1903 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



135 



y^^:JloOT 



In this issue we are oblig'ed to leave out 

 our usual installment of illustrated matter, 

 for the simple reason that a large amount 

 of j^ood matter has been accumulating- for 

 several months back, and is still awaiting 

 a chance to get before the public, most of 

 which, too, is already in type. So this 

 time we put in nothing but pure reading- 

 matter, and that relating largely to ques- 

 tions and answers. Some of them are 

 somewhat belated; but it is the best we 

 can do. 



HOW THE rambler's DEATH IS MOURNED 

 BY OUR READERS. 



Kind and endearing expressions showing 

 real sorrow and love for the Rambler are 

 coming in by the hundreds. I knew our 

 friend was dear to all our subscribers; but 

 I never realized that he had so closely inter- 

 woven himself into the hearts and affections 

 of all our readers. Those whom he met on 

 his travels seem to feel especially the loss. 

 Thej' think of him as a near and dear 

 friend and brother, taken, as it were, from 

 their midst; for as he appeared in almost 

 every issue of this journal our readers felt 

 as if they were keeping in close touch with 

 him; and now to know that they shall see 

 and hear him no more, the blow seems to 

 strike deep to the heart. 



I should be glad to publish some of these 

 letters; but at this rate I could fill up sev- 

 eral issues with such letters alone. As it 

 is, I can onlj' refer to them in this general 

 way; and I am sure I am expressing the 

 thanks of his surviving relatives and his 

 many friends when I say we one and all 

 feel deeplj' grateful for all these kindlj^ ex- 

 pressions of love and affection. 



THE CLIMATE OF CUBA, AND HOW^ A. I. ROOT 

 ENJOYS IT THI:RE. 



In a letter recently received from A. I. 

 Root, in Cuba, he says he never felt better 

 in his life. Verily he seems to have found 

 the "fountain of perpetual youth," not in 

 Florida, but in Cuba. The climate seems 

 to be delightful ; his malaria is entirelj^ 

 gone, and he goes about thinly clad, like 

 the natives. When he left Medina he had 

 a pinched look; malaria and chills were 

 hanging over him ; he was muffled up in 

 heavj' overcoat and overshoes, and had a 

 fur caji drawn down over his head and 

 ears. Now these things are all cast aside. 



Pie is outdoors most of the time, riding a 

 wheel, and is recuperating as perhaps he 

 never did before, even in Michigan, which 

 latttr place has seemed hitherto to be a 

 panacea for all his ills. 



It is barely possible that some of our 

 readers may have imagined that the climate 

 of Cuba is unhealthful, from the fact that 

 our dear friend the Rambler died of fever; 

 but where he was located in Taco-Taco it 

 was swampy, and infested with mosquitoes 

 of the malarial kind. But the main por- 

 tions of Cuba, especially in the winter, are 

 decidedly healthful. 



THE GENERAL SUBJECT-MATTER OF A BEE 

 JOURNAL ; THE VALUE OF QUES- 

 TIONS AND ANSWERS. ~ 



I HAVE often wondered what parts of our 

 journal were most interesting to the mass 

 or the great majority of our subscribers. I 

 have supposed the technical articles from 

 the limited class of expert bee-keepers were 

 eagerly read by other expert bee-keepers, 

 but that the department of questions and 

 answers was of but little interest to them. 

 And yet I have had bee-keepers of many 

 years' experience tell me they have often 

 picked up many valuable little kinks in 

 that part of our journal. 



In this issue we have given an extra num- 

 ber of questions and answers, and I shall 

 be glad to hear from our subscribers as to 

 whether or not a preponderance of this kind 

 of reading is what they want. 



Perhaps a little experience of my own 

 may be somewhat suggestive. I am a be- 

 ginner in automobile driving. I sent for 

 several text - books on running gasoline- 

 engines, and subscribed for two automobile 

 journals; but I am free to acknowledge that 

 the part of these journals most interesting 

 to me is that relating to questions and 

 answers. The long technical articles are 

 too much for me. A subscriber, for exam- 

 ple, goes on to state that his gasoline- 

 engine slowed down very fast, and finally 

 came to a standstill, and he could not make 

 it go. The answer of the editor, who is 

 supposed to have "been there." is "mighty 

 interesting reading," I can tell j'ou. From 

 the department of questions and answers in 

 these journals I have picked up more ideas 

 of value in the management and running of 

 these horseless vehicles than I have from 

 any other department of the papers or from 

 anj' book; and when I came to compare my 

 own experience as a novice in the auto- 

 mobile line I began to wonder whether my 

 experience might not be almost identical 

 with that of beginners in bee-keeping who 

 are eagerly thirsting for information. 



We can make our text-books as elaborate 

 as we please ; we may try to cover every 

 phase of experience ; but there are many 

 combinations of experience that can not 

 be entirely covered in text-books ; and it 

 therefore devolves on some editor, who has 

 learned in the dear school of experience, to 

 pilot his brother-man out of darkness into 

 light. 



I should be very glad to get postal-card 

 expressions from some few thousands of our 

 subscribers. By the way, it may not be 

 known, but Gleanings goes regularly to 

 over 15,000 families now; and we as pub- 



