GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



OUR NEW HO.IIX:. 



M GKEETING~I teiuler to you, my 4.000 

 ^^ readers, as I hand to you my last nuui- 



' ber for the year. Just fancy you see 



me, on the corner of the platform, with hat 

 removed, and hand extended, welcoming 

 you to this, our new home. A few nights 

 ago, I dreamed there was one among you, 

 who refused to shake hands. I hope this 

 was only a dream, for I should hate to close 

 the year, thinking that any thing had occur- 

 red which would prevent even those I have 

 displeased most from giving and I'eceiving a 

 friendly shake of the hand, in spite of our 

 differences. 



Are yo u pleased with the grounds? So am 

 I. Every little while, I look at them and won- 

 der if it can really be so, that God has en- 

 trusted so much to me. It is but a little 

 while ago, that I was the awkward and un- 

 couth boy wliom every body laughed at and 

 made sport of, because I was so slow, and 

 could never understand any thing ; and then, 

 when my awful temper was roused by their 

 ridicule, and I smashed things, or talked bad 

 and said I hated every body, they laughed 

 the more, and all I could do was to go off in 

 the woods by myself and cry. I sometimes 

 wonder even now, if it is not a mistake God 

 has made, and if it will not be taken away 

 and given to somebody else. I fear I shall 

 get mad and smash things again, and wrong 

 and abuse those who are so patiently doing 

 my bidding. I fear I shall get proud, up in 

 my office under that stone bee hive, and 

 choose some other God, in place of that gen- 

 tle Savior who has so numy, many times 

 lifted me out of my troubles, and turned my 

 erring feet in the way they should go. It is 

 no easy matter for me to do right and keey) 

 humble ; temptations sometimes present 

 themselves, in a way that makes me feel al- 

 most as if I would trade all hope of heaven, 

 just for the privilege of plunging headlong 

 into what I know would be luin to myself, 

 and those all about me. If my life is scan- 

 ned and scrutinized closely, it will show 

 many stumblings, and I fear the year to come 

 may prove much like the one past ; but I 

 know my Savior Avill stand before me, if I 

 keep fighting and trying to follow him. 



The artist has made the building look rath- 

 er shorter, compared to its width, than it re- 

 ally is, for a hundred feet is pretty long for a 

 building. The side track, you see, goes down 

 toward the pond on an incline. The pond, 

 too, is farther away than is represented, and 

 the apiary, really, covers about 2^ acres. The 

 small building on the ground, was one of 

 the halls for the fair. In the summer, we 

 used it for our Bible class on Sunday morn- 

 ings, as the boys seemed to like to congre- 

 gate there. The large building next it is the 

 old floral hall. It now contains about 2.000 

 bushels of chaff for making chaff hives. I 

 told you how the boys annoyed me, by play- 

 ing cards there on Sunday. I got their 

 names, and went and talked with them indi- 

 vidually, closing something like this: 



"Boys, which will be the surest, to get you 

 to give me a promise, on your woixl and hon- 

 or^ or to buy some big padlocks? Do you 

 think your word would be as safe as a lock?" 

 "Yes sir; yes sir;" came the replies at 



once, and I thought so too. I do not think 

 they have been there since. 



The gravel walk extends around the seven 

 apiaries, and makes a complete circle about 

 the whole. The <.>rape vines are all jilanted, 

 but not the evergreens. The fountains are 

 not yet, and a tight board fence, takes the 

 place of the neat one the engraver has made. 

 The trees along the road are basswood that 

 we have just set out, they are to go clear 

 round the entire grounds. The inclined 

 side track is where the boys were so deter- 

 mined to ride down hill. The car you see is 

 for drawing up lumber. The lumber needed 

 is placed on the car, and pushed up before 

 the door, wiiere the team stands. It is then 

 handed directly to the planers, then to the 

 rip and cut off saws, and so on until it comes 

 out near the packing room, finished hives or 

 sections, as the case may be. 



The editor of our Medina paper was down 

 a few days ago, and "intervi.rwed''' us. If 

 you will excuse the usual complimentary 

 phrases used, I think I will give, as an ex- 

 tract, what he says : 



[From the Medina Gazette, of Nov. 20th, 1878.] 

 A NOVEL ENTERPKISE. 



A. I. hoot's NEW" MANUFACTURING ESTAB- 

 LISHMENT. 



ALL KINDS OE HIVES, MACHINERY AND IMPLEMENTS 



FOIS THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF BEE CULTURE 



AND THE PHODtTCTION AND CARE OE 



HONEY. 



AN INDUSTRIOUS MAN AND A WONDERFUL 

 GROWTH OF BUSINESS. 



The name of A. I. Root has become a household 

 word in every family In the land, where the raising 

 and care of bees is a part of the industry connected 

 with the family interest and income. In Medina 

 county Mr. Root is known by name, if not person- 

 ally, to all the inhabitants, having been raised in 

 our midst from boy to man, and having been one of 

 the business men of Medina for the past 18 years, all 

 of which time he has successfully carried on the 

 manufacture and sale of jewelry; his silver jewelry 

 becoming known far and wide for its purity, fine- 

 ness in quality, and its honesty in weight. It was 

 in 18C0 that Mr. Root first established himself in the 

 jewelry trade in Medina, and this for many years 

 was his chief business. He was prosperous in his 

 trade, and soon took rank as one of our most suc- 

 cessful business men, which position he has always 

 held. 



In the year 1865 he first became interested in the 

 subject of bees, by the capture of an absconding 

 swarm, which he hived and which was the nucleus 

 around which his interest centered and from which 

 the growth of his great bee business has sprung. 

 From a circular printed in 18T3 and sent out in an- 

 swer to numerous inquiries about the business and 

 his experience, the little "Gleanings in bee cul- 

 ture" sprung, the first number being published in 

 1873, as a ()uartei-ly, at 25 cts, per year. But the fa- 

 vor with which it was received caused the plans to 

 to be changed and it was issued as a monthly at 7.5 

 cts. per year, until 187(5, when it was enlarged and 

 the price'flxed at $1.C0 per annum. Its circulation 

 nows exceeds 4,000. 



From a small beginning in the manufacture of 

 apiarian implements in 1872, Mr. Root's business 

 has increased until during the last season he has 

 emplu>(il upwards of CO hands, and sent his goods 

 to all parts of the world. It is not our intention, 

 however, in this article to go into biographical par- 

 ticulars too minutely, but give a history and de- 

 scription of the new brick building which Mr. Root 

 has erected during the past summer and fall, and 

 which is now nearly completed and ready for occu- 

 pancy; a part of his force being already in the 

 building and busily at work. 



The old quarters in the jewelry store and all of its 

 adjoining apartments that could be rented proving 



