. American bee journal. Bee culture; Bees. AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 237 Robert Pierce, died in a few months after reaching his Western home. G. R. was too young to retain any recollec- tion of him. His mother afterward married Mr. Thomas J. Evans, also from Wales, who proved to be a father de facto as well as de jure to young Pierce. In the early days of its settlement, the present site and vicinity of Racine was covered with a heavy growth of oak, maple, beecb, basswood, etc. As. G. R. PIERCE. the settlers cleared the land about their cabins, they planted fruit trees, and in a few years apples,
. American bee journal. Bee culture; Bees. AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 237 Robert Pierce, died in a few months after reaching his Western home. G. R. was too young to retain any recollec- tion of him. His mother afterward married Mr. Thomas J. Evans, also from Wales, who proved to be a father de facto as well as de jure to young Pierce. In the early days of its settlement, the present site and vicinity of Racine was covered with a heavy growth of oak, maple, beecb, basswood, etc. As. G. R. PIERCE. the settlers cleared the land about their cabins, they planted fruit trees, and in a few years apples, plums, peaches, etc., were to be found at nearly every home- stead. Mr. Pierce has often seen large, luscious peaches, just picked from the trees, sold in the streets of Racine for 25 cents per bushel ! Now all this fruit is brought from Michigan. Bees were not kept as now by special- ists, but nearly every settler who was not afraid to handle the frisky insects, kept enough colonies to supply the home wants, and if there was a surplus it was usually taken to town in a tub or churn. Mr. Pierce's first recollection of bees was when his step-father bought three colonies from Mr. Cram, one of the first settlers in Racine. As the abundant flora of forest and field furnished an abundance of nectar, these colonies soon increased so that their owners, in a few years, had more bees and honey than any one else in the vicinity. His experi- ence with bees in Wisconsin ended in 1861, when he enlisted in the 9th Bat- tery, Wisconsin Volunteers, with which he served until January, ] 865. After his discharge from the army, Mr. P. attended the University of Wis- consin for three years at Madison, spend- ing his vacations in Minnesota, to which State his parents moved ; here also they kept a large number of colonies, and one of his brothers, Thomas C. Evans, is still engaged in bee-keeping near the old home at Brownsville, Minn. His father and mother, after a residence of several years in Minne
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, booksubjectbees, bookyear1861
