268 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Fig. 2. — The terraced ground where the rows of Iiives stood 80 years ago. 



to iDlace beekeeping on the same successful 

 financial basis with other branches of agri- 

 culture. All his experiments during this 

 period were made with bees in box hives, 

 there being no better ones at that time. 



His first move to avoid destruction of the 

 bees in securing the honey was by boring 

 holes in the toj? of the hives, and finding 

 that the bees would fill large boxes put over 

 the hive. These were the forerunner of the 

 super and section. Another menace to 

 success in beekeeping was foul brood. Re- 

 reading the chapter in his first book, in the 

 light of the modern science of contagious 

 diseases and bacteriology, shows it to be a 

 marvel of careful observation and accurate 



Fig. 3. — The room where Mr. Quinby wrote tlie 1853 



reasoning that would do credit to the pres- 

 ent da}'. The principles of his treatment of 

 the scourge can never be changed. These 

 and many other facts Mr. Quinby found 

 had never been published; so, being by 

 nature philanthropic, and having an un- 

 selfish desire to help others in a practical 

 way by sharing his knowledge, he wrote this 

 accumulated experience of twenty-five years 

 into his " Mysteries of Beekeeping Explain- 

 ed, being a complete analysis of the whole 

 subject," as the title-page quaintly states. 

 The book was written in the x'oom pictured 

 in Fig. 3, by the light of a tallow candle. 

 As I reread the book I realize how fully up 

 to date it was for 1853, and how fundamen- 

 tally correct were his 

 statements and deduc- 

 tions on many points. 

 It bears evidence of 

 being entirely the 

 author's own work. 

 He started with no 

 knowledge of the sub- 

 ject, but with an in- 

 quiring and open 

 mind; had no help 

 from others, and only 

 theoretical informa- 

 tion from the limited 

 literature on the sub- 

 ject of bees. The key- 

 notes of its success ap- 

 pear to me to be the 

 scientific attitude of its 

 author, unusual at that 

 jieriod — the clearness 

 edition of his book. and plainness of its 



