NOVEMBKK, 1918 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



bees deep and thoro, but her enthusiasm 

 for everything connected with the bee busi- 

 ness is contagious. She likes her job. She 

 has been on the Gleanings editorial staff 

 for over a year now, and has made more 

 than good from the first. So the time has 

 now arrived w^hen I feel that I should for- 

 mally introduce her to 'our readers. 



As an evidence of the good work she is do- 

 ing, allow me to give a little incident. My 

 father, A. I. Root, came into my office one 

 day saying: "I want to congratulate you 

 on the work you are doing in the department 

 of questions and answers. I have gone over 

 your answers very carefully; and I want to 

 say that it is some of the best work you 

 ever did in your life." Turning, I said: 

 "You are not in the habit of throwing bou- 

 quets around promiscuously; and in this 

 case I could only wish that I could rightful- 

 ly claim' the honor; but candor compels me 

 to say that it is Miss Fowls, my assistant, 

 who has been preparing these answers, and it 

 is very seldom or never that I have any sug- 

 gestions or corrections to make." "Well, 

 then," said father, "why don't you, in all 

 fairness, put her name at the head of the 

 department rather than your own?" "For 

 the simple reason that she objects, saying 

 that our readers do not know her, and that 

 they do know me. ' ' 



I now feel that it is only fair that Miss 

 Fowls' name be put at the head of the de- 

 partment, as you will see it in this issue, 

 and that it be known that she has an im- 

 portant part in all of the editorial work 

 of Gleanings. 



In addition to the editorial staff at Me- 

 dina, Miss Fowls draws on and supplements 

 the experience of her father; and in this 

 connection I take pleasure in saying that 

 Chalon Fowls and his two daughters make 

 up a trio of beekeepers that I consider equal 

 to any in the United States. I have been 

 all over the country; and about the poorest 

 beekeeping locality that I know of is in and 

 around Oberlin, O., their home. The land 

 is flat, wet much of the time, and so dry at 

 other times that it leaves deep cracks. The 

 soil is poor and deficient in lime, so neces- 

 sary for the growth of clover, their sole 

 dependence for honey. In spite of all this 

 handicap of locality, Mr. Fowls and his two 

 daughters have made beekeeping 

 their sole business, and have suc- 

 ceeded in it unvaryingly, year 

 after year, with the most satis- 

 factory financial results. 



When I selected Miss Fowls as 

 my assistant I felt that a bee- 

 keeper who could make good in 

 a poor locality, and put herself 

 thru college, would be vastly 

 more helpful to the average run 

 of beekeepers in average locali- 

 ties than one who has lived in a 

 place where the soil, conditions, 

 and climate are ideal for the pro- 

 duction of honey. The proof of lONA FOWLS. 



this statement will be found in this jour- 

 nal's department of Gleaned by Asking, 

 which is built mainly on the knowledge of 

 the Fowls family. Miss Fowls is adding to 

 this knowledge constantly, for I have put 

 her in personal charge of our beeyards, now 

 aggregating about 800 colonies of bees in 

 nine different yards. 



Besides the help of Miss Fowls, I expect 

 more than ever to call on the ripe experience 

 of Mel Pritchard on all questions relating to 

 queens. There is no better authority on 

 queens and queen-rearing and the natural 

 history of bees. 



I will be pardoned for the personal remi- 

 niscence relating that many years ago 

 Chalon Fowls used to come to my room when 

 I was a student in Oberlin College, and 

 talk bees. These unconventional conven- 

 tions with Mr. Fowls have always been a 

 source of pleasure and profit to ine during 

 the years that have followed. Time and 

 time again I have gone to him to have him 

 help me solve some knotty problem in bee 

 culture, and as often he has been ready with 

 an answ-er. Enthusiasm — he is full' of it. 

 Now, having gotten Miss lona on our edi- 

 torial staff I am in j^osition to draw, even 

 more than in the past, on the ripe experi- 

 ences of the very man who helped to inspire 

 me 36 years ago, a year or tw^o before I be- 

 came editor of Gleanings. 



Now a word about myself — anr I going to 

 resign? Not at all. I "expect to stay right 

 on the job as editor of Gleanings. I expect 

 to make other people do the work that I 

 have not the time to do. I shall continue to 

 be traveling editor and editor-in-chief as 

 heretofore, to write editorials as before, and 

 to travel among beekeepers, armed with 

 camera and notebook. It is my purpose now 

 to keep on with the series of articles I have 

 begun, telling what the big beekeepers and 

 the little beekeepers have been doing, and 

 just how they do it. The camera will be kept 

 busy clicking and the best of the "clicks" 

 will be reproduced in Gleanings. A knowledge 

 of what such a beekeeper asR.F.Holtermann 

 in Canada or L.S.Griggs in Michigan is doing 

 (two of the most successful beekeepers in 

 the world) is invaluable. It is my purpose 

 to call on such men all over the United 

 States. My plans are now made to make a 

 special trip to the Pacific Coast 

 in the very near future. The col- 

 umns of Gleanings for the year 

 to come will have illustrated ar- 

 ticles telling just how the other 

 fellow does his work. I shall 

 write mainly of those beekeepers 

 who succeed; and it will be my 

 job to discover why and how 

 they succeed, and then tell my 

 readers about it. My aim is to 

 make Gleanings increasingly use- 

 ful 4o its readers, and to keep 

 it abreast of the best beekeeping 

 the country over. 



E. R. Root. 



