The Medina sentinel. [volume] (Medina, Ohio) 1888-1961, 1920-09-17
BEEkEEPERS HERE
FROM EVERYWHERE
ANNUAL FIELD MEET
AT ROOT co. PLANT
Noted Speakers Here and Visitors
from Palestine and Brazil Among
Hundreds From All Parts of Ohio
Cartoonist Donahey Delights Crowd.

= u.
forts of the notoriously busy insect
upon which this company has erected
It's mammoth industry and fame thru
out the civilized world.
The occasion was the annual field
meet of the Ohio Beekeepers associ-
alton, and but for untoward weather
conditions the attendance would prob
ably have been at least fifty per cent.
greater. AS it was there were an
proximately five hundred visitors
from all parts of the state, and the
program Of speaking and entertain
ment provided by the Root Co. kept in
terest at high tide from morning till
night.
Aside from the set addresses by not
ed bee authorities, perhaps two out
standing features were an address bv
the venerable founder of the local in
dustry and the greatest living author
ity on the honey bee, A. l. Root, who.
tho now in his eighty-first year,
stands erect, and possesses the same
buoyant spirit that has always char
acterized his busy and eventful life;
and the "chalk talk" by J. H. Donahey
OF the Cleveland Plain Dealer, himself
bee fan, and one Of the foremost
cartoonists of America.
In his talk A. I. Root dwelt large
~ upon the interesting story of his
beginning in the bee and honey busi-
ness, when from vagrant swarm of
bees flying over head he caught the
vision and enthusiasm that have made
modern beekeeping a recognized in
duStry; and related how his friends
and even his family thought him to
have gone stark mad" when he paid
$20 TOR single native Italian queen
bee. Strictly speaking" observed
the aged bee man, shat was not a
single queen--she was married"
Fifty of the visiting beekeepers
were guests of the Kiwanis club at
luncheon Friday noon, among them
mt. Donahey, who again demonstrate
ed his ability with the crayon.
That the honey business of late
years has beeh drifting into the hands
Of the professionals was the obserya
ton Of a number Of veteran bee men
at the convention. This, according
to Il. ID. Hiatt of Columbus, one of the
three state Sheekeepers, is largely due
to the dying off Of the farmers bees
the past year so rapidly that only
those who could give them full time
were able to save their colonies.
Geo. $. Demuth, assistant chief of
the beekeeping division, federal bu-
reau of entomology, who comes to Me-
dina Oct. l, as chief of staff of the
Root Co. magazine, "Gleanings", spoke
on "The Winter Problem"
"The thing to do in this climate" !"
said Demuth, "is to see that the bees
in the fall have plenty of good honey
near their winter cluster. By good
honey he meant alfalfa, white and al
sike clover and Eastwood, not golden
rod or aster."
Memorial resolutions were adopted
following the announcement of the
death week ago of DR.. C. C. Miller
of Marengo, ILL.,, who was one of the
earliest and best known of all bee
keepers in both America and Europe.
DR.. Miller was once a member of the
Cincinnati symphony orchestra, was
composer of note and lifelong writ
er on beekeeping. An acquaintance
and friendship of more than sixty
years had endured between Mr.. Mill
er and A. I. Root, to which the latter
touchingly referred in his informal
talk Friday afternoon.
A group of cOsmopolites attended
the meeting, piloted by the company's
export manager, C. G.. Tollafield, who
formerly resided in Nigeria and Eng
land. They were Emilio Schenk Of
Porto Allegro, Brazil, who went there
from Germany; Alexander Livshitz,
who is president of the Palestine Bee
keepers Association, residing in Jaffa,
and F. Hemker, Barberton beekeeper,
who was member of the Prussian
guard before 1910. The group spoke
English, German, Portuguese and
French in varying degrees.
Mel Pritchard and Neal kellogg, Root
company employees, demonstrated how
to handel a skunk without embarras-
to handle a skunk without embarras-
brought the live skunk imprisoned in
a barrel up to the crowd and hoisted
him by the tail. Nothing happened.
The beautiful black animal with the
yellow scent was as sweet tempered
as kitten.
cts all the way you handle him."
said Pritchard. "You've got to grab
him by the tail suddenly and get his
back feet off the ground before he can
brace them. If he gets his back paws
on anything, good night"
Among other prominent beekeepers
here was Chalon Fowls, who raises
both bees and fowls near Oberlin. His
daughter, Miss iona Fowles, "Glean-
ings" writer, demonstrated how to
drive bees out Of one hive into an
other with entire safety.