in "York State" you 

 should look up the places and dates 

 of the Bee-keepers' Institutes to be 

 held therein this month. 



One of the time-saving kinks 

 with certain bee-keepers has been 

 to have ready and introduce a vir- 

 gin queen at the time of removing 

 the old queen from the hive, in- 

 stead of giving a cell. Mr. Popple- 

 ton has found that young queens 



having; been thus cag^ed and intro- 

 duced will not begin to lay nearly 

 so soon as those permitted to 

 emerge from the cell directly 

 among the bees. This being the 

 case, there is instead of a saving 

 a loss of time resulting from the 

 practice. 



In providing a queen for a queen- 

 less colony, a very common prac- 

 tice is to give it a frame of young 

 larvae or esrgrs. Our amateur friends 

 who have been in the habit of thus 

 treating queenlessness should know 

 that the plan, as ordinarily prac- 

 ticed, is conducive to degeneracy. 

 The primary requisite to the pro- 

 duction of good queens, is the 

 presence of an abundant supply of 

 young bees, to feed and care for 

 the larval queen. Several frames 

 of hatching brood should be given 

 the colony a few days previous to 

 giving the eggs from which it is 

 desired to rear a queen; unless, 

 perchance, the colony has not been 

 queenless a sufficient length of time 

 to lose its nurse-bees. 



The season of the year when the 

 eyes of the world appear to be 

 trained on Florida, has returned. 

 The volume of inpouring letters re- 

 questing information in regard to 

 bee-keeping advantages of the 

 state, are sometimes more than we 

 can handle. Very many of those 

 who ask for detailed infc>rmation 

 are not even subscribers to The 

 Bee-keeper. To grant all re- 

 quests, as we should be pleased to 

 do, would necessitate a private 

 secretary and a couple of steno- 

 grapers. Subscribers need not 

 hesitate to propound any and all 

 the queries they feel inclined; and 

 if we ai'e unable to keep up with 

 them by private correspondence, 

 we shall endeavor to give informa- 

 tion of general interest through 



