1885 



(CLEANINGS m IJEE CULTUUE. 



g;5 



have the preference for table use, but I think leath- 

 er backs outgrow them. My fish will eat almost 

 any kind of food that a hog- will, siieh as cabbage, 

 onion - tops, peaches, mulberries, blackberries, 

 grapes, young tender wheat, oafs, boiled corn, raw 

 cow-peas (swelled), bread of all kinds, and, in fact, 

 scraps of almost any thing, and even little pieces of 

 dead forest leaves, or trash, that lloats on the top 

 of the pond. J. D. liiujw.v. 



Uowman, Ga. 



MY REFERENCE BOOK. 



THE WAV IN WHICH FRIEND DOOLITTLE CL-^RSI- 



FIES AND UTILIZES WHAT HE HAS KEAD 



AND CONSFDEKKD. 



HILE reading the bee-papers, it is generally 

 to be noted that nearly all writers tell us 

 about things which are past; this, put 

 with the time it takes the article to get to 

 the publisher, and the same to be placed in 

 our hands through the mails, together with the 

 printing, makes nearly every valuable article which 

 we i-ead a month or more behind the time mf)St ap- 

 propriate for its use. I am not flnding fault with 

 the correspondents of the bee-papers regarding 

 this state of affairs, for it is quite natural that this 

 should be so. There is no time a person feels more 

 like telling what he has done, and how he did it, 

 than just after doing it successfully. Theie is a 

 certain inspiration on a person at such times which 

 allows of their story being told better than it could 

 possibly be at any other time after several moiilhs 

 have passed away, as must always lie the case 

 where the story is kept so that it can Mjjpear bef^)re 

 the i)ublic in its appropriate season. Thus it hap- 

 jjens that all of the best articles on wintering have 

 appeared in the spring; the best article on securing 

 a large yield of honey after the honey harvest is 

 over, and the same is true of nearly every other 

 subject pertaining to bee culture. Now, our be«- 

 papers are of value to us only in i)roporli<;n as«e 

 remember and put in practice the valuable points 

 they contain; and as my memory is not sullieient to 

 keep track of all that is of value, appearing out of 

 season, I must have some means of remintling me 

 of the valuable points Just when they are of use. 

 Again, much of the matter in the bee-papers is of 

 little value to the experienced liee-keejx'r, e.\eei>t 

 to add a little to the "spice of life" by adiling vari- 

 ety to our reading-matter. 



There is only now and then an item or an article 

 we wish to look at the second time, so what we 

 want is some plan by which we can get al t hat which 

 is i-eally valuable when wanted at another time. To 

 do this I struck onjthis plan: Whenever I sit down 

 to read a fresh paper, 1 have a pencil with nie; and 

 when I find a new idea, or an old one I wish to fur- 

 ther experiment with, T mark it. In some instances 

 the marks will embrace a whole article, while others 

 call attention to only a few lines. In future years, 

 or at any time I wish to find that which is really 

 valuable in my store of bee-literature, all 1 have to 

 do is to read the marked passages, and thus get the 

 cream of a whole year's numbers of (i leanings or 

 other papers in a little time. Now, the above would 

 be ail that would be necessary, were it not for the 

 matter of most articles being out of season, as spo- 

 ken of at the beginning of this article, but for this 

 reason I want some arrangement which will cite me 

 to all the valuable points so that J can practice each 



in its appropriate season. After further studying 

 on the matter I decided on what I call a " Iteference 

 Book," which is simply a small blank book bound in 

 leather. Any memorandum or account-book will 

 answer the purpose, providing it has at least 24 

 leaves in it. This l)ook I arrange similar to an as- 

 sessor's book, which has the letters of the alphabet 

 from A to Z on the outside margin of the leaves. 

 Cut the leaves just as you would to letter them; 

 but instead of lettering them, write on the little 

 square of the first, "Jan. 1st;" on the second, "Jan. 

 1.5th;" on the third, "Feb. 1st," and so on, giving 

 one leaf, or two pages, for each half-month, to the 

 end of the year. Having the book thus fixed it is 

 kept near the chair which I usually occupy when I 

 read, together with a pencil, so that when I come to 

 any passage, part of an article, or an entire article 

 that I think will be of any service to me, either as 

 something new that promises to be valualjle, or 

 some new plan of usrng something already familiar 

 to me, I mark it with my pencil, and then jot it 

 down in my book, under the date to which it is ap- 

 plicable. Thus 1 get all the matter which I consid- 

 er valuable, contained in what I read regarding 

 apiculture, arranged with reference to the time it 

 is to be used, in this book. 



When Jan. 1st arrives I look over all there is on 

 this page, and, for instance, try Hxing one of my 

 saws so as to make it saw smoothly, as described 

 on page 408 of Gleanings, by waj- of experiment, 

 if I chance to find a note regarding that in this lit- 

 tle book. To explain more fulli': On page .WS 

 I read how to cut up foundation by using kerosene 

 oil and a butcher-knife, so that thirty or foity sheets 

 can be cut at a time. As 1 had always used the 

 Carlin wheel, or a stamp cutter like those used by 

 U. A. Jones, for cutting my fdn. starters for sec- 

 tions, I thought this might be better, so the plan 

 was nuirkeil. As the llrst half of May would be the 

 time I would most likely want to use it, I turn to 

 May 1st (by putting my thumb on that date when 

 opening my reference book), and write Gleanings, 

 18.S5. page Ma, " How to cut fdiL" When this date 

 (May Ist) arrives I look over all that is written 

 there, and, as [ come to this, 1 turn to page jVCJ, and 

 there is just what I want, at the right time; for in 

 a day or two I must go to work cutting fdn. into 

 starters for my sections. So I go to work and cut a 

 pait by the new way, and some by the old. If the 

 new proves the more valuable I mark these words 

 on my reference book with a star; or, if worthless, 

 [ draw my pencil across the whole line, thus cross- 

 ing it off. 



If I have made it plain, and I think I have, it will 

 be seen that I have all the real worth of many vol- 

 umes in this little book, while the matter which was 

 worth only once reading is left out. Different per- 

 sons would make different selections from what 1 

 should; but the plan is a good one, in my opinion, 

 and one which will be of great service to any one 

 who will follow it. G. M. DOOI-ITTLE. 



Borodino, N. Y., Sept., 18a5. 



Friend 1)., your siiif<i:('srK)ii is an excellent 

 one. It was only the other day that I lie^an 

 to consider tiiat it was almost "inipossiiiie tor 

 me to remember, in time lor action, what I 

 had already learned. 8omel)ody comes 

 along and suggests a.very decided improve- 

 ment on what we are doing; and after 

 thanking him for it I remember that 1 had 

 read the same thing a long time before, but 



