424 



GLEANiiNUS 1-N BEE CULTURE. 



June 



only," nor does he practice "sugar feeding-" in the 

 fall. He came over a year ago and bought my 

 empty combs. He hives his swarms on ten L. 

 combs, and winters his bees in chaff hives. His 

 percentage of loss the last winter is much greater 

 than mine, with many weak colonies, while al- 

 most every colony of mine is " booming." I fail to 

 see why the cellar method of wintering is any 

 more essential to success with my methods of man- 

 agement than with any other method; but, even if 

 it were, 1 should still adhere to it because it is more 

 profitable, and, by cellar wintering, stores can be 

 profitably saved, and more uniform results se- 

 cured. 



In the next paragraph Mr. P. brings up a point 

 that I had overlooked; viz., that spring protection 

 will enable us to successfully practice the spread- 

 ing of brood; and Mr. Doolittle, in the last number, 

 gives an excellent article on— well, T should call it 

 contvacting the brood, but I still feel that I have no 

 desire to change the following, taken from page 14 

 of "The Production of Comb Honey." 



" Judging from my own experience, and the re- 

 ported experience of others, it is my opinion that 

 an experienced apiarist, having more time than 

 colonics, may somotimts, by exercising great cau- 

 tion, practice to advantage stimulative feeding, or 

 spreading of the brood, in the spring: but in a very 

 great majority of cases, if not in all cases, 1 think 

 it much better to simply see that bees have an 

 abundance of sealed stores, then pack them up 

 warmly and let them alone." 



I wish to call attention to the words that I have 

 italicized. If an apiarist has more time than col- 

 onies, and can get no more colonies, it will be 

 profitable for him to so manipulate the ones he 

 possesses as to receive the greatest amount of hon- 

 ey per colony; but when the question is viewed in 

 a broader light, viz., that of securing the greatest 

 amount of honey with the least e.xpenditure of 

 capital and labor; when we attempt to combine 

 capital, labor, and the honey-producing area, in the 

 moxt piofitaJde manner, I believe that the spread- 

 ing of brood must step down and out. 



In regard to separators, I have so many times 

 given my views to the public that I will not re- 

 peat them. When my honey takes first premiums 

 at fairs, and is pronounced by dealers as the " fin- 

 est," and they " didn't know it was raised without 

 separators " until T so informed them, why should I 

 trouble with separators? I have explained, in my 

 book, their advantages and disadvantages, the con- 

 ditions under which they are needed, and the 

 methods necessary to their abandonment. 



I have never seen a two-piece section ; but if. as 

 friend P. says, " it has the good but none of the 

 bad points " of other sections, I am for it. 



Friend P. takes a " square and decided issue " 

 with me in regard to using empty combs in the 

 brood-nest when hiving swarms, if we are raising 

 extracted honey. Candidly, I thought the taking of 

 surplus, either comb or extracted, from the brood- 

 apartment was one of the things of the past. It is 

 much more convenient to have the brood in one 

 apartment an4 the honey in the other. If Mr. P. 

 would use no larger brood-chamber than one that 

 will contain sufficient stores for winter, and de- 

 sires to winter his beds upon natural stores, I then 

 see no objection to n«lTig empty com'is in the 

 brood-nest whrii hiving swarms, in raising ex- 

 tracted honey; i. e., if the bees will store just as 



much honey in the aggregate; but /prefer to have 

 autumn find the brood-nests nearly free from hon- 

 ey, because I can then fill them with sugar syrup 

 at a profit, and feel certain that the bees have the 

 best of food for winter. I will admit, that, in rais- 

 ing extracted honey, the profits arising from win- 

 tering bees upon sugar are very slight— not suffi- 

 cient, perhaps, to be of any great account; but the 

 safety attending the use of sugar for winter stores 

 is very great; and, in raising cumh honey, the 

 profits are considerable. 



In regard to Italians vs. blacks, 1 have noticed 

 this: When the honey resources are poor, and 

 much work must be done to get any honey, the 

 Italians are superior, and will store the most hon- 

 ey; but in the '"short, sharp flows of honey," which 

 is the way we get most of our surplus here at the 

 North, the simon-pure blacks have no superiors. 

 It is surplus honey that we are utter, and I have 

 always secured just as much surplus from the 

 blacks as from the Italians, and. as explained in my 

 book, some of the manipulations are much more 

 easily performed and the honey has a finer ap- 

 pearance. 



The references to the pages of the A. B. J. should 

 read " for 18S4," instead of 188*5. 



Mr. P. has my sincere thanks for the fair and 

 kindly manner in which he has criticised. 



And now, friend Root, a few words in regard to 

 your editorial remarks on page 408. 



I do not think there is an idea in the book that 

 could be made clearer b>' using an engraving. 

 When reading it, was there any thing you failed to 

 understand, that a cut would have made plain? 

 If there is any obscurity that pictures will clear 

 away, I hope the friends will point it out, and en- 

 gravings shall be forthcoming in the first re-issue; 

 but if pictures are not needed, why use them? 



And now about the price being too high. I hope 

 I may be pardoned for the apparent egotism with 

 which I explain its cost. The book contains 45 

 pages of reading-matter, they being about 3x4 

 inches in size, aside from the margin. To write 

 these pages I spent one whole month, writing 

 scarcely two pages a day. Before writing any 

 thing I tried to be certain that nij' facts were facts, 

 in fact; then I set to work to give them in the few- 

 est words possible. I wrote and re-wrote, and re- 

 modeled sentences and paragraphs over and over 

 again, until I felt that there was no redundancy, 

 no froth, and that my readers must understand me; 

 and having worked in this manner, I presume you 

 well know, friend Root, how pleasant it is to have 

 Dr. A. B. Mason say: " You just more than boiled 

 it down, didn't you?" and Mr. G. W. Alves say, 

 " The clearness with which the author states his 

 ideas, together with his enthusiasm, raises his per- 

 formance at times to sotne degree of brilliancy; " 

 and Prof. Cook says, " This book shows him at his 

 best," etc. I could have left the book at twice its 

 size with one-half the labor. To condense is work. 

 I agree with Mr. R. L. Taylor, that the value of a 

 book or paper does not dei)end upon the number 

 of words it contains, but rather upon the informa- 

 tion; and if you, friend Root, would be willing to 

 pay double price to have a book well illustrated, 

 as a matter of saving in time, why not, for the same 

 reason, pay at least an equal price for one that is 

 "boiled down"? How many times have I laid 

 down a bee. paper with the thought, " All the in- 

 formation that paper contains might have been 



