AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



587 



IIIAI§TER RALPH BENTOW. 



Ralph is the youngest regular member 

 of the North American Bee-Keepers' As- 

 sociation, being less than nine years of 

 age, and is also a bee-keeper. 



His father, Mr. Frank Benton, the 

 present Secretary of the Association, it 

 will be retoembered, accompanied by 

 Mrs. Benton, was engaged for some 



RALPH BENTON. 



years in the rearing and exporting of 

 queen-bees from different countries in 

 Europe, Asia and Africa. Mr. Benton 

 is a native of Michigan, and Mrs. Ben- 

 ton of Western New York, though for 

 some years previous to her marriage she 

 was, under her maiden name, Hattie M. 

 Wheeler, a teacher in the schools of Ft. 

 Wayne, Ind. It was during their sojourn 

 abroad that Ralph was born, on Aug. 

 2, 1884, at Munich, Germany. He 

 seems to have inherited a natural love 

 for all things in nature, especially living 

 things — birds, plants, animals, and in- 

 sects. He likes to make a garden and 

 sow seeds, and watch the plants grow ; 

 to raise chickens, to gather flowers — 

 particularly wild ones — and to collect 

 insects. 



To bees he flrst introduced himself at 

 the age of two years — a lively colony of 

 imported Palestines, into the hive of 

 which he poked a long stick "to see 

 dem tum out." This enterprise was 

 such a signal of success that he got 

 " the big head " suddenly. Fortunately, 

 this went down long before he had 

 learned to open a nucleus, and hunt out 

 the queen, carry tools about the apiary, 

 etc. 



He owns one colony of bees — Carnio- 

 lans — and at the last meeting of the 

 North American Bee-Keepers' Associa- 

 tion it was with money which he earned 

 himself in the apiary that he paid his 

 initiation fee and became a regular 

 member. He regards the wearing of 

 the red and gold badge of the Associa- 

 tion, with its big bee, as quite an honor. 



Ralph says he thinks he will always 

 keep bees, and evidently he has his own 

 ideas about some things, as a remark 

 shows which he recently made to his 

 father. They were looking at a hive 

 made with an inner and outer case, and 

 with a lot of slides and buttons on each, 

 when he asked : " Papa, what's the use 

 of so much trick-track about a hive ?" 



This young American bee-keeper 

 speaks German in addition to English — 

 in •fact, he almost has two mother 

 tongues, for he has used them both from 

 infancy. We hope his interest in the 

 pursuit may be of much value to himself 

 and those about him. 



Master Ralph has surely shown pluck 

 and intelligence in one undertaking, 

 lately. It seems the Evening News, of 

 Washington, D. C, offered prizes of 

 bicycles to all who would procure 100 

 subscribers to their paper. Ralph was 

 the first to present 100 names, and 

 claim his bicycle — a fine " Cinch, No. 2," 

 whose catalogue price is $35, which he 

 won in less than three days after the 

 offer appeared. 



The illustration we present is from 

 the Washington Evening News of April 

 4th, and represents him as he proudly 

 rode away from that office with his new 

 treasure. 



Amerikanische Bienenzuclit is the 

 name of a bee-book printed in the Ger- 

 man language, which we now have for 

 sale. It is a hand-book on bee-keeping, 

 giving the methods in use by the best 

 American and German apiarists. Illus- 

 trated ; 138 pages; price, postpaid, 

 $1.00. It is just the book for our Ger- 

 man bee-keepers. We club it with the 

 Bee Journal for one year, for $1.75. 



