BIOGRAPHIES OF NOTED BEE-KEEPERS. 



While at the convention hist fall, the subject of the 

 palmetto honey of the South came up. Friend Muth 

 was called upon to tell what he knew about it. In 

 order to impress upt)u us that the honey was of ex- 

 cellent quality, he made the remark that on one 

 shipment which he had engaged for 8 cents a pound, 

 he afterwaid paid the man 10, because it went so 

 much beyond his expectations. At this point Pi'of. 

 Cook arose and interi-uptcil him. 



"Friend Muth," said he. "1 wish to ask just oni- 

 iiuestiou right here." 



" Very well, go on," said our jovial friend. 



" I want to know," said friend Cook, "if the con- 

 vention are tt> understand that this is the kind of a 

 man you are." 



" It is the kind of a man I was that time," was the 

 prompt reply. And we ri'ally believe that that is the 

 kind of a man friend IVl. has always been, and we 

 trust always will be. Gleanings, June, ISSH. 



MRS. LUCINDA HARRISOIW 



Among women, no bee-keeper is more widely or 

 favorably known than Mrs. I,ucinda. Harrison. Born 

 ill Coshocton, <)., Nov. .'il, \K]\, she came, in IKSe. to 

 Peoria Co., III., her parents, Ali)lieus Kicliaidson and 

 wife, licing pioneer settlers. Public schools in Peo- 

 ii;i at that time wei-e undevi'lopcd, and educational 



MRS. LrciNDA HAKKISON. 



;i(ha.ntages few; but hei- pari'tits ga\(' licr the best 

 that could then be lia<l in inivate schools. Hei- 

 bi-other Sanford was a mcmbei-of the first class that 

 graduated from Knox College, Galesburg, 111., and 

 she then spent a year at an academ.^- taught by him 

 at Granville, 111. She taught schcxd from time to 

 time till 185.5, when she married Robert Dodds, a 

 prosperous farmej- of Woodford Co., 111., who died 



two years later, leaving her a widow at 3.5. In 186(5 

 she married Lovell Harrison, one of the substantial 

 citizens of Peoria, from that time making Peoria 

 her home. 



Mrs. Harrison thus describes her enti-ance into the 

 ranks of bee-kee|)ers: 



"In I8VI, while pei'using the Reports of the De- 

 pai'tmeiit of .Agi'icultvirc, I came across a, tiowery 

 essay on bee culture, from the graceful pen of Mrs. 

 Ellen Tupper. I caught the bee-fever so badly that 

 1 could hardly suivive until the spring, when 1 pur- 

 chased two colonics of Italians of the late Adam 

 Grimm. The bees were in eight^frame Langstrotli 

 hives, and we still continue to u.se hives exactly sim- 

 ilar to those then imrchased. I bought the bees 

 without my husbaiuVs knowledge, knowing full well 

 that he would forbid me if he knew it, and many 

 were the curtain lectui'cs 1 received for purchasing 

 such troublesome stock. One i-eason for his hostili- 

 ty was that I kept continually pulling the hives to 

 ])ieces to see what the bees were at, and kept them 

 on the war-path. Ovir home is on three city lots, 

 and at the time 1 commenced bee-keeping our trees • 

 and vines were just coming into bearing, and Mr. 

 Harri.son enjoyed very much being out among his 

 pets, and occasionally had an escort of scolding 

 bees. Meeting with opposition made me all the 

 more determined to succeed. "Nothing succeeds 

 lil<e success.' 1 never wavered in my tlxed deter- 

 mination to know all there was to know about 

 honey-bees; and I was loo iiKiuisitive, prying into 

 their domestic affairs, which made them so very 

 irritable." 



Her perseverance was rewarded. In time Mr. H. 

 ceased opitosition, became himself interested in the 

 bees, and lHdi>ed take care of them, .saying he be- 

 lieved that liee-keej)ing would add ten years to 

 their life. For a number of years her ai>iary has 

 contaiiu'd about KMI colonies, she being iire\ente<l 

 trom <loing as much with the bees as she otherwise 

 would, b.\ ill health and family cares; for, although 

 childless herself, she has been a mot her to several 

 or]>han children. 



Mrs. H. is best known as a writer, Iut mau>- con- 

 tributions to the lu-ess being marked by vigor and \ 

 oiiginalit.v', with a blunt candor that assures one of 

 her sincerity. She has been bee-editor of the Prai- 

 rie Ffirwrr since 1876, and has written for Colman's 

 Rural yVnrhl. and occasionally for other papers. She 

 has held important otticcs in the N. A. 15. K. A., aiul 

 also in otiici' .socici ies. She credits bee-keeping with 

 making life moi-i' enjoyable, opening up a new 

 world, iind making her more observant of plants 

 and flowers. 



MRS. SARAH J. AXTKLL. 

 Mis. Sarah J. Axtell is one of the women promi- 

 nently known among bee-keepers, although she pro- 

 tests that her husband, Linus C. Axtell, rather than 

 herself, should have the prominence. Mr. A.xtell is 

 a farmer living at Hoseville, Warren Co., 111., his 

 wife having been an invalid most of her life. In 1871 

 they got their tirst colony of bees. As these in- 

 creased. Mis. Axtcll's interest in them incr(>ase<I, and 

 with increaseof interest in the bees i-ameincrease of 

 health, Mrs. A. tinding that, after a summer spent in 

 the open air with her bei's, her health is so much im- 

 proved that she is able to withstand the winter con- 

 flnement to which she might otherwi.sc succumb, 

 Since 1877 the bees have been kept in two apiaries. 

 Mr. .\. hires lielj) to do the work of the farm, which 



