March 1, 1906 



1HE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



I8l 



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Sketches of 

 Beebomites 



REV. ROBERT B. McCAIN 



J 



The subject of this sketch was born in Washington Co., 

 Ind., Nov. 16, 1869. His boyhood and youth were spent in 

 Virginia and North Carolina. He is of Scotch-Irish ex- 

 traction, having sprung from the descendants of that race 

 who inhabit the mountain regions of the old Colonial South. 

 At the age of 14 he returned with his parents to southern 

 Indiana, where, in the course of a few years, he began the 

 serious preparation for life work in obtaining a common 

 school, academic and collegiate education. When the call 

 to the gospel ministry was answered, in giving himself to 

 that profession as a life work, Hanover College, in Jefferson 

 Co., Ind., was chosen as the school in which collegiate 

 preparation was to be obtained. 



After a four years' course Mr. McCain graduated from 

 Hanover College in 1894, receiving the degree of Bachelor 

 of Arts. The College has since conferred on him the de- 

 gree of Master of Arts. A special professional course of 

 three years was obtained at McCormick Theological Semi- 

 nary, from which he graduated in 1897. Mr. McCain was 

 ordained to the gospel ministry in the Presbyterian Church, 

 June 3, 1897, and has continued actively in the ministry 

 since that time, principally in Illinois. His present pas- 

 torate is the Aux Sable Grove Presbyterian Church, in Ken- 

 dall Co., Ills. This is a flourishing country church in the 

 midst of one of the most attractive farming regions of the 

 State. 



Of country life and rural pursuits, Mr. McCain Isays : 



I have deliberately chosen the country as the field of my ministry 

 in the name of Christ, because I believe that it is among the people who 

 live away from the abnormal and distracting conditions of city life 

 that we find it possible to develop the highest and best in human 

 nature. The youth of to-day who obtains preparation for his life 

 work in the better classes of our country districts has, in my opinion, 

 an immeasurable advantage over his less fortunate brother who must 

 grow up in the city. The minister or teacher who will equip the 

 mind and mold the characters of the youth of the country districts 

 will, in so doing, aid greatly in bringing into action intellectual and 

 moral forces which will tend to remedy the social and civic ills of our 

 time. 



My interest extends to the pursuits of country life as well as to 

 the people. I am intensely interested in gardening and fruit-growing, 

 as well as in the study of soils and their proper use and enrichment. 

 But my hobby in rural pursuits is bee-culture. I do not now remem- 

 ber just how my interest in bees was awakened, but it began to mani- 

 fest itself about four years ago. Having become thoroughly infected 

 with the bee-fever, I sought to allay its cravings for knowledge with 

 such offerings as " Langstroth on the Honey-Bee " (original work), 

 " A B C of Bee-Culture," and " Forty Tears Among the Bees." I be- 

 came, and still continue to be, a constant reader of the American Bee 

 Journal and Gleanings in Bee-Culture, and all other available litera- 

 ture on the subject of the honey-bee. To facilitate the understanding 

 of what I read, I erected an observatory hive in my study window. 

 This hive is full 10-frame size with a glass division-board. In it I saw 

 with my own eyes the hidden mysteries. 



But this proved to be bad medicine for bee-fever. I tried a year 

 of treatment after the method of Frank Cheshire, in his " Scientific 

 Bee-Keeping," using a compound microscope of high power to verify 

 bis statements, and still I am not well of the fever. 



In the meantime an apiary was growing in the back-yard, and 

 the little workers of the colonies were paying all expenses for the 

 equipment of their own homes as well a6 furnishing a delightful sweet 

 for my table. 



My attention has been given more especially for the last two 

 years to breeding high-grade queens. This. I believe, to be the crucial 

 point in bee-culture. It is the work towards which I have been pre- 

 paring myself with the most thorough scientific training and inves- 

 tigation. 



I am rather proud of the fact that I have never lost a colony of 

 bees from any cause since I have been a bee-keeper. I fear very much, 

 however, that the record in this line will be broken this year. Re- 

 cently, in the month of January, I moved my entire apiary to my 

 present home. The bees came part of the way by railroad, but the 

 last of the trip (8 miles) was made in wagons. It was during the 

 thaw, and the gravel roads cut through to the large stones, making 

 the travel very rough. My bees were badly shaken, but the warm 

 weather was an advantage, and I am hoping that the damage will not 

 be great. 



When sending the photographs from which the engrav- 

 ings were made, Mr. McCain wrote : 



The picture of the apiary is my experimental apiary in a corner 

 of a city lot where I had 30 colonies of bees in a space 15x40 feet. 

 The apiary faces an alley which is used a great deal by both wagons 

 and pedestrians, and yet I have never had a complaint. A few people 

 who persisted in standing near the fence when I was manipulating 

 the bees were etuDg. My best yield was in 1902, when, from 2 colo- 

 nies, I took 500 pounds of comb honey aod 40 poundsof extracted. In 

 addition to this yield I increased my apiary to 8 colonies, using the 

 nucleus plan. I have never allowed anything but high grade queens 

 to remain in the apiary. The bees that have giv^n best results in 

 honey-gathering are Italians bred for work in comb honey rather than 

 for color, though they are beautifully marked with yellow bands. 

 Pure-blood Caucasian queens have given good results in this same 

 apiary, though they do not equal the Italians in amount stored. The 

 cappings of the honey stored by Caucasian bees was regular and as 

 white as fancy honey need be. 



The other photograph is intended to show the best yield of 

 comb honey that I have had from one colony in a single season. There 

 are 14 of the shipping-cases with 30 plain 4x5 sections in each. All of 

 the sections (280 in all) are finished " fancy." 1 took a few unfin- 



Mb. McCain and Crop of One Colony 

 (Nearly 7 feet high.) 



ished sections from this colony, but they are not counted. I al60 drew 

 on this colony to some extent in making my increase The large 

 yield is accounted for, I think, by the fact that there wa6 an almost 

 continuous honey-flow from May 15 to the middle of October, and that 

 the bees were in prime condition to attack the work when it came. I 

 do not hesitate to say that the strain of bees had a great deal to do 

 with the yield. I have used that queen as a breeder, and her progeny 

 have given uniformly good results. I have not yet been able to buy a 

 queen whose bees equal the work of this one, and I have bought a 

 good many since I have been keeping bees. 



Those of our readers who have attended the conven- 

 tions of the Chicago-Northwestern Bee-Keepers' Associa- 

 tion of late years know Mr. McCain. He is a very pleasant 

 gentleman to meet, and whenever present has contributed 



