932 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Decembee, 1917 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



Conversations with Doolittle 



" Why don't those who wa-ite articles 

 for the bee-papers get them up and have 

 them printed so that they will be seasonable 

 for the readers just at the time they appear 

 in print? It is rather j^rovoking to read 

 in the December number an excellent arti- 

 cle about how to manage swarms, or one on 

 selling' our crop of honey in April and 

 May. One of the reasons for admiring 

 your articles in Gleanings has been that 

 many of them come to me at just the time 

 when they are the most applicable." 



It is a diPficult matter to have everything 

 seasonable that appears in our bee-papers. 

 Some discussions are started when the sub- 

 ject is seasonable, and then the debate runs 

 on until the subject has outlived its use- 

 fulness, or become unseasonable — i:)ossibly 

 both. Then when a man has had some in- 

 teresting experience with the bees he is in- 

 clined to tell it while the " fever is on," or 

 not at all. By the time be has written it 

 out and sent it to his favorite paper, and 

 the editor has it in type and room made 

 for it, and the printecl article greets the 

 eyes of the reader, the time for profiting 

 for that particular knowledge has passed 

 for that year. Then, unless this especial 

 article has been " pigeon-holed," by the 

 time another year brings the proper season 

 for that particular article it will probably 

 be forgotten unless it happens to be of an 

 unusually important character. Doubtless 

 it has never occuiTed to very many readers 

 of our bee-papers that the last publication 

 received should contain just the seasonable 

 information wanted, as is evidently the 

 thought of our questioner. I know that it 

 would be ideal to have the June Gleanings 

 give directions for the care of a swarm 

 that might come out just when I was read- 

 ing about it ; but we can hardly expect that 

 the publishers of Gleanings could have all 

 the matter of our June number entirely 

 seasonable for that month. 



In order to put us in touch with all the 

 topics discussed in Gleanings tlu*uout the 

 year, we are furnished, at the close of each 

 volume, with an index that tells us just 

 where to find the information we want. 

 However, this may not be in the last com- 

 plet«d' volume; and we may be compelled 

 to refer to some older volumes. But if we 

 have been careful to keep all the volumes in 

 good order we can, by turning to the in- 

 dices, find almost anything we want. "With 

 perhaps the exception of one or two num- 



bers of one or two volumes, I have Glean- 

 ings perfectly complete since the firsfissue. 



]f, during the busy season, I find some- 

 thing that I would like more time to read, 

 I jot it down in a little book I eai-ry with 

 me; and when the leisure of winter comes, 

 these old volumes are looked over to see 

 what has been said on these particular sub- 

 jects. Then what I read is boiled down to 

 the smallest compass and jotted down in 

 another book which I keep for the coming 

 season. In passing, allow me to say that, 

 in this way,- I find that much which is 

 written as something new was brought up 

 and discussed from 20 to 45 years ago. 



Besides the above, I have a way of in- 

 dexing when reading an unciomplebed 

 volume. If I find anything I wish to use 

 or refer to again I note it down in my 

 index; and so in a brief space I make sea- 

 sonable such matter as I wish to refer to 

 again. For instance, in December I found 

 something about swarming that stiiick me 

 as better than what I have been accustom- 

 ed to, therefore I turned to my index book, 

 and under June 1 put " G. 16, p. 257. New 

 about swg." Then when June, 1917, came, 

 the past season, along about the tenth of 

 the month I looked at Gleanings for 1916, 

 on page 257, and there found just what I 

 wanted. If the item was on selling a ci'op 

 of honey, then the index for October was 

 used, and so on. When tried, if it is better 

 than anything I had used before, such in- 

 dex is underscored. If of value, but no 

 better, it is left untouched. If cf no valne, 

 a mark is drawn thru the whole. In this 

 way I have indexed nearly all of the vol- 

 umes, so that I can turn to all the really 

 good things of the past 45 years, or find 

 that wliich I have considered valuable dur- 

 ing all of my beekeeping life. 



Now a word about my articles in Glean- 

 ings being seasonable: In December of 

 each year I go over all the questions which 

 have been sent in, and, in accord with my 

 views, sort out for each month that which I 

 consider seasonable for the month ; then 

 during the winter, as I have leisure days I 

 Avrite the matter up, using my index if 

 necessary to help refresh my memory. Oc- 

 casionally the editor does not seem to agree 

 with me, or for some reason puts in an 

 article for a month for which it was not 

 intended; and where this is done it throws 

 the other articles " out of joint." But I 

 always calculate the editor knows better 

 than I in these matters. 



Borodino, N. Y. G. M. Doolittle. 



