August, 1918 



G L E A N I N G S IN BEE CULTURE 



foi' their communioations. Our ,e:oo(l friend 

 Samuel Wagner explained that it was up- 

 hill work to pay expenses, and therefore 

 we volunteered to furnish the articles free 

 of charge which we sent in. It was much 

 a labor of love all around. We were anx- 

 ious to encourage the business of making 

 our land " a land flowing with milk and 

 honey." Of course the most of us were 

 ])roducing extracted honey, after I told 

 what could be done to save the bees the la- 

 l)or of conib-buildiing. Doolittle, however, 

 astonished us all; and, if I am correct, ran 

 ahead of us all by producing comb honey 

 in quantity almost if not quite equal to the 

 number of pounds we secured by the use 

 of the extractor. Of course I was greatly 

 interested in learning how he did it; and 

 after I had had considerable correspond- 

 ence with him he was kind enough to pay 

 me a visit. In fact, I am inclined to think 

 he paid me two visits, but I can not be 

 quite sure of this. I wonder if any who 

 may see this can refresh my memory. Well, 

 one great point of his getting such large 

 quantities of comb honey and getting such 

 prices was that he had devised the hand- 

 somest and most taking honey-package the 

 world ever saw. The bees built the honey 

 in a pecuiiar section of his make; and af- 

 ter the bees had finislied it straight and 

 true, every cell nicely capped, he placed 

 a little sheet of glass on each side; and 

 when he sent it to market, the whole thing 

 (two sheets of glass and a comparatively 

 heavy wooden section) was all weighed up 

 at the price of honey. I objected to asking- 

 people to pay so much a pound for wood 

 and metal; but Doolittle had a clincher 

 on that matter. He said that when his 

 sections were exposed side by side to un- 

 glassed sections his always sold first at the 

 same price or even a higher one; and, fur- 

 thermore, he had never been able to supply 

 the demand; and I have from first to last, 

 as you may recall, said that supply and 

 demand should regulate the price of all 

 farm products. 



I can not tell just when Doolittle turned 

 to extracted honey in place of comb ; but 

 my impression is that for many years he 

 held to his glassed sections and built up 

 a market and a demand for them, some- 

 wliei-e in the city of New York, I think. 

 Doolittle, as a matter of course, soon be- 

 came an authority on every matter con- 

 nected with bee culture. When he and I, 

 as happened once in a good while, did not 

 f|uite agree, the matter was submitted to 

 the readers of Gleanings in a most friend- 

 ly Avay; and when the A B C book came 

 out, edition after edition, Doolittle was 

 ])aid to take plenty of time to go over it; 



and wherever we did not quite agree, the 

 matter was submitted to tlie beekeepers of 

 the world. In a like manner Dr. Miller's 

 notes were also added. 



In regard to Doolittle's kind visit I can 

 not tell you just now whether it was before 

 Gleanings was started or after; but what 

 a time we did have in discussing different 

 matters, from daylight till dark and even 

 away along into the night! I do not know 

 how it came about, but some way I never 

 happened to make Doolittle a visit; and 

 when the news of his death came I said to 

 myself, " Oh ! why did I not make that visit 

 before he was called away so abruptly?" 



Our departed friend was an earnest 

 Christian, first, last, and always. He was 

 alive and on the alert on prohibition and 

 temperance. Sometimes he went even fur- 

 ther than I did, as his valuable articles on 

 temperance (as well as bee culture) in the 

 back numbers of Gleanings attest. 



Doolittle is gone; but in the language of 

 our text his works and his writings will 

 bless humanity for ages to come. As I was 

 going over the back volumes of the old 

 American Bee Journal I was wondering 

 how many of the. veterans are still living. 

 If these words should meet their eyes, I 

 should be exceedingly glad to hear from 

 them. C. P. Dadant and his wife and fam- 

 ily paid us a brief visit last winter at our 

 Florida home. We had many a good laugh 

 over the exiieriences of years ago. 



Dr. Miller is still a beekeeper, and ap- 

 parently as bright as ever, even if he is 

 close to 90 years of age. I wonder if it is 

 not true that beekeepers as a rule live 

 longer than people in other pursuits. There 

 has been some joking in times past in re- 

 gard to the puritanical habits of beekeep- 

 ers. At a convention in Detroit a boy set 

 up a cigar-stand in the big hotel, but did 

 not get nuieh patronage. I think he said 

 something like this : 



" Why, what sort of people are these 

 'bee folks,' any way? I have sold only one 

 cigar to the * hull bunch,' and that was a 

 five-center." 



Maybe that is wh_y so many of us live 

 to a good old age. May God be praised 

 for having let such a man live, and live to 

 a good long life, full of good works, as 

 our departed friend G. M. Doolittle. 



mistakes in the preparation op our 

 daily bread." 

 Perhaps never before has there been so 

 much attention given to the matter of food 

 best for health. Even the school children 

 and college students are making it a study. 

 Below is an extract from a letter wn-itten 



