THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



57 



^iograplxical* 



Joseph M. Brooks. 



Joseph M. Bkooks was born in Mt. 

 Holley, State of New Jersey, June 8, 1844. 

 At the age of two years his parents re- 

 moved to Chagrin Falls, Ohio, where they 

 resided until "l849, when they moved to 

 the city of Cincinnati, thence to Colum- 

 bus, Ind., where he now resides. Mr. 

 Brooks is, bj"^ occupation, a tinner. At 

 the age of thirteen years he commenced 



transferring them into frame hives and 

 dividing and Italianizing them the first 

 season. Not being satisfied with the 

 Mitchel or Buckeye hive they were using, 

 they, like all beginners, began to invent 

 hives to their own notion, and as many 

 times set them aside, until, finally, they 

 decided on what is now called " The 

 Brooks Non-Patent Hive. This hive is 

 worked either as a one or two story hive. 

 If run for comb-honey, it contains eleven 

 broad frames, 12x12 in. square, and has 

 abundant room for boxes or small frames, 

 directly on the brood frame. If extracted 



his trade under the instruction of his 

 father, and for several years has been fore- 

 man in the principal shops of his town. 

 Although a mechanic, he has always taken 

 a deep interest in "pets" of some kind, 

 having kept fancy pigeons and poultry 

 until 1874, when he gave them up in order 

 to better care for his bees, believing that 

 " what is worth doing at all, is worth do- 

 ing well," — hence his success as an api- 

 arist. 



In 1870 he, in company with his brother, 

 purchased their first bees (blacks in box 

 hives). Although they were new at the 

 business, they, with the aid of Quinby's 

 Bee Keeping Explained, succeeded in 



honey is wanted, an upper story with an- 

 other set of same sized frames are set on, 

 making twenty-two frames to the hive. 

 They are now wintering fifty-four colonies 

 (pure Italians) in these hives, and they be- 

 lieve them to be the cheapest and best 

 form in use. Their success from the first 

 has been remarkable, never yet having 

 lost a single colony by dysentery or dis- 

 ease of any kind, while their neighbors 

 lose more or less every winter. 



Mr. Brooks advertises freely in The 

 American Bee Journal, and to this, as 

 well as to the fact that he keeps only the 

 best of stock, can be attributed his business 

 success. 



