Bees in America Page 30

  24. R. Douglas Hurt, Ohio Frontier, 87. I’m grateful to Hurt for his book on the Ohio frontier and his sensitive treatment of Zeisberger’s involvement with both the British and American forces.

  25. Ibid., 91.

  26. David Zeisberger, Diary of David Zeisberger, 294.

  27. Crane, World History of Beekeeping and Honey Hunting, 306.

  28. Ibid. Crane mentions the Delaware Indians but doesn’t frame the context very well. For information about Chief Echpalawchund, see Edmund De Schweinitz, The Life and Times of David Zeisberger, 384, 393. De Schweinitz notes that Echpalawchund was a powerful Delaware chief. When he attended the Schonbrunn programs during Christmas 1773, he decided to convert to Christianity. He was christened Peter, and his conversion had powerful implications among the Delaware Indians. Many other Delawares followed his example in January 1774, and Chief Peter helped negotiate a shaky truce between the Delawares and the Moravians, whose position was already precarious because they were located between American Revolutionaries and British Tories.

  29. McKinley, “The White Man’s Fly on the Frontier,” 445.

  30. James Mooney, “Myths of the Cherokee,” 82.

  31. Daniel H. Unser Jr., “Frontier Exchange Economy,” 234–35.

  32. Crane, World History of Beekeeping and Honey Hunting, 261.

  33. Ibid.

  34. Crane speculates that beekeeping practices migrated to Africa from Egypt, which had once ruled Africa in ancient times: “In Ancient times, Nubia (Cush) adjoined Egypt to the south and extended along the Nile valley from Aswan to Khartoum (now in Sudan) and over neighbouring deserts…. So knowledge of hive beekeeping could well have reached what is now Sudan from Ancient Egypt” (World History of Beekeeping and Honey Hunting, 261).

  35. Rosalie Fellows Bailey, Pre-Revolutionary Dutch Houses and Families, 20. “These substantial houses, especially the stone houses, are the result of the abundant and inexpensive slave labor of the times, the Proprietors of New Jersey granting 75 acres for every slave brought into the colony. It is exceedingly doubtful if the stone would have been so extensively quarried, cut, dressed, carried and laid if there had been no slaves…. The term ‘Dutch colonial house’ has often been used for the type of one and a half story house developed here by the Dutch, which flourished to perfection especially in Bergen County, New Jersey. The name is really a misnomer for it came into existence after the fall of the New Netherland government and reached its greatest height in the half century after the American Revolution.”

  36. Africans in America. PBS series. Dir. Orlando Bagwell. 1998.

  37. Vincent Carretta, “Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa?” Carretta provides strong evidence to refute Equiano’s narrative in which he claims he was born in Eboe, Guinea (present-day Nigeria), in 1745. Carretta argues that Equiano was actually born in South Carolina and used oral narratives from other slaves to form a picture of preexploration Africa in his slave narrative.

  38. Vincent Carretta, Unchained Voices, 191.

  39. Ann Harman, “Home Harmony,” 350. Harman’s recipe is taken from The Honey Book by Lucille Recht Penner (no further bibliographic information is provided).

  40. Antoine Le Page du Pratz, director of a large plantation at Chapitoulas owned by the Company of the Indies, recommended that owners “give a small piece of waste ground” to their slaves, “engage them to cultivate it for their own profit,” and purchase their produce upon “fair and just terms” (Daniel H. Unser Jr., “Frontier Exchange Economy,” 229).

  41. Ibid.

  42. King Carlos of Spain did the most in terms of maintaining a steady Spanish presence in Texas and Louisiana. He wanted Louisiana to serve as a buffer zone between the silver mines in New Mexico and the Americans to the east.

  43. Unser, “Frontier Exchange Economy,” 230.

  44. Handbook of Texas Online, “Old San Antonio Road.” University of Texas. Available at: http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/00/ex04.html.

  45. Unser, “Frontier Exchange Economy,” 232. Although Louisiana was still technically part of the French empire, Antoine Le Page du Pratz wrote in 1763 that honey bees in Louisiana, which included the lower Mississippi Valley, lodged in nests to secure their honey from bears. If the Choctaw tribes used honey or beeswax in their trades in south Alabama, Mississippi, and Red River regions, however, it would have been after 1771–1772. Unser reports that in 1771–1772, Choctaw camps were occupied with the deerskin trade; they “rarely neglected to exchange venison, bear meat, and tallow for ammunition, cloth, and drink with settlers and travelers whom they encountered during hunting season” (“Frontier Exchange Economy,” 231). His research suggests that the Choctaw were unfamiliar with beeswax and its benefits, but conclusive evidence about later dates is lacking.

