THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



\\'lien I learned that Mr. York who, since 18S(j, has owned and 

 edited the American Bcc Journal^ had decided to "go west, young- 

 man, and grow up with the country," I could not help but feel 

 delighted that the task of piloting the old ship had fallen into the 

 hands of Mr. C. P. Dadant. His experience as a producer of honey 

 by the carload will give him the eyes of a bee-keeper in looking at 

 the bee-keeper's problems, while his wide experience as an apiacul- 

 tural writer, both here and abroad, will enable him to "tell it in a 

 way we can understand." Here's my hand. Brother Dadant. I 

 can't help but feel that you are the right man in the right place. 



How to "Boil Down" Your Contributions. 



The Aincrican Bcc Journal for May contains a little editorial 

 asking its subscribers to "boil down" what they write. This is one 

 of the hardest things for a new^ writer to do. 



^^'hen I first began writing, that advice used to stand over me 

 like a club and was realh' an obstacle in getting my thoughts 

 clearly expressed on paper. If I tried to write a short article the 

 chances were that I would leave out a good man/ of the important 

 details and still the article would contain considerable chaff. 

 "Boiling down" does not necessarily mean shortening an article in 

 the way some folks would understand it. Xo article is too long to 

 publish, providing it contains something worth Avhile in everv para- 

 graph, but not every long article is Avorth the space it occupies, and 

 a short article, so far as space is concerned, may be too long to 

 publish. The question then is, how to get your writings in such a 

 shape that they will tell your story clearly and still use no more 

 words than necessary. Let me tell you how" to do it. 



Sit down and w^-ite out the article without any thought of 

 making it short. Tell your story in detail from beginning to end. 

 Do not miss a single important point and never mind how many 

 pages of paper you fill in writing it. Tell it as nearly as possible 

 as you would tell it to a person with whom you were talking. 

 Keep in mind at all times that the thing sought for is to give full 

 particulars in such a way that your readers will understand them. 



Having written the article out in full, go back to the beginning 

 and read it carefully. Take your pencil and cut out every 

 unnecessary word or sentence. Do not cut out anything Avhich 

 destroys the meaning, but chop out everything you can and still 

 leave the meaning clear. When you get through you will be sur- 

 prised at the amount you have cut out. Go over the article once 

 more and change the sentences whercAcr possible where such change 

 will shorten the sentence and still leave the meaning. After you 



{Continued on page 2j6) 



