114 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 1 



finance, or relig-ion, is, of course, another 

 thing; but when you have given him abun- 

 dant proof that he is wronging an innocent 

 class of people, and he refuses even to try 

 to undo the wrong, then with drawyour pat- 

 ronage and support. Our text says, " // 

 he repent, forgive him," even though he 

 should ask to be forgiven seven times in one 

 day. 



Now, there is another aspect of this mat- 

 ter that not only vexes me but it perplexes 

 me. When the canteen falsehoods were up 

 we could readily understand the editors 

 had some personal interest in the matter, 

 because a great many of them love strong 

 drink. Perhaps I am mistaken in saying 

 this. God knows how gladly I would re- 

 tract and apologize if I could be convinced 

 of my mistake. No doubt many of them 

 had feelings on the subject. Thej' felt hos- 

 tile and bitter toward us temperance peo- 

 ple who were continually trying to curtail 

 their "liberty '" as they expressed it. There 

 was some sense and some reason in their re- 

 fusing to retract and apologize. But how 

 about the bogus comb honey? I suppose a 

 good many papers gave place to the story 

 because people are always interested in be- 

 ing told that this, that, and the other thing 

 is manufactured. The subject of artificial 

 hen's eggs bobs up every little while, and 

 lots of good people whom you would think 

 ought to have some brains in the place 

 where brains are supposed to be, believe it 

 is true! I have never yet heard that any- 

 body believed strawberries are manufactur- 

 ed; but I do not know but it will come next 

 strawberry time. Well, these editors gave 

 place to the comb-honey scare because every- 

 body would lift up their hands and say, 

 "Did you ever!" The father of the family 

 would read the newspaper in silence, until 

 he came to the part about bogus honey; but 

 such a morsel of scandal as that must be 

 read aloud to the whole family, and then 

 the good mother would remark, "Well, I 

 thought that last honey we had tasted a lit- 

 tle queer, and it looked too white and hand- 

 some to be genuine honey. I guess we will 

 not buy any more. " ' 



Let me tell you a little story about how 

 foolish gossip may harm even a market-gar- 

 dener. When the Stratagem peas first 

 came out I bought quite a lot of the new 

 mammoth pea in order to astonish our pat- 

 rons pleasantly. The first day they were 

 put on the wagon they made quite a sensa- 

 tion, and there were not enough to go round. 

 Pretty soon somebody started the story that 

 these great peas were the result of using 

 night-soil in our market garden; and I was 

 told that one Medina doctor ^?aA people had 

 better not use them, as they might convey 

 contagion. Now, the truth was, we had 

 not used a particle of night-soil on our 

 grounds that .year, and never used any of 

 any account. I told the men on the wagon 

 to contradict the story and explain to the 

 people that it was a new variety, larger 

 than any thing we had ever had before; 

 and I thought of having them carry along 



a catalog to show our customers a picture 

 and description of the new pea. We should 

 all be exceedingly careful about passing 

 along any piece of news, especially where 

 it is likely to damage innocent hard-work- 

 ing people. Perhaps I might say right 

 here one newspaper was so stubborn, after 

 being repeatedly corrected, the editor still 

 insisted there were large factories where 

 comb honey was produced, and that, in his 

 opinion. The A. I. Root Co. was probably 

 making more of it than anybody else. He 

 said our reward card was simply a blufi^ 

 to hide our real business and work. After 

 his attention was called to the fact that he 

 was liable to fine and imprisonment, he 

 promised to make a retraction; but he would 

 not do it till his friends and fellow-towns- 

 men had urged him to desist from the folly 

 of the course he was taking. '&y the way, 

 if any of you hear such stories as this, you 

 might tell people our establishment is al- 

 ways open to investigation ; there is no 

 locked-up room on the premises, and never 

 has been. Every thing we make and all 

 we handle is open to the inspection of any- 

 body who is curious, providing he will go 

 to the office, make himself known, and get 

 a permit to go through the works. 



Of course, I am not thinking of personal 

 matters in talking about forgiving and for- 

 getting. If anybody wrongs me individu- 

 ally, and I can not persuade him to make 

 it right, I would, as a rule, call it "spilled 

 milk" and let it drop. But where commu- 

 nity at large is being injured, that is an- 

 other matter. If a man cheats you in a 

 deal, you can forgive it and let it go and 

 treat him pleasantlj'; but if he is engaged 

 in making counterfeit money you would be 

 guilty r6i/^;.?d'//" if you let him goon by fail- 

 ing to report him to the ofiicers of the law. 

 I have never yet been to law with a neigh- 

 bor on account of some personal deal; but 

 where a man persists in slandering our 

 whole industry, I would not only fine and 

 imprison him, but I would send him to jail 

 even though he were poor and needj', unless 

 he retracted and made amends for the mis- 

 chief he had done. Jesus said, "I came 

 not to bring peace but a sword; " and that 

 sword, as I understand it, means that he 

 would uphold the law and punish crime. 

 Again he said, "Think not that I am come 

 to destroy the law or the prophets." 



We take the following from Agricultural 

 E.vperiinents, published at Minneapolis. 

 As I understand it, the work was done by 

 the editor of the periodical: 



In the latter part of January, 1901, we sowed several 

 kinds of seeds in a sinall window-box, simply to test 

 their vitality. The lot inrhided two varieties of to- 

 matoes. Acme and Dwarf Champion When from one 

 to two inches high, the young plants were transplant- 



