1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



391 



readers with the most careful precision. Er- 

 rors, however, do sometimes occur; but, even 

 admitting this, my faith in the ability and 

 good intent of the editors of Gleanings is such 

 that, if they say the measurement of a thing is 

 found to be j^-^i^ of an inch, I should take it for 

 granted that such statement was made on their 

 own authority, and was therefore correct. If, 

 however. I was certain that such statement 

 was made by Ernest, I should not feel quite as 

 certain of the truth as I would did I know that 

 the measurement was made by his father. 

 I have always supposed that one of the leading 

 characteristics of Mr. A. I. Root was his great 

 precision of character, and that his success as 

 a business man related to a certain degree to 

 that quality. But if Ernest has less of that 

 quality than his father has, I for one think 

 none the less of him for that, for he undoubted- 

 ly has other traits of character that stand him 

 in lieu of that one. 



Careful that its own advertisements shall not 

 mislead or deceive its readers. Gleanings as 

 well maintains a watchful eye over the adver- 

 tisements of others, ever insisting that they 

 shall do likewise. Having kept the golden 

 rule constantly before its readers, Gleanings 

 has set the heroic example of reimbursing the 

 losses sustained by others through any fault 

 that could in the remotest degree be charged to 

 that journal. Again, that unerring precision 

 which seems to pervade the Home of the Hon- 

 ey-bee from cellar to attic applies to the very 

 last act in the making of Gleanings. The 

 lines of reading are seldom, very seldom, dia- 

 gonal to the edges of that journal, and I have 

 never seen a poorly bound copy of it. The 

 margin between the center seam and the read- 

 ing matter is wide enough to permit the journal 

 to be easily held open to view while reading, 

 without exerting any perceptible effort to keep 

 it in position. 



Now permit me to introduce to the reader 

 that grand book — a book which, in my estima- 

 tion, is the crowning glory of all other works of 

 its author — 



THE A B C OF BEE CULTURE. 



The point is now reached in this criticism 

 where the reader might well assert his right to 

 catechise me as to ray ability to do j ustice to the 

 work in hand; and I think that I can show sat- 

 isfactorily that I am competent to judge be- 

 tween the good and the poor, and express an 

 intelligent opinion on all matters that pertain 

 to mechanical art, making no claims, however, 

 to any literary ability. 



If I was not cradled in a kit of carpenter 

 tools, I believe I came nearer to that fate than 

 most readers of this article. My father was a 

 carpenter, and carpenter tools were my play- 

 things in youth. By the use of tools I managed 

 to earn my living from my fifteenth to my 

 twenty-fifth year, and have always regretted 



that I was not permitted to spend my life in 

 mechanical labor. 



I do not claim that either in the first or last 

 edition of this work the ultimatum has been 

 reached. But I do claim, as to the purposes 

 whereof this book is published, it is the best 

 exponent of the bee-keeping art that has ever 

 been published. It deals with the whole sub- 

 ject, from inception to finale, with such clear 

 and well-worded description, with such pains- 

 taking in every detail, and, withal, a unique- 

 ness of manner, that the most ignorant can 

 understand and the wisest may admire. The 

 business and moral character of the author is 

 revealed in almost every paragraph of the 

 work. He who reads this book for the purpose 

 of being instructed can not fail to become im- 

 mediately interested, and to find his interest 

 awakened into enthusiasm as, one after an- 

 other, the doors of Nature's laboratory are 

 opened, revealing to him those secrets that he 

 had previously searched for in vain. 



I feel confident that the foregoing remark 

 will be objected to by many of the readers of 

 this article. They would inform me that it 

 was notiMr. Root who made the discoveries of 

 the facts found in this work. To such I would 

 reply that I make no claims as to who discover- 

 ed them. 



It has been well said that bees do not make 

 honey, but that they gather it. The same 

 might be as well said of books. 



Man does not make the thoughts expressed 

 in books; he borrows most of them, and discov- 

 ers a few. Books are mainly the picture of the 

 ideas of the author; his ideas are built upon 

 the thought of the past ages. Man can not 

 invent thought; he can, in fact, invent nothing. 

 Man has discovered a few things, yet only a 

 few things; but only a few compared to what 

 will yet be discovered. It seems to me that 

 the greatest of all man's discoveries was the 

 discovery of himself; but this, only in the per- 

 fect day and in the order of eternal evolution. 

 Immeasurable seems the trackless entity of 

 space; yet not more immeasurable or unthink- 

 able is space than the innumerable discoveries 

 that will be made by man in the quintillion of 

 centuries that await his coming. 



Who, then, can claim originality in this line 

 of thought? Shall it be Aristotle, Dzierzon, 

 Huber, or Von Siebold? Was not the founda- 

 tion of their thoughts laid by their predecessors? 

 In the fullness of time. Root compiled them for 

 the benefit of man. 



In this work the author has been thorough in 

 his treatment of every branch of the sub- 

 ject, from A to Z. It seems to me that this 

 cyclopedia has done more to educate the world 

 on the subject of bees and bee-keeping than all 

 the combined writings on that subject in 

 Christendom. 



The author did not lack in mechanical abili- 



