Jan. 4, 1906 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



While Dr. Phillips was a student in the University of 

 Pennsylvania he became interested in some of the scientific 

 aspects of bees, and in order that he might do his work 

 more intelligibly, he spent two seasons with The A. I. Root 



Birthplace of C. P. Dadant, in Langres, France. (It is the house on 

 the wall, at the right, with a garden.) 



Co. During that time he became mdre and more interested 

 in practical bee-work, and when the opportunity came he 

 took the place in the Department of Agriculture, where he 

 can do all the work he cares to do without having to think 

 of doing any teaching or any other routine work except that 

 connected with the running of the office. 



In addition to his contributions to some of the bee- 

 periodicals, he has a paper on "Comparative Variability of 

 Drones and Workers," in the Biological Bulletin ; " A Re- 

 view of Parthenogenesis," in the Proceedings of the Ameri- 

 can Philosophical Society ; " The Structure and Develop- 

 ment of the Compound Eye of the Bee," in the Proceedings 

 of the Philosophical Academy of Natural Sciences ; and a 

 much larger paper on " Variation in Bees," which is not 

 quite completed. Dr. Phillips belongs to some scientific 

 societies, which is to be supposed in one who is so scien- 

 tifically inclined. 



It was our good fortune to have the pleasure of meeting 

 Dr. Phillips at the National convention here in Chicago 

 week before last. He read one of the best papers ever pre- 

 sented before the National Bee-Keepers' Association. Of 

 course it will appear in due time in the proceedings of the 

 convention, and will be read with great interest by bee- 

 keepers. 



We think it is fortunate that the Department of Agri- 

 culture was able to secure the services of Mr. Phillips, as 

 he seems to be specially adapted to the kind of work that 

 should be done for bee-keepers by the Government. It has 

 been suggested that an effort be made to secure a grant 

 from the Carnegie Institution or Research Fund. Dr. 

 Phillips is not in favor of taking any steps toward getting 

 such grant. He thinks that if everything goes well in the 

 Department of Agriculture there will be plenty of money 

 for breeding experiments. He believes that all that is nec- 

 essary to get money for work in apiculture is that there 

 should be something to show for it, and he hopes that in 

 the future there will be no difficulty in producing results. 

 He prefers that all breeding work shall be done under the 

 supervision of the Bureau, and does not ask for any aid 

 from the Carnegie people. 



Judging from the paper Dr. Phillips read at the Na- 

 tional convention, and also from his general character and 

 antecedents, he is the right man in the right place, and we 

 believe that bee-keepers will hear from him in the future in 

 a way that will be very satisfactory to them. 



It will be a pleasure for the American Bee Journal to 

 co-operate with Dr. Phillips in the work he is endeavoring 

 to do in the interests of bee-keepers at Washington. Its 

 columns are open at all times for him to lay anything be- 

 fore its readers that he may think of sufficient importance 

 to present to them. Our congratulations are hereby ex- 

 tended to Dr. Phillips upon the magnificent opportunity he 

 has to do some excellent work for the benefit of the bee- 

 keepers of the world, and similar congratulations are ex- 

 tended to the Department of Agriculture upon its good for- 

 tune in securing a man like Dr. Phillips to carry on the 

 work begun by Prof. Benton, and which seems to be pro- 

 gressing so favorably during his absence from this country. 



* (Eontributeb * 

 Special Ctrttcles 



"N 



J 



1— Dadant Methods of Honey-Production 



BY C. P. DADANT 

 President of the National Bee-Keepers' Association. 



BEFORE I tell of our present methods in bee-culture, I must 

 first acquaint you with the manner in which we became 

 apiarists, and of our trials before success. Those who have 

 always succeeded are hardly prepared to tell others how to 

 avoid failure, and it is only those who have had ill sucess, or 

 who have seen it close at hand, that can warn others against 

 possible disaster. I believe, also, that he who finds obstacles 

 in his path will become encouraged when he hears how others 

 have met bad luck which they have finally overcome. 



My first recollection of bee-keeping is one of disaster. It 

 was in the fifties; I was but a child, living in France, but I 

 can yet clearly remember a dozen or so of Debeauvoy's hives, 

 opened to the wind, and the combs scattered about on the 

 grass. The season had been very early, the blossoms had 

 come, the bees had bred plentifully, and then, in the latter 

 part of May, a hard frost had destroyed the young growth 

 and all the bloom, and my father's bees had starved and the 

 brood had been chilled in the combs. His apiary was located 

 in the country, several miles from the city where we lived, 

 and, lacking in practical experience at that time, my father 

 had not for a moment suspected the possible disaster to the 

 bees, thinking them well provided with honey, so that, at his 

 next visit, he found all dead— bees and brood. So the hives 

 were thrown open and the brood-combs spread on the grass, 

 that the chickens might eat the dead brood before the combs 

 were rendered into wax. His early experiences with bees 

 and the first movable frame hives are narrated in the first 

 years of the American Bee Journal, Vols. III. and IV. 



It was in 1863 that we landed in America. I was then 12 

 years of age. My father's first start in bees was made with 

 two box-hives of common bees, presented to him by a friend 

 in the spring of 1864. He had come to America with nothing 

 but a good education and willing hands, for he had lost all he 

 had in a slump of values caused by the establishing of a rail- 

 road which had refused to climb the high cliff on which my 

 native city of Langres is perched— 600 feet above the neigh- 

 boring country— and which built up neighboring towns at the 

 expense of the old fortress city. The place was good for a 



View over the valley from the birthplace of C. P. Dadant. 



refuge against the feuds of the middle ages, but it was worth- 

 less for the commerce of the Nineteenth Century. The place 

 is now provided with an inclined plane railroad, and is re- 

 covering some of its lost prestige. Pardon me if I go into 



