THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



191 



^icrgrapIxicaL 



William J. Andrews 



Was born in Columbia, Maurv county, 

 Tennessee, May 28tli, 1838, of Irish 

 parentage, at which place he has always 

 resided. He is engaged in the Hardware 

 and Agricultural Implement business, at 

 that place, and was brought up to the 

 business. Was for three years a member 

 of the firm of Andrews, Mayes & Co., 

 and at present a member of the firm of 

 Andrews. Barkley & Co., and J. P. Street 

 & Co., hardware dealers, at that place. 

 He is also engaged in the bee business, 

 iind is a partner of the firm of Staples, 



tliat period, but few would sell bees, and 

 the only chance to purchase was at a pub- 

 lic sale. However, before I stole my bees 

 I had a conversation with my neighbor, 

 in which I told him I thought of getting 

 a few stands, and would do so provided 

 he would hive all swarms and do the rob- 

 bing for me. He promised to do so. It 

 was out of the question for me to think of 

 handling them, as I dreaded the stings. 



In a few weeks after I got my hives, 

 they threw ofl' a large swarm. I had a 

 hive in readiness and sent for my neigh- 

 bor who hived them for me. While he 

 was working with them, I mustered up 

 courage to venture near, then nearer, and 

 still alittle nearer; he speaking words of 

 encouragement all the while, until I soon 

 found myself at the mouth of the hive, 



Andrews & Vaughan, proprietors of Co- 

 lumbia Apiary, whose advertisement ap- 

 pears in the Journal. 



Mr. Andrews has occupied many im- 

 portant trusts at the hands of his people. 

 In 1860 he was an elector on the Douglas 

 presidential ticket. He has held the posi- 

 tion of Mayor, Magistrate, Notary Public, 

 in his turn. He is a contributor to the 

 several bee publications, and is at present 

 the Secretary of the Maury County Bee 

 Keepers' Society. In the April number 

 of the B. K. Magazine he gave some of 

 his experiences as a beginner in bee-keep- 

 ing. As this may be interesting to other 

 beginners, we extract as follows: 



" In 1858 I got of a neighbor two stands 

 of bees in box hives, by stealing them 

 from their positions, leaving on the spot 

 where they stood two $2.50 gold pieces, 

 as my neighbor would not sell them, say- 

 ing it was '■bad luck to sell bees.' Up to 



and the little fellows buzzing all around 

 me. I have hived all my swarms since. 

 Soon after swarming, robbing came on. 

 My neighbor was called in again. I as- 

 sisted, and closely watched his move- 

 ments ; since then I have done my own 

 robbing. Up to this time I had received 

 no stings, but many a one have I had 

 since. I became infatuated with the busi- 

 ness, but was ignorant of any bee-books 

 or journals, and had no knowledge of a 

 queen-bee, neither had mj' neighbor, nor 

 has he yet. He has since moved out of 

 my neighborhood and quit bee-keeping. 

 I occasional!}' meet him and have a bee 

 chat, but he won't be convinced that there 

 is a queen bee ; says the drone is the male 

 and the workers ihe. females. 



But I digress. The next year I bought 

 a tine bee palace. I was then trying, and 

 continued for several years after, to devise 

 means to prevent swarming. Into my 



