393 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 15 



ty, nor does he seem to lack in words to express 

 his Ideas in a way that can be understood by 

 the novice. The ideas in this book, and the 

 idea of making the book, must have taken pos- 

 session of the author at a time when his whole 

 soul was imbued with the subject. There is 

 nothing in the work, of a mushroom quality. 

 The author may be mushroomy, unphilosophi- 

 cal, and ambiguous in some of his writings; 

 but such do not appear in his writings on prac- 

 tical bee-keeping. 



There are other things which, correctly 

 speaking, do not belong to the general scope of 

 this work, that weave themselves through the 

 warp and woof of it. I refer now to the moral, 

 the industrial, and the economic teachings. 

 The reader may not at first sight once think 

 that they were placed there for his benefit, for 

 there does not appear to be any direct effort to 

 engage his thought in that particular; but the 

 sentiment is there, and memory will deliver 

 them at some future time. On account of such 

 teaching I have often wished that the A B C of 

 Bee Culture could be found in every family in 

 our land. It seems to me that it would make 

 even the calloused loafer feel out of jojnt. Its 

 teachings would be especially beneficial to the 

 several classes that live wholly or in part on 

 charity, and survive on account of the ignor- 

 ance of their fellows. 



As before stated, the author has a faculty of 

 wording his descriptions of mechanical things 

 in a way that they can not be misunderstood. 

 In this book, among other things, he tells the 

 reader how to make a bee-hive. He tells him 

 what kind of lumber to select; gives him a rule 

 as to the warping and shrinking of the lumber; 

 the tools that he will need; and all the neces- 

 sary preparation for hive-making is fully ex- 

 plained. He then gives the exact measure- 

 ment of the various pieces that shall form the 

 hive, and tells him how to make a pattern for 

 each piece so that all the hives he makes shall 

 be of uniform dimension, and so they shall con- 

 form in all respects to the standard measure- 

 ment of that kind of hive throughout the Unit- 

 ed States. He is explicit in every description 

 and in every measurement, and to all the 

 material, even to the nails and the paint. 

 Every thing treated of in this book is handled 

 and explained in the same careful manner. 

 When the reader has read the author's descrip- 

 tion of hive-making he will begin to under- 

 stand why this great plant that turns out more 

 work (bee-fixtures) than any other of the same 

 kind in the world, is a financial success; and 

 why it is that all of the work sent out from 

 that establishment is of superior workmanship, 

 and why, in the filling of all orders, and in all 

 accounts and in all correspondence, so few 

 errors are made. 



I have never met the author; have never 

 been in Medina; have never been so fortunate 



as to meet any person that has ever been in 

 any wise connected with the people or the work 

 at the "Home of the Honey-bee." This criti- 

 cism, then, is wholly based upon the literature 

 from that establishment, on my personal deal- 

 ings with them, and upon considerable of the 

 intuitive. If I am unfair in this criticism, I err 

 through ignorance and not through malice. 

 If, on the other hand, I am too generous in my 

 praise, it came not through any desire to flatter. 



[Mr. Porter speaks of the high quality of our 

 half tone engravings, and criticises some of the 

 zinc etchings that have gone with Rambler's 

 articles. Of course, zinc etchings can not be 

 fairly compared with half-tones, because they 

 are entirely different in character. They are 

 what the name signifies— a gradual gradation 

 of shades of white and black; and the result is 

 a beautiful soft picture that must necessarily 

 be an exact copy of the photograph. But a 

 zinc etching is a pen-drawing, usually cheaper, 

 and better adapted to caricature. They are 

 free-hand, and like every thing else of the kind 

 vary in quality. Perhaps one drawing might 

 please one and yet offend the taste of another. 

 1 grant that one of the pictures referred to by 

 Mr. Porter is not very appetizing, for it repre- 

 sents one of Rambler's friends so seasick that 

 he just had to visit the boat-rail and — well, you 

 remember the rest. This I would hardly call 

 " coarse in sentiment." 



While some of Mr. Murray's sketches might 

 be improved, the general character of them is 

 such that our readers have been greatly pleas- 

 ed; and some have even gone so far as to say 

 it was Murray who made Rambler's articles 

 what they were. 



Mr. Porter criticises another thing that is 

 perhaps objectionable to some; namely, our re- 

 ferring to familiar persons in and about the 

 Home of the Honey-bees in a familiar way. 

 The factof the matter is, our readers have come 

 to know us as one big family, and seem to have 

 a proprietary interest in us. It is too imperson- 

 al to say that all things are done by The A. I. 

 Root Co. It is much more satisfactory to our 

 readers, I am sure, to know that A. I. R. wrote 

 this, E. R. R. that, instead of hiding under the 

 editorial we; and when we refer to John, our 

 business manager. " W. P.," the proofreader, 

 '"Barney." the boss printer, " Merwin," the 

 apiarist, Mike and Jack, the team, we are re- 

 ferring to real persons and real horses. To 

 leave such persons and things buried— complete- 

 ly buried in the A. I. Root Co. — would make a 

 soulless and impersonal thing out of the com- 

 pany. Gleanings takes a certain pride in 

 avoiding old-time conventionalities. 



Taking it all in all, I wish, in behalf of the 

 A. I. Root Co., to thank Mr. Porter for his very 

 frank and fair criticisms. Where he has criti- 

 cised there has been some ground for it — no 

 smoke without some fire; and you may be sure 

 we shall try to profit by what he has said, even 

 from the last Root baby or Calvert baby, up to 

 the old Root of all.— Ed.] 



BEE-PARALYSIS CONTAGIOUS. 



I see in Gleanings that some of the bee- 

 keepers say that bee-paralysis is not contagious. 

 If they had had the experience that we have 

 had they would know better. 



New Orleans, La. F. A. Callaw^ay. 



[Yes, indeed, bee-paralysis is contagious. — 

 Ed.] 



