1901 



GLEANINGS IN BEJE CULTURE. 



487 



stone walk in front, it is just fun to hear their 

 exclamations at such a variety of new and 

 startling " Lady Washington geraniums " as a 

 good many persist in calling them. 



Do you wish to know what is in the annex ? 

 Well, we have been so busy that we could not 

 attend to it, and a lot of things came up them- 

 selves. Last year we had Burpee's dwarf nas- 

 turtiums, and they had their own way, and 

 went to seed. This year the " stertians " 

 came up like weeds all over these beds. The 

 boys pulled up a great lot of them, but some 

 of them escaped long enough to get into 

 bloom, and then they were so pretty the boys 

 hadn't the heart to pull them. Well, they 

 just clambered all over the arnex, and now it 

 is just a bank of nasturtium-blossoms 



Now, isn't this enough about the posies for 

 one issue? But it isn't all. I will, however, 

 tell the rest of it in another column, that is, 

 unless the boss printer says he can not possi- 

 bly find room for any more of my talk about 

 chickens, posies, and gardening. 



TRAP-LANTERNS, ETC. — A WARNING. 



Just now there are several venders of patent 

 moth-traps (for orchards) trying to make out 

 that their trap will take the place of spraying. 

 They even go so far as to tell how inefficient 

 spraying is, how it kills domestic animals, 

 etc., in order that they may better show up 

 the advantages of their trap. I came pretty 

 near saying worthless trap, but it does destroy 

 some insects ; but it is just as likely to destroy 

 insects that are a benefit to the farmer as the 

 other kind. Unfortunately these fellows have 

 got one experiment station to give a sort of 

 recommend. See the following, which we clip 

 from the Country Getit/eman : 



Information has just come to me from a fellow-en- 

 tomologist to the effect that a certain manufacturer of 

 trap-lanterns secured his partial indorsement of his ap- 

 paratus in a letter which was properly quoted at first ; 

 but now, I am informed, the restrictive phrases have 

 been omitted, and the professor is made to appear as 

 though recommending the device for all insects. I 

 wish to state that money invested in trap-lanterns of 

 various fortns, including those which have attractive 

 sweet or other fluids, phosphorescent paints and the 

 like, to make them more effective, is a good invest- 

 ment only in a very few special cases ; and before 

 buying them, the advice of an entomologist should al- 

 ways be sought. Some of these trap-lanterns catch 

 many insects, most of which, unfortunately, are of 

 comparatively little economic importance, and the 

 trouble is to get a device which will capture large 

 numbers of the destructive species. Extensive exper- 

 iments at Cornell University have shown that the trap- 

 lantern can not be recommended as a practical means 

 of controlling many insect pests. Beneficial as well 

 as well as injurious insects are captured, and some 

 pests, like the codling moth, are taken in very small 

 numbers. Farmers are, therefore, advised to go very 

 slow in buying trap-lanterns. E. P. Felt, 



N. Y. State Entomologist. 



Prof. Felt is good authority, and he is, with- 

 out question, right about the matter. 



Humbugs and Swindles. 



On page 410, May 15, 1900, we showed up 

 Prof. Weltmer, of Nevada, Mo., and mention- 

 ed that the postal authorities had decided him 

 to be a fraud, and refused to deliver mail to 

 him any longer. I have also since mentioned 

 that he simply started business again under 



the name of Joseph H. Kelly, and kept right 

 on. I forwarded several bundles of his ad- 

 vertising matter* to the Postoffice Depart- 

 ment, at Washington, and now we notice by 

 the Henry Co. (Mo.) Democrat, of May 3, 

 that both parlies are now arrested as frauds. 

 See the following, which we take from the 

 above periodical: 



MAGNETIC HEALERS FINED. 



Kansas City, Mo., April 27.— Stephen A. Weltmer 

 and Joseph H. Kelly, who operated the "American 

 School of Magnetic Healing," at Nevada, Mo., were 

 fined 11500 each in the federal court. The charge was 

 using the mails for the purpose of fraud, by promis- 

 ing for a consideration to cure persons of poverty and 

 all known bodily ills through absent treatment and 

 mental suggestion. 



ARE FINED 81500 EACH; JDDGE PHILIPS MAKES IT 

 LIGHT ON WELTMER AND KELLY. 



Prof. S. A. Weltmer and Joseph H. Kelly, the Ne- 

 vada " magnetic healers." who pleaded guilty in the 

 United States Court at Kansas City to nine counts of 

 using the mails for fraudulent purposes, were, on the 

 26th inst., fined $1500 each by Judge Philips. The 

 maximum punishment was S5000 fine and a year's 

 imprisonment. The Judge, it will be noticed, made 

 the punishment very light, but the lesson will no 

 doubt cause the "healers" to quit fishing for gullible 

 people in this part of the country. 



THEY PLEADED GUILTY ; WELTMER AND KELLY THE 



MAGNETIC HEALERS OF NEVADA ADMIT THE 



GOVERNMENT'S CHARGES. 



The trial of Weltmer and Kelly, the Nevada Mag- 

 netic Healers, took place in the United States court in 

 Kansas City this week under the charge of obtaining 

 money through the mail by fraudulent pretenses, to 

 heal by absent treatment, etc. 



They plead guilty Tuesday on nine counts, charg- 

 ing violation of the postal laws, and threw themselves 

 on the mercy of the court. Sentence was deferred. 

 It will probably be a heavy fine. 



Weltmer and Kelly were doing a business of $250,000 

 a year, when the postoffice department issued a fraud 

 order against them, because they advertised to cure 

 by " absent treatment." Their business was so enor- 

 mous that it raised the Nevada postoffice to first class 

 and made it the best paying office for a town of the 

 size in the United States. Their mail, held up for 

 three weeks, was found to contain $30,000. 



United States Senator Burton, of Kansas, who ap- 

 peared for the healers, admitted that they had vio- 

 lated the law, but declared their motives were good. 

 " They are on a par with Christian Scientists and di- 

 vine healers, who cure by suggesting health instead 

 of disease," he said. Senator Burton pleaded for len- 

 iency for his clients, on the further ground that the 

 advertisements on which they were convicted were 

 written by a St. I,ouis agency, without suggestion by 

 Weltmer or Kelly, which, to say the least, smacks of 

 downright prevarication, and is too contemptible to 

 deceive any one. Such talk shows a disposition to 

 crawl through a very small hole. 



It seems to me this is a very light sentence. 

 What is $1500 to a fraudulent institution that 

 is swindling people to the extent of $250,000 

 a year ? It reminds me of the way the saloon- 

 keepers are fined. They simply laugh at the 

 matter, hand over the cask, and go right on 

 doing business. I hope, however, the United 

 States courts will give these fellows to under- 

 stand that they are no longer to be trifled 

 with. 



* Perhaps I might explain that I corresponded with 

 the "American Institute of Science" at Nevada, Mo., 

 in regard to terms for being taught "magnetic heal- 

 ing " At first they wanted quite a sum of money for 

 teaching this wonderful art. After a little time, as I 

 did not reply ( I sent them no money), they offered to 

 come down a half, owing to some peculiar circum- 

 stances. Later still there came another proposition 

 to the effect that, if I would send them the money be- 

 fore a certain date, they would make a still further 

 and most wonderful concession, telling me I could 

 easily make from 85 to 825 a day, etc. Many of you 

 probably know the lingo. 



