248 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 15 



Several thousand shooting-stations have been estab- 

 lished in Italy and France during the past two years, 

 but reports received from them give no definite data 

 in support of the success of the experiments, although 

 there is no doubt that the cannonading is believed to 

 be effectual by the farmers who do the work. Waves 

 of irrational enthusiasm sometimes sweep over a com- 

 munity, only to be regretted in subsequent years when 

 calmer judgment has come to prevail. We have but 

 to remember the experience of our own country only 

 a few years ago with the rain makers, and how firm 

 was the belief of thousands of people in the sub-arid 

 and arid regions of the West that the use of powerful 

 explosives would produce rainfall. 



Thousands of dollars were expended in these exper- 

 iments before the absurdity of the claim was demon- 

 strated. It is a fact worthy of remark, that the hail- 

 shooters are now using practically the same methods 

 to dissipate the clouds that the rain-makers used to 

 produce them. Time and experiment will probably 

 demonstrate that hail prevention by such means is 

 as impracticable as rain production. The fact that 

 15,000 or 20,000 shooting-stations have been established 

 is of itself no argument as to the efficiency of the 

 process. One might as well argue that the moon real- 

 ly affects the weather because a million people believe 

 it and can prove it — to their own satisfaction. 



A knowledge of the exact truth on any question of 

 natural science is not easily attained. The hail-can - 

 nonaders base their reports of success upon such 

 statements as "a black cloud was seen approaching, 

 cannon were fired, and the cloud passed over without 

 hail," or "it passed to one side and the hail did not 

 fall on the protected vineyard, and there the hail 

 ceased," or ■' the cloud broke in two, passing to the 

 right and left, leaving the sky cloudless over the can- 

 non." Now, these are quite common cloud and storm 

 phenomena, and they will frequently happen without 

 cannonading. There is no way of telling by the 

 sight of an approaching cloud whether or not it is ac- 

 companied by hail. Therefore, if the cannon be used 

 every thunderstorm would have to be bombarded, al- 

 though statistics have demonstrated that only one 

 thundercloud out of a great number contains hail. 

 In other words, there would be a tremendous waste of 

 time, monej-, and energy in unnecessary bombard- 

 ments. 



After examining all that h^s been publi,shed during 

 the past two years on the subject of hail prevention, I 

 have to repeat the opinion heretofore expressed that 

 we have here to deal with a popular delusion, and that 

 efforts should be made to prevent its spread in this 

 country. The great processes going on in the atmos 

 phere are conducted on too large a scale for any :nan 

 or any natiin to attempt to control them. According 

 to Prof. Abbe, the energy expended by nature in the 

 production of a hailstorm, a tornado, or a rainstorm 

 probably exceeds the combined energy of all the 

 steam-engines and explosives in the world. It is use- 

 less for man to attempt to combat nature on this scale. 



Now, friends, I hope you have not only 

 read the above carefully and thong-htfully, 

 but I think it will profit you to read it sev- 

 eral times. Most of you know more or less 

 of the experiments in regard to " rain- 

 making." A little periodical for children, 

 and one that I have a great admiration for, 

 lately announced, while illustrating some- 

 thing else, that the experiments made by 

 the general government of the United States 

 in regard to producing rain, by the use of 

 explosives carried up by means of a bal- 

 loon, were a perfect success. I was going 

 to forward the extract to Mr. Moore, but I 

 afterward ran on to a contradiction of the 

 statement by Mr. Moore himself. No suc- 

 cess of any kind — at least nothing that 

 would bear the searchlight of science — has 

 ever been accomplished in rain-making. 

 Certain enthusiastic inventors, who had a 

 pecuniary interest in the matter, claimed 

 success, or did claim it at the time the ex- 

 periments were made. As it is now several 

 years since the matter has received any at- 

 tention, we may safely conclude, I think. 



that our Weather Bureau is sound and lev- 

 el-headed. 



In concluding this subject I wish to make 

 an extract from an article in the February 

 number of Good Health, entitled, "The 

 Curse of the Drug Habit." 



Various enterprising patent-medicine firms, by per- 

 sistent and extravagant advertising, and partially by 

 taking advantage of that superstitious reverence 

 which still lurks in the public mind for drugs that are 

 put up under mysterious names, succeed annually in 

 disposing of $2(i0,000,000 worth of their nostrums. 

 The average invalid demands something more sub- 

 stantial than extravagant claims. As there is no drug 

 that will so effectually s:nother the immediate cries 

 of an outraged nerve as some form of opium, and as 

 there is no medicinal agent that can supply such sat- 

 isfactory temporary exhilaration as cocaine, therefore 

 these drugs are beginning to enter largely into the 

 compositionofthe.se so called "remedies." They as- 

 sist the enterprising manufacturers in securing relia- 

 ble and convincing testimonials as to the remarkable 

 efficacy possessed by their particular " cure " in fur- 

 nishing immediate relief from pain. Soon a large 

 number of these invalids discover that they can pur- 

 chase the active agents for themselves cheaper than 

 the patent medicine man can supply them, mingled 

 as they are with a variety of more or less inert sub- 

 stances. Unfortunately, many drug fiends made their 

 first acquaintance with these drugs under the physi- 

 cian's supervision ; but after they passed from his 

 ob.servation they did not dispense with the fascinating 

 effects of the drugs he prescribed. 



FLORA HOME — A CAUTION TO MINISTERS, 

 AND LAYMEN TOO. 



Your write-up in regard to Flora Home was a good 

 and true one, but it did not suit the sharks. Had I 

 known that you were there I would have gone after 

 you, and you "would not have got drunk on tobacco at 

 my place. I lived one mile west of there. Mr. Wil- 

 son, of the F. F. & F., of Chicago, was the man who 

 got those people down there, and he was a man who 

 would expose frauds and talk religion and temper- 

 ance just as you do, and would preach when there on 

 Sundaj', and do all he could to get people to stay 

 when they were there, to get others to come. 



Orange Heights, Fla. {S. R. Boyd. 



I have given the above because I wish to 

 urge more caution not only to ministers but 

 to professors of religion in general. Spec- 

 ulators have learned by experience that, if 

 they can get a minister of the gospel, a re- 

 ligious paper, or even a man who can talk 

 and pray in prayer-meeting, to boom a 

 town or an oil speculation or a gold-mine, 

 they can draw in lots more people. I have 

 sometimes remonstrated with ministers and 

 others for lending their names to such 

 schemes, and they often reply, "Why, it is 

 a good thing," meaning by this that they 

 had faith it was a good thing. But, even 

 if this is true, ministers especially should 

 let such things alone. There are grievous 

 losses and failures all the time. We should 

 all be careful about urging anybody to put 

 his small hoard of earnings into any thing; 

 and especially should we be careful about 

 urging people to move away off into some 

 new locality like Flora Home. If those 

 who have pushed projects of this kind could 

 visit Flora Home, and talk with some of 

 the people who have been duped into invest- 

 ing their all, they would, I am sure, be more 

 careful. Notwithstanding what I have 

 said, I believe there are people who would 

 make a good thing of Flora Home in some 

 special line that the locality is adapted to, 



