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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Among the Callers at the Bee 



Journal office the past week, and whom 

 we were glad to see, were the following: 



Eev. E. T. Abbott, of St. Joseph, Mo., 

 who will have an interesting article in 

 next week's Bee Journal. 



Mr. A. D. Webb, of Taylorville, Ills., 

 who publishes a newspaper there. He 

 has a few colonies of bees, more for 

 pleasure than for profit — which may be 

 the case with many in poor seasons. His 

 bees are securing much honey from a 

 species of smart-weed, commonly and 

 erroneously called " h^art's-ease." He 

 reports a fair crop for his locality — 

 Christian county. 



Mr. Henry O. Morris, of Pueblo, Colo., 

 who has 280 colonies of bees, and re- 

 ports about half a crop this year. Sweet 

 clover, alfalfa, and the Reeky Mountain 

 bee-plant, or cleome, are the principal 

 honey-yielders in his locality. 



Mr. 0. M. Morris, of Hebron, Ind., 

 an old reader of the Bee Journal, and 

 Mr. H. C. Ahlers, who was on his way 

 to his home in New Orleans, La. 



We are glad to have our friends thus 

 come in, and expect to see many of 

 them next month at the Illinois State 

 Convention. 



The Wabash Valley Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Association have succeeded in rais- 

 ing the list of premiums for 1892 at the 

 Knox County, Indiana Fair from $6 to 

 $200, and as they would like to keep it 

 up to $200 hereafter, a cordial invita- 

 tion is extended to all bee-keepers and 

 supply dealers within reach of that Fair, 

 to attend and make a display, and also 

 take some of the premium money home 

 with them. Parties wishing to exhibit 

 will please write in regard to the space, 

 etc., to Mr. Frank Vawter, Vincennes, 

 Ind., the Secretary of the Wabash 

 Valley Bee-Keepers' Association. The 

 Fair will be held at Vincennes, on Oct. 

 10th to 15th, 1892. 



Read S. F. & I. Trego's Advertisement. 



FRANCIS A. OEHIHILL. 



We take much pleasure in presenting 

 to our readers this week, a sketch and 

 portrait of Mr. F. A. Gemmill, of Strat- 

 ford, Ont. — one of Canada's most promi- 

 nent bee-keepers — which was written 

 for the Canadian Bee Journal by Mr. 

 Alex. Lamond, of Sarnia, Ont., and was 

 published in May. It will be read with 

 much interest not only by his fellow 

 Canadians, but by his many friends on 

 this side of the imaginary line that sep- 

 arates us. 



Mr. Gemmill is now the honored Presi- 

 dent of the Ontario Bee-Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation, which makes him a particularly 

 interesting personage, as the time for 

 holding conventions is drawing very 

 near. The following is the sketch of his 

 life, referred to above : 



Mr. Gemmill is a Scotch Canadian by 

 birth, 46 years of age, his parents hav- 

 ing settled in the County of Lanark, 

 where they resided until they moved to 

 Sarnia, County of Lambton, in 1854. 



In 1863, at the age of 17, he became 

 an enthusiast in apiculture, the result of 

 his visits to an uncle, residing in the 

 same place. Box-hives were the order 

 of the day at that time, and " Quinby's 

 Mysteries of Bee-Keeping " his principal 

 text-book. 



In February of 1864 he secured a 

 copy of the third edition of " Langstroth, 

 on the Hive and Honey-Bee," and as the 

 Italian bee had been commanding con- 

 siderable attention, as well as the mov- 

 able-comb hive, he resolved to give both 

 a trial. Accordingly, in June of that 

 year, he had a swarm of native bees 

 placed in one of the Langstroth observ- 

 ing hives, which, by the way, still re- 

 mains in his apiary. 



In the latter part of October he 

 secured from Mr. Langstroth, by ex- 

 press, an Italian queen, paying the then 

 moderate sum of $10 for her, the same 



