PREFACE. 
In 1904 we began the publication in ‘‘Gleanings in Bee Culture,” an 
illustrated semi-monthly magazine, a series of articles from the pen of Mr. 
E. W. Alexander, of Delanson Schenectady Co., N. Y. For a period of 
nearly forty years Mr. Alexander had been keeping bees in a large way, 
producing honey by the carload. He was regarded during a large portion 
of that time as the most extensive bee-keeper in Northeastern New York ; 
but it was not till later that he began to give to the public the secrets of his 
success, 
His first writings were so valuable, coming from so ripe an experience 
covering so many years, that, as editor of ‘Gleanings,’ I finally induced 
him to furnish us a short series of articles. So much impressed was | with 
_ the value of his teachings in practical apiculture that I tendered him a sum 
far in excess of what I had ever offered any other new contributor, and 
with only one xception did I ever pay any writer more than Mr. E. W. 
Alexander. After he had completed us his first series I induccd him to 
continue as a regular contributor, and this he did with more or less regu- 
larity up to the time of his death, September 19, 1908. 
During a good portion of the time that he was furnishing us matter for 
the journal he was a great sufferer; and his disease finally compelled him to 
lay down his pen, which he had used so long and so well in behalf of his 
brother bee-keepers all over the country. After his death there came an 
almost universal demand for those articles in book form. So insistent were 
these calls that we were finally prevailed on to pick out the best of his ideas, 
and we now have pleasure in presenting them to the general public. 
In this series of articles Mr. Alexander gave out many useful hints and 
‘‘tricks of the trade.’’ Some of these seemed to be almost revolutionary, 
not to say unorthodox ; and occasionally his methods were criticised as being 
‘‘impractical and valueless.’’ But in order to understand the man and his 
writings one needs to know something of his locality as well as his methods 
of management ; for hiy forty years of experience had shown that they were 
in perfect harmony, and, so far as he was concerned, he had no desire to 
recall anything he had said. While at times he may have seemed unortho- 
dox, yet it must be remembered that he occupied a locality where conditions 
were peculiar, not so say remarkable. He was the only bee-keeper in the 
United States who was ever able to manage from 700 to 800 colonies all in 
one yard. Others have had as many as 600; but this has always been 
regarded as an extremely high figure for one place. Mr. Alexander’s apiary 
was located, and is now, in fact (under the management of his son), on one 
of the hills near the little town of Delanson, N. Y. It is probably one of the 
finest, if not the finest, buckwheat bee-ranges in the United States. From 
the Alexander apiary, when the fields are in bloom, one can see from twenty 
to thirty white patches down in the valley and on the hills, to which the 
