THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



21 



novel, something' that has not been told 

 before, and, above all, something' of 

 unusual value to his readers, is sought 

 for high and lovv^. For men who can 

 write such articles, the editor is 

 always on the watch. To find them he 

 travels about the country, visits con- 

 ventions, and "catches on" to every 

 little hint found in his letters. To 

 illustrate: A man once gave me an 

 inkling of a new S3'stem that he had 

 discovered, when I at once took a trip 

 of 500 miles to visit him, and after- 

 wards paid him a good round sum to 

 write up his system for the Review. 

 Many practical men, those who can 

 write from a large experience, have 

 very little education in the line of writ- 

 ing; and it is no little work to put 

 some of their communications into 

 shape for print. In more than one in- 

 stance have I found it the quickest and 

 best way to simply re- write the article. 

 An editor, however, doesn't mind these 

 things; is glad to do it, if the ideas are 

 only there. 



Then the editor of a journal must 

 read all of the exchanges; doing the 

 work thoroughly, carefully and thought- 

 fully ; trying to realize that ideas and 

 articles are not to be noticed simply 

 because they happen to agree with his 

 wa}' of thinking. Many times the 

 ideas in an article can be condensed 

 into a short item of a few lines; again 

 it may require quite a little space to do 

 the subject justice; and, occasionally, 

 an article is so valuable, or so well- 

 written, that it must be copied entire. 

 Then these extracts usually call for 

 editorial comment. Some point needs 

 to be emphasized, another criticis- 

 ed, perhaps something added that the 

 reading of tlie matter has called to the 

 editor's mind. 



Then there is the writing of the edi- 

 torials. I often ask myself, where do 

 the ideas come from, where do I get 

 the seed thoughts ? They come from 

 everywhere. From the reading of the 

 other bee journals, from visiting and 



working in apiaries, from attending- 

 conventions, from reading the letters of 

 bee-keepers, and, often from matters 

 that may seem quite remote from bee- 

 keeping. I think this "editorial 

 habit" grows upon a man. He almost 

 constantly has his paper with him, 

 "in his mind;" every incident that 

 comes to him is at once examined and 

 compared with other facts, and all 

 with a view as to whether it will prove 

 available as "grist for his mill." 

 The more an editor gets about, the 

 more people, of the right kind, he meets, 

 the more experience he has in the 

 apiary, the more journals he reads, 

 etc., the better will he be able to write 

 helpful editorials. In one sense his 

 mind might be compared to a well. If 

 it is continually pumped out, and no 

 more runs into it, it will soon "run 

 dry. " 



As all of this matter comes to hand, 

 it is sorted over, and that thought suit- 

 able for use in the Review is edited 

 (corrected read}' for the compositor) 

 and put awa}' in twelve large envel- 

 opes. Upon the side of one envelope is 

 written the word "January;" on the 

 next "February;" and so on for all of 

 the months. Matter appropriate for 

 publication in January is placed in 

 the January envelop; that for June in 

 the June envelope. When the time 

 comes for getting out the June Review, 

 the June envelope is taken down, when 

 a large share of the "copy" will be 

 found all ready prepared for the 

 printer. It sometimes requires some 

 will-power to put away, in August, a 

 most excellent article on "shook- 

 swarming, " and wait until the next 

 May before publishing it; or to wait 

 from March until October before print- 

 ing an article on the ventilation of bee- 

 cellars; but I think the value of a bee 

 journal is largely increased by having 

 the matter timely. 



The foregoing gives just a glimpse 

 of the pains and work employed in se- 

 curing reading matter for the Review; 



