332 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



" clarin' up " spell on that account. Most of 

 the rooms were just as clean as a dwelling 

 house ; yes, far more so than some I have 

 seen. Then everything was so handy and con 

 venient — so systematized. Each had a par- 

 ticular duty to perform, and the manner in 

 which these duties were performed pleased 

 me exceedingly. It was with a sort of pride 

 in the work. 



Yes, I went out with Ernest and looked at 

 the bees. The apiary is very pleasantly lo- 

 cated. The view lately given in Gleanings 

 of the Shane apiary, after it had been 

 brought home, is the only one that does jus- 

 tice to the beauty of the yard. This view, 

 however, does not show the whole yard. 

 The evergreens on the north and west sides 

 stand in as neat and symmetrical rows as I 

 ever saw. As an ornament and wind-break 

 they are a success. Ernest is experimenting 

 quite a little now in regard to the use, or 

 non-use, of absorbents. It looks now as 

 though absorbents might be an actual detri- 

 ment. Let the bees seal the covers down 

 tightly, so no moisture will escape, then use 

 protection of some kind outside the hives, 

 where the moisture cannot reach it. The 

 management of the apiary and of Gleanings 

 is left largely to Ernest, while the business 

 management is in the hands of Mr. Calvert. 

 Gardening is Mr. A. I. Root's hobby now ; 

 the "boys," as A. I. calls them, being al- 

 lowed a wide latitude in their departments. 

 They are more given to the " trying of new 

 things " than is the case with A. I., although 

 no momentuouR step is taken without his 

 advice or consent. 



One of the new things that are about to be 

 brought out is a reversible honey extractor. 

 It is not automatic, but the baskets can be 

 reversed so (luickly that but little time is 

 lost, while much is gained in the way of 

 making the can smaller and in lessening the 

 expense. 



Yes, I saw that bright youngster of eight 

 months, Leland Ives, who is now able to sit 

 up in a high chair and make a noise in the 

 world. I did feel a little guilty for coming 

 away without calling on his new cousin, 

 Howard Root Calvert, but he is so young 

 that I feared he wouldn't take much notice 

 of me. 



As some of you may know, Ernest's hobby, 

 or one of his hobbies, is that of photograpliy, 

 and when I tell you that he brought home 

 his fourth or fifth camera on the day of my 

 arrival, it is not to be wondered that his wife 



said, " What ! another one ? " using the same 

 tone and expression that my wife sometimes 

 uses when I bring home a new font of dis- 

 play type. 



When I woke up in the night it took me 

 some little time to decide that it was A. I.'s 

 windmill that was going " squeak, squeak, 

 s-q-u-e-a-k." "Yes," I thought to myself, 

 "it's master's hand is away in the West. 

 If it were here that windmill would be — 

 greased." 



But enough of incidents. I could fill the 

 Review with them, but there are so many 

 things that must go in this issue that I must 

 close by saying, success to the " Home of 

 the Honey Bees," and those who work 

 therein. 



WKITING FOK THE BEE JOURNALS. 



Only the editor of a bee journal realizes to 

 the fullest extent how dependent he is upon 

 his subscribers for interesting and instruct- 

 ive matter with which to please and instruct 

 his readers. Some people can tell more than 

 they know : others know more than they can 

 tell. Editors belong to the former class. 

 Perhaps this is putting it a little too strong, 

 but an editor ought to be able, at least, to 

 tell all he knows. If he can't do this he has 

 missed his calling. As a rule, an editor 

 could easily fill every issue of his journal 

 with his own pen. But that wouldn't do. 

 People tire of the same style, and the same 

 way of looking at things. Variety is the 

 spice of life. We crave variety in our 

 victuals and it is the same with our mental 

 food. Even though an editor possessed the 

 knowledge which would enable him to credit- 

 ably till the paper, there would be much 

 greater satisfaction if this knowledge came 

 from dift'erent sources and was served up in 

 a variety of styles. It is evident that bee 

 keepers are a little "tired" of some of the 

 old writers. They have "told their story" 

 so to speak, and the clamor is, " give us 

 something new." There seems to be a desire 

 to hear from those who "know more than 

 they can tell." In my opinion there is little 

 fault to be found with those who do write. 

 The only trouble is to get all to write. It's 

 something the same as it is at a bee conven- 

 tion. In a meeting of 100 members a dozen 

 will do all of the talking. I know from ac- 

 tual experience how hard it was once for one 

 man I know of to get up and "speak in 

 meeting." When he got up everybody was 

 " looking at him," and he could only say a 



