2S2 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



One of the most ditificult tasks of my 

 life is that of writing an advertisement 

 of Advanced Bee Culture. Be as 

 modest as I can, it still smackcs of 

 egotism - sounds like a parent praising 

 his own child. If the book had been 

 written by some other man, the writing 

 of an advertisement would be compara- 

 tively easy. However, even at the risk 

 of laying myself open to ridicule, of 

 becoming a laughing stock, I am going 

 to forget for once, that I am its author 

 and publisher, and write as though of 

 another's work 



When 18 years old I visited an 

 apiary in swarming-time; saw bees 

 hanging in great, golden-brown clus- 

 ters from the swaying boughs of the 

 old apple tree; saw the snowy white 

 combs growing as by magic; saw the 

 waxen cells filled with nectar, and in- 

 haled that sweetest of all perfumes — 

 the odor from a bee hive in harvest 

 time. I was filled through and through 

 with enthusiasm. Here was a busi- 

 ness that was most truly the poetry of 

 life. I was that day born a bee- 

 keeper. There was no longer any 

 doubt as to what should be my life- 

 occupation. I at once began buying 

 bee books and journals, and visiting 

 bee-keepers, and studying the business 

 from every possible standpoint. It 

 was six years later before I was able 

 to actually engage in the business, 

 but I then possessed as thorough a 

 theoretical knowledge of bee-keeping as 

 does a young physician of mediciiifi 

 when he begins to practice. 



All this was 30 odd years ago; and, 

 since then, I have run the whole 

 gamut of bee-keeping, time and time 

 and again. I have practiced all sorts 



of methods for artificial increase. I 

 have battled with the difficulties of 

 natural swarming; I have produced 

 tons and tons of comb honey; have 

 tried mj' hand at extracted honey 

 production; I have reared and sold 

 thousands and thousands of queens; I 

 have exhibited bees and honey for 15 

 consecutive years at from one to half 

 a dozen State fairs, I have wintered 

 bees in all sorts of ways, out doors 

 and in, in cellars and buried in clamps; 

 I have attended nearly all of the con- 

 ventions of a National character; 

 visited hundreds of bee-keepers in their 

 homes, scattered from ocean to ocean 

 and from the lakes to the gulf; I have 

 read all the books and journals; for 

 nearly 20 years I have published the 

 Review, enjoying the confidence and 

 correspondence of bee-keepers scattered 

 all over this country; in short I have 

 been a wide awake, enthusiastic, prac- 

 tical, actual work-a-day, bread and 

 butter bee-keeper all of these years, 

 making a living for myself, wife and 

 little ones, out of bees. 



Advanced Bee Culture is the 

 ripened fruit of all these years of 

 varied experience; it is the crowning 

 effort of my life. I look upon it as the 

 best piece of work that I have ever 

 done, or, perhaps ever will do. It is 

 written from a bread and butter stand- 

 point. It teaches how to make a liv- 

 ing, yes, more than that, make money 

 out of bees. From all of these sources 

 that I have mentioned, from my own 

 experience, and that of the men with 

 whom I have associated, I have de- 

 scribed the most advanced, the best 

 methods, of keeping bees for ptofit. I 

 begin at the opening of the year, and 



