Alexander's Writings on Practical Bee Culture (Classic Reprint)

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Excerpt from Alexander's Writings on Practical Bee Culture 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 succes. 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 1 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 exception did I ever pay any writer more than Mr. E.W. Alexander. After he had completed us his first series I induced him to continue as a regular contributor, and this he did with more or less regularity 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 his 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 unorthodox, 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 500, 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. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.