872 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 



or a mixture of the three. No matter whether it is 

 poorly written, or even written in three languages, 

 or a mixture of the three, our proof-reader, some 

 way or other, manages to decipher it. This is not 

 written to encourage polyglot writing, but to show 

 how the people of this world do write sometimes in 

 conveying their wants. Now, do not get discour- 

 aged, friends. We are not finding fault, but the 

 contrary. If writing postals in three languages is 

 the best you can do, keep on and we will do the 

 best we can for you. you remember the central 

 thought of Our Neighbors this issue is about neigh- 

 bors who speak to us in unknown tongues. 



MOODY'S SERMONS. 



About a year ago, or perhaps a little more, there 

 was quite a disappointment because we were una- 

 ble to get any more of the books entitled " Moody's 

 Best Thoughts and Discourses." We wrote to the 

 publishers, but could not induce them to get out 

 another edition. One of the best things in regard 

 to the book is, that whenever it got into a neighbor- 

 hood it was loaned right and left until it got worn 

 out. For ten years past I have kept a copy in our 

 county jail, and almost every prisoner that gets in 

 there was sure to read Moody. After the books 

 were gone I tried to get even a single copy to put in 

 the jail, but I failed. Imagine my astonishment 

 when I found out, a few days ago, that our boys 

 had a couple of copies of Moody's Sermons in their 

 cheap library; but instead of being 75 cts. and post- 

 age, as is the book mentioned above, the price is 

 only 3D cts. ; by mail, 10 cts. additional. One of the 

 books is entitled " Evenings with Moody and San- 

 key;" the other, " Hold the Fort." The latter con- 

 tains quite an extensive biography of Moody and 

 Sankey, as well as of P. P. Bliss, the author of 

 many of the Moody and Sankey Gospel Hymns. 

 The other is simply a collection of sermons. It also 

 contains an account of the revival convention held 

 in the city of New York, in March, 1876. Each of 

 the books contains many of the best sermons here- 

 tofore found in the Best Thoughts and Discourses. 

 As the books contain nearly 300 pages each, they 

 are wonderfully reasonable. For some time I have 

 lamented that there were not more good moral 

 books in our cheap library. Both of these books 

 are intensely interesting. If you just lay them 

 around, almost everybody will read them; and I 

 hardly need add, that nothing in the shape of a 

 book has a more moral tendency, or a more elevat- 

 ing tone, than these reports of Moody's Sermons. 1 

 can not tell you how glad I felt when 1 found them 

 for sale in our store, at the low price of 30 cts. each. 



SEEDSMEN, AND A LITTLE PLEA FOB THEM. 



I have quite a good many times heard severe 

 and uncharitable remarks in regard to seedsmen 

 because of their enormous profits. Somebody, for in- 

 stance, grows a crop of seeds for a seedsman. The 

 seed is furnished him to plant, and he sells matured 

 crops, say for from $4.00 to $5.00 a bushel. A few 

 months later, when the catalogue comes out, the 

 price may be perhaps $15.00 or $20.00. It looks bad, I 

 confess; and I, too, used to indulge in severe criti- 

 cisms. Since 1 have been dealing in expensive seeds, 

 especially of novelties or untried things, I have had 

 my eyes opened a little. At present our seed cata- 

 logue quotes the Ignotum seed at $15.00 a pound, 

 while we are paying only $4.00 for the same amount. 

 Why this great discrepancy? I will tell you. In 

 our basement is quite a lot of seeds that have cost 



me large sums of money. Some of them are old 

 and worthless; others are not worth a quarter 

 what I paid for them. I was foolish in buying more 

 than the market demanded; yet we have been so 

 greatly annoyed by being out of certain seeds 

 when there came an unexpected demand for them 

 that I have decided I would rather have considera- 

 ble to throw away than to vex people by telling 

 them we were sold out, or that we could not get 

 any more without paying twice as much as we have 

 been selling them for. No seedsman can tell how 

 much he is going to need of any thing. Of course, 

 he can tell something by past experience; but even 

 with the best judgment he can bring to bear, he 

 frequently gets badly " left." Now, I do not know 

 how much Ignotum seed can be scraped up as the 

 product of the seeds we gave away last spring; 

 neither do I know how much is going to be called 

 for. It is very desirable, however, that we have 

 enough seed on hand to furnish some to every appli- 

 cant. It is also exceedingly desirable for me not to 

 have 25 lbs. (that cost me $100).uncalled for. I have 

 not yet sold a pound for $15.00; but I have sold 6 lbs. 

 for $36.00, and 2 lbs. for $20.00; and 8 lbs. is about all 

 I have been able to buy so far. A good many 

 seedsmen have asked me my best present figures. 

 If any of you prefer to advertise what seed you 

 have, rather than to sell it to me for the small sum 

 of $4.00 per lb., I am willing you should do so, for I 

 have not told this little story to excuse myself, but 

 simply to let you see how difficult a matter it is for 

 a seedsman who expects to fulfill all his promises, 

 and to supply all demands that come to him for 

 seeds. Before spring the price of the Ignotum 

 seed may be less than $4.00. It may also be more 

 than $15.00. Supply and demand must decide. 

 With alsike clover and Japanese buckwheat, of 

 course the case is far different. What we buy for 

 a dollar we can well afford to sell for $1.25, because 

 they are established staple seeds; but it must be 

 remembered, that a bag substantial euough to 

 stand shipping by freight must be furnished for 

 each bushel, half-bushel, or even peck, and there is 

 also some danger of having several hundred bush- 

 els of buckwheat on our hands, that cost us over 

 $1.00 per bushel, that might have to be sold for even 

 less than a dollar. Seedsmen quite frequently sell 

 even staple seeds at less than cost; therefore they 

 can not bring the purchase price and selling price 

 so near each other as one might, in taking a cur- 

 sory view of the matter, think they should. 



PUBE WATEB IN GBEAT ABUNDANCE. 



Perhaps 20 rods from where I am writing this 

 there is a rise of ground, and it goes up a little high- 

 er than any other ground in the corporation, or, in 

 fact, in the vicinity of Medina. When I was a boy 

 in my teens I often used to look at it longingly, 

 thinking what a grand place it would be for a wind- 

 mill. Windmills were my hobby then. But I did 

 not suppose that it would ever be my good fortune 

 to possess the ground, or perhaps to have money 

 enough to build such a mill as I had in my mind's 

 eye. So I contented myself with making a home- 

 made windmill to do the churning for mother. 

 That was thirty years ago, when windmills for 

 pumping were almost unknown. They now dot the 

 landscape everywhere; and within the past few 

 months Providence has seen fit to permit me to 

 make a purchace of that hill 1 have had my eyes 

 on for over thirty years. Three days ago, as we 



