332 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 1. 



out all impurities and filth (if there is any) be- 

 fore it is made into foundation, deep-cell-wall 

 or otherwise. 



I believe Doolittle told the truth in that 

 bee-paper, when he said that this deep- 

 cell-wall foundation was much nearer perfec- 

 tion for what it was intended than was the 

 foundation which was accepted "with the 

 tossing of hats " by all, with its advent; and 

 there is not a thing, nor has there been any 

 thing uttered by the opposition to shake the 

 truth of his assertion. Many have thought 

 that comb foundation was something sent from 

 God (as are all good things which are appro- 

 priated by men), and if so (and who has doubts 

 in the matter ■?) then this deep-cell-wall foun- 

 dation stands in the same category, so far as 

 any proof to the contrary has been given. 

 Would it not be well for the opposers to turn 

 and read Acts 5:34-39, inclusive, till they can 

 give us sometning besides prejudice to sustain 

 their position ? 



While much more fair than many of the 

 others, 1 am surprised at some of the things 

 written by Bro. Hutchinson. The desire to 

 prejudice against the deep-cell-wall founda- 

 tion is quite apparent in one of his articles. In 

 this he is only doing what he considered very 

 unfair in the sugar-honey controversy. Some 

 sensitive people, while eating honey at my 

 house, have piled up bits of wax about their 

 plate, when eating honey, before the advent of 

 foundation, equal to any thing that 1 have 

 ever seen since, when the same persons were 

 eating comb honey from sections which were 

 filled with foundation; while the one who 

 found no wax in his comb honey before founda- 

 tion came, finds no wax now. There has been 

 such a desire to prejudice against this deep- 

 cell-wall foundation that matters have been 

 only partly stated, all evidently having been 

 given with a desire to create an opposition to 

 it, and not in its favor. 



Go on, friends Root and Weed; for in this 

 abuse and desire to prejudice, instead of argu- 

 ment, you have no reason for complaint. If 

 those opposed choose to fire in the air, why 

 should you complain? Keep right on with 

 your work. Waste no lime in answering state- 

 ments that are not arguments. Do not spend 

 time and effort in trying to defend yourselves 

 from these personal attacks. The utmost you 

 need to do is to remind the opposition (unless 

 something is presented different from what 

 there has been) that your personal character or 

 ability is not the " question before the house," 

 and that your opponents, in attacking you per- 

 sonally, concede thai they have no argument to 

 produce. 



From what I have read so far, as put forth 

 by the opposition, I am constrained to give 

 President Lincoln's little story, in closing: In 

 conversing with a friend about the way his 



administration was criticised and attacked, he 

 said: "After all, it reminds me of a couple of 

 immigrants fresh from the Emerald Isle. They 

 were making their way westward in search of 

 work, when, one evening, coming suddenly 

 upon a pond of water, they were greetod with 

 a frog chorus— a music they had never heard 

 before. Overcome with terror they clutched 

 their sticks and crept forward. The enemy 

 could not be seen. At last a happy idea seized 

 the foremost. Stepping to his companion's 

 sid^ he exclaimed, " And sure, Jamie, it is my 

 opinion it is nothing but noise!" Justice. 



[Both of these articles came unsolicited; for 

 we have not thought it necessary to scour the 

 whole bee-keeping world writing letters (as 

 the opposition has) to secure sympathizers. 

 With the exception of the party mentioned we 

 have not received one word of protest to the 

 drawn foundation (and we have sent out now 

 hundreds of samples) from our subsribers and 

 patrons. On the contrary we have received 

 scores of letters of encouragement and praise 

 at the success of the new foundation. — Ed.] 



ANSWERS TO 



|5Ei^OMABLS:£l0]ESTn 



Br G.M.DOOLITTLE.BOROOINO.N.Y. I 



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STARTING IN BEE-KEEPING. 



Question. — Having been persuaded by a 

 friend to take Gleanings in Bee Culture, 

 through the reading of the same I have a de- 

 sire to start in bee keeping. Seeing that you 

 have a beginners' department in that paper I 

 am led to ask you how many colonies I had bet- 

 ter purchase to start with. I had thought of 

 buying 50 colonies. Do you think that number 

 would be as many as I should buy? 



Answer.— M.Y answer would be, that said num- 

 ber would be from twelve to twenty-five times 

 as many as any beginner should buy unless he 

 has considerable knowledge of the business be- 

 fore thus starting into it. The beginner should 

 guard against going recklessly into bee-keep- 

 ing by putting his last dollar into a business he 

 knows nothing of. It is this getting crazy over 

 a business which looks to be a good thing, but 

 with which we are not acquainted, and invest- 

 ing all we have in it, expecting to make a for- 

 tune, which ruins so many. To be successful 

 in any thing, a man must "grow up" in it by 

 years of toil and study till be becomes master of 

 the business, when, in nineteen cases out of 

 twenty, he will succeed. I was brought up a 

 farmer, and educated by my father as such, so 

 that, were I to change my occupation at any 

 time, it would be to that of farming, unless I 

 could have time to study up some business more 

 to my liking before I left bee-keeping. Pardon 

 a little personal reminiscence, given by the 

 help of old diaries. 



In the winter of 1868-'9 I became interested in 



