AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



11 



MR. BARXETT TAYLOR. 



The following biographical sketch 

 was kindly furnished by a friend of Mr. 

 Taylor's, who knows him well : 



The subject of this sketch was born in 

 Green county, Pennsylvania, on May 8, 



BARNETT TAYLOR. 



1830. His father died when he was 

 two years old, and he remained with his 

 mother until his 16th year, when they 

 moved to Quincy, Ills. There he lived 

 nearly three years, one of which was 

 spent in the army raised by Gov. Tom 

 Ford to disperse the mob that killed Joe 

 Smith in the spring of 1845, and drove 

 the Mormons from their homes at 

 Nauvoo in the fall of that year. Here it 

 was he worked in a printing and book- 

 binding office. Afterwards he moved to 



Green county, Wisconsin, in the fall of 

 1848. 



At the age of 17 years he had me- 

 chanical skill enough to do the inside 

 finishing for the Methodist church, 

 which, when completed, gave entire 

 satisfaction. 



In the spring of 1849 he secured his 

 first swarm of bees, which increased to 

 many colonies in a few years. 



Mr. Taylor remained in Wisconsin 

 until 1856, when he moved to his pres- 

 ent home in Forestville, Fillmore county, 

 Minn. Immediately he purchased a 

 colony of bees, which he increased to six 

 the first season, and to 31 the second, 

 and he sold $175 worth of surplus 

 honey. His bee-keeping up to this time 

 had been with box-hives, in the old style. 

 At this point he secured "Langstroth on 

 the Honey -Bee," and also obtained the 

 agency for Langstroth's movable-comb 

 hive, and began bee-keeping in a more 

 scientific manner. 



He at once became dissatisfied with 

 the guess-work of the spacing frames, 

 and being of an inventive turn of mind, 

 invented the wire-end frame as now used 

 in his hive, which he considers the most 

 practical frame and hive in use since 

 1857. 



During all these years he has given 

 bee-keeping his best thoughts, and doing 

 the (to him) delightful work with his 

 own hands. He has increased his colo- 

 nies until he has produced 26,000 

 pounds of fine comb honey in one season, 

 and Mr. Taylor says that he has never 

 had such an interest in his bees, or felt 

 so happy in his apicultural work, as at 

 the present time. 



At the Taylor homestead there is to 

 be found one of the best equipped api- 

 aries In the West. There may be larger 

 apiaries, but perhaps none so complete. 

 There is everything with which to do, 

 and harmony and cleanliness go hand 

 in hand. It is a most lovely spot, nest- 

 ling at the foot of the hill on the Forest- 

 ville road, and surrounded on three sides 

 by fine, old trees, not forgetting the 

 massive pines which fringe the road 

 leading to the place, 

 can be seen the north 

 river, winding in and 



From the apiary 

 branch of Root 

 out, leaping on- 



ward over the stones and through the 

 willows. 



Here, endowed with Nature's best 

 gifts to man — grass, wood and water — is 

 situated the Taylor apiary. Scattered 

 upon the hillside are to be seen hundreds 

 of Mr. Taylor's hives. One can see the 

 handsome machine shop complete with 

 steam power and cunning machinery ; 

 the wintering cellar, built upon honor, 



