.,VLY, 1918 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



397 



ing presence, the possessor of a fine voice, 

 a ready and witty speaker, a good story- 

 teller, and an excellent writer. In the tell- 

 ing of witty stories that illustrated valuable 

 ])oints in beekeeping, he surpassed any bee- 

 keeper we have ever known At the great 

 Buffalo beekeepers' convention in 1897*, we 

 recall that he was frequently called on, and 

 each time he brought down the house with 

 roar upon roar of laughter and applause. 

 His stories always had a good point. 



One of Mr. Doolittle 's most emphatic 

 teachings was that the beekeeper must fol- 

 low nature — that no beekeeper could succeed 

 if he did not follow nature 's rules. One of 

 his chief theorems was that good queen-cells 

 must be reared in strong colonies built up 

 to the swarming pitch, and, as a corollary of 



The lute G. AI. Doolittle preaching from the pulpil 

 so long occupied by him. 



this, he often said that good cells could not 

 be built unless honey or sealed stores were 

 supplied daily. He rightly and stoutly held 

 that no queen-breeder could succeed unless 

 he observed these two rules. He was first 

 to prove that good cells could be built under 

 only two impulses — the swarming impulse 

 and the supersedure impulse. Good queen- 

 breeders now recognize these two proposi- 

 tions as fundamental. 



Altho Doolittle did not invent artificial 

 queen-cups, he was the first man to develop 

 the process. His method of making artificial 

 cell cups started a new era in queen-rearing. 



*See Gleanings — page 671 for 1897. 



While cell cups are now made in a wholesale 

 way by machinery, the basic princi})le is 

 Doolittle 's. He was also the first man to 

 demonstrate that queens can be reared in an 

 upper story with a laying queen below. All 

 in all, Doolittle 's method of rearing queens 

 is essentially those of all modern methods 

 now in vogue, and this one contribution to 

 beekeeping has done more to make better 

 queens and consequently better colonies than 

 any other one thing in beekeeping practice. 

 His book on ' ' Scientific Queen Bearing ' ' is 

 acknowledged today as containing the best 

 of modern methods of queen-rearing. 



Years ago Doolittle originated the slogan 

 "rich in stores." He talked it first, last, 

 and all the time. He insisted that unless a 

 colony at the beginning of the season had a 

 great abundance of stores it would not build 

 up as will a colony that has plenty of stores. 

 Here again he was absolutely right, and was 

 ever preaching this fundamental doctrine of 

 good beekeeping. He developed a unique 

 system of swarm control for the production 

 of comb honey. This system is fully out- 

 lined in his book published under the title 

 of ' ' The Management of Out-apiaries. ' ' 



Mr. Doolittle, while not original in the 

 idea of melting wax by means of solar heat, 

 was one of the first in this country to ex- 

 ploit the principle, and for years there has 

 been on the market what was known as the 

 Doolittle solar wax-extractor. He was one 

 of the pioneers in the treatment of American 

 foul brood. His ideas, away back in the early 

 days, were entirely in harmony with those 

 of Quinby, both of whom were absolutely 

 right. During those days there were many 

 false teachers and false teachings; but Doo- 

 little 's teaching and practice on the subject 

 of foul brood during all that time were such 

 as stand the test of present-day knowledge. 



In the early days of the A B C of Bee 

 Culture, Mr. Doolittle prepared, at A. I. 

 Eoot 's suggestion, a series of comments 

 showing wherein he differed from Mr. Eoot. 

 The fact that the two men saw things so 

 nearly alike was remarkable. That they dif- 

 fered in details was only natural. The fact 

 that he was so nearly always right was be- 

 cause he spent hours and days studying his 

 bees — because he learned at the hive. 



One outstanding feature of Mr. Doolittle 's 

 beekeeping was that he was not only a good 

 instructor, but he put his teachings into suc- 

 cessful practice. Some men, like Langstroth, 

 the peer of all instructors, never could make 

 money from their bees. Others, like Quinby, 

 one of the best authorities in his day, have 

 made money, even with box hives. Doolittle 

 always profited from his bees, and always 

 succeeded in getting crops. 



Mr. Doolittle was more than a successful 

 beekeeper and natural-history student. He 

 was a big-hearted friend, a good citizen, and 

 a Christian gentleman. 



Long will the good live after him that he 

 has done. Peace to him! 



