THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



SIDE-ISSUES IN CLASS-JOURNALS. 



One of my little girls (they seem like 

 litte girls to me, although they will soon 

 be twenty years old) could not bear to 

 see her father, her ideal man, held up to 

 the world as sedate and dignified (see 

 Extracted Department), when she well 

 knows that the reverse is true; but, bless 

 her innocent heart, she does not know 

 that, concealed beneath the surface of that 

 "take off," is a sly clip at me for having 

 condemned funny things in bee journals. 

 (The twins are away to-day, having an 

 outing at Long Lake, so I can put 

 into type whatever I like, and Nora 

 will not be likely to know it. ) It is true 

 that I have condemned side-issues in bee 

 journals. I have thought, and still think, 

 that the closer the bee journals stick to 

 bees, the better it is. These matters of 

 religion, gardening, health, home-in- 

 terests, humor, wit, etc., are all legitimate 

 subjects for discussion; but there are 

 journals devoted to these subjects, just as 

 we have journals devoted to bees, and 

 they are far superior to the little items 

 upon these subjects that can be put in 

 the bee journals, as the bee journals are 

 superior to the apiarian departments of 

 agricultural journals. At the same time 

 the great mass of bee-keepers are not able 

 to, or, at least, do not, take papers de- 

 voted to all of these special subjects; and 

 the occasional introduction of some out- 

 side topic is a pleasing break in the 

 monotony of page after page of beeism. 

 As the years go by I am coming to have 

 more charity, or consideration, or respect 

 for the views of others. The editor of the 

 Ladies' Home Journal says that "The 

 most uncomfortable people in the world 

 are those who assert their judgments in 

 a hard, decisive and final manner, as if 

 they were the courts of last resort." As 

 an illustration of taking a broad view of 

 things, he says that one of a party made 

 the assertion that "Corn isn't fit for 

 human beings to eat;" and then turned 

 to another for corroboration of the state- 

 ment. "Well," said the woman appealed 



to, "I should hardly say that. Corn may 

 be good, but I do not relish it." 



Here is another point. I believe that 

 all successful editors soon learn that to 

 simply make a paper that suits them will 

 not answer. They must, to a large ex- 

 tent, lay aside their own tastes, and study 

 those of their subscribers. By this I do 

 not mean that they must sink their own 

 individuality; far from it, the successful 

 editor leaves the indellible stamp of his 

 individuality upon his journal; but, at 

 the same time, he gives due regard to the 

 tastes and wishes of others. I know it is 

 quite natural to think that the majority 

 believes as you do. This isn't always 

 true. For instance, I like to have all my 

 periodicals stopped promptly at the ex- 

 piration of the time paid for. I supposed 

 that this course pleased everybody; and 

 for several years conducted the Review 

 on that plan. Finally I learned that the 

 reverse was true; that a very large 

 majority prefers to have a paper con- 

 tinued and be allowed to renew when it is 

 most convenient. I suppose that my be- 

 ing so cock sure that I was right in the 

 matter cost me at least several hundreds 

 of dollars. But I fear I am wandering 

 a little from my text, so I will conclude 

 with a statement of my present views of 

 side-issues in class-journals. A little 

 touch of them occasionally, like pepper 

 in our food, may be all right, but the less 

 the better. 



CONTRACTION OF THE BROOD NEST. 



" Open confession is good for the 

 soul." There is a saying something like 

 this. Perhaps I have not given it exactly 

 as it is, but the meaning is that when you 

 see that you are wrong, the best thing 

 that you can do is to "own up." So, I 

 am going to admit that bee-keepers have 

 practiced contraction of the brood nest 

 at the beginning of the harvest. The 

 editor of Gleanings shows most con- 

 clusively, by references to articles right 

 in the Review, that such things have been 

 done. In writing on this subject last 



