Many years ago, my dad, the first beekeeper I ever knew, took me to the barn early one morning to milk the cows. We lived in the Lake Ontario Snow Belt and the snow was pretty deep for a four-year-old. Dad walked ahead of me. Looking back he saw me leaping from one of his footprints to the next, trying to match his stride and fit my little boot prints in his.Fifty-five years later, I again attempted to follow the footsteps of giants. In 1890 and again in 1897, Ernest Root, editor of Gleanings in Bee Culture packed his Sunday clothes, stuffed a veil in his back pocket, and strapped a "Kodak" under his bicycle seat. He wanted to meet some of the New York beekeepers and discover the secret to their large honey yields. His journey, by train and bicycle took him zigzagging across New York State.
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