FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 141 



of some foolish project that I thought might increase the crop. 

 But I luiven't done as badly as I might have done, for my good 

 wife has acted somewhat as a balance wheel, advising me to 

 "go slow" and not experiment on too great a scale, and she has 

 always been abetted by her sister, who is perhaps over-con- 

 servative. I could have tested my plan with 15 excluders just 

 as well as ten times that number, but I knew the plan would 

 work, and I couldn't wait! I think I didn't consult my wife 

 about ordering the 150 excluders. As I grow older I may 

 learn cautiou, and ex|ieriraent on a suuiller scale, but too much 

 should U'lt be expected of me. 



Fiij. 43 — C rook-and-plate Feeder. 



PLEASURE OP EXPERIMENTING. 



As an offset to the mischief done by experimenting on too 

 large a scale, I may say that one of my keenest enjoyments is 

 the working out of problems connected with beekeeping. There 

 is never a time, summer or winter, when I am not cooking one 

 or more schemes, plans or projects connected with the business. 

 No doubt more money could be made at beekeeping if every- 

 thing, in the business were fully settled and we knew before- 



