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39th YEAR, 



CHICAGO, ILL,, AUGUST 3, 1899, 



No. 31, 



Mrs. A. J. Barber and Son " Flake." 



The principal subject of our sketch this week is perhaps 

 the best known lady bee-keeper in Colorado. She is also 

 a very successful apiarist. It affords us no little pleasure 

 to present Mrs. Barber, and her young' son, to our readers. 

 She has this to say in reference to them and their work : 



I was born in Oregon, in 1854, and was brought up in 

 California, Utah, Wyoming and Idaho until 14 years of age. 

 Then we went to Kansas. I. attended school at St. Mar3'"s 

 Academy, in Leavenworth, for a time, then we settled upon 

 a farm. In 1876 I came to Colorado, and in 1878 we settled 

 here in Montezuma County, which was a new place. At 

 that time there were only five white women here. 



In 1882 I was married here to H. M. Barber. In 1890 my 

 husband bought two colonies of Italian bees as an experi- 

 ment. We didn't expect much of them, as we thought the 

 altitude too great (7,500 feet) for them. We got them in 

 the fall, and it was decided that I should have the care of 

 them. I sent for the " A B C of Bee-Culture," and studied 

 it all winter. In the spring- I got another colony, and be- 

 gan. 



I had never lookt into a hive before, but soon became 

 so fascinated with the work that I could talk of nothing but 

 bees. In the fall, I had 16 colonies from the three, besides 

 honey for the table. The next year I bought some more, 

 and in the fall I had 67 colonies, in all kinds of hives but 

 ^ good ones. I sold 



^ about 1.500 pounds of 



honey that year, and 

 was fully convinced 

 that I knew all about 

 bees that was worth 

 knowing I 



About that time 

 one of our neighbors, 

 who had gotten bees 

 from Durango, told 

 me that his bees had 

 died, and he wanted 

 me to put bees in his 

 old hives. I told him 

 to bring his hives, and 

 I filled them for him, 

 and at the same time 

 got 10 of my own col- 

 onies infested with 

 Flake'Barber. foul brood. I treated 



the bees and saved them, and saved the honey also, 

 to feed the next spring. I boiled that honey and fed it 

 early the next spring, and in June the whole apiary was 

 rotten with foul brood. I treated them, and got them into 

 dovetailed hives. They were so weakened that I doubled 

 them back to 30 colonies. Then I realized that there were 

 many things that I could learn about bee-keeping, and 

 every year since then I am finding out how much I don't 

 know about bees. 



We have fair crops, and have never had a failure. We 

 have from 10,000 to 20,000 pounds a j'ear, of comb and ex- 

 tracted hone}-. We keep from 100 to 175 colonies. 



My little boy, who is now not quite 14 years of age, and 

 rather small, for several years has been my helper in the 

 bee-business. For the last four years he has had charge of 

 an apiary every day in the swarming season. We clip all 



]\I>s. A.J. Haibfi: 



queens, and when I am at work at the home apiary he goes 

 on his wheel to the out-apiary three miles away, and 

 watches for swarms. He catches and returns the queens, 

 and marks the hives so that I can treat them the next day 

 when I visit that apiary. When I visit the out-apiary he 

 works at home. Last summer he had as many as eight 

 swarms some days, and managed them all nicely. He also 

 helps in extracting, by uncapping or tiirning the extractor, 

 or filling pails. In short, he is serving a regular appren- 

 ticeship in bee-keeping, and is busy most of the time. He 

 is a member of the Baptist Church, and an active member 

 of the Baptist Young People's Union. 



We do all the work with the bees. There are times 



