BiOGRAPnip:8 OF x()Tp:i) 15ep:-keepers. 



PROF. A. J. COOK. 



Albert J. Cook was born Aug-. 30. 1843. at Owosso, 

 Mich. Tliose who are intimately acquainted witli 

 tlic man will not be surprised to learn that his pa- 

 rents were tliorouf^liiy nprijjht Christians. The dai- 

 ly reading' of the Bible, with comments by the la- 

 ther, re-enforced by the constant example of a 

 cliaste. honest, and industrious daily life, left its im- 

 l>ress for life on the character of the son. 



At tlie ag:e of 15 he entered Michigan Ag-ricultural 

 College, where he graduated at 30. having- been 

 obliged during liis course to suffer the sharp disaj)- 

 pointment of siisi)ending- study a whole year on ac- 

 count of sickness, his health always having- been 

 rather delicate during- his eai-lier years. Upon his 

 graduation he went, on account of i)ooi- health, to 

 California, wliere for three years he labored \ery 

 suci-essfully as a teacher. He then studied a por- 

 tion of two .years at Harvard University and Har- 



fKOI--. v. .1. CdOK. 



vard Medical College with Agassiz. Hazen, and Dr. 

 O. W. Holmes as teachers. In 1866 he was appoint- 

 ed instructor at Michigan Agricviltural College, and 

 in 1868 Professor of Entomology and Zoology in the 

 same college. 



He has done and is doing- a work unique in charac- 

 ter, for he instructs the students, not only about in- 

 sects in general, but about bees in particular. 

 Every student that graduates goes all over the the- 

 ory of bees, studies the bee structurally from tip of 

 tongue to tip of sting, and goes through with all the 

 manipulations of the apiary — that is, if there is any 

 honey to manipulate; handles the bees, clips queens, 

 |ii-epares and jjuts on sections, extracts, etc. Prob- 

 al)ly in no other institution in the country, if in the 

 world, is this done. 



Prof. Cook is an active; and influential member of 

 the North American Bee-Keepers' Association, of 

 which he has been president; was one of the origi- 



nators of the Michigan State Bee-Keepers' Associa- 

 tion, of which he was president for a number of 

 years, and helped start the State Horticultural So- 

 ciety, being a member of its board for some years. 

 He is widely known as a writer. His "Manual of 

 the Apiary" has reached a sale of 14.000 copies, and 

 " Injurious Insects of Michigan " 80()0 copies. He is 

 also the atithor of "Maple Sugar and the Sugar- 

 Bush." of which 5000 copies have been i)ublishedi» 

 He has written much for bee-journals, as also for 

 the general press. He is a clear, ijractical writer, 

 with a happy st.yle. 



In the battle waged against insect-foes, he luis 

 rendered valuabk' ser\ii-e. Remedies which he first 

 ad\ised are now common, and he was probably the 

 first to demonstrate the efficacy and safety- of Pa lis 

 green for codlin moth. 



Prof. Cook is of average lieiglit and weight, a 

 charming conversationalist, and an intensely inter- 

 esting lecturer. His very iJleasant manner is only 

 a fair index of a genial and loving si)irit that, in an 

 unusual degree, strives to put the best const ruction 

 on the conduct and motives of every <me, and 

 throws a mantle of charity o\er their fatilts. His 

 spirit of kindness extends to the brute creation; 

 and on his fai-m, in wliich he is much interested, he 

 has some tine-blooded stock; and in attempting to 

 engage a hand to work upon the farm, the writer 

 otice heard him stipulate as essential that the em- 

 ploye must be kind to animals, and free from the 

 use of liquor, tobacco, and profane language. 



Prof. Cook is a great home lovei-, and proud of his 

 wife and two children. An earnest Christian work- 

 (•1-. lu' has for a number of years done a most impor- 

 tant woi-k in conducting a Saldiath-school class con- 

 taining thirty or forty college students. It is to be 

 regretted that excessive work has told unpleasant- 

 ly on his health. 



LYMAN C. ROOT. 

 Lyman C. Root was born in St. Lawrence Co., N. Y., 

 Dec. 19tli, 1840. The better part of his education was 

 obtained in "brush college;" but befoi-e entering 

 this he had two terms in the academy, two in St. 

 Lawrence UnlA-ersity, and a coui-se in Eastman's 

 Business College, where he graduated in 1865. Tlie 

 eight years following he was with Mr. Quinby, for 

 the last five years his pai'tner. It was his high privi- 

 lege to be as.sociated with him during what may be 

 called the transition period of modern bee-keeping: 

 during the time of the most rapid changes from box 

 to frame hives; the time of the dissemination of the 

 Italian bee, the introduction of the honey-extractor, 

 the invention of the Quinby bee-smoker, the adop- 

 tion of tiie one-comb section, and the perfecting of 

 the new Quinby frame and hive. The various exper- 

 iments that ended in the adoption of comb founda- 

 tion were then in progress, and Mr. Quinby could 

 have had no young man with him more enthusiastic 

 and more helpful than the energetic L. C. Root, who 

 released him from business cares, and gave him the 

 needed leisure for stud.v and invention. These were 

 golden da.ys for Mr. Quinby, well improved; and for 

 Mr. Root nothing less, as he recalls the results ob- 

 tained. Tlieir supply-business rapidly grew t« large 

 proportions, and if was common for them to buy 

 from f hree to Ave hundred colonies in box hives in 

 the spring, transfer them to the new hive, and sell 

 them to their customers in the different States. 

 This necessitated a very large amount of exhausting 

 work; but at this time Mr. Root knew nothing of 



