Bees & Beekeeping: Present & Past
The Bee-Keepers’ Advance: A Bee Journal from Maine
Today, American Bee Journal and Bee Culture are well-known periodicals among beekeepers. Far less known is an obscure historical fact. Another 99 periodicals about bees were started in the United States and 10 in Canada (Paddock, 1930). These bee journals were scattered all across America, even into her more distant corners.
From the Northeast was The Bee-Keepers’ Advance, published by James B. Mason & Sons of Mechanic Falls, Maine. Mason was born in Hebron, ME in 1842. He was always fond of bees and chickens. In the woods of Maine, he spent many happy hours “lining wild bees to their home in the trees.” Mason married at age 18, and he and his wife moved to Woodstock, ME. He was there when the “Rebellion broke out,” as he called it (more broadly known as the Civil War).
Mason enlisted in 1862, a year into the war. He was discharged in 1865, at the end of the war. Mason lived on a farm in Greenwood, ME. A wound received in service made heavy labor impossible for him. Naturally, his thoughts turned back to beekeeping.
Beekeeping of the 1860s was considerably different than today. Hives stacked high with heavy honey supers, meant for extracted honey, did not exist. Rather, beekeepers produced honey in the comb, in various forms, and hives were not tiered up very high. Once the bees finished capping the honeycombs, the beekeeper removed them to preserve their pristine white appearance that appealed to customers. In addition, the growing economy of apiculture offered opportunities to generate revenue without sole reliance on honey production.
Following the common practice at the time, Mason transferred his colonies from box hives (fixed comb) to movable-frame hives (after the recent publication of the Reverend L.L. Langstroth’s patent and book in 1852 and 1853 respectively. Mason bought his first Italian queen bee for $10.00. In 1867, he began his business by selling Italian queens and bees. Later on, he added a line of bee supplies. After knowing of three local bee journals succumbing after very brief publication lives, Mason bought out the third one (the Maine Bee Journal), changed its name to “The Bee-Keepers’ Advance,” and began publication. A couple of years later, responding to many requests, Mason included his picture (see Figure 1) and a brief autobiography (Mason, 1889) …
