310 FORTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES. 



WRITING FOR THE BEE-JOURNALS. 



Besides the reading, there is the writing. Some extra 

 writing usually to be done each winter, besides the regular 

 work in that line. I have written "Stray Straws" for 

 Gleanings in Bee-Culture ever since December, 1890, and 

 four years later I began writing answers to questions in 

 the American Bee-Journal. The thought of keeping up 

 that work year in and year out, with never a vacation 

 summer or winter, would be somewhat wearisome if it 

 were not that I delight in the work. If any one of my 

 readers should hesitate about sending to me any question 

 connected with bee-keeping because of the thought that 

 it will be unpleasant to me, let him disabuse his mind of 

 any such thought. The receipt of such questions is a 

 real pleasure. 



One thing, however, that gives pain instead of pleas- 

 ure, is to find a stamp enclosed upon opening a letter, for 

 then I know that the writer expects an answer by mail, 

 and, in justice to others, answering bee-questions by mail 

 is a thing I cannot do. If I should answer one by mail 

 I must answer others, and the only fair way is to treat all 

 alike. The request for me to answer a question in the 

 regular "Questions and Answers" department in the 

 American Bee- Journal will always be cheerfully complied 

 with without any stamp accompanying the request. 



Possibly some one of my readers might desire a pic- 

 ture of the office in which I do my work. That would 

 take a number of pictures. According to circumstances, 

 my office may be on the back porch seen in Fig. i, or it 

 may be in anyone of nine different rooms inside. A look 

 at the furnishings in Fig. in will show that it isjro 

 serious undertaking to move my "office" whenever de- 

 sired. I never like to be far from the rest of the family, 

 and when at work I enjoy the sound of their voices, even 

 though I may pay no attention to what they are saying. 



