AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



747 



No. 60 -S. L FreeDom. 



There are two kinds of big bee-keep- 

 ers. One kind weighs anywhere from 

 200 to 300 pounds each, while each of 

 the other variety counts his colonies by 



S. I. FREEBORN. 



the hundred. Yet the former may be 

 just as great a bee-keeper as the latter. 

 This week, however, we have one of the 

 second class named — Mr. S. I. Freeborn, 

 of Wisconsin. Nearly ten years ago his 

 name was well known to the readers of 

 the Bee Journal, on account of a law- 

 suit he had with a neighbor sheep-raiser 

 who, we believe, foolishly claimed dam- 

 ages because Mr. Freeborn's bees gath- 



ered the nectar from the white clover on 

 the sheepman's land, and thus, as was 

 claimed, causing the sheep to become 

 poor and finally starve ! 



Mr. Freeborn is one of the large pro- 

 ducers of honey in the West, and has 

 been such for a number of years. One 

 who knows him well, kindly furnishes 

 the following sketch : 



Among the early pioneers of Wiscon- 

 sin was Samuel Irwin Freeborn, then 

 only 14 years of age. His father hav- 

 ing been dead some four years, he was 

 early thrown on his own resources, and 

 right well did he improve them, for he 

 soon learned to handle a canoe or rifle 

 equal to any Indian with whom he could 

 then test his skill, for Indians were 

 quite common in those days. 



Hunting deer and bear was his especial 

 delight, and not until the advance of 

 civilization made game scarce did he 

 give up his annual deer hunt. 



Mr. Freeborn is also one of the pio- 

 neers in bee-keeping. He kept as high 

 as 230 colonies in box-hives before the 

 advent of frame hives, and he made a 

 success of it, even then having sold 

 $600 worth of honey in one season. 



Hearing of the merits of a frame hive, 

 he adopted the Gallup, and increased 

 his bees until he is to-day one of the 

 largest bee-keepers in the State, keep- 

 ing from 200 to 400 colonies, spring 

 count. While he has a good many 

 Langstroth hives, it is a hard job to 

 convince him that any other hive has as 

 many good points as the Gallup. 



Well do I remember the first extractor 

 he had, and what a sensation the first 

 10,000 pounds of honey made. All his 

 neighbors wanted bees, and many did 

 get them, but now I do not know of but 

 one bee-keeper within four miles of Mr. 

 Freeborn's old place. His largest crop 

 of honey was 45,000 pounds of extract- 

 ed in one year. 



He fully believes in overstocking, and 

 has always run his bees in several dif- 

 ferent yards, 200 colonies being about 

 the largest number he has found profit- 

 able to keep in one yard, and this in the 

 best location, with plenty of basswood, 

 clover, and buckwheat in easy reach. 



While Bro. Freeborn is not much of a 

 hand to write for publication, he has al- 

 ways been "there" when it came time 

 to harvest the honey crop. 



Winter losses have been the great 

 drawback with him, and many are the 

 experiments he has tried to circumvent 

 this trouble. While the greater number 



