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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



May 17, 1906 



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miscellaneous 

 Zletrs * 3tems 



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Officers of the Connecticut Association are shown 

 on the first page this week. We have the further pleasure 

 of presenting the brief biographical sketches that follow : 



Allen Latham, President. 



Allen Latham was born in Thetford, Vt., Oct. 31, 1868 ; 

 parents, Henry M. Latham and Harriet A. (born Closson) 

 Latham. Parents and 8 children moved to Lancaster, 

 Mass., in 1880. After a common school education " Allen " 

 •went from the farm to Harvard College in the fall of 1888, 

 and graduated with the class of 1892. He took up teaching 

 as a profession, and taught school in the towns of Deerfield, 

 Andover, and Walpole, Mass. In the fall of 1902 he moved 

 his family to Norwich, Conn., where he is still teaching in 

 the Norwich Free Academy, having charge of the Science 

 Department. 



Mr. Latham married Caroline L. Walker, of Lancaster, 

 Mass., in the summer of 1893, and 4 children have been 

 iborn of that union— Paul, Barbara, Emily and William. 



Such is the non-bee-life of Allen Latham. His bee-life, 

 rtold briefly in his own words, is as follows : 



I can not remember when bees did not interest me, and I was not 

 •over S years of age when I caught bees from the flowers and shut them 

 •into a miniature hive in hopes that I might start a colony. Some told 

 -oie that they would not stay unless I had a queen, and surely enough 

 •they always left, never to return. 



It was not till June, 1884, that my interest in bees was restored in 

 full force. At that time I was in the High School, and our teacher 

 in Bota-uy had taken the class out to study flowers. While analyzing 

 flowers we restless boys discovered a swarm of bees high in an elm- 

 tree Some one said something about a swarm beiDg worth S20. (Had 

 he even heard of " Lizzie?") Well, I was filled with a desire for the 

 S-X) if not for the bees. So about dusk I went for those bees, with 

 legs doubly protected with overalls tied at the ankles, and with arms 

 and hands encased in stocking-legs and buckskin-gloves. Over my 

 head I had 2 butterfly-nets, for I was a butterfly collector. 



I climbed the tree, having to shin 16 feet to the first branch, and as 

 it was a warm June day, and I was excited, I was more than ready to 

 rest awhile in the crotch of that first limb. The cluster was only 2 

 •feet away, and as I was preparing to bag it, I heard a voice say: 



■" What in are you doing up in that tree?" And it was hot up 



there for I can still remember how the sweat trickled down my back. 



I'bagged those bees, and I have kept bees ever since. That first 

 swarm filled its hive, and then died in the winter from excessive med- 

 dling on my part. But on the day they died I bought another colony. 

 In the course of 3 years I had nearly a score of colonies. 



I should have said that after I bagged the swarm I went that even- 

 ing to the town library and took out " The Hive and the Honey-Bee," 

 by that grand old man, L. L. Langstroth. I read the book nearly 

 through that night, and by morning a bee-fever had set in that has 

 waxed hot most of the time ever since. 



Like every bee-keeper, I could tell many interesting experiences I 

 •have had with bees, but space should not be taken for that. I will 

 •simply 9ay that 1 have moved independently in all my work with bees; 

 have never bought a factory-hive for my own use, and though bee- 

 keeping is my avocation, I have always made it pay for itself, and 

 often known it to help me very materially. Allen Latham. 



Mr. Latham has been an occasional contributor to bee- 

 literature for many years, as the most of our readers know. 



D. D. Marsh, Vice-President. 



Rev. David Dana Marsh has been an enthusiastic bee- 

 keeper for 27 years. In his first 20 years' pastorate at 

 Georgetown, Mass., he bought a box-hive of black bees, of 

 a farmer, transferred it to a frame hive made by himself, 

 and they produced SO pounds of comb honey that season. 



On moving to Unionville, Conn., in 1888, his few hives 

 were in the car with furniture an entire week, yet brought 

 in pollen in less than half an hour after being released in 

 October in the Nutmeg State. 



After a pastorate of 11 years he moved to a church in 

 Hartford, Conn., taking along a few hives, in January, and 

 one of them stored SO pounds of comb honey the following 



season. 



After pastorates of 35 years he bought a pleasant home 

 in West Hartford, Conn., well adapted, among other things, 

 to bee-culture, and his interest in bees is unabated. From 

 a few colonies of blacks, which he prefers for fancy comb 

 honey his average crop was 81 sections last season. 



He has been a member of the Connecticut Bee-Keepers' 



Association from its beginning, and has found a few colo- 

 nies of bees a delightful diversion in the busy years of the 

 pastorate. 