  46. Jean Crèvecoeur, Letters from an American Farmer, 32–33.

  47. Ibid., 34.

  48. Ibid., 32, 131.

  49. Ann Withington, “Republican Bees,” 44.

  50. Robert Garson, “Counting Money,” 22.

  51. Kenneth Scott, “A British Counterfeiting Press in New York Harbor, 1776,” 117. Many thanks to Eric Newman, who called my attention to this article.

  52. “How the Bees Saved America,” 308.

  53. Withington, “Republican Bees.” I am indebted to Withington’s careful research and the illustrations she provides with her article.

  54. Ibid.

  55. Bodog F. Beck, “The Great Seal of the State of Utah,” 517.

  56. Ibid.

  57. Arnold and Connie Krochmal, “Origins of United States Beekeeping.”

  58. Philip A. Mason, “American Bee Books,” 37.

  59. Ibid.

  60. Ibid., 34.

  61. Roger and Kathy Hultgren, “Old Swarming Devices,” 158.

  62. Mason, “American Bee Books,” 34.

  63. “Bee, n1” Oxford English Dictionary. Ed. J. A. Simpson and E. S. C. Weiner. 2nd ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989. OED Online. Oxford University Press. Accessed on December 4, 2003, at http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/00019338.

  Chapter 3. Before Bee Space

  1. A. I. Root, ABC and XYZ.

  2. Kim Flottum, interview with the author, 2004.

  3. Wyatt Mangum, interview with the author, December 18, 2003.

  4. Frank C. Pellett, History of American Beekeeping, 31.

  5. Gene Kritsky, “Beekeeping in Glass Jars”; Bagster, Management of Bees.

  6. Gene Kritsky, “Octagonal Hives,” 881.

  7. Florence Naile, America’s Master of Bee Culture, 66.

  8. McKinley, “The White Man’s Fly on the Frontier,” 449. Beeswax was especially important for household uses and frontier trade. In Missouri, beeswax cakes called “yellow boys” were used as currency.

  9. These states included Missouri, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Kansas.

  10. Frank C. Pellet, History of American Beekeeping, 31. But for a more extensive discussion of Kirtland’s importance, also see R. M. Rogers, “Jared Potter Kirtland, Amateur of Horticulture,” Journal of Garden History 6, no. 4 (1986): 357–75.

  11. Crane, World History of Beekeeping and Honey Hunting, 394.

  12. McKinley, “The White Man’s Fly on the Frontier,” 446.

  13. Ibid.

  14. Roger Welsch, “Funny Beesness,” 36.

  15. Washington Irving, A Tour on the Prairies, 51.

  16. James Keefe and Lynn Morrow, eds., White River Chronicles.

  17. Ibid., 198.

  18. Irving, A Tour on the Prairies, 47.

  19. Ibid., 50.

  20. Ibid., 52.

  21. J. Frank Dobie, “Honey in the Rock,” 125.

  22. Bodog F. Beck, “Tom Owen, the Mighty Honey Hunter,” 162.

  23. Walter Webb, The Great Plains (1931), 94–126. The Spanish conquistadors underestimated the Plains Indians, who were a force to be reckoned with. In terms of conquering a nation, the Spanish had a four-step system: the conquistador, or military representative, was the adv
ance system, followed closely by those who would establish pueblos, presidios, and missions. In other words, the rudiments of civilization worked hand-in-hand with the conquistador—and until the Spanish arrived in Texas, this system worked quite well. However, in terms of matching the conquistadors with the Native Americans, the Spanish were no match for the Apache, Comanche, or the cannabilistic Tonkawas. The irony was that the Spanish introduced horses to the Plains, which became the Indians’ best weapon against the Spanish. Furthermore, the distance between missions and pueblos was so great that the Spanish gave up trying to convert the Indians.

  24. McKinley, “The White Man’s Fly on the Frontier,” 447.

  25. Ibid.

  26. Ibid., 448.

  27. Ibid., 450.

  28. Irving, A Tour on the Prairies, 54.

  29. Barrels for liquids such as honey were generally made of hard woods like oak. The most secure barrels would have six rings rather than four because the barrels needed the tension provided by the rings, according to Middleton Plantation volunteer, Doug Nesbitt, a volunteer cooper who demonstrated the art of barrel making on May 24, 2003. For more information about barrels, see Ken Olson, “Barreling Honey 100 Years Ago,” 518.

