THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



361 



with a slight modification, is to note, 

 first, any idea that might be of practical 

 value to me. Second, new theories that 

 seemed worth studying further. Third, 

 methods that did not seem to be as good 

 as the ones in use in the apiaries under 

 my care. 



In addition to the above, there was a 

 great collection of articles which, although 

 carefully read, were of no value to me, or 

 at least not of immediate value. These 

 were, first, articles on queen-rearing, or 

 other special branches which I did not 

 work at. Second, articles giving methods 

 which were of value only under some 

 special conditions which we do not have 

 in this locality. Third, and largest class, 

 rehash of things fully proven, reports of 

 beginners, controversies over unimpor- 

 tant points, descriptions of new hives, etc. 



Of course, many things which seemed 

 of slight interest to me were of value to 

 some one else, or probably they would 

 not have been printed; but this article is 

 written entirely as the result of my ozvn 

 7vay of looking at it. 



Having noted the articles, the next 

 thing was the discussion. As Mr. Cogg-, 

 shall's apiaries average about ten miles 

 from home, and there was plenty of time 

 for discussion while on the road. As we 

 firove along, I would either read, or re- 

 peat the substance of, one of those mark- 

 ed articles; and Mr. Coggshall would dis- 

 cuss the merits and demerits of the plans 

 advanced; and often of the writer's views 

 as well; telling personal experiences to 

 prove his points and giving reminiscences 

 of .some conventions where he had met 

 the writer of the article under discussion. 

 In this way I soon came to have an idea 

 of the relative value of the work of the 

 different writers. One of the first ques- 

 tions asked in the case of a new author 

 was "Is he a success, personally? .\re 

 the ideas advanced as the result of suc- 

 cessful personal experiments,* or are the}- 

 mere theories evolved out of the read- 

 ing of some other man's work?" If the 

 man was not making his plans pay, they 



received scant consideration. The final 

 test was, "Will it pay?'"' By this touch- 

 stone, all of the new theories and plans 

 were tried, and usually found wanting. 



Whenever there was a plan which 

 stood the test of these discussions and of 

 the careful figuring of cost compared 

 with probable profits, it was tried on a 

 small scale; and, if found to be adapted 

 to our local conditions, it was made part 

 of the regular system upon which Mr. 

 Coggshall runs his bees. 



As the years went by, and, with the 

 growth of the business, other young men 

 were employed to assist in the work, I 

 saw that Mr. Coggshall tried them by that 

 same old bundle of papers. 



Often have I heard him say of a new 

 man or of a neighbor who was starting 

 in the bee business, "He will never 

 make a bee-keeper;" or, "That man will 

 be 'all right. He wants to read all he 

 can about bees." The end usually show- 

 ed that he was correct in his estimate of 

 the man. 



As fast as ne.v bee papers came out we 

 would try them by much the same stand- 

 ard that the articles in the papers were tried. 

 If they had enough bee knowledge to make 

 it worth while to read them, they were 

 kept on the list; if not, we stopped reading 

 them. I maj- say in passing that the 

 larger share of new papers did not seem 

 to fill any long felt want. 



As years went by, and I came to have 

 charge of an e.Ktracting crew, I liave 

 tried to live up to the traditions of the 

 past by using a part at least of the hours 

 spent on the road in discussing the cur- 

 rent problem of bee keeping with the 

 other boys; and I may say right here that 

 the.se discussions have been of more val- 

 ue to nie than all the reading. The men 

 Mr. Coggshall has hired from other lo- 

 calities have brought with them more 

 practical ideas than the papers have. 

 They have been mostl}' men who had 

 had experience with some successful bee- 

 keeper before coming here; and so have 

 been able to see and to show us w-here our 



