.ru.\K, 1919 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



395 



from San Diego to .hicksonville was 19 hours and 

 J 5 minutes, selting a now record. 



Of this distan. 0. 8S0 miles, from Tucson, Ariz., 

 to Sweetwater, Tox.. were covered without a stop. 

 Ill' usod a do Haviiand plane with a Lilerty motor. 



The motor, accordin;:: to the airman, never missed 

 n stroke, and the only work done was to remove two 

 dirty spark-plugs. 



Yeais aii'o Mrs. Root and T enjoyed the 

 privilep-e of a-oinji' by rail from San Diego 

 to Jacksonville. So far as I can remember 

 it took nearly a week. Well, from the above 

 clipping it would seem possible for one to 

 get an early breakfast in San Diego and 

 get a late supper in Jacksonville all in one 

 and the same day. ^May God be praised 

 for what has come to pass, or perhaps, 

 rather, for what is coming to pass. 



TOBAfOO FOR BEEKEEPERS. 



The letter below from a veteran ai)iarist 

 requires a little preliminary explanation. 

 About 50 yeai'S ago tliere was a little meet- 

 ing of beekeejiers at an apiary out in the 

 country. One of the friends used the 

 smoke from a cigar to drive the bees he was 

 handling. Some of the boys present de- 

 clared th.ey were going to learn to smoke 

 so as to have the smoke always handy as 

 did this operator. I ])rotested somewhat 

 as follows: 



"No, no boys. Do not learn to smoke ci- 

 gars nor to use tobacco in any form. If you 

 will give me your promise, and let me put it 

 in print in Gleanixgs (just started), 1 

 will make you a present of one of my new- 

 ly invented bellows smokers." 



They gav6 me the pledge. It was printed 

 in Gleanings with the offer to do likewise 

 with any young beekeeper who would give 

 me a like promise in writing. Over 1,000 

 pledges came in. I supposed, when I made 

 the offer, that it was going to cost me quite 

 a little sum of money, whicli was not very 

 plentiful, I assure you, at that time. But 

 to my great surprise and astonisliment the 

 offer was commented on in the daily papers 

 as a queer sort of eccentricity. It not only 

 advertised hee culture, but it resulted in 

 the sale of over 20,000 of the new bee- 

 smokers in less than a year. Now you can 

 read the letter below: 



Friend A. I. Root: — I want to give you a little 

 of my experience with tobacco. When I was a boy, 

 just after the Civil War, I started to use tobacco — 

 and I certainly did use it. I was taking Gleanings 

 at the time you made your offer of a smoker to 

 those that would quit using tobacco. I did not have 

 much money at the time aud I needed a smoker 

 very much, but the hankering I had for tobacco 

 made me forget all about trying to get a smoker in 

 that way. So time rolled along until 12 years ago 

 this summer, when I quit. I was using at that 

 time a quarter-pound plug a day and six to eight 

 cigars, besides smoking a pipe nearly all the time. 

 I will tell you why I quit so suddenly. I went 

 blind — could not see two feet ahead of mei — so I 

 went to Saginaw, Mich., to see an eye specialist. 



After he had got thru the examination, which 



titik liim all day, he said that the cause of my trou 

 1 !e was in u.sing either too much whisky or too 

 much tobacco. I told him I did not drink whisky, 

 but did use lots of tobacco. Tbis was in the spring 

 of the year, and it took him all summer to fix me up 

 ffo that I could see again. I lived about 18 miles 

 south of Saginaw at the time and had to make two 

 trips a week to see him. Now you can see what my 

 experience has been with tobacco. The name of the 

 specialist that I went to see is Dr. Slack. If any 

 tobacco fiends see this, they can write or go to see 

 the doctor, and I think he can cure them. 



Aitkin, Minn., Apr. 7, 1919. Wm. Ceaiq. 



SIIELLSIIOCK " OR CIGARETTES — WHICH 

 CAUSES THE TROUBLE. 



The following, clipped from the Sundaij 

 School Times, is furnished by Margaret 

 Wintringer, Secretary of the National 

 Good Citizenship Movement: 



When in England I visited a noted sanatorium 

 whose head physician ' is a specialist on nervous 

 troubles. In discussing the alarming extent of in- 

 sanity developed in the army, this doctor declared 

 that one out of every ten of the British soldiers in- 

 valided was insane, and he stated that he believed 

 the insanity was quite as much due to the excessive 

 use of the cigarette as to shellshock. The doctor 

 claimed that it was a great misfortune that at a 

 time when the soldier needed strong and steady 

 nerves bis nervous force was weakened by the 

 cigarette, and even in these early days of reconstruc- 

 tion this same physician's prophecy that the almost 

 universal use of the cigarette by tiie soldiers would 

 leave a war-time heritage of insanity to everv nation 

 is being fulfilled. 



Some of our most eminent American physicians 

 have not besitated to declare that the fatality of the 

 recent " flu " epidemic in the training camps was 

 caused by the weakening effect of the cigarette upon 

 the heart and lungs of the victims. Army nurses 

 in some of our largest camps have told me that, 

 without exception, the excessive cigarette smokers 

 ^^•ere unable to withstand the disease. 



A KIND WORD, NOTWITHSTANDING OUR RE- 

 CENT HOSTILITIES. 



I do not know, friends, whether you feel 

 as I do; but whenever I see or hear the se- 

 vere criticisms that are now so frequent in 

 regard to Germany as a whole, I feel pain- 

 ed. Some of the best friends I have in the 

 whole wide world are German; and I can 

 not help feeling, and have felt all along 

 during the war, that, notwithstanding the 

 terrible acts of Gennany as a nation, there 

 are kind and loving hearts there as well as 

 in any other part of the earth. I tried to 

 think it possible tliat many of these people 

 — perhaps the greater part — were helpless 

 during the terrible confiiet that we now 

 hope is over and o-^er for ever. Now you 

 may read the letter below : 



I wish to subscribe again to your paper, Gleax- 

 IN-Ci« IN Bee Culture. Since 'the beginning of 

 hostilities between America and this country I have 

 been unable to obtain any numbers. A.s T missed 

 your paper ver^ much I "would ask you kindly to 

 begin .sending it as soon as postal communication 

 permits. The amount due for the subscription for 

 the remaininar year I will send by postal order. 



I must add that I pray to God that I may not 

 tlnd a change in the editorship of the Home depart- 

 ment, but that A. I. Root is still en.ioying good 

 health. P. M. Ferro. 



Gravosa, Dalmatia, Europe, Feb. 19, 1919, 



