AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



491 



vice ceased. He soon after began the 

 study of medicine, and graduated at the 

 Eclectic Medical Institute in Cincinnati, 

 O., in 1868, since which time he has 

 been continuously engaged in the prac- 

 tice of medicine, having been remark- 

 ably successfully from the first. 



During the last 10 years his hearing 

 has been so greatly impaired that he 

 had sought to quit the practice and de- 

 vote his time to bee-keeping and the 

 manufacturing of apiarian supplies. But 

 his friends would not listen to it, and so 

 he continued to do a large practice. His 

 success has been greatest in the treat- 

 ment of all acute diseases, and during 



i/i 



..,- ■^'ii^^''—\ 



DR. a. L. TINKER. 



the summer and fall he has often been 

 too busy to reply to his bee-keeping 

 friends. 



The Doctor's most notable success has 

 been in treating typhoid fever. Many 

 times after other capable physicians 

 have given up their cases to die, they 

 have recovered in a most remarkable 

 manner under his care. Some of these 

 cases have bordered upon the marvel- 

 lous, and caused a great deal of talk, 

 far and near. Intelligent, silent prayer 

 is believed to have exerted a most potent 

 effect in these cases. He generally uses 

 small doses of vegetable remedies. 



For 12 years, or since his hearing be- 



gan to fail, he has sought to master the 

 art of apiculture, although he kept a 

 few bees for several years before that. 

 He has made several improvements in 

 hives, and taken out several patents. 

 His principal inventions are the Wood- 

 Zinc Queen-Excluder, the Nonpareil Sec- 

 tion Super and Hive. He also found the 

 proper gauge for the perforations in 

 queen-excluder zinc, as well as for 

 drone-excluder zinc, and these have 

 been adopted as the standard by both 

 European and American bee-keepers. 



Being a mechanic from boyhood, hav- 

 ing learned early to work in wood and 

 iron in his father's shops — he being a 

 machinist and founder since the Doc- 

 tor's earliest recollection — he has made 

 all of his hives and fixtures, and has 

 conducted many experiments in a great 

 variety of hives, finally adopting the 

 Nonpareil Bee-Hive as the best for the 

 production of comb honey. 



As the management of this hive for 

 the best results is new and different 

 from that in general use, he has written 

 a book upon the subject, called "Bee- 

 Keeping for Profit," including the most 

 important practical information on the 

 general care of bees for beginners. The 

 first edition is now exhausted, and a sec- 

 ond, with additional matter, will soon 

 be given to bee-keepers. 



Dr. Tinker has been a frequent cor- 

 respondentof the bee-papers since 1881, 

 beginning with the American Bee Jour- 

 nal,. Being passionately fond of bees 

 and their care, he has developed a strain 

 of bees that he has called the " Syrio- 

 Albino " — the mother stock being Syrian. 

 By continuing to breed alone from the 

 mother stock, the original prolificness of 

 the Syrian race has been retained, with 

 many of the excellent comb-building 

 qualities of these bees. They now closely 

 resemble the average Italian bees, being 

 mostly Italian blood, but the delicate 

 building and capping of even, white 

 combs still distinguishes them. He has 

 kept about 50 colonies, on the average, 

 from year to year, and has managed to 

 care for them unaided in addition to his 

 other labor. 



He expects to keep bees as long as he 

 is able to care for them ; also his fac- 

 tory, in which he has very fine and costly 

 machinery. Three things he has, there- 

 fore, aimed to be expert in, viz. : as 

 physician, bee-keeper, and manufac- 

 turer. 



His family consists of a dutiful wife 

 and one son. A Friend. 



** Bees and Honey "—page '485. 



