Hello All,
Many times I have been asked which article I have read in  bee magazines was
the most interesting as in winter (like now with temps around zero and over
a foot of new snow expected to arrive in the next 48 hours) I read and
reread old bee books and magazines. I also run up enormous phone bills
talking to beekeepers in other states when I get bored with reading bee
books!

One article stands out and I believe I will attempt to get Kim to rerun the
article in Bee Culture.

In the May  1946 issue of "Gleanings  in BEE Culture" ( vol 74, no.5 pg.
265) is an article about Alexander De Griaznov of Fresno, California titled
" He Does the Impossible".

Mr. De Griaznov is blind  and  ran 700 hives of bees  with only a driver &
seeing eye dog  for help at times.

A couple quotes from the article :
"From the very beginning of my work in the land of the silvery mist, I was
and still am, advised to sell ,to quit, to do something else  than my
beloved work"

At the time the article was  written Alexander had been keeping bees blind
for seven years. He had increased his hives from around 400 to around 700
hives.

Alexander tells of crawling  from hive to hive at the start but later using
ropes  to follow to find the hives.

The adjustment to blindness:
"Then came a year of adjustment , of torture indescribable, of change from
the world of light to the world of shadows."

Alexanders reason for the article in his own words:
"Not for the sake of publicity or acknowledgement,but with a sincere desire
to be useful to those thousands of our youth that came from this war with my
handicap, I am writing these lines."

I have said many times you can tell quite a bit about a hive from listening
and the smell of the hive and the article backs me up:

Alexander wrote:
"One has to adapt himself to the new conditions , new surroundings, find new
ways to judge the hive by lifting,touching,smelling and listening."

He tells a method a blind man can locate the queen and of running his finger
over the frame to find swarm cells. Way to many things to list from the
article in this post.

Perhaps a few California beekeepers from the Fresno area which knew
Alexander might comment .

Sincerely,
Bob Harrison

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