BIOGRAPHY OF CHARLES DADANT 



Mr. Charles Dadant was born May 22, 1817, at Vaux-Sous- 

 Aubigny, in the golden hills of Burgundy, Trance. After his 

 education in the College of Langres, he went into the mercaii- 

 lile business in that city, but ill-success induced him to remove 

 to America. He settled in Hamilton, Illinois, in 1863, and 

 found a profitable occupation in bee-culture, which in his hands 

 yielded marvelous results. He soon became noted as one of 

 'the leading apiarists of the world. 



After a few j^ears of trial he made a trip to Italy, in 1872, 

 to import the bees of that country to America. Though at first 

 unsuccessful, he persisted in his efforts and finally achieved 

 yreat success. He was the first to lay down rules for the safe 

 transportation of queen bees across the sea, which is now a 

 matter of daily occurrence. 



Later on, in partnership with his son, C. P. Dadant, he un- 

 dertook the manufacture of comb foundation which has been 

 continued by tte firm, together with the management of sev- 

 eral large apiaries, run almost exclusively for the production 

 of extracted honey. 



Although well versed in the English language, which he 

 mastered at the age of forty-six, with the help of a pocket 

 dictionary, Mr. Dadant was never able to speak it fluently and 

 many of the readers of his numerous writings were astonished 

 -when meeting him to find that he could converse with difficulty. 

 His writings were not confined to American publications, for 

 in 1870 he began writing for European bee-journals and con- 



vii 



