m 



The BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



cally there seems no insuperable reason why 

 an editor should not ask himself, how would 

 I write on this topic if I had not a dime at 

 stake one way or the other ? An editor 

 »)i /g/i^ with Spartan relentlessnes write just 

 that way. And, if he did, his readers would 

 sooner or later get the hang of the thing, 

 and would probably like the paper even bet- 

 ter than if it kept free from the temptation. 

 But, alack-a-day, 'spects no l)ee editor ever 

 did do this, or come anywhere near it. On 

 the whole, don't. 



It is true, as you remark, that there are 

 two sides to the matter of stopping when the 

 time is out : but I think there are sound 

 principles within sight which will enable us 

 to choose Ijetween the two. To close when 

 the proper time to close arrives is to encour- 

 age promptness and care in financial matters. 

 To run on indefinitely is to encourage a very 

 prevalent, but very pestilent habit many 

 men have. They like to wear their lial >ilities 

 as some women wear skirts, trailing a yard 

 behind, for every dirty mischance in the 

 street to step on. Be a missionary, and 

 make men of these feminine financiers — else 

 dump them in the back yard of some other 

 paper. It isn't fair to bore good folks to 

 please bad folks. Good folks like to know 

 what's what and when is when, and no non- 

 sense about the matter. Quite a few of them 

 have been in the unhappy position of sub- 

 scribers to a periodical they wanted to be 

 rid of and couldn't ; aud even a suspicion 

 that the Review is another crow of the same 

 nest would dampen their friendship toward 

 it. Perhaps your red-letter list will do ; but 

 after it has run, say five years, I should ex- 

 pect to find in it quite a sprinkling of fel- 

 lows whose redness is like to the redness of 

 beets (with the adjective " dead " prefixed.) 

 And nearly every man who is literally and 

 innocently dead will have several years of 

 Reviews snowed on his grave. It strikes 

 me a good plan would be like this : Send 

 each subscriber whose time has expired 

 without renewal one additional number. 

 Do not send these on time, but lay them up 

 on a shelf several weeks. Meantime each 

 reader who really values the publication will 

 be querying, " VVhat's the reason my paper 

 doesn't come ? " Most of them will hit upon 

 the reason themselves, and "pony up." and 

 get taken off the shelf. When sufficient 

 time has elapsed take down the remaining 

 ones and send them forward, first folding in 

 a little colored handbill bearing some such 

 legend as — 



Friend Loiteu,— We feel so sorry to 

 part with you that we send on one more 

 number. If yon wish to stop, you need 

 nut feel at all indebted on account of it ; 

 but if you have only forgotten that tlie 

 subscription is out, why, we should be 

 just delighted to have you renew. 



Very sincerely. 

 Review. 



You make a grand point about the extra 

 value of advertising in a journal where the 

 advertisement is not overshadowed by the 

 publisher's fuller and more pretentious 

 stock of the same line of goods. Better 

 keep that up at the mast head, immediately 

 under the advertising rates. 



And now, to throw a good sized club, what 

 has become of the Review's " cream V " see 

 page \K>, column first. Has it been trans- 

 formed into something else, butter for in- 

 stance, or has the cat got it 'i By the way, 

 giving the cream of cotemporary papers is 

 dangerous business. Readers compare the 

 best of your rivals' work with the average of 

 your own, and make unjust and unprofitable 

 resolutions for next year. I once took a 

 rather dull periodical that provided for this 

 difficulty in a very artistic way. It devoted 

 considerable space to extracted articles, but 

 took very evident pains to extract only such 

 as were even duller than its own. I do not 

 mention this to recommend it. On the 

 whole would it not be as well to let us forage 

 for ourselves mostly in American papers, 

 and give us the cream of British apiculture ? 



When with years and i^rosperity the Re- 

 view gets bigger than it is, so as to have 

 room for it, there should be a department 

 specially adapted to the wants of beginners. 

 At present few people are going into apicul- 

 ture, and perhaps most of them are in the 

 lists of some other paper ; but foresight 

 should look betimes toward a different state 

 of things ; especially when the special topic 

 is a rather recondite one, and treated by a 

 symposium of old heads, the beginner needs 

 to have it minc( d and mellowed somewhat 

 in a special department, if he is to get his 

 best profit out of it. 



RicHABDs, Ohio, 



Oct. 28th, 1890. 



Like Readers, Like Journal." — Let's Have 

 a Little Fun, — Paid for Articles the Best. 

 — Stop Paper When Time is Up. 



*HEN the Rambler first gave his 

 attention to bee culture there was 

 a very small amount of apicultu- 

 ral literature in circulation ; and 

 the learner had to experiment and grope 

 along in the dark. For several years the 

 few journals that wei-e published were de- 

 voted mostly to the advocacy of patent hives, 

 and the editorials were mostly disparaging 

 personal reflections upon the other fellow. 

 We are glad to note a wonderful change. 

 Literature upon this pursuit is plentiful, and 

 instead of going sixteen miles to see how an 

 extractor is made, as a bee keeper did to 

 my knowledge, any text book will now give 

 the novice tlie desired information. The 

 spirit of the journals is of an elevated tone, 

 and who shall we thank for this, the editor 

 or the reader V While we give much credit 

 to the editor, we feel that the reader, by his 

 persistent calls for sense in the editorial 

 chair, has placed there the man he wants ; 

 and, while we are proud of our literature 

 and our editors, we should not forget the 

 whole souled and sensible constituency be- 

 hind the journals. The Rambler has reason 

 to know that bee keepers as a rule rank 

 among the best of our citizens. 



The question as to devoting the journals 

 to various pursuits is one upon which there 

 is a difference of opinion. And those now 



