1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



311 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 



.TAMES A. GREEX. 



Seest tliou a man dillg-ent in liis [bee-keeping-] 

 business? He sliall stand before kinprs; he sliall not 

 stand before mean men.— Prov. 23: 29. 



James A. Green, the subject of this sketch, 

 while still in his teens decided to make the road 

 leading through the apiary his royal road to 

 fortune. Giving to his chosen profession the 

 close study and hard work always necessary to 

 make a success of any profession, bringing to it 

 the stimulus of a decided taste for bee-keeping, 

 and a natural aptitude for its details, he is 

 likely, before he is much older, to find ''plenty 

 of room at the top." 



Mr. Green was born about thirty years ago in 

 the little town of Dayton, on the banks of Fox 

 River, in Illinois. While he has built up an 

 extensive business and quite a national reputa- 

 tion among bee-keepers, this town always has 

 been and continues to be his home. 



JAMES A. GREEN. 



His practical experience with bees began in 

 1878, during the absence of his father, who was 

 at that time a bee-keeper on a small scale. 

 Swarming-time came on. the colonies needed 

 attention, and James and his mother stepped 

 promptly into the breach. All went well with 

 the experiment: and when ]\Ii'. Gi'een I'eturned 

 from Colorado the boy had found his vocation. 



He began with twenty swarms in old-fashion- 

 ed box hives. He found it hard to gather infor- 

 mation about his new business, and, for lack of 

 this knowK'dge. carried it on for some time in a 

 primitive way, which the modern bee-keeper 

 would consider very antiquated indeed. IJut 

 James was a very determined boy. and he did 

 not believe there was any need of standing still 

 or going back because the way ahead looked 

 rather difficult. So he diligently read on, gath- 

 ering from books and magazines some knowl- 

 edge, and a little insight into the ways of bees. 

 At last, in the ABC of Bee Culture he found 

 the solution of his difficulties, and the best and 



strongest of foundations for a novice in bee- 

 keeping to build upon. The A B C of Bee Cul- 

 ture very wisely assumes that the beginner 

 knows as little about his future work as the 

 child does of written language. So he, like the 

 child, is required to begin with the alphabet, 

 and when he has gained a thorough mastery of 

 this he is also a long way on the road to the 

 mastery of the bee-profession. 



James learned his A B C's thoroughly, and 

 henceforth his upward path became compara- 

 tively easy. " Progressive and determined '' 

 make a very good combination, and this boy 

 had both qualities. Gradually the old-fashion- 

 ed methods and appliances gave place to new, 

 improved, and scientific ones. The ingenious 

 hand of the master of the bee-yard supplement- 

 ed his tools with handy contrivances of his own, 

 and the apiary grew and grew until now, 1891, 

 it numbers 300 colonies, and the sale of its prod- 

 uct goes to many of the great cities of the 

 cou ntry. 



More than this, while Mi-. Green is still, and 

 always will be, a student, his knowledge of bees 

 and their culture is so wide, accurate, and prac- 

 tical, that he takes i-ank among the best au- 

 thorities in these matters. His name was re- 

 ci'iitly sent in by the secretary of the Smithso- 

 nian Institute for admission to one of the great 

 scientific societies of France — a high honor for 

 so young a man who has been only eleven years 

 in the work. 



Back of every good man is a good mother. 

 Hack of nearly every successful man is a sym- 

 pathetic mother or wife. Mr. Green is not an 

 I'xecption to this rule. From their babyhood. 

 ]Mrs. Green took an interest in all that her boys 

 eared to do — an interest no less wise and 

 thoughtful than it was devoted. Each boy felt 

 that mother was his i)ai'ticular partner, giving 

 an iiiti'lliii-cnt appi'cciation to all the details of 

 his boyish plans for tiie future, and sympathiz- 

 ing with all his ups and downs. When Frank, 

 the chemist, hid his beloved bottles on the high 

 shelf of the dining-room cupboard, mother did 

 not scold, nor ever ask to have them taken 

 away. She only told Frank to be very careful 

 how near he placed them to the eatables. 

 When Kent, the bookworm, buried his face in 

 the dear volume, and shut out all the world 

 beside, she found out what he was reading, 

 and. just as much as her busy life would allow, 

 read with him. When Jimmy began to work 

 among the bees, she armed herself with veil 

 and gloves, and went with him. And she has 

 read so intelligently the books and magazines 

 concerning the honey-bee — she has studied so 

 carefully its habits — that she is very good au- 

 thority on the way of making it profitable to 

 its owner. So that it is certainly true that Mr. 

 Green owes much of his pi-esent"standing in the 

 profession, and his success financially, to his 

 best friend, his excellent mother. 



Mr. Green is not a man of one idea solely, nor 

 does he believe in moving in the rut of one's 

 own business. As an extensive and successful 

 bee-keeper, he has been honored by his brethren 

 with the vice-presidency of the Northwestern 

 Bee-keepers' Association, and it is needless to 

 say that he fills the office well. 



A justice of the peace in his native town, his 

 office gives him the power to bind in one two 

 loving hearts. 



A graduate of the Ottawa High School, he 

 has supplemented an excellent education by a 

 course of careful and valuable reading. A lover 

 of, and also a judge of first-class poetry, Mr. 

 Green has many an apt quotation at his fingers' 

 ends, and he gives them on suitable occasions 

 with point and grace. 



This love of choice and thoughtful reading led 

 him very naturally into the Chautauqua Liter- 