J. Arthur Smith, Secretary. 



J. Arthur Smith is employed in the office of the Con- 

 necticut Mutual Life Insurance Co., at Hartford. He is an 

 ardent lover of Nature in all its phases, and his enthusiasm 

 for bee-culture has not waned, but increased since he pur- 

 chased his first colony, 3 years ago. When quite young, 

 while sitting in a tree eating a sweet pear, he discovered 

 that bees were not such dreadful little creatures, after all, 

 for they would lodge on his face, crawl around his mouth, 

 and fly away. His love for bees might be characterized as 

 sentimental rather than mercantile ; however, he is anxious 

 that some of the tons of honey that go to waste each season 

 in Connnecticut may be saved, and will labor to that end. 

 Of all the periodicals he takes, including Harper's Weekly, 

 he enjoys the American Bee Journal and Gleanings the 

 most. 



The Apiaries of Frank Kittinger.— When sending the 

 photograph reproduced on the first page, Mr. Kittinger 

 wrote thus, under date of April 11 : 



The photograph I send gives only a partial view of my apiary, 

 which contains 60 colonies, of which 20 are in the house-apiary shown. 

 The hives in the house-apiary are all open to the south, and as will 

 be noticed, the ends of the brood-chambers are exposed to the sun, 

 which, I think, is a great help in successfully wintering bees on the 

 summer stands. 



All my bees are wintered on the summer stands. I first put on a 

 comb-honey super containing about 3 inches of dry sawdust, and then 

 put from 4 to 6 inches of forest leaves on all sides of the hives; also 

 over the top. The ends of the brood-chambers are all exposed to the 

 sun, and hive-entrances left open the full width of the hives. 



The hives outside the house-apiary are wintered in cases holding 3 

 or 4 hives each. 1 have always been very successful in wintering in 

 this way, never having lost a colony that went into winter quarters 

 with plenty of honey and bees, and a good queen. 



I suppose some will wonder if I don't lose several queens in the 

 colonies in the house-apiary by having them enter the wrong hives 

 when returning from mating. I do not have any queens mated in 

 this house-apiary, as I allow natural swarming, and hive the new 

 swarm on the old stand. The old hive is then moved to a new stand 

 outside. Besides, I do not have nearly as much swarming from the 

 colonies in the house-apiary as from those outside. 



I use the 10-frame Langstroth hive, with Hoffman frames. I also 

 have a few 8-frame hives, but I do not like them as well as the 10- 

 frame. 



I run my bees for both comb and extracted honey. Since the 

 photograph was taken, I have built a honey-house, 10x16 feet, to the 

 right of the house-apiary. 



I could not get along without the American Bee Journal, as I find 

 several articles that are worth the price of a year's subscription. 



Frank Kittinger. 



Mr. HubeF H. Root has recently been installed as 

 Assistant Editor of Gleanings in Bee Culture. His latest 

 portrait graces the front cover of the May 1st issue, from 

 which we take the following paragraph : 



Our editorial staff has been increased by the addition of new and 

 younger blood in the person of Huber H. Root, named after the great 

 Huber of a century ago. The younger Huber, like his great name- 

 sake, is of an investigating turn of mind, and an enthusiast on bees. 

 He is fresh from college, and now has thrown his whole heart and 

 soul into the general subject of bee-keeping. Like his father, he is a 

 geniu6 in getting up new contrivances. Indeed, several patents and 

 useful inventions used by the Root Co., are the product of the brain 

 of the youngest member of The A. I. Root Co. 



We congratulate both "Huber" and the readers of 

 Gleanings upon this new combination. Few young men 

 have the wonderful opportunity for usefulness placed before 

 them that has Huber; and few are so fortunate to have such 

 an able assistant as he will be to his brother " Ernest," 

 who for so many years has been editor of Gleanings. They 

 will pull together nicely, even if there is a difference of 21 

 years in their ages. And it's "all in the family." 



Df. Dzierzon Failing.— The great German bee-master 

 is reported as being in feeble health, confined to his bed for 

 the past year and a half on account of weakness in his feet. 

 No longer able to read, and too deaf easily to hear others 

 read, his 96th year, which began Jan. 16, is rather a lonely 



Amerikanische Bienenzucht, by Hans Buschbauer, is 

 a bee-keeper's hand-book of 138 pages, which is just what 

 our German friends will want. It is fully illustrated, and 

 neatly bound in cloth. Price, postpaid, $1.00; or with the 

 American Bee Journal one year — both for $1.75. Address 

 all orders to this office. 



