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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



December, 1917 



A 



C 



L W A Y S 

 and every- 

 where, the 

 world over, there 

 have been con- 

 servatives and 

 radicals, p r o - 

 gressives a n d 

 stand-patters. It 



is almost impossibb to read foreign politics 

 withont constantly feeling the personalit'es 

 of the opposing leaders of the eonsen^ative 

 and the progressive elements. History is 

 full ot them, so too are religion, polities. 

 industiy, and the social customs of civiliza- 

 tion. Together they make for the steady 

 advance of the race. The radicals keep us 

 from stagnation and the conservatives with- 

 hold us from reckless ruin. , Naturally 

 enough the majorities are usually solidly 

 eonsen^ative, and so progress comes slowly, 

 safely. 



Once there was only one man in the world 

 who believed that world to be round; there 

 was once only one who had faith in a " pas- 

 sage to India;" only one Avho dared nail 

 theses to church doors. Not many years ago 

 woman's sulfrage, profltnsharing, and pro- 

 hibition were mere dreams in the hearts of 

 a devoted and unpopular few. Tliis gener- 

 ation is seeing them come into their own. 

 The conservative majority that clings to the 

 established order of things it was born to, 

 forg'etful that it too was once a daring 

 dream, is slowly and awkwardly coming for- 

 ward, reluctantly, painfully, climbing up 

 into the high places to which these vision- 

 aries have led. And there, you know, it will 

 settle, content, and the oncoming generation 

 will find this new point of progress, the 

 established order of things, to be dung to 

 and cherished, and in its turn relinquished 

 most slowly in answer to the patient, eager 

 call of the dreamers and leaders of a fairer 

 day to come. A world-old process it is, 

 thru which God is teaching us to become 

 perfect. And there is no line of human ac- 

 tivity thru which it does not surge. 



Even among beekeepers — even among 

 sideline beekeepers and amateurs — there is 

 this same tendency to settle into ruts, and 

 smile amusedly at new ideas, when all these 

 well-recognized methods with which we are 

 so satisfied were once new " notions " them- 

 selves, smiled at with equal amusement by 

 the beekeepers of an older day! What a 

 hopeless radical and dreamer was the first 

 itian who ever " kept " bees at all ! How 

 some ancient people must have smiled at the 

 idea of an artificial house for wild bees. 

 Then, doubtless, they became popular. 

 Graduallv these first man-made bee-shelters 



Beekeeping as a Side Line 



LI 



3 



Grace Allen 



W^^^^^^^ 



have changed 

 with the chang- 

 ing years. Then 

 in the day of 

 skeps and boxes 

 came the absurd- 

 ity of movable 

 frames. Every- 

 b o d y smiled ; 

 now everybody uses them or is called un- 

 progressive. 



And are we now settled to our own satis- 

 faction; or is the open mind become more 

 of a habit with the human race — with that 

 part of it with Avhich we are chiefly concern- 

 ed — the beekeeping fraternity? Somehow 

 I believe it is, and I make my appeal to 

 this growing spirit of opien-mindladness. 

 How I he journals help! Their columns are 

 generously open to everything progressive, 

 to the discussion of all methods, old or neAV. 

 Shall we readers shake our heads and say, 

 " The way I am doing now is good enough 

 for me"? Or shall we be always eagerly 

 alert for a higher degree of skill, a wider 

 understanding, a new \asion of possibili- 

 ties ? Nor Avould this necessitate being 

 swept off our feet by every curious scheme 

 put forth. Let us not waste our seasons in 

 riotous experim.enting; but do let us read 

 cai'pfullj^, listen thoughtfully, and give un- 

 pi'ejudiced consideration to every new sug- 

 gestion. 



The Department of Agriculture has estab- 

 lished a division of beekeeping and put it 

 in charge of educated, scientific investiga- 

 tors. The man who merely grins and says, 

 " No sense in pampering bees that way," is 

 akin to the mountaineer who was advised to 

 keep hog's that would develop more quickly 

 than his razor-backs, and set aside the sug- 

 gestion with the drawled retort, " AVhat's 

 titne to a hawg?" 



While beekeepers who read Gleanings do 

 not use razoi"-back methods, still wo are far 

 from the end of improvement in this ancient 

 and fascinating pui'suit. A hundred years 

 from noAv men may smile at our antiquated 

 ways and our limited results. Let us keep 

 always in the line of march. We sideliners 

 especially can experiment in a small way 

 with certain well - advised new methods. 

 Wintering, is it? We can get one quad- 

 ruple case. Or we can easily try Mr. D:^- 

 muth's scheme, page 842, November Glean- 

 ings. Or we can contrive single eases out 

 of boxes. Windbreaks? Perhaps we can 

 set our few bees over on the south side of 

 some fence or old shed for the winter. Or, 

 wbat is slill m.ore thorogoing as an experi- 

 ment, we can so m.ove only part of them and 

 compare results. 



