1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



351 



those journals with that of Gleanings, and 

 explain what causes the difference in appear- 

 ance, he would be very likely to say, "The dif- 

 ference is in the size of the type. Gleanings 

 uses a great deal smaller type than do ihose 

 others." But should the reader attempt to 

 prove this assertion by actual measurement, 

 unless he was of a very mechanical turn of 

 mind, he would then declare that he was mis- 

 taken; that there is no difference. But when 

 carefully measured by a finely marked ruler, a 

 difference in size can be seen. The lower-case 

 type of Gleanings measures 2V of an inch, 

 Tfie Century ^, and The Arena ^. The Cos- 

 mopolitan uses about the same size of type that 

 Gleanings does. Measured the other way. 

 Gleanings can print 18 letters to the running 

 inch, CosinopoUtan 17, Century 16 Arena, 15, 

 not allowing room for spacing. This is getting 

 down to hair-line measurement, and the differ- 

 ence in the size of these type seems almost too 

 small to be noticed. Any one, after seeing that 

 there is so little difference in the size of the 

 type used by those four journals, would natu- 

 rally jump to the conclusion that there must be 

 a great deal of difference in the "leading" of 

 the reading-matter; but, again, the measure- 

 ment most emphatically disproves that asser- 

 tion; for, on measurement, the difference in the 

 space beween the lines is only about yoit of an 

 inch. Then the third and most correct conclu- 

 sion is reached: to wit, a very little difference 

 in the size of the type, and a very little differ- 

 ence in the leading, and a very trifle difference 

 in respect to the broadness of the face of the 

 type, is readily noted by the eye. 



But while there is so little difference found 

 in the size of the type used by the four journals 

 in question, there is, as before stated, a vast 

 difference in the appearance of the printed 

 pages of the said journals, and this difference 

 is most quickly discovered by the weary or 

 the aged eye. 



Only one defaced letter in a whole page may 

 be passed by the reader unnoticed; but where 

 there are many defective prints in a page, the 

 eye will quickly discover the inharmony, 

 though the reader may not immediately com- 

 prehend the cause. To further illustrate this, 

 I will here I'efer to page 21 of Gleanings for 

 January, 1894. To me that page did not look 

 right, though I was reading for information, 

 and not for the purpose of criticising. In look- 

 ing for the cause I counted fifty defective prints 

 on the page, and I probably did not discover all 

 the imperfect prints at that. 



It is fair to presume that at least a third of 

 the readers of Gleanings are people past the 

 noontide of life, and that they use glasses in 

 reading; and if this is true, Mr. A. I. Root 

 should, in justice to his readers, not only 

 " lead" his special^department in Gleanings, 

 but should also employ larger type if he can af- 



ford to do so. He, however, is a man of very 

 decided ways, and at times firm almost to un- 

 pleasantness; therefore, rather than be un- 

 horsed from his hobby, which in this case is 

 very small type, he would be very likely to ap- 

 peal to his readers about in this way: 



" Now, my friends, you have read my unlead- 

 ed articles in small type for a good many years; 

 what say you ? Do you want a change to larger 

 type and leaded matter?" And to the question 

 so put, especially if it came up in the way of 

 criticism, in all probability the answer from a 

 large majority of his readers would be, " No 

 change; the present style is good enough for 

 us." On the otner hand, should he first put his 

 special department in larger type and lead it 

 out, and then say, " My friends, I have given 

 you my talk this week in a larger type; what 

 say you ? Do you like it better than the smaller 

 tvpe?" I feel certain that none of his readers 

 would be backward about expressing their ap- 

 proval. 



I do not claim that good taste is violated by 

 solid (unleaded) matter in Mr. Root's special 

 department; and, so far as I know, he might 

 use pearl type and not violate any rule known 

 to publishers. But as he writes these articles 

 with the expectation that they will be read, 

 he certainly should manifest some concern as to 

 whether they can be easily read or not. Allow 

 me to draw a picture from every-day life. 



Mr. A. is a farmer and bee-keeper. The day's 

 work is done, and he is physically tired. He 

 takes Gleanings, and reads, as is his custom, 

 from first to last page. Somehow or other the 

 print blurs a little, and he cleans his glasses 

 and continues his reading, but with consider- 

 able discomfort to his eyes. It happens to be 

 on one of those occasions when eyesight ap- 

 pears to be a trifle out of order, and he does not 

 enjoy his journal quite as well as he had an- 

 ticipated. He finally concludes that he is too 

 tired to read the journal through, and that he 

 will just turn to Bio. Root's special department 

 and compose his mind for sleep. But the letters 

 blur worse than they did when he first com- 

 menced to read; but he struggles through half 

 a column of ethics, and then lays the book 

 down with a feeling that he will either have to 

 give up his reading at night or get a new pair 

 of glasses. Thus Bro. Root's article is never 

 finished by Mr. A. 



Allow me to further illustrate: The reading- 

 matter of Gleanings is crowded into eight 

 lines to the inch; A. I. Root's special depart- 

 ment, eleven lines to the inch; and the A.I. 

 Root Co.'s advertisement of wire netting, on the 

 inside of the back cover, is 13 lines to the inch, 

 and on colored paper. It is true, that most 

 rapid readers read from the form of words, and 

 not by spelling them; yet, to so read, the letters 

 must be far enough apart to be distinguishable 

 from each other, and the space between lines 



