1320 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 15 



year his crop of honej', all extracted, was 

 70,780 lbs. 



While we did not doubt Mr. Alexander's 

 statement of facts for an instant, yet we felt 

 it would be a source of great interest to the 

 readers of Gleanings to have a visit made to 

 this colossal apiary, and an account given of 

 the man, his location, and his method. The 

 writer was, therefore, sent by the editor of 

 Gleanings to give a write-up of this mar- 

 velous project, and I can truly say the sight 

 was wonderful. The roar of those 750 col- 

 onies as their field bees went and came is 

 simply indescribable. 



Delanson is located about 30 miles west of 

 Albany, about half way between Albany and 

 Cherry Valley, in the midst of the buckwheat 

 section of New York, and a finer landscape is 

 hard to find. 



Mr. Alexander's home is about a mile out 

 of town, and nestles against the hillside, from 

 which a glorious view can be had of the sur- 

 rounding country and of the village of De- 

 lanson, nestling in the valley. The Alexander 

 home is on a farm of some 130 acres; but as 

 its owner devotes his whole time to his bees 

 the farm is mostly sown to grass, and pro- 

 duces som.e 200 tons of hay a year. 



Brother Alexander himself is, I should say, 

 about 60 years of age, so far as the years go, 

 but has in him a youthful heart. 



One has but, like the writer, to spend a 

 few days beneath his hospitable roof to learn 

 that he is fully abreast of the times in the 

 field of apiculture. The secret of his success 

 is found in his statement to the writer, 

 namely, that he would be willing to sacrifice 

 a whole year's yield of honey to carry through 

 some experiment that would help him in the 

 future. 



Another element of his success is in the 

 fact that he is a lover of bees, and takes real 

 pleasure in working among them. 



E. W. Alexander has been a bee-keeper 

 ever since he was eight years of age, and we 

 were very much entertained as well as 

 amused by his description of how he used to 

 do things in those days. So that from boy- 

 hood Mr. Alexander has been a bee-keeper; 

 and so modest has he been of his success that, 

 though he has been doing things on a gigantic 

 scale for years, it remained for others to 

 discover him, and that at a very recent date. 



Mr. Alexander's home is one of refinement, 

 and pervaded by a fine religious atmosphere, 

 and presided over by Mrs. Alexander, one of 

 the noblest of women, with a big motherly 

 heart — one of the kind of women who make 

 you feel you are a better man for having met 

 them. 



From the bee business Mr. Alexander has 

 been able to start his sons in other lines of 

 business, and he and his wife have lived to 

 see them all do well. In fact, our friend 

 stated to me that it was a source of great 

 comfort that all of their children had turned 

 out well, and had never caused them shame 

 or heartache. Happy the parent who can say 

 likewise; and it is all due to the atmosphere 



of that home, and the example of a godly 

 father and a devoted mother. 



For the last two or three years Mr. Alex- 

 ander has had in partnership his son Frank, a 

 noble fellow, and a natural-born bee-keeper 

 — a worthy son of a worthy sire, who, hap- 

 pily married, lives with his wife and two 

 children down in the village. So much for 

 the man ; now a few words regarding 



THE LOCATION. 



Mr. Alexander has been particularly for- 

 tunate in this respect ; and but for this it 

 would not be possible for him to keep in one 

 yard so large a number of colonies. This 

 part of New York was, years ago, the scene 

 of many a bloody battle between the Indians 

 constituting the Five Nations, and the other 

 tribes from the West ; and history records 

 the massacre of the whites at both Cherry 

 Valley and Schenectady. But now for nearly 

 200 years this country has been given up to 

 husbanding; and, because of the peculiar 

 adaptation of the soil, buckwheat is a staple 

 annual crop. 



For 200 years or more this has been a big 

 and staple crop ; and for miles around, at 

 time of bloom, the mountains seem covered 

 with virgin snow. I timed my visit to be 

 there at buckwheat bloom, and the sight was 

 well worth the trip. The buckwheat comes 

 into bloom about the last of July, and thus 

 continues until about the loth of September, 

 and forms the main crop of honey. The main 

 hor.ey-flow, coming as it does so late in the 

 season, gives Mr. Alexander a fine chance 

 to have his colonies all built up strong for 

 the flow — a condition which would not be 

 always possible where the flow is in June or 

 even July. 



There must be at least 5000 acres of buck- 

 wheat within range of his bees ; and the 

 threshing-machine men say that, as soon as 

 they begin to get within the zone visited by 

 the bees, the buckwheat crop is better in 

 quality and quantity, showing that the bees 

 are benefactors to the surrounding farmers 

 as fertilizers of the buckwheat blossom. And 

 this is a fact overlooked by many bee-keepers ; 

 namely, that the sole mission of the bee is to 

 fructify the honey that it stores. Goldenrod 

 also grows in the greatest profusion, and Mr. 

 Alexander believes it gives him as much 

 honey as buckwheat. I know from tasting a 

 sample that its presence in buckwheat greatly 

 improves it. 



Like all country districts there is some 

 sweet and w'hite clover, also basswood ; and a 

 crop of honey is often harvested from these 

 before the buckwheat bloom comes on ; but 

 nevertheless the buckwheat crop is the main 

 one and one that seldom fails. 



It would hardly be fair to leave the matter 

 of location -without stating that it would be 

 the height of folly to say nothing of the vio- 

 lation of ethical principles for other bee- 

 keepers to start up near our friend. 



I personally do not believe that the country 

 will support any more bees than are there; 

 and as our friend has prcrempted the terri- 



