954 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 15. 



in the fall he had 65 colonies. This place did 

 not suit him, and he cast about for a better 

 location. 



L The writer, at a meeting of bee-keepers in 

 Albany, N. Y., eai'ly in the winter of 1873, read 

 an essay which led Mr. Hoffman, who was in 

 attendance, to seek acquaintance. A mutual 

 and lasting friendship sprang up; and, by the 

 advice of the writer. Mr. Hoffman was induced 

 to move to Fort Plain, N. Y., where he settled 

 in the spi-ing of 1873. 



There in a few years he increased his stock 

 of bees to about 4()() colonies, selling off the 

 increase, 50 to 100 colonies, each spring. Dur- 

 ing this peiiod many of the renowned bee- 

 keepers in various parts of New York were 

 each winter losing hundreds of dollars' worth 

 of bees, and were buying heavily to keep up 

 their stocks. Thus while other bee-keepers 

 were losing their capital, and were discussing 

 the subject of wintering, at conventions and 



.TUI-IUS HOFFMAN. 



through the papers, and were experimenting 

 with new methods and expensive cellars, Mr. 

 Hoffman was prospering and selling to them 

 his increase. Never shall we forget the aston- 

 ishment and admiration that filled us when, 

 after Mr. Hoffman had lived at Fort Plain some 

 months, we called and beheld his large apiary 

 and stirring enterprise. Then indeed we 

 thanked our stars that we had been instrumen- 

 tal, in part at least, for the presence among us 

 of a real, live bee-master. 



From that time on, for some years, we visited 

 him often and studied the conditions, methods, 

 and surroundings, in order to learn the secrets 

 of his great success. Without pointing out at 

 this time the various elements that led to this 

 success, we will state that not the least among 

 them is the brood-frame that bears his name, 

 and which we had the pleasure to first describe 

 and recommend in the Bee-keepers' Exchange, 

 page .52, 1879. This gratification is more com- 

 plete, as, when once adopted, we have never 



known a bee-keeper to discard them, and near- 

 ly all who use them are prosperous. 

 uBut Mr. Hoffman desired more land, and a 

 location where more buckwheat is gi'own; 

 hence in 1884 he sold his place and bought 75 

 acres of new land four miles east of Canajo- 

 harie, and seven miles from his former home. 

 On this he erected suitable buildings, and has 

 each fall for the last five years put into winter 

 quarters about (i.50 colonies. By sale and 

 shrinkage these are generally reduced to about 

 .500 colonies each spring. This number, kept in 

 five or six different places, is. about all that he 

 can, with one assistant, conveniently handle, 

 especially as the assistant has to do chores and 

 attend to three horses and a few cows, besides 

 doing considerable farm work. He has no other 

 ji>-sistance except two daughtei'S, who help to 

 extract the honey and prepare sections of comb 

 honey for market. 



The extracting is all done at home. Mr. 

 Hoffman has always produced comb honey 

 principally, except for the last three years, dur- 

 ing which time the crop has been nearly all 

 extracted. 



Seventeen years ago Mr. Hoffman devised the 

 brood-frame that bears his name. It was the 

 outgrowth of a desire to improve existing meth- 

 ods and facilitate manipulation. 



Mr. Hoffman's best average crop of comb hon- 

 ey was 80 pounds per colony, and the poorest 

 (season of 18i»0) was 20 pounds. 



Mr. Hoffman is medium in stature, slight of 

 build, and is unassuming and quiet in manner. 

 He has a vigorous mental-motive temperament, 

 and is never idle. A piano and organ builder 

 by trade, he is ingenious and a good mechanic, 

 able to construct his hives in a thorough and 

 perfect manner. He is a great reader, and has 

 frequently translated and condensed articles 

 from the German periodicals. 



Aside from his duties as an apiarist, he 

 travels considerably over the adjacent territory 

 and repairs and tunes musical instruments. He 

 is still in the prime of a vigorous manhood; and 

 may he live long to enjoy the fruits of his 

 labors, bless his family, and instruct the bee- 

 keeping fraternity, is the wish of 



Canajoharie, N Y'^. J. H. Nellis. 



[Our older readers will remember J. H. Nellis 

 as the editor of the Bee-keepers' Exchange — a 

 very sprightly bee-journal under his manage- 

 ment. He was also at one time secretary and 

 at another time president of the North Ameri- 

 can Bee-keepers' Association. He not only 

 published a bee-journal, but he was quite an 

 extensive manufacturer of apiarian supplies. 

 In later years, however, the publishing and 

 apiarian-supply business has given place to 

 other interests, although he has all along kept 

 bees. Mr. Nellis was the first one to make pub- 

 lic the Hoffman frame and its merits. The 

 files of his old bee-journal show that he was 

 enthu.siastic in its praise; and the fact that he 

 has used this frame all these years, and still 

 likes it, shows that it wears well. He has 

 promised to favor us with two or three more 

 articles, not only in regard to further facts con- 

 cerning Mr. Hoffman and his methods, but also 

 some facts from his own experience. 



When we visited Mr. Hotrman we saw all the 

 evidences of material prosperity; and, if we 

 were not mistaken, this prosperity came mainly 

 from the bees. He has a pleasant and beautiful 

 home by the side of a deep ravine. We desire 

 to indorse all that Mr. Nellis has said of its 

 owner; and although he has been wonderfully 

 successful he is very modest in regard to his 

 attainments. He has none of that show and 

 bluster of some bee-keepers who, having ob- 

 tained moderate success, would have us believe 



