2.58 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 



If your wife has always ]u8ed a wooden potato- 

 masher, just g-et her a wire one off the 5 or 10 cent 

 counter, and see how pleased she will be to have 

 something so lig-ht and nice, making quicker and 

 better work. I don't know of any way in which a 

 small sum of money can be spent to give greater 

 satisfaction than by'getting a lot of these house- 

 hold conveniences for the benefit of the. women- 

 folks; and it's wonderful what patience they dis- 

 play in working along year after year with a scar- 

 city of utensils that would never be endured by 

 men-folks. There's the matter of pot-covers. I've 

 seen them struggle along month after month, 

 making a plate or a pie-tin do duty as a pot-cover, 

 and do the duty very poorly at that, when all the 

 time Mr. Root's price list hung in plain sight on 

 the kitchen wall (a string should always be put in 

 to hang them up by. Mr. Root), anxious to suggest 

 that excellent tin pot-covers of six different sizes 

 could be had for 5 cts. each. Then a woman will 

 have a hard time scraping out her pots and ket- 

 tle with a knife, when she could do it so much bet- 

 ter and easier with a 10-cent dish-cloth of iron 

 rings. There's many a farmer who does not hesi- 

 tate at all to pay 25 or .")0 dollars for some tool for 

 farmwork, who could get along without it and 

 hardly feel the difference, and for half the money 

 get articles from Mr. Root's list that would save 

 his wife hours and hours of time and toil, and 

 make her life ever so much pleasanter. And it's 

 often from sheer ignorance that he doesn't do it 

 — ignorance on the part of both man and wife. 

 Amongst the things she should have is a good car- 

 pet-sweejier. I got two, and they were successive- 

 ly thrown aside; but the one I got from Mr. Root is 

 regularly used, and esteemed a great heip. She 

 should have a good supply of real sharp knives for 

 various uses, and they should be kept sharp. Get 

 her a $3 or fS.fiO grindstone, such as Mr. Root used 

 to keep, and she ca/i do her own sharpening. I 

 don't know why he doesn't keep them now, unless 

 because they are a little difficult to straighten up 

 when they get out of kilter. Possibly the grind- 

 stone on the T.5-cent counter will answer, but I 

 haven't tried it. She needs a good bread-knife with 

 a rather wide blade. Mr. Root has a good one for 

 10 cents, if It would only stay in the handle. Then 

 on the 10-cent counter is a butcher-knife she needs. 

 I got one with a blade about i% inches long; but 

 the last time he sent me one with a blade 6 Inches 

 long. They are both good, but the short one is the 

 favorite, perhaps for old acquaintance' sake. 



Looking further down on the 10-cent list is 

 " knife, kitchen, flne steel, with beautifull3' finish- 

 ed handle." I got one of these, and it fully an- 

 swered the description, and was so well liked that 

 my wife gave it to a friend and told me to get 

 another. The other came in the last box, but was 

 entirely different. The handle is not beautifully 

 finished, and the knife is a most outlandish-look- 

 ing thing. But, oh how nicely it works! While 

 writing this I stopped and laid down before my 

 wife the eight different kinds of sharp knives we 

 happen to have, and asked her which she valued 

 most. She said it wasn't fair to ask such a ques- 

 tion, but she could tell me which two she would 

 rather have. "Well, then," said T, " which two ? " 

 Without saying a word, and without a moment's 

 hesitation, she picked up this uncouth-looking 

 thing, and then went to studying which she would 

 take for a longer-bladed knife; so that, after all. 



the Ill-favored kitchen-knife, I think, is the most 

 treasured, and I wouldn't take 50 cts. for it if I 

 couldn't get another. For paring potatoes and 

 other things, I never saw its equal. If you evet 

 sat and pared apples or other fruit for a long time, 

 you know how black your index finger becomes 

 where it rests on the back of the knife-blade; and, 

 if continued long enough, the finger becomes sore. 

 Well, some genius has gotten up this knife with the 

 handle projecting about three fourths of an inch 

 more on the back of the blade thttn it does on the 

 edge, so that the fore-finger rests on the handle in- 

 stead of the blade. If you don't expect to send for 

 a box of things soon, better send Mr. Root 14 cents 

 and have him send you one of these knives by 

 mail, right away. 



For a pocket-knife, my favorite is the Barlow, on 

 the 15-cent counter. I think I have had more than 

 a dozen of these. They are handy to give away, 

 and will take an edge almost like a razor; and if 

 your boy loses one, the loss is not very great. 



Instead of having the children buy a leadpencil 

 every little while at the store for 8 or 5 cts., you 

 had better get a dozen from the 10-cent counter, 

 making them cost less than one cent each. 



While I am writing this lam wearing a pair of 

 spectacles from the 10-cent counter; and, between 

 you and me, I believe they are just as good as if I 

 had paid *1.00, *2.00, or *10.00 for them. I don't 

 know, but I tliinJf there is a gi-eat deal of nonsense 

 about this matter of spectacles, Scotch pebbles, 

 and all that sort of thing. If the glass is perfectly 

 transparent, and of homogeneous texture, what 

 more can there be, except the shape? I believe 

 there are many people whose eyes are really in- 

 jured by wearing high-priced glasses, because a 

 pair of glasses that was bought five years ago does 

 not fit the eyes now, but they cost so much that 

 they are endured, to the injury of the eyes, rather 

 than pay so much for a new pair. I haven't any 

 that cost over 25 cts., so I can keep one pair always 

 at my writing-desk, and one in each of my vest- 

 pockets, thus running no risk of being caught 

 every now and then a mile from home with no 

 glasses. 



Until Mr. Root gets some better suspenders, don't 

 buy any from him. 



The cheapest was' to buy needles, and have them 

 good, is to get a package from the 15-cent counter. 



If you want an egg-beater, don't get the cheaper 

 ones, but get a Dover, from the 25-cent counter. 



Of course, I have mentioned only a few articles, 

 and some unmentioned may have more merit thaa 

 some 1 have mentioned; but I thought it would be 

 useful to the readers to say what I have. 



Marengo. 111. C. C. Miller. 



In regard to freight, friend M., to get the 

 best rates on it the shipments should not 

 weigh less than 200 lbs. Many of our rail- 

 road companies have a special lower rate for 

 200 lbs. or over, although 100 lbs. will go 

 pretty nearly as cheap as 200. The way the 

 bass wood nest-eggs got into the glassware, 

 some one thoughtlessly put them with glass 

 nest-eggs, in order to have nest-eggs all in 

 one place.-— The ii'on pins at 3 cts. a paper 

 are like the cheap tinware — just as good as 

 any for certain purposes. For instance, we 

 use them here in the office for pinning 

 papers and letters together. You see, our 

 clerks are pretty much all women-folks, and 



