AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



715 



J. H. LARRABEE. 



Mr. Larrabee, the subject of our 

 sketch and picture this week, is one of 

 the newest additions to our corps of 

 query answerers. We had the very 

 great pleasure of making his acquaint- 



J. H. LARRABEE. 



ance in October, 18f)2, at the meeting 

 of the Illinois State Bee-Keepers' Con- 

 vention here in Chicago. We had quite 

 a visit with Mr. L., and felt that in him 

 we had indeed found a good friend. 



Mr. Larrabee has written perhaps 

 more for the Bee-Keepers' Review than 

 for any other bee-periodical, though the 

 Bee Journal, has often been favored 



with contributions from his graceful pen 

 and brilliant mind. 



He was born at Niles, Mich., on Sept. 

 14, 1862. At an early age his parents 

 removed to Vermont, where "J. H." 

 went through the usual experiences of 

 boyhood on the farm. At 14 years of 

 age he was sent away to school, where 

 he remained in academy and college for 

 four years. After about three years of 

 teaching school, chancing to be at home 

 one spring he became interested in the 

 bees and their intelligent management. 

 With regard to his early experiences, 

 Mr. L. writes : 



"Well do I remember the first copy of 

 the American Bee Journal I ever saw. 

 I carried it to the field one day, to read 

 when resting the horses at the end of 

 the furrow, and accidentally dropped it 

 in the mud. I can still find the marks 

 of the fall upon this first copy." 



His progress was rapid, as he adopted 

 the chaflf-hive system of wintering bees, 

 and lost few bees in winter, while the 

 excellent white clover and linden forage 

 gave ample encouragement, from a 

 worldly view. 



During the past five years of general 

 depression in the bee-business, his bees 

 have not only paid all expenses, but 

 wages of at least $50 per month for all 

 the time spent with them. This fact 

 proves not only that the Champlain 

 Valley is worthy of the reputation it 

 bears as an excellent locality for bees, 

 but that proper care at the right time, 

 and with a system that has something of 

 system in it, are large factors contribut- 

 ing to success in bee-culture. 



He has explained his system several 

 times, wholly or in part, in the bee- 

 papers, and, as he himself says, the only 

 thing specially meritorious about it Is 

 that it is a system for the whole year, 

 and that it is carried out practically, 

 and all short-cuts to lessen work are 

 thus taken advantage of. 



For the past six years Mr. L.'s apiary 

 has contained from 80 to 130 colonies 

 of bees ; and for the past four years he 



