AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



7T9 



CHARLES H. 1>IBBER]V. 



We are pleased to show our readers 

 another new face this week, but the 

 name is quite familiar. Mr. Dibbern 

 has for years been one of the "Old 

 Guard "in our department of "Queries 



C. H. DIBBERN. 



and Replies ;" and on account of other 

 of his many and valuable contributions 

 to the literature of bee-culture, he is 

 well known in apiarian circles. The 

 following will give some facts regarding 

 Mr. Dibbern and his life on both sides 

 of the " big pond :" 



The subject of this sketch was born 

 near Kiel, Holstien, Germany, on Oct. 



15, 1840. Ills father was a wagon- 

 iiiakor and a bee-keeper in a small way. 

 His earliest recollections are of a row of 

 old-fashioned straw hives, and watching 

 his father secure the honey by drum- 

 ming in September. So interested was 

 he in bees while yet a little fellow of five 

 or six years, that he secured the help of 

 his older brother in constructing small 

 clay hives, and placing bumble-bees' 

 nests in them, and watching the big, 

 clumsy fellows come and go, with great 

 glee. 



In 1847 the clouds of war began to 

 darken his native land, and fortunately 

 the family decided to try to better their 

 condition in that new land — America. 



At that time there were no railroads 

 west of Chicago, and for that reason the 

 best route to reach the then far West 

 was via New Orleans. In June, 1847, 

 they reached Davenport, Iowa, and soon 

 settled on a farm near that place. 



In 1851 the family removed to 

 Moline, Ills., where Charles received 

 such an education as the High School 

 there at that time afforded. Hardly had 

 he finished the course, when the Civil 

 War broke out, and with thousands of 

 others he went to the War. He served 

 for three years in the 66th Illinois, and 

 was present at the battles of Donnelson, 

 Shiloh, Corinth and Atlanta, together 

 with what seemed innumerable skir- 

 mishes. When his time was out he re- 

 turned to Moline, to take up the avoca- 

 tions of peace. 



After securing a commercial college 

 education, he for six years was book- 

 keeper for a large milling firm. In 1871 

 he concluded that he could do business 

 on his own hook, and bought out a run- 

 down hardware business at Milan, Ills. 

 To this he added agricultural imple- 

 ments, and other branches, and by in- 

 dustry and perseverance he soon worked 

 up a good business, which he still con- 

 tinues in connection with his son, 

 Henry S. 



In 1865 he secured his first colony 

 of bees from an Iowa farmer, who 

 brought them over the Mississippi river 

 on the ice, in February, on a bobsled. 

 That season he increased to 3 colonies, 

 and secured about 50 pounds of surplus 

 honey. This greatly encouraged him, 

 and that year he bought two more colo- 

 nies. From such a start he has had bees 

 ever since, at one time running up to 

 250 colonies, and securing very nearly 

 20,000 pounds of comb honey. That 

 mas in 1889, and the past three poor 

 years have reduced his apiaries to about 

 150 colonies. 



The tin T super was original with 



