r)e Jiee-J^^^peps' jHc^^i'c^- 



A MONTHLY JOURNAL 



Devoted to the Interests of Honey Producers. 

 $L00 A YEAR. 



W. Z. HUTCHINSON, Editor and Publisher. 



VOL. XX. FLINT, MICHIGAN, NOV. 15, 1907. NO. 11 



The Modest Beginning" of a Prosper- 

 ous Business. 



ELIAS E. COVEYOU. 



^OTHE modest home shown upon the op- 



^ posite page is the fruit of a beginning 



in bee-keeping that was still more modest. 



As they say 

 in stories, 

 "once upon a 

 time," one 

 hot day in 

 July, as my 

 s c hoolmates 

 and myself 

 were sitting 

 on a grassy 

 bank back of 

 the old school 

 house, eating 

 our dinners, 

 one of t h e 

 boys took out of his pail a piece of 

 honey that he had for his dinner. How 

 nice, and white, it did look ! I was of 

 too independent a nature to ask him for 

 a taste of it, but it did set my mind to 

 wondering how the little bees could make 



anything so sweet and delicious looking. 

 Henceforth, there v/is ^n added enjoy- 

 ment in listening to the hum of the bees, 

 and watching them as f-.ey fitted from 

 flower to flower in my father's clover or 

 buckwheat fields. 



One day in June, in 1893, as father 

 and we boys stood looking at the bees at 

 work on one of our fields of alsike, we 

 decided to visit the nearest bee-keeper, 

 about four miles away, and try and get a 

 colony of bees. Father and my eldest 

 brother arrived at home with them late in 

 the evening, and placed them upon the 

 stand that I had prepared. 1 was up 

 early the next morning to see them start 

 out and return loaded, and, about nine 

 o'clock, armed with an old Clark smoker 

 that was secured with the bees, I went 

 forth, feeling much like a soldier going in- 

 to battle, but determined to be master of 

 the situation. 



This colony was increased to four, and 

 12 more were bought in August, all of 



