250 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 15 



to be presented with the recommend. Below 

 is the reply I received. Of course, I sup- 

 press all names. 



Mr. A . I. Root: Your letters of Feb. 25 and March 

 6 are at hand and contents noted. I was very grateful 

 for the kind recommendation, and am sorry that you 

 felt the necessity of recalling it. For the time being I 

 did not think of your strong prejudice in the matter, 

 and so hope you will pardon my seeming deception. 



It is evident that your ideas and those of .some of my 

 relatives do not agree with nay own regarding the use 

 of tobacco. Howrver, it is of no use to argue those 

 things, for we all have a right to our own opinions. 



I have some few grains of honesty left, so I do not 

 promise to quit smoking, and send the recommenda- 

 tion along. While lam not and do not intend to be 

 an excessive smoker, yet I do not feel justified in 

 promising away my personal liberty in the matter to 

 secure a recommendation on false pretenses, as it 

 were; so I take the only honorable alternative left me 

 and return your letter. 



Hoping you will not consider me eternally lost, I am 

 Sincerely yours, . 



Ohio State Univ., Columbus, Ohio, March 7. 



You will notice from the above that my 

 young friend admits he knew how I have 

 battled against the use of tobacco all my 

 life. You will notice, also, he has got hold 

 of this taking phrase, "personal liberty." 

 I wonder if that professor with a pipe in 

 his mouth used the expression in talking 

 with his pupils. And, by the way, one of 

 the best illu.strations of personal liberty I 

 ever came across was something like this: 



I was pleading with a man who, in a 

 drunken fit, had turned his wife and chil- 

 dren out of doors in winter. I asked him to 

 sign the pledge, but he refused. One or 

 two others who were present and heard the 

 talk signed the pledge. One of these after- 

 ward broke it. My friend, in speaking of 

 it to me, said, "Now, Mr. Root, in view of 

 this don't you think it was better that I did 

 not sign the pledge, when you urged me so 

 hard ?" 



You will notice there is considerable log- 

 ic — that is, of a certain sort — in that man's 

 reasoning. Our old pastor, Mr. C. J. Ry- 

 der, now of the American Missionary As- 

 sociation, Boston, Mass., placed the matter 

 in its true light as follows: 



"Mr. H., you mean by that, after you 

 had refused to sign the pledge you could 

 .£,'■<?/ drunk ivith a clear conscience; whereas, 

 had 3'ou signed the pledge this would not 

 have been j^our privilege." 



Now just a word in regard to the college 

 professor (or, if you choose, one of the 

 leading professors of the Ohio State Uni- 

 versity) smoking a pipe in the presence of 

 his pupils. What do the people of Ohio — 

 yes, or the people of any other State — think 

 of the matter? School-teachers, as a rule, 

 do not use tobacco; in fact, they can not 

 consistently use it while they urge on their 

 pupils the importance of the principles 

 taught in our standard text-books in regard 

 to the future health and best development 

 of the human body. I should like to have 

 our people consider this matter, both men 

 and women. Is there anybody who prefers 

 to have a boy under the tuition of a profes- 

 sor who has to remove his pipe from his 

 mouth before he can talk to his pupils? 



Just one thing more: Our young friend 

 says he does not intend to be an " excessive 



smoker." That sounds honest and sincere; 

 but at the same time it sounds boyish, and, 

 in fact, he is hardly old enough yet to re- 

 alize the danger he is innocently, yet sure- 

 ly, deliberately walking into. May God 

 help him. 



Right here is another thing about tobac- 

 co and education that confronts us. Some 

 time ago our Ohio Experiment Station at 

 Wooster was asked to make some experi- 

 ments in regard to the best varieties of to- 

 bacco and methods of culture, etc. But the 

 men at the head of our station have the 

 welfare of our people so much at heart, es- 

 pecially our bo3^s', that (if I have made no 

 mistake) they asked to be excused from 

 entering into the work. Of course, there 

 was a "racket" about it. Just a few 

 days ago a young man who has been 

 through a two years' course of instruction 

 at the Wooster Station visited us to look 

 over our plant. He is in the employ of the 

 State of Texas, and wishes to introduce bee 

 culture on their State Experiment Farm. 

 I asked him in regard to the matter I have 

 mentioned at Wooster. Then I found out 

 tliat he himself was a tobacco-user. He 

 said: " Mr. Root, it seems a little hard for 

 the farmers along down the Ohio River, 

 who make their money on tobacco, to be 

 told that the people at the experiment sta- 

 tion refuse to assist them in their industry. " 



Now, I do not remember my reply, but 

 I thitik I crowded him a little on the moral 

 standpoint of the matter. He replied, as 

 nearl}' as I can remember, as follows: 



" Why, Mr. Root, it is true, without 

 question, that the tobacco industry has 

 nothing to recommend it except the money 

 that there is in it." 



I replied, "But there is money in start- 

 ing more breweries and distilleries." 



His answer was that he did not think the 

 two were exactly parallel. As the subject 

 seemed to be getting a little painful, we 

 dropped it and talked about introducing 

 bee cultiu'e in Texas. 



Now, once more I wish to submint this 

 question to the people of Ohio — yes, and of 

 the whole United States. Our boys are 

 being educated, and their habits and their 

 tender minds are being formed. Their 

 bias for life is being fixed, not only at our 

 Ohio State University, but at our Wooster 

 Experiment Station. These institutions 

 are both conducted by men who are ser- 

 vants of the people of Ohio. What do we 

 want them to do about it? And this is a 

 qu stion on which the wives and mothers 

 have a right to express their opinion. Is it 

 not so? 



J. B., Va. — To keep mice out of hives, 

 providing the entrances are deep, use a 

 coarse-mesh wire cloth, coarse enough to 

 admit bees through it, but fine enough to 

 bar out the mice. This will give the bees 

 plenty of ventilation in the cellar, and at 

 the same time prevent the rodents from an- 

 noying them. 



