188? 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



257 



The trouble with me is, that few people can 

 bear the amount of air and sunsliine that I 

 crave and revel in ; but I think it would be 

 better for them if they could bear a little 

 more. My wife visited a sick-room recent- 

 ly. She said, when she got home, that, if 

 she could have her way, she would have a 

 stove and fuel equal to the task of keei)ing 

 the room warm for the patient, with one or 

 more windows open all the while ; and in 

 talking with the doctor about it afterward, 

 he said he honestly believed such a course 

 would do more good than medicine — that is, 

 as a matter of course, getting tlie patient 

 gradually a,ccustomed to so much air and sun- 

 shine. When I am obliged to stay indoors 

 when I do not want to. I have found an open 

 window to be tiie next best thing. Of course, 

 1 want to be clothed accordingly, and I want 

 to sit facing the window, wliicli should be 

 open on a side of the room where there is 

 not too strong a breeze. None need fear 

 that tiiey are going to be harmed by tliis sort 

 of medicine— that is, it is a sort of medicine 

 that leaves no posionous drugs hanging 

 about the system. 



SENDING TO MR. ROOT FOR GOODS. 



SOME HINTS ON BUYING IN OENEKAt,. 



f(^VER since Mr. Root commenced selling the 

 j sort of goods in which he now deals, I have 

 J' traded with him; and having some experi- 

 ' ence in that line I think it may be a useful 

 tViing to give the friends some of the benefit 

 of my experience. I find that many things on his 

 list are so much lower than usual prices that I can 

 well alford to pay a pretty heavy rate of freight. 

 But it does not pay to send for a very small quanti- 

 ty iu some cases— perhaps in most cases— unless it 

 be something so light that the postage will belit- 

 tle. For instance, I am partial to Dixon's axle- 

 grease for wagon or buggy, and can not get it 

 here. It is on the 10-cent counter; butal-lb. box 

 sent by mail would cost 28 cts. postage, and that 

 would make the box cost me 38 cts., at which price 

 I would rather use some other kind. If sent by 

 freight, a single box would cost me still more; for 

 in sending freight the railroads charge so much 

 l>cr hundred, perhaps $1.00 per hundred from Medi- 

 na to Marengo (may be less than that, but that fig- 

 ure will do for illustration), but a minimum price is 

 fixed upon as the least charge for a box or pack- 

 age, no matter how light it may be, and this mini- 

 mum price, I think, is usually the price for 100 lbs. 

 Mr. Root will correct me if I am wrong. So, If I 

 send for a single box of axle grease by freight it 

 will cost me SI. 10— worse than by mail. If, how- 

 ever, I sent for 100 lbs. or more of goods, the 

 freight would cost me only about one cent per 

 pound; so by sending for quite a number of articles 

 at a time I can save money by getting them from 

 Medina. I think many others at a distance might 

 save in the same way, so I will tell how we man- 

 age. 



About once a year, or oftener, we take Mr. Root's 

 price list, look it over carefully, and check such ar- 

 ticles as we want to send for, perhaps letting some 

 of our friends know of it, and letting them send 

 with us. The difference in price of a single arti- 

 cle may sometimes pay the freight. For instance, 

 I bought a force-pump and paid $2.00 for it in Ma- 



rengo, feeling quite satisfied with my bargain; but 

 in a short time Mr. Root advertised precisely the 

 same thing t'ov $1.00. Ry thus looking over the list, 

 and checking off those things that we need, or will 

 need, within the year, we can make out quite a list; 

 and the danger may be, in some cases, that Mr. 

 Root's price list is so attractive, and so many things 

 look cheap, that things not needed will be sent for, 

 with the thought, "It's only Sets, or 10 cts.;" but 

 enough of these low-priced articles will amount to 

 a considerable sum, and it is a good plan to buy 

 nothing that is not really needed. Now, I will tell 

 you about some of the things on the list, only a 

 few, for of course we have not had all. Mr. Root 

 has, of course, told about them, but it may be a 

 good plan to know what others, who have tried 

 them, think. First, there's wire nails. I don't buy 

 of him now, because I can buy at home, and 

 freight is heavy; but if you can't buy at your own 

 stores you ought to send for at least a few of each 

 kind, from '4 inch to 3(4 inches, and you will, I 

 think, never want to be without them again. Of 

 other bee-keepers' supplies I will not speak, as you 

 know probably what you need in that line. 



Now take the list of the counter store, and glance 

 over it. On the 3-cent counter, among the glass- 

 ware, you will find some 2-cent articles made of 

 wo(^d. Never mind the incongruity. They are 

 basswood nest-eggs, and I thi7ik look more like the 

 genuine article than any glass or porcelain ones I 

 evep saw. Then on the same counter are pins at 

 3 cts. a paper. Cheap, but I wouldn't buy them if I 

 were j'ou. They're iron; and wherever you use 

 one, if it gets the least damp, through perspiration 

 or otherwise, it will rust and spoil the clothing. 

 But on the .5-cent counter you will find some ex- 

 cellent ones at the rate of about 60 for a cent, and 

 you will probably pay a good deal more for them 

 at j'our store. You can also get a pyramidal cush- 

 ion of pins on the 10-cent counter, but they are no 

 better pins, and no more of them, than in the 5- 

 cent papers, and the cushion is not convenient to 

 use over again, as it is simply a paper of pins roll- 

 ed up and finished off quite prettily. 



You can get some fine bargains in tinware from 

 Mr. Root, if you understand what you want. Let 

 me tell you something about buying tinware. The 

 other day we got a box of goods from Mr. Root, 

 and among them a 6 and 8 qt. pail. They are of 

 light tin, and, used for water-pails, would last only 

 a short time, or for any purpose where they are 

 kept wet or washed verj' often. For such use it 

 would be economy to pay twice as much for a pail 

 made of good heavy tin. But 1 didn't get them for 

 that purpose. It is real handy to have plenty of 

 covered pails in which to keep cake, cookies, fried 

 cakes, etc., and these light, cheap pails answer just 

 as well as any for this purpose, or for any thing 

 where they are generally kept dry. For milk-pans 

 or any tinware wet or washed much, I find the 

 higher-priced articles the cheapest in the end, and 

 the rt'-tinned goods are especially desirable. Of 

 these, Mr. Root has some away down below what 

 I can buy them for at the hardware store, and they 

 are beauties. 



On the 5-cent counter are coal-shovels; and it's so 

 handy to have one in each place where they are 

 likely to be used, that I have four of them in differ- 

 ent places. If I kept only one, and had to run for 

 it each time I wanted it, the time thus spent would 

 be worth a good many shovels. 