  30. McKinley, “The White Man’s Fly on the Frontier,” 450.

  31. Dobie, “Honey in the Rock,” 124.

  32. The section heading is taken from the old Greek saying, “It is sweet and good to die for one’s country.” This episode is taken from Sue Hubbell, “Honey War,” 181.

  33. Hubbell, “Honey War,” 187–88.

  34. McKinley, “The White Man’s Fly on the Frontier,” 446.

  35. Christian Goodwillie, Shaker Songs, 24.

  36. Ibid., 16.

  37. Julia Neal, Kentucky Shakers, 19; Goodwillie, Shaker Songs.

  38. Isaac Newton Youngs, Journal: Tour with Brother Rufus Bishop. I am grateful to Christian Goodwillie, curator at Hancock Shaker Village, who supplied this information.

  39. Giles B. Avery, “A Journal concerning Bees in the Second Order.” Unpublished journal, Hancock Shaker Village, Pittsfield, Mass., 1851–54. Credit goes to Brian Thompson and Larrie Curry at Pleasant Hill Shaker Village for providing a copy of this journal to me. In addition, both provided more general information about the Shakers.

  40. Daniel Patterson, The Shaker Spiritual, 223.

  41. Donald Pitzer and Josephine Elliot, “New Harmony’s First Utopians.”

  42. Donald Carmony and Josephine Elliot, “New Harmony, Indiana.”

  43. Joseph Moffett, “Mitchell Brothers of Missoula, Montana,” 508.

  44. Bodog F. Beck, “The Great Seal of the State of Utah,” 517.

  45. M. G. Dadant, Life of C. P. Dadant, 12.

  46. Viktor Bracht, Texas in 1848, 104.

  47. Webb, The Great Plains, 184–202. Walter Prescott Webb explains the “hidden” agenda behind the Gadsden Purchase: Gadsden and Davis really wanted to extend the slave-holding empire of the South. It was thought that if a railroad could connect the South from the Carolinas to California, then slavery could be a firmly entrenched institution, regardless of Congress.

  48. Bracht, Texas in 1848, 109.

  49. Rudolf Leopold Beisele, History of the German Settlements in Texas. The Adelsverein, the company that brought people to Texas, went bankrupt in 1847 because of the poor land choices made for its people. Among other things, it bought land that belonged to the Comanche Indians. According to the Sophienburg exhibit of daily life at the New Braunfels Archives and Museum of History, the Adelsverein was a “high minded but poorly informed society that engaged in questionable business deals.”

  50. Bracht, Texas in 1848, 96.

  51. Clark Griffith Dumas, “Apiculture in Early Texas.”

  52. Joseph Moffett, Some Beekeepers and Associates. Diehnalt’s descendants have stayed in the business and even run a museum!

  53. Cecil Woodham-Smith, The Great Hunger.

  54. Camp Ezell, Historical Story of Bee County, Texas.

  55. However, Bee County was named after Sam Houston’s second in command.

  56. Meridel Le Sueur, North Star Country, 129.

  57. Cobbett was writing to Morris Birkbeck, Esq. The letter can be found in A Year’s Residence in the United States of America, 291. I’m grateful to Steven Stoll for bringing this letter to my attention.

  58. Stephanie Coontz, The Way We Never Were. See in particular the chapter entitled, “We Stood On Our Own Two Feet.”

  59. Records exist that suggest that as many as thirty-eight manuals were printed in the United States by this time, but nothing in Langstroth’s writings indicate that he was aware of them.

  60. Gene Kritsky, “Langstroth and the Origin of the ‘Bee Space,’” 813. F. R. Cheshire, Bees and Beekeeping (1888). James Heddon introduced the term “bee space” in 1885, although Langstroth had patented the idea in 1852; Langstroth was very careful not to reveal details in case of copyright infringement.

  61. Naile, America’s Master of Bee Culture, 43.

  62. Ibid. See also Frank C. Pellett, History of American Beekeeping, 9. The sources are still unclear on what types of headaches Langstroth suffered, but they were so debilitating that he could not carry out his pastoral duties, although he hated to give up the ministry and tried to return on several occasions.

  63. Naile, America’s Master of Bee Culture. This respect for minorities and women also seemed to be passed down from his ancestors. His great-grandmother Elizabeth Lorraine Dunn taught her slaves to read when it was illegal to do so and freed them once she became convinced of the evils of slavery. “The once wealthy widow thus deprived herself of all but a modest competence” (35).

