1904 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



117 



— that of making- the cells too deep. In 

 practice the bees seem to prefer a comb 

 ^somewhat thinner for storage ; but just how 

 *much thinner I will not attempt to say. 

 The tendency at the present time is to make 

 something weighing 14 ounces or less in or- 

 der to get thinner combs — tomake shallower 

 cells in order to get better and quicker fill- 

 ing. Departing, as we have, from the 

 exact pound weight for so long a time it is 

 perfectly legitimate now to sell by the 

 piece, just as we sell eggs by the dozen. 



There can be no difference of opinion in 

 regard to the grocer mentioned in your next 

 to the last sentence. If he intends to de- 

 ceive, then there is something " rotten" in 

 his heart. — Ed.] 



A JOKR on the editor of Review is a lit- 

 tle too good to keep. He heads an editori- 

 al, "Stick to one thing," and refers to 30 

 3-ears of hard work fitting himself out in 

 bee-keeping-, and a little further along 

 mentions incidentally that 10 of that 30 

 years he studied and practiced photogra- 

 phy "just as j'ou and I have studied bee- 

 keepiny — reading all of the journals and 

 books on the subject." But it's all rig-ht, 

 W. Z.; if a man sticks to one thing as a 

 vocation, he'll do that one thing- better if he 

 has something else as an avocation. More- 

 over, you made photography serve you to 

 do better work in your cliosen vocation. 

 [The average person, I think, does not dis- 

 criminate between vocation and avocation; 

 but as you use the term, and correctlj', too. 

 avocation is not a business or means of 

 livelihood, but a delightful diversion from 

 one's regular bread-and-butter work. The 

 average person will live longer — certain- 

 ly those who are engaged in professional 

 work — if he can have something to relieve 

 the strain on his mind, totally different 

 from the train of thoughts that occupy his 

 attention during the day of bread-getting. 

 A. I. R. would have been dead long ago if 

 he had not had some hobby to ride; and I 

 fear that I myself would lose interest in 

 bees very soon if I could not break the mo- 

 notony once in a while by thinking about 

 cameras and automobiles. If you could 

 hear father and me talk autos you would 

 think we had found the "fountain of eter- 

 nal youth;" and certainly it is a fountain 

 to both of us. Photography has been one 

 of my diversions; indeed, I believe it was I 

 who urged on Bro. Hutchinson the advisabil- 

 ity of taking up the matter of picture-mak- 

 ing; and the next thing I knew he was at it 

 as if it were his cooling stream of youthful 

 vigor. As in the case of Mr. Hutchinson 

 and mj'self, it has worked nicely along 

 with our regular business — that of putting 

 out illustrated journals. And say, doctor, 

 while talking about avocations, diversions, 

 and fountains of eternal youth, why couldn't 

 j-ou have told us about those roses and the 

 posies, and other things that help to keep 

 you young? In another Straw in this issue 

 you almost go into ecstasies in telling 

 about the geranium. Indeed, if I mistake 

 not, you could hardly restrain yourself 



from bubbling over a little more than you 

 did ; but you felt that you must confine your- 

 self to beedom, and you do by offering- a 

 splendid illustration of the truth made by 

 the French scientist in our last issue. 



And speaking about diversions reminds 

 me that Prof. George Frederick Wright, 

 the world-renowned geologist, of Oberlin, 

 was once a minister in a small pastorate, 

 at $600 a year. In his spare moments he 

 found great pleasure and profit in studying 

 the rocks in the neighborhood. He kept up 

 these studies until scientific men came to 

 know about him. He went to Oberlin, and 

 there evolved his talks on the "terminal 

 moraines " of North America from which 

 new facts in the world's history have been 

 brought forth. He has been sent to Alaska 

 with a party of scientific men, and now he 

 is recognized as authority throughout the 

 whole world. Avocation — yes, that is what 

 it was. If it had not been for hobby-rid- 

 ing, A. I. R. would still be a jeweler. 

 Bees became with him an avocation, and 

 after a time it became necessary for him to 

 have another avocation — first, gardening, 

 then greenhouses, bicycles, and automo- 

 biles. 



Going clear back to Hutchinson and his 

 avocation, you can not imagine how much 

 pleasure he and I have had in talking over 

 picture - making — negatives, developers, 

 lenses, cameras, etc.; and when I see you 

 I am only too sorry that I am not up on 

 roses so that I can discuss this beautiful 

 subject. 



Perhaps this seems like a long footnote, 

 and out of place in a bee- journal; but stop 

 and think a minute. There are a good 

 many more persons in this world who are 

 taking up bee-keeping as an avocation, or di- 

 version, than there are who take it up as a 

 vocation or a means of a livelihood. Is there 

 any thing in all this wide world that fur- 

 nishes to the busy man — the merchant and 

 the farmer, the lawyer and the doctor — 

 anj' more restfut thought than the study of 

 bees? I am sincerely glad that I can help 

 to create a new world of pleasure for tired 

 brains. — Ed.] 



^JVeieJhbor^Jieldj 



5? 



REVUE INTERNATIONALE. 



In retiring from the editorial chair which 

 he has filled so ably for the past quarter of 

 a century, Mr. Bertrand makes a short re- 

 view of his CHreer as editor of one of the 

 best bee- journals in the world. As might 

 be expected, his words are of special inter- 

 est to his readers at home; j'et I do not feel 



