GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



c 



AROUND THR OFFICE 



M.-A.-O. 



LJ 



M-^RCH, 1917 



ECHOES from 

 the g" r e a t 

 war and its 

 tragedies have 

 frequently rcach- 

 6 d the otYice 

 from the far side 

 of the Can a- 

 dian boundary 



line during the last two years. A sub- 

 scriber writes from Kitchener, Ontario 

 ("Kitchener" is boldly rubber-stamped 

 over "Berlin, Ontario," on his letterhead), 

 saying: "Berlin, Ontai'io, has been wiped 

 off the map of Canada, there being no 

 longer such a post office." From another 

 comes this: " I have just received news of 

 my two boys being Idlled in action in 

 France. I have no heart for my bees 

 longer." And from many Canadians comes 

 word of their going to the front. 



* * * 



Heard a well-known bee dignitary recent- 

 ly say, right in the open day of the office, 

 that he once attended a state beekeepers' as- 

 sociation (of a big state, too) that spent one 

 whole afternoon discussing what kind of 

 fuel to- use in a bee smoker — and finally, at 

 5 p. M., concluded by general consent that 

 every man had better use what be could 



get hold of. 



* -* * 



If the Man-Around-the-Office could catch, 

 some dark night and up a dark alley, the 

 fellow over in the editorial end of Glean- 

 ings who promised the new ABC and 

 X Y Z of Bee Culture some time last 

 fall, that fellow would just naturally 

 beg for his life — if he lived at all. That 

 premature promise, in cahoots with a be- 

 lated printing-plant, are together breaking- 

 short off the spinal column of all around 

 the office. * * * 



Some things are right wrong (or partly 

 right). The other day one of our type- 

 writer girls turned this trick. She took 

 off on the typewriter Ernest's dictation 

 from a dictaphone cylinder of the edito- 

 rial on national advertising, which he had 

 headed "They Say It Has Helped." 

 Dictation on a dictaphoiije isn't always 

 clear. When the printer's eojjy had evolut- 

 ed from the dictaphone via Miss Type- 

 writer Girl, the heading of this editorial on 

 national advertising read, " They Say It's 

 H — -." Well, some do, so we hear. 



* * * 



How many of Gleanings' readers are 

 acquainted with Mr. J. H. Donahey, who 

 entertains them with his inimitable cartoons 

 of bee things and situations'? You may 

 know that he is the famous cartoonist of 



1 



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199 



the Cleveland 

 P lain Dealer; 

 but here is more 

 — a sideli g h t 

 thrown on liim 

 b y Cleve land 

 Town Topics : 

 " One of the 

 most successful 

 and best-loved cartoonists in this country 

 * * *with a mind that is a bubbling spring 

 of originality and humor, with a heart that 

 loves nature and his fellow-men * * * one 

 of his diversions is the propagation of bees ; 

 and in the summer Iheir chorus sings nearby 

 while he may work or play." Yes, Donahey 

 is a likable, lovable cartoonist-pliilosopher. 



* * * 



About stopping subscriptions on expira- 

 tion. Well, a few don't like it, but very 

 many more have written us just as this 

 friend from David City, Neb., has done 

 in these words : " I think you are on the 

 right track at last when you adopt the new 

 rule of stopping Gleanings at expiration 

 of paid time. All first-class publications 

 are doing this. It never did look right 

 to me to send the paper beyond the paid 

 time. I go up against that kind quite often, 

 and when I get a statement I say some 

 unkind things that don't do either party 

 any good." We have had scores — and more 

 — of just such letters as that. 



* * * 



A beekeeper from out the West said 

 within hearing of the office cat the other 

 day : " Frank Rauchf uss, of the Colorado 

 Honey-producers' Association, is getting 

 his now. He has done more for the honey- 

 producers of Colorado than any other man 

 alive. Just now the comb-honey market 

 isn't all it might be- — and, of course, 

 Rauchfuss is to blame. When some bee- 

 keepers can't kick one fellow they'll kick 

 another." Wasn't the Westerner right? 



A visitor said to Huber Root the other 

 day : " We would have been better off with- 

 out any bee inspectors. Then the foul brood 

 would have wiped out all tlie careless bee- 

 keepers, and only careful efficient beekeep- 

 ers would be left in the field." So far as 

 the Man - Around - the - Office knows, that 

 visitor may be alive yet. Huber is, but 

 he still looks shocked. 



* * * 



There is probably a mad one down in 

 Jonesville, Lee County, Virginia. He sent 

 a rush order to Gleanings the other day, 

 but forgot the little detail of signing his 

 name. Others do it. Then — " they're a 

 nice lot, they are — never answer a letter." 