  64. Ibid., 64–65.

  65. Crane, World History of Beekeeping and Honey Hunting, 382.

  66. Kritsky, “Langstroth and the Origin of the ‘Bee Space,’” 811. A. J. Cook, The Bee-Keeper’s Guide or Manual of the Apiary.

  67. Kritsky, “Langstroth and the Origin of the ‘Bee Space.’”

  68. Naile, America’s Master of Bee Culture, 113.

  69. Crane, World History of Beekeeping and Honey Hunting, 371.

  70. Sue Hubbell, Book of Bees, 71.

  71. Mason, “American Bee Books,” 484.

  72. Frank C. Pellett, History of American Beekeeping, 163.

  73. Hal Cannon, telephone interview with the author, 2002.

  74. Mark Twain, Roughing It, 90.

  75. Carol Simon, “Utah’s Busy Beehives.” The Mormons created an entirely new language based on phonetics in order to help immigrant converts assimilate easily into American culture. But the English-speaking faction won out, and thus, even though the Mormon alphabet is still printed, it is not spoken.

  76. Thomas Cheney, Mormon Songs from the Rocky Mountains, 109.

  77. Hal Cannon, Grand Beehive.

  78. Wallace Stegner, Mormon Country, 20.

  79. Moffett, “Mitchell Brothers of Missoula, Montana,” 508.

  80. Cannon, Grand Beehive. Having already served with distinction in the Mexican War, Joseph Johnston later served in the Civil War as a general for the Confederate forces.

  81. Thomas L. Kane, “The Mormons” (speech, Pennsylvania Historical Society, Pennsylvania, March 26, 1850).

  82. Webb, The Great Plains.

  83. Lee Watkins, “John S. Harbison,” 241–42.

  84. Ibid., 244. According to Watkins, “It is ironic that he [Harbison] designed this hive so that the bees would be better able to utilize their stores during severe winters since there were no such winters in California, especially not San Diego County, where Harbison eventually migrated and produced his world record honey crops.”

  85. Stephen Van Wormer, “Beeves and Bees,” 50.

  86. Catherine Williams, “Bringing Honey to the Land of Milk and Honey,” 33. This is the same time period that Langstroth published his work, Longfellow published Hiawatha, and Harbison successfully transported his bees to California.

  87. Ibid.

  88. Ibid., 36.<
br />
  89. Bruchac, “Is Hiawatha an Authentic Native American Story?” afterword in Hiawatha and Megissogwon, n.p.

  90. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “The Song of Hiawatha,” Hiawatha, book 21, 272.

  91. Joseph Bruchac, “Is Hiawatha an Authentic Native American Story?” In Hiawatha and Megissogwon. In his epilogue to this children’s book, Bruchac clears up the origins of the story. Longfellow relied on two sources: Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, an Indian agent to the Great Lakes area in 1822 and husband to Jane Johnston, granddaughter of a Chippewa chief; and Kah-ge-gah-ga-bowh (George Copway), a Chippewa lecturer and writer he had met in 1849.

  92. Ibid.

  93. Williams, “Bringing Honey to the Land of Milk and Honey,” 34.

  94. Ruth Marie Baldwin, 100 Nineteenth-Century Rhyming Alphabets in English.

  95. Ibid., 33.

  96. Ibid., 66.

  Chapter 4. After Bee Space

  1. John Adams, The Works of John Adams, 345. The full quotation comes from a letter Adams wrote to William Tudor from Quincy, Mass., on August 11, 1818. In the letter to Tudor, Adams agrees with Judge George Minot’s historical perspective that the Sugar Act was the precipitating event of the American Revolution: “General Washington always asserted and proved, that Virginians loved molasses as well as New Englandmen did. I know not why we should blush to confess that molasses was an essential ingredient of the American independence. Many great events have proceeded from much smaller causes.” Molasses was categorized as a sugar, and the Sugar Act of 1764 signaled a change in British policy toward the colonies. The tax suggested that Britain would no longer pay for the colonization process, and the Sugar Act was quickly followed by the Stamp Act, the Quartering Act, and the Townshend Act; these taxes ignited the colonists’ fury, and the eventual result was the American Revolution.

  2. William Francis Allen, Charles Pickard Ware, and Lucy McKim Garrison, Slave Songs of the United States.

  3. Ibid., 5.

  4. Harold Courtlander, Treasury of Afro-American Folklore, 383.

  5. Ibid., 442–43.

  6. Ibid., 285.

  7. Crane, World History of Beekeeping and Honey Hunting, 453.