158 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Mab. 15 



As to the reason for shutting out brood- 

 rearing, Mr. McEvoy has already explained 

 himself in our March 1st issue, page 135. 



E. B. BOOT IN FLOBIDA. 



Fob two or three years back I have cher- 

 ished the thought that I would visit the 

 one State in the Union into which I had 

 never set foot. One thing and another have 

 delayed that visit until this winter. Our 

 youngest, a little six-year-old (A. I. Root 

 second) , came down with whooping-cough. 

 As he was having it very hard, the doctor 

 said that we had better take him to Florida 

 at once. How to get him there without ex- 

 posing other children was a problem. We 

 decided to secure a drawing-room, or state- 

 room, on a Pullman where wife, boy, and I 

 could travel by ourselves to Baltimore. 

 Thence we took a state-room on a boat to 

 Jacksonville, and from Jacksonville we 

 took another Pullman drawing-room direct 

 to Bradentown. We arrived on Saturday, 

 the 25th of February, in the land of sun- 

 shine and flowers. What a contrast! It 

 was cold and rainy at Medina when we left, 

 and at Bradentown it is hot and dry. It 

 was excessively wet at Medina, and excess- 

 ively dry here. But, notwithstanding, I 

 find just the country I have pictured in my 

 mind's eye — a beautiful climate, tropical 

 vegetation, and a bracing air. While the 

 A. I. R. second still "whoops" he is much 

 stronger, although we have been here but 

 four days. Now, you will wish to know 

 what I think of A. I. R.'s Florida home. 

 Say, it would do you good to see him play 

 with his chickens, his posies, and his plants. 

 He has his place nicely fixed up; and as he 

 takes you over his grounds you can't help 

 sharing his enthusiasm. How he delights 

 in showing the visitor his latest acquisition, 

 this new plant, his ducks, his Buttercups, 

 his coops, his waterfall, his creek back of 

 the lot! and Mrs. A. I. R. too — what a world 

 of good it is doing her ! Say, you needn't 

 tell my wife; but mother's cooking does 

 taste so good! 



Many people have been ordered by their 

 physician to go to Florida, little dreaming 

 that their poor health is really a blessing in 

 disguise. I have met many persons who, 

 before they came here, were verging on the 

 brink of the grave; but after a few weeks or 

 months of this climate they have found the 

 " fountain of eternal youth." 



But what about Bradentown in particu- 

 lar? I don't know much about other spots 

 in Florida; but I see tropical vegetation in 

 all its glory. The freeze that visited many 

 parts of Florida within the past week has 

 done no damage here; indeed, Bradentown, 

 by reason of its peculiar location on the bay, 

 is protected in a way that most towns in 

 this part of the State are not. Orange- 

 groves are being set out everywhere around 

 here, and old trees show that the climate 

 here has been kind to them. The people 

 are of the best from all parts of the United 

 States; indeed, I don't know of any com- 



munity where one will find better company 

 than here. Many bee-keepers who have 

 read Gleanings have located here, not nec- 

 essarily to keep bees, but to raise fruit, keep 

 poultry, or raise garden truck. If it keeps 

 like this we shall have a Gleanings fam- 

 ily here. 



There ! some of you will think I am try- 

 ing to boom Bradentown. Neither my 

 father nor myself have any land to sell. 

 We are not interested in any scheme. A. I. 

 R. came here to get health and rest, and 

 has found both. E. R. Root. 



new edition of advanced bee cultube. 



About twenty-five years ago W. Z. Hutch- 

 inson, editor of The Bee-keepers^ Review, 

 was producing comb honey by hiving 

 swarms on frames without foundation. In 

 many respects this was similar to the Sim- 

 mins non swarming plan; but Mr. Hutchin- 

 son, apparently, did not have so much in 

 mind the idea of preventing swarming as 

 the production of fancy comb honey, and at 

 the same time save the cost of foundation. 

 His experiments at the time were written up 

 fully in Gleanings. These articles aroused 

 so much interest that A. I. Root prevailed 

 upon him to write a booklet describing his 

 system. This appeared in due time, and was 

 entitled " The Production of Comb Honey." 



In the meantime, Mr. Hutchinson start- 

 ed The Bee-keepers^ Review. After this 

 had been running a few years, during which 

 time he took up special topics, the edition 

 of his little book was exhausted, and he was 

 prevailed upon again to write a much larger 

 work, taking in not only his system for the 

 production of comb honey but all these oth- 

 er special-topic subjects as well. The new 

 work, entitled "Advanced Bee Culture," 

 appearing in 1905, was printed and illustrat- 

 ed on the finest enameled book paper. The 

 illustrations were all original, for the author 

 had taken up photography. Some of his 

 photographs are veritable works of art. 



While the work was designed for only a 

 very limited class of bee-keepers, the edition 

 was exhausted some months ago. Having 

 a good, many calls for it I wrote to Mr. 

 Hutchinson, inquiring why he could not 

 get out a new edition. I received back word 

 from his wife that Mr. Hutchinson was sick 

 in the hospital, and had been there some 

 months. After our friend had partially re- 

 covered, the thought occurred to me that 

 possibly I myself might be able to revise the 

 book by inserting in their proper places re- 

 cent editorials that had appeared in The 

 Bee-keepers'' Review. As there seemed no 

 immediate prospect of his early recovery, I 

 wrote him suggesting that I undertake the 

 work for him, saying that my somewhat ex- 

 tended experience in revising and revising 

 and revising again the various editions of 

 the A B C and X Y Z of Bee Culture might 

 qualify me for a similar work on "Advanc- 

 ed Bee Culture." 



After some correspondence this was agreed 

 to. The task then devolved upon me of go- 

 ing over old volumes of The Bee-keepers'' 



