1899 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



799 



development of bee-keeping in Canada through 

 business and months of work in winter for 

 the government at fanners' institutes, lectur- 

 ing on bee keeping through the country in 

 Canada, and although I have, time and again, 

 been at bee conventions in the United States, 

 not only the International Bee-keepers' Asso- 

 ciation, now the United States Bee-keepers' 

 Union, yet of the development of bee-keeping 

 in the United States I know but little. 



To visit the Root establishment from year 

 to year I was, however, struck with the re- 

 markable development of the business. It 

 may not be due to the development of the 

 business of beekeeping in the United States, 

 or in part owing to this development. I have, 

 however, no doubt it is due to the excellent 

 quality, workmanship, and design of the 

 goods turned out, leading to the securing of 

 more home trade. Then, too, the improve- 

 ments which I have noted must lead to ever 

 increasing foreign trade ; and that this is ac- 

 tually the case I know from the class of goods 

 which I have seen made. 



Taking some of the leading departments I 

 was particularly struck with the improvements 

 made in the manufacture of comb foundation. 

 If the firm will pardon me for frank criticism, 

 when first I saw this department some five 

 years ago there was nothing in it which inter- 

 ested and instructed me ; in fact, I had seen 

 better. With the adoption of the Weed pro- 

 cess of comb foundation, however, there was 

 a revolution ; and although I have been over 

 many times since, I believe that, without ex- 

 ception, each time there has been marked im- 

 provement in the method of manufacture, and 

 a corresponding degree of excellence in the 

 quality of the manufactured article. Every 

 detail is looked into most carefully, from the 

 crude wax in all shapes and colors, to the 

 neatly boxed and papered comb foundation 

 ready for the section or frame as the case may 

 be. At some future time I may have some- 

 thing to say about the value of full sheets of 

 foundation for sections, extracting-frames, and 

 frames in the brood chamber. 



The next most striking feature was, in 

 my estimation, the section-making depart- 

 ment. During my last visit, I understand 

 carloads were being made for export trade. 

 Only those who have had some insight into 

 the many difficulties connected with the man- 

 ufacture of this line can appreciate the way 

 in which these sections are turned out com- 

 plete, white, without a particle of roughness, 

 and folding with the least amount of break- 

 age. As basswood becomes scarcer and scarcer, 

 and sections go up, as they must, in price, 

 surely bee-keepers before long will be com- 

 pelled to get some substitute. What shall it 

 be ? or will they have to go back to the four- 

 piece sections? 



During my last visit it was my good fortune 

 to see some very expensive machinery in oper- 

 ation, recently put in for the manufacture of 

 hives. With the most suitable machinery, and 

 buying lumber in cargo lots, we can readily 

 understand how the best workmanship and 

 material can be supplied for the money. Every 

 good bee-keeper knows that the cheapest in 



the end is to buy good goods ; the original 

 cost is a secondary matter so long as the arti- 

 cle is right, and many of us know that the 

 best goods can not be sold for the least money; 

 but as to prices, 1 have made no comparison. 

 I have said nothing of many other depart- 

 ments, such as honey-extractors, smokers, 

 comb-foundation machines, etc. These I must 

 pass over for lack of space ; but there are two 

 other departments which I believe deserve 

 special mention. First, the bees. I visited 

 only the home apiary; but here in August the 

 bees appeared to be quite busy working on 

 sweet clover. I was surprised. At my home, 

 Brantford, the bees have never done much on 

 it. I do not know how much the bees directly 

 contribute to the financial success of the busi- 

 ness ; but any one can readily see that a firm 

 having hundreds of colonies of bees, and 

 using the various appliances they make, is 

 likely to have more practical appliances ; and 

 such an apiary or apiaries would, indirectly, 

 be of great benefit to the bee-keeping custom- 

 ers of such a firm. Of course, there will be 

 differences of opinion as to the way in which 

 hives, etc., should be made; but on the whole 

 the effect of practical experience must be very 

 wholesome. 



The printing department speaks for itself. 

 I am anxious to see the new edition of the 

 ABC, which was in process of development 

 when I was there. I understand it will have 

 many important changes; and, like the evolu- 

 tion of the bicycle, to be up to the times we 

 shall have to purchase a new and sell the old 

 to some one beginning, and who can learn 

 much out of the old copy. 



Gleanings is well known, and speaks for 

 itself to its readers. I suppose there is no 

 reader who would indorse every thing said by 

 the editor. As long as the human mind thinks 

 at all for itself it can come across no other hu- 

 man mind which will think just as it does ; 

 but we can indorse in a general way; and from 

 the large circulation the paper has, and the 

 steady progress it has made (I have its num- 

 bers from the beginning) it must have many 

 warm friends. 



About liquor and tobacco, the Roots and I 

 will never quarrel. I believe friend Root 

 could benefit many physically were he to urge 

 the abandonment of drinking strong tea, or, 

 for that matter, tea-drinking altogether, and 

 especially for growing children. 



Brantford, Canada, Sept. 25. 



[It would hardly be proper for us to say 

 much in a footnote, any more than that we 

 thoroughly appreciate all the kind things that 

 the former editor of a bee-journal and a man- 

 ufacturer of bee-keepers' supplies has seen fit 

 to say in regard to the machinery, equipment, 

 and work of The A. I. Root Co. Mr. Holter- 

 mann has visited us a number of times, and 

 certainly is in position to know whether we 

 have made progress or not. — Ed.] 



.S". IV. £., Ind. — We usually figure on about 

 20 or 25 lbs. of stores for outdoor colonies, 

 and 12 lbs. for those wintered in the cellar or 

 other winter respository. 



