118 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 1. 



man or company immortal who could show 

 proof of It. No scientific test known to the 

 world can show any force or agency whatever 

 brought into play by this senseless apparatus." 

 '• But, Mr. Root, shall we not base our testi- 

 mony rather on the witnesses — the good honest 

 men and women who have been cured.' What 

 about these?" 



"Just one illustration among the many, 

 friend Clark. Schlatter of Denver— you know 

 of him, of course? " 

 He nodded. 



"Only this week a woman with whom 1 am 

 well acquainted told me she had visited Schlat- 

 ter and seen him perform his wonderful cures. 

 She said a woman came there blind. Schlatter 

 touched her with his hand, and she went away 

 rejoicing in her sight. You know, friend Clark, 

 of the great amount of testimony— the bewil- 

 derinq testimony— in regard to this man's won- 

 derful healing powers. Now tell me— can you 

 for a moment believe that he has been given mi- 

 raculous power that he may do these things ? " 

 " No, Mr. Root, I do not believe he has been 

 given miraculous power." 



I gathered from his smile that he and I 

 thought alike in regard to this matter. The 

 present age, or the last year or two. have seemed 

 to furnish more cases of wonderful cures along 

 this line than any age before us. Then I urged 

 that, even if the apparatus had done or was do- 

 ing good, the price was too great. Charging 

 fifty times the value of a thing can not be hon- 

 est business. 



" But, Mr. Root, if you go to a doctor you 

 have to pay for things much in this way." 



But in this case we have the benefit of his 

 skill, past experience, and intelligence. He tells 

 us what to take and what not to take." 



" But suppose you do not go to a doctor. You 

 go into the drugstore and pay a dollar for a 

 bottle of medicine." 



Well, dear friends, I had to give up a little 

 right here. When you go into a drugstore and 

 pay for a bottle of medicine, you do come pret- 

 ty near — at least a good many times you do- 

 paying fifty times the real value of the thing 

 you buy. Let us be consistent, though, and say 

 ten times the real value. A bottle of medicine 

 probably costs the manufacturer 10 cents, and 

 it sells for fl.OO. Of course, the advertising 

 costs a good deal, and the purchaser is expected 

 to pay for said advertising. Friend Clark did 

 not say so, but editors of Christian papers have 

 told me in substance that it is the fashion now- 

 adays to charge a dollar for things that cost 

 only a few cents. Perhaps we should say it is 

 the fashion where we can find ignorant .people 

 enough. Now, I protest right here. Farmers, 

 gardeners, and the great mass of people at 

 large, do nut get any such profit on what they 

 selL I wonder if these medicine-makers and 

 city people, with their abundance, have any 

 idea that the farmer who sells potatoes at 35 

 cts., and wheat for 50, gets even four or five 

 times what the thing actually costs them. 

 There is a tremendous wrong right along in 

 this line. I do not believe a man can be a good 

 honest Christian, and be willing to take any 

 such prices from his friends and neighbors. 



As I took my leave, friend Clark, in a piece of 

 courteous pleasantry, said I might give Elec- 

 tropoise the credit of having done at least one 

 good thing in its career. It had enabled him to 

 make the acquaintance of A. I. Root, of whom 

 he had often heard; and as we shook hands at 

 parting he expressed a wish to meet me again 

 whenever it might be convenient. Before 

 leaving I said something like this: 



" Of course,! have called on you to suggest, 

 and not to dictate, in regard to your duty. But 

 I do hope, dear friend, that you will investigate 



more fully in regard to this matter, and see If I 

 am not right in thinking there is a very great 

 need that special care be taken that a periodi- 

 cal taking the front rank as a spiritual teacher 

 in the best morals of our land, should be careful 

 of even its advertising pages, and more careful 

 still of its editorial utterances in regard to 

 things of this kind." He smilingly promised he 

 would heed my suggestions. 



ALFALFA ONCE MORE. 



Many are continually asking what alfalfa is 

 like, and others are sending in plants inquiring 

 If this, that, or the other, is alfalfa. Sweet 

 clover has also been confused with it. To tell 

 the truth, the two plants are. In many respects, 

 very much alike. On this account, we have 

 decided to give still another picture of alfalfa. 

 The cut shows a branch of a plant in bloom; 

 also enlarged views of the seed and seed pods. 

 Any one should be able to decide correctly 

 from the branch, flowers, seed-pods, or seed. 



ALFALFA- PLANT IN BLOOM; A B, SEED TOD; 

 C, SEED. 



This cut, like the ones shown last month, 

 was kindly loaned us by the U. S. Department 

 of Agriculture. We take pleasure in submit- 

 ting these pictures, because they are so modest 

 and correct, especially when compared with 

 some of the exaggerated pictures in some of 

 our seed catalogs. The small picture given in 

 our last Issue was that of an alfalfa- plant six 

 weeks old. The large one represents a plant 

 about three years old. Permit us to say once 

 more that any one who contemplates making 

 any test of alfalfa at all should send for Farm- 



