1888 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUltE. 



•As 



MRS. LUCiaSTDA HARtliSON. 



APIARIST, AND AUTHOR ON BEE CULTURE. 



tain. 



E extract the following from Bon- 

 ham's " Fifty Years' Recollections," 

 pul)lished in 1883. It probably gives 

 as many facts in regard to Mrs. 

 Harrison as any thing we can ob- 

 Our readers are more of less familiar 

 with her writings, which have already ap- 

 peared in Gleanings more or less for the 

 past ten years. 



The lady whose name stands prominent among 

 the successful bee-culturists of the present time is 

 a native of Ohio, born in 1831, and came to Illinois 

 With her parents, Alpheus Richardson and his wife, 

 when a child, they being- among the pioneer settlers 

 of Peoria County. Her early advantages for an ed- 

 ucation were limited. She received a few months' 



MRS. LUCINDA HARRISON. 



tuition at a private school; this gave her all the scho- 

 lastic training she received, outside of the common 

 school; but she was a close student, and commenced 

 teaching as away of sui)portand self -culture. While 

 busily engaged in teaching, she made the acquain- 

 tance of a prosperous young farmer, Robert Dodds, 

 of Woodford Co., 111.; and, their minds and disposi- 

 tions running in the Siime channel, they were mar- 

 ried, and our successful schoolteacher was trans- 

 ferred to the home duties of a farmer's wife, with 

 all their laborious cares and responsibilities. But, 

 after two brief years of happy farm life, her hus- 

 band died, and she was left a widow. In 18ti(5 she 

 was again married, to I.ovcll Harrison, one of the 

 substantial citizens ot I'eoria. 



After her second marriage she engaged in the 

 amateur cultivation of small fruits, as the state of 



her health made it necessary for her to have out- 

 door occupation, air, find sunshine. With tlic culti- 

 vation of small fruits she added bee culture, and in 

 this she has been eminently successful. She com- 

 menced her press contributions to Colman's Riirid 

 WorUl, St. Louis, and to the Gcrmaiitowti Trlr- 

 yrapli, Philadelphia, at first in the pomological, hor- 

 ticultural, and housekeeping departments of those 

 papers. But it is as u writer on bee culture that 

 she has gained a national reputation. Her contribu- 

 tions to Gleanings IN Bee Culture and the.4»ie)- 

 ican Bee Journal have elicited high commendation 

 from ai)iarists from all over the United States. She 

 also contributes instructive papers and descriptive 

 articles on the practical operatioiis of conductirig 

 the apiary, to the columns of the Prairie Farmer, 

 and for several years past has had chrtrge (it the 

 Apiary Department of that paper. This, combined 

 with her eminent success in the practical managc!- 

 ment of the apiary, has given her a reputation, and 

 made her an authority on the management of l)ecs 

 that is second to none in the count r3\ 



Mrs. Harrison combines a thorough knowledge of 

 the natural history and habits of the honey-bee 

 with the minutest details in the management of the 

 apiary, which has placed her in the front rank of 

 lady bee-keepers of our land. She is a member of 

 the North American Bee-Keepers' Association; and 

 at the annual meeting of that organization held at 

 Lexington, Ky., in Oct., 1881, was elected vice-pres- 

 ident for the State of Illinois. Her apiary at i)res- 

 ent consists of over one hundred colonies of Italian 

 bees, and is considered one among the best man- 

 aged in the State. 



Mrs. H. delivered an essay before the farmers' 

 institute held at Peoria, in Feb., 1888. under the aus- 

 pices of the Illinois State Board of Agriculture; 

 subject, " Bees and their Relation to Agriculture 

 and Horticulture," which received high commenda- 

 tion from the press of Peoria and from the board, 

 and has been (juite extensively copied by the press 

 of the countrj'. 



In addition to the above, I wish to say 

 that Mrs. Harrison has endeared many to 

 her by her frank, honest way of speaking 

 and writing. In reading only a few para- 

 graphs from her pen, one is reminded that 

 she tries to give real facts, and does not put 

 bee culture or any other rural occupation 

 in a romantic, moonshiny light. I remem- 

 ber reading, years ago, one of her little 

 sketches in the Prairie Fanner. She was 

 very enthusiastic on bees, and, being de- 

 tained in a little town away from home 

 while waiting for a train, or something of 

 that sort, she naturally inquired if there 

 were any bee-keepers near. On being told 

 that a shoemaker close by was a bee-man, 

 she sat down to talk with him, and chewed 

 shoe-pegs while he gave her yaactical facts 

 from his experience with bees; and I have 

 sometimes thought that this little pen-pic- 

 ture was a fair picture of her life and life- 

 work. Slie is always gathering facts, whicli 

 she imparts in her quaint way ; and yet her 

 quaintness is not at all put on — it is per- 

 fectly natural. She was present at the Bee- 

 keepers' Congress in New Orleans, and she 

 has been present, I believe, at mo.st of the 

 national conventions. While at New Or- 

 leans, one of the topics was, as nearly as I 

 can recollect, in regard to bee keeping for 



