326 FIFTY YEARS A^IONG THE BEES 



old I would take things very leisurely. But I am now 

 past fifty, and I never was more crowded in my life be- 

 fore. 



W^RITING FOR THE BEE- JOURNALS. 



Besides the reading, there is the writing. Some extra 

 writing usually to be done each winter, besides the regular 

 work in that line. I have written "Stray Straws'' for 

 Gleanings in Bee-Culture ever since December, 1890, and 

 four years later I began writing answers to questions in 

 the American Bee-Journal. The thought of keeping up 

 that w^ork year in and year out, with never a vacation, 

 summer or winter, would be somewhat wearisome if it 

 were not that I delight in the work. If any one of my 

 readers should hesitate about sending to me any question 

 connected with bee-keeping because of the thought that 

 it will be unpleasant to me. let him disabuse his mind of 

 any such thought. The receipt of such questions is a 

 real pleasure. 



One thing, however, that gives pain instead of pleas- 

 ure, is to find a stamp enclosed upon opening a letter, for 

 then I know that the writer expects an answer by mail, 

 and, in justice to others, answering bee-questions by mail 

 is a thing I cannot do. If I should answer one by mail 

 I must answ^er others, and the only fair way is to treat all 

 alike. The request for me to answer a question in print 

 will always be cheerfully complied with without any 

 stamp accompanying the request. 



IF BEGINNING AGAIN. *^ 



I am sometimes asked whether, if beginning afresh, 

 I would take the same course I have already been over. 

 That is not a very easy question to answer. There are 

 some things that can only be settled by experiment, and 

 about such things one can not reply offhand. Likely, if 

 I were beginning all over again not many things would 

 te different from what they are. But it may be worth 

 while to answxr as well as I can about a few things. 



