Publisht Weekly at 118 Michigan St. 



Gbobob W. York, Editor. 



$1.00 a Year— Sample Copy Free. 



38th Year. 



CHICAGO, ILL., JANUARY 13, 1898. 



No. 2. 



MR. GEORGE !§. WHEELER. 



The following sketch of Mr. George S. Wheeler, of 

 Hlllsboro Co., N. H., was kindly written by Mr. H. A. Fish, 

 who evidently is well acquainted with Mr. Wheeler: 



The Subject of this sketch was born In Hlllsboro Co., N. 

 H., on the farm where he now lives, as did his father and 

 grandfather, who built the house over 100 years ago. The 

 son, " George," had charge of the farm for several years be- 

 fore the death of his father, which occurred in 1892. Mr. 

 Wheeler bought his first colony of bees in 1856. This colony 

 was the center of attraction for a long tipie. When it was 

 brought home it was set in a bee-house prepared for it. The 

 hive was a box-hive, 12x12x14 inches, with a compartment 

 on top for two 10-pound boxes of honey. Four dollars worth 

 of honey was sold the first season, leaving enough in the 

 brood-chamber for the winter. The cost of the bees was 155.00. 



An Italian queen was bought of K. P. Kidder, of Burling- 

 ton, Vt., some time in the '60's, for which §5.00 was paid. 

 The next season some 20 colonies had queens Introduced, 

 reared from the Kidder queen, and about every bee reared 

 from her queens showed three bands, and were as well markt 

 as the old queen. When these queens took their wedding 

 flight the yard was full of black drones, but Mr. Wheeler 

 thinks the drones from the Italians must have mated with 

 them all. But the next season, when about every drone in 

 the yard was Italian, he could hardly get a queen but what 

 would produce hybrid bees, largely black, so he later con- 

 cluded that the^rst cross could not be told from pure Italians 

 so far as stripes went, and he has never had reason to change 

 that view. 



Since Mr. Wheeler started with Italian bees he has never 

 had over 50 colonies at one time, usually about 25. He has 

 always had bees on the farm since 1856. The winter of 

 1868 found him in Mississippi, as foreman on a plantation, 

 and being an expert at hiving wild bees, he soon had a section 

 of a bee-tree in the yard. They swarmed twice in April, and 

 were hived in hives similar to the one described in the begin- 

 ning of this article. The natives thought a hive with glass In 

 the back, and boxes on top, was a Yankee Invention, and 

 came from all parts to see the hives. There were many wild 

 swarms in the woods then, and Mr. Wheeler found quite a 

 number, and had lines of more that were never traced. 



The most honey Mr. Wheeler has ever taken from one 

 colony was 75 pounds, which was extracted with a Peabody 

 extractor, which he has used for over 20 years. Mr. Wheeler 

 has bought queens from all parts of the country, and Is always 

 coking for something new and better. He had seven swarms 

 ro m one colony of Carnlolans in one season. The old colony 



swarmed twice in May, and the first of June these two cast 

 two swarms each, and the old one another in August. He 

 had never before nor since seen a second swarm swarm the 

 same season. 



He uses the Alley queen-trap, and says there Is nothing 

 like It. In 40 years of bee-keeping he has never had but one 

 swarm leave for the woods, and that was last year. They 

 were hived four times, and then were put into a new hl»e con- 

 taining combs and honey, and carelessly left without a q ueen- 

 trap, when they started for parts unknown. 



Mr. Wheeler showed me a place on a limb of an apple- 

 tree In his yard, and said that there have been hundreds of 

 swarms alight on that limb, and always in the same place. 



Mr. W. believes that bees go a long way for honey, as he 

 has seen Italian bees five miles from his farm, and no others 

 were anywhere around ; and I can vouch for that statement 



George S. Wheeler. 



as I have seen them that far when I was hunting wild bees, 

 and they had to go over a range of mountains to get home. 



In 1896 I saw Mr. Wheeler's bees. He had a very few 

 colonies, 13 I think, mostly very fine 3-banded Italians. I 

 thought I would get some from him. In the spring he wrote 



