

5tST BE E:PAPc^ 

 'N AMERICA 



42dYEAR. 



CHICAGO, ILL, JULY 24, 1902, 



No, 30, 



^ Editorial. ^ \ 



OKATH OK CHAS. DADANT. 



We WBi'e startled by receiviiiK' the foUowiofj: 

 telegram the afternoon of July Hi: 



'• Father died this morninfr at 11 :H0. after 

 short illness. C. P. Dadant." 



Bee-keepers everywhere will join with us 

 in extending to the Dadant family sincerest 

 sympathy in their bereavement. 



We have had the pleasure of a personal 

 aci|uaintance with Chas. Dadant foranum- 

 l)er of years. It was his custom to spend a 

 few weeks every fall in Wiseon.-.in, and, pass- 

 ing through Chicago on his way, he called on 

 us. and we thus enjoyed his friendship and 

 acquaintance. 



Mr. Dadant was one of the pioneers in bee- 

 keeping in the United States, as all reading 

 bee-keepers well know. Chas. Dadant tt Son 

 need no introduction wherever the literature 

 of bee-culture is read, and that means in sev- 

 eral countries and languages. 



But we will let the departed Dadant himself 

 tell something of his life, which he furnished 

 to us nearly ten years ago, and which ap- 

 peared in the American Bee Journal at that 

 time. It is as follows: 



I was born on May 22, 1817, in Vaux-sous- 

 Aubigny, a French village of Champaign, 

 near the confines of Burgundy. My father 

 was a doctor of medicine. From the age of tj 

 to IT I went to school, living with my grand- 

 father, who was a locksmith in the city of 

 Langres. 



Then I entered as clerk in a wholesale dry- 

 goods store, and ten years after I went into 

 partnership with one of the owners of the 

 store. We began successfully; we had 

 earned some money when the French 

 Revolution of 1S48 came, followed 

 by the Republic, which was de- 

 stroyed by Napoleon III, and re- 

 placed by his Empire. For six 

 years the trouble and the insecurity 

 lasted, and determined us to quit 

 the business. Then I succeeded to 

 my_ father-ill-law, who was a tanner, 

 but bad luck continued to persecute 

 me. The city of Langres, the an- 

 cient Audomatunum, which, sev- 

 eral thousand years ago was thecap- 

 ital of a people named the " Lin- 

 gones." is situated on a high 

 mountain, which overlooks its vicin- 

 ity nearly on everyside. Civsar, 

 and the other Roman emperors, at 

 the time when the Roman Empire 

 owned most of Western Europe, 

 fortified Langres with strong walls, 

 which were so well constructed 

 that they are solid yet, after 2000 

 years. These walls aftording a pro- 

 tection to the inhabitants, the city 

 was densely peopled, and its com- 



merce was facilitated by a quantity of good 

 roads, laid with stones and cement, and di- 

 rected to every iioint of tlie compass. 



These Roman roads, as they are yet called, 

 helped greatly llic business of the city, which 

 was very prospcr<.)iis until the railroads came. 

 Of course, these railroads refused to climb the 

 high mountains, and built their depot two 

 miles away, in the bottom of a deep valley. 

 ThiMi the city began to depopulate, and its 

 buildings lost HO percent of their value. Com- 

 pelled to go elsewhere to get a living, I re- 

 solved to come to the I'niteti States. 



It was 'M years ago I came, a poor man 

 with a family. Unable to understand a word 

 of ICnglish. I subscribed for a weekly paper, 

 and began to translate it with the help of a 

 pocket dictionary. But the greatest dilbculty 

 was the pronunciation. I was soon able to 

 write sf) as to be understood, but my spoken 

 English was not intelligible. The French 

 language has very little accent; while the 

 English has the accent on one syllable in each 

 word, and the scholars themselves do not 

 always agree on the syllable on which the 

 accent ought to be placed. Then imagine the 

 dltiiculty of a foreigner! A great many store- 

 keepers were amazed to see me explain in 

 writing what I wanted, when they had been 

 unable to understand my language. 



As I had already tried bee-keeping for pleas- 

 ure in France, I began here with two colo- 

 nies. What I knew of bees had satisfied me 

 that a well-managed apiary would give 

 enough profit to support a family, and the 

 result proved that I was right. 



Soon after I began to rear Italian queens. 

 Being able to understand the Italian lan- 

 guage, and having been elected an honorary 

 member of the Italian society of bee-keepers, 

 it was an easy matter for me to try the im- 

 portation of bees. But the conditions indis- 

 pensable to success were not yet known, so I 

 lost some money in the undertaking. Then I 

 went to Italy; but the trip was a failure. I 

 had about resolved to quit the business of im- 

 porting queens, when I began experimenting 

 with Fiorini, and soon after all the queens 

 arrived alive. 



But the care of 400 colonies, with the comb 

 foundation business, was then beginning to 

 give us — my son and myself — as much work 

 as we were able to do, so we resolved to quit 

 the importing business. 



We have since revised the book of our 



friend l.angslroth, and published a French 

 edition, which has had the honor of i>eing 

 translated into the Russian language. 



I am now 70 years old, and I have enjoyed, 

 so far, good health, thanks to the care of my 

 wife and of our children and grandchildren 

 living with us. '// /'O/t/'/f. 



CuAS. Dadant. 



Such is the story Mr. Dadant wrote for us, 

 and we are glad to place it again before our 

 readers at this time, for since its first appear- 

 ance thousands of new subscribers have been 

 added to our list. 



We need add but little further at this lime. 

 Later we hope to give sketches and incidents 

 of his life and death, as they may be furnished 

 to us by his devoted son and many intimate 

 friends. Suffice it to say now that those who 

 knew Father Dadant best will agree with us 

 that his was a noble, honorable, upright, con- 

 sistent, moral life, and, in his death, bee- 

 keeping has lost one of its most faithful 

 devotees— one who ever labored for its great- 

 est development and highest progress. 



Quoting the Honey Market.— Some 



time ago we promised to publish a symposium 

 on this subject, and in this week's issue we 

 give the first part of it. We think it is very 

 interesting reading. 



We may be pardoned for reprinting Rip 

 Van Winkle's first letter, and also our com- 

 ment thereon, as by thus doing it places the 

 whole matter before the reader, and avoids 

 the necessity of referring away back to see 

 just what was said on page 195. 



Of course, the commission men and other 

 honey-dealers do not know it all. But we 

 must give them credit for honesty of pur- 

 pose in the conduct of their business, and in 

 what they have written in response to our 

 request that they help enlighten Rip Van 

 Winkle, as well as all others who are inter- 



BIRTHl'LACE OF CHAS. DADANT— VAUX-SOCS-ArBIGNV, FRANCE. 



