THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



147 



cc-ssitate a chaiifjo of niothotls, but 

 (iiicc tlioso c'liaii.ucs a IV ma do. uioi'C 



;i|iiai'i('S iiuiy lu' slartcd witlioul aii}' 

 atldilioiial cluui.nt's Ikmiil;- uiailc. 



*^U»»L»>l*.»^^ 



THK VAI.UE OF SYSTEM. 



IturiiiL;' a rcrciit visit to llic A. I. 

 Itiint Co.. 1 was mueli iilcascd with 

 the (•oniiiictcncss with wliicli their 

 inisiiH'ss h.is liccii svsleniatjzcd. Ev- 

 er.. oiHce w;is well iirovichnl with 

 drawers, i)ii;eou-holes and tiling: cabi- 

 nets. They have also recently adopt- 

 ed the vertical system of tilini;' their 

 eorresiiondenee. The ordin;'.ry system 

 is to tile letters alphabetically, and to 

 kee]> copies of corre.spondence in a 

 copy book. This is better than no 

 system, bnt it thntws all the corres- 

 pondence of the letter •"11." for in- 

 stance, under wiiich head there may 

 be letters from fifty men, into one 

 pocket. In order to find a letter from 

 Hutchinson, all of this correspondence 

 nnist be looked over. Then again, to 

 find a copy of any former letter writ- 

 ten to Hutchinson, it must be bunt- 

 ed up in the copy-book. With a limit- 

 ed business tills is not a serious mat- 

 ter, but in a lai-ge business, like that 

 of the A. I. Root Co., there must be 

 still more system, and this is accom- 

 plished by giving each correspondent 

 a number, and putting all of his let- 

 ters in an envelope, accompanying 

 them with copies of the replies made 

 te these letters. All the letters that 

 I have written to Mr. Root in a long 

 time are all to.gether. Iiy themselves, 

 in the oi-dei- in which they hare been 

 received. i)l;iced in a large envelope, 

 and in with them are coi)ies of the 

 replies that have been sent to me. 

 This enveloijo is given a number, and 

 set up on edge with thous.-inds of oth- 

 er envelopes, .-ill ariaiiged in regul.-ir 

 order, numerically, in drawers. If 

 tliey wish to refer to any correspond- 



ence that they have bad with me, 

 they simply look in an ali)habetical 

 iiKicA foi' ni\- name, see what my nuni- 

 I ei- is. turn to tlu' drawer, and it is 

 oidy the work of a moment to fish 

 out the proper envelope containing the 

 \\liol'> "story" lainning back for 

 iiionths or years. 



This is a samiile of the ways in 

 which th(\v are able, at a moment's 

 notice, to put their tingers upon any 

 desired inloi ni;ition. Tlie n;imes and 

 addresses to which price lists and 

 cj.t.-Hjgues are sent, ;ire upon cardt:" 

 arranged alphabetically according to 

 State and towns. There ;ire ways for 

 telling from what source the name 

 was received, when it was received, 

 ."nd if any business has come Ironi 

 this man. If no business conifs in 

 four years the card is thrown out. At 

 seasonable times catalogues are sent 

 out to this list of names. Mr. Root 

 told me that they attributed a large 

 share of their success to the thorough 

 manner in which their business had 

 been systematized. 



EXTRACTED 



FORMALIN GAS. 



How it may be Used in Destroying the 

 Germs of Foul Brood in Combs. 



Professor F. C. Harrison, bacteriolo- 

 gist in the Ontario Agricultural Col- 

 lege, has, for several years, been pay- 

 ing special attention to foul brood, 

 and. at the Ontario Bee-Keeper's Con- 

 vention, held in Woodstock, in Decem- 

 bei'. 11)01. he gave the result of some 

 of these experiments; among others, 

 that of fumigating foul broody combs 

 with formalin gas. From a report pub- 

 lished by the American Bee Journal, 



