188fi 



GLEANlN(iS IN BEK (^n/niM: 



09 



plisbiuent will comnu'iid itscll' to those who have 

 studied and thought in this direction. The honey- 

 board and bcespaoe.s, no one will abandon who has 

 Kiven it a fair trial. With the rase of reversion and 

 contraction, the bee-spaces and honey-board, and 

 ability to at once invert sections, we have comb- 

 honey production reduced to a science. 



There are, however, some things to criticise. AVe 

 did hope our frien<l would outgrow his morbid no- 

 tions about "swelling our ranks," and "special- 

 ists," before he wrote this valuable work. We are 

 sure the increase of demand has more than ex- 

 ceeded the increase of snpjily. Wife tells nie, that 

 during the war she paid 00 cents for very poor cot- 

 Ion cloth, while the best sells to-day for 7 cts. In 

 IHTO the same cloth was 18 cts. per yard by the bolt. 

 Since I have kept house, fifteen years, sugar has 

 declined more than one-half. Thus honey is no ex- 

 ception; and does not Mi-. Heddoii and everybody 

 know that high prices make brisk trade and eager 

 buyers? True, jieople did i-un after honey lifteen 

 years ago, and so did they after fruit and all com- 

 modities. Do they to-day? As long as I know of 

 scores of amateur bee-keepers who arc securing 

 pleasure, health, aud i>rofit, from their bees, I shall 

 still take issue with my friend. 



There are a few minor points, like function of 

 drones, stimulative feeding, etc., that T feel to criti- 

 cise; but on the whole the book is admirable, and 

 should, and I trust will, be at once in the hands of 

 every enterpi-ising bee-keeper in the land. 



Agricultui-al College, Mich. A. .1. Cook. 



1 believe, frieml ("ook, 1 can stand with 

 > on in every thing yon liave said. Every 

 bee-keeper wlio waiits to be up with the 

 times sliould read lleddon's new book. 



-^ 



"SUCCESS IN BEE CULTURE." 



t'HIEXD IJOOT S CIUTU 1SM> 



"K-^ FTEK what we have heard fr-om others re- 

 ^iK gardiiig our little book and the new system 

 jFnk of management for comb honey, and new 

 '•■''^ hive adapted thereto, your remarks on page 

 15 may have a wholesome tendency to prevent 

 our becoming vain. I supi)OBe we are all fond of 

 •,>raise. 1 believe we all ought to be. 1 hope never 

 to sink so low as not to feel a thrill of pleasure 

 when receiving that praise v,-liich I have endeav- 

 ored to merit. 



Or who would even care to do bra\'e deed. 



Or sti'ive in virtue, others to e.\cel. 

 If none should yield him his deserved meed. 

 Due praise, that is the spur of doing well? 

 Foi- if good were not praised more than ill. 

 None would choose goodness of his own free will. 

 1 believe it is neither honest nor wise for us to 

 feign indifilerenee to the good opinion of others, or 

 their candor in expressing that good opinion. I 

 believe with the poetYoung, that. 



The love of praise, liowe'cr concealed by art, 

 Keigns, more or less, and glows in every heart; 

 The proud, to gain it, toils on toils endure; 

 The modest shun it but to make it sure. 

 Still, we do not e.vpect praise from eveiy one. 1 do 

 not now call to mind the history of any person who 

 did, or even endeavored to bring about any reform, 

 cither in social, moral, or business life, but that 

 made opposers, and sometimes enemies thereby. 

 Greville tells us that "these men who are com- 

 niended by everybody must be very extraordinary 



men; or, what is more prt>liable, very inconsidera- 

 ble men." 



The above is not said with a belief that in your 

 remarks on page 45 you endeavor to " damn with 

 faint praise," as Pope says; yet after we have en- 

 deavored to present the best we know, both in 

 mechanical construction and manipulation in the 

 apiary, looking from our standpoint it seems as if 

 yon had misconceived something in your forced, 

 hasty review of the book and new hive; and as 

 these subjects are just now greatly interesting 

 many readers, and have been paramount with me 

 for more than a year, I ask for space for a fair and 

 candid explanation. 



I ajipreciate your sympathy regarding the trouble 

 we have with the engravers, and thank you for 

 your words of praise for the author, and am gla<l 

 you did not say the book was not wtjrth the price 

 asked. I have seen many essays upon apiculture, 

 that I considered worthless to any one, and worse 

 than Avorthless to many; but I never saw a book de- 

 voted to our business that was not worth many 

 times more tlian the price asked. 



You say you "think the book should be read in 

 connection with other works," and give your rea- 

 sons for so believing, both of which arc entirely 

 correct; and I thank you for the reasons given, than 

 which nothing more commendatory need be said on 

 that point. You say, that to you the main feature 

 of the work is the new hive. Were the book hand- 

 ed to me a stranger, I should look at it just as you 

 do; 18 of the '^2S pages are devoted to that subject; 

 and if any reader should infer by j'our remark that 

 the book was a part of the new hive, rather than a 

 description of the new hive being a part of the book, 

 I would call attention to father Langstroth's work, 

 and the further fact of the viroportion of importance 

 of the hive as compared to all else related to bee 

 culture. 



Y'ou next say the new hive is to throw the old one 

 (i.e., our modification of the Langstroth ) entirely 

 aside. If you meaii in principle, that is just the 

 way it looks to me; but if you mean that sentence 

 to be taken literally, in its broadest and most ex- 

 travagant sense, for the benefit of some of your 

 readers, please allow me room to explain. I have 

 tried to exercise care not to say any thing that 

 might lead any beekeeper astray. 



It is not human to be always right; and whatever 

 I may have said that tended to lessen the income of 

 any bee-keeper I deeply regret, and assure you that 

 my intention was exactly the reverse. 



I do 7iot advise any one to exchange a good hive 

 for a better one, in a rash and hastj- manner. Rut 

 few of my present 450 colonies are in the new hive, 

 and I shall make the change only as fast as economy 

 will warrant. My thousands of straight all-worker 

 combs in reversible L. frames will not be sacrificed. 

 This thought should have been in the book; but we 

 shall be thankful thatour journals may supplement 

 our books, as my little work is intended to sujiple- 

 ment the more comprehensive works of others, is 

 it strange that the little "Success," like its author, 

 should be a siiecialist? 



You speak of your thoughts of years ago of a case 

 without frames, with top and bottom bars for many 

 of the purposes <jf my new hive. These same 

 thoughts I entertained during the evolution of the 

 new hive; but T found that, to make the system 

 complete in all eases, the combs should be movable. 



You say it is a little amusing to see rae go back 



