610 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



September, 1919 



looking at everything — in fact, scrutinizing 

 everything carefully that I have to pay 

 "money for. A ticket agent not long ago 

 gave me a ticket for the wrong town; and 

 had I not noticed it before the train left 1 

 might have been in a peck of trouble. 

 Well, this prescription read " Sodium ni- 

 trate," so many grains or scruples. I do 

 not know what doctors' characters mean. 

 The rest of it was "Aqua pura." This I 

 should call Latin for pure water or distilled 

 water. Well, nitrate of soda is a fertilizer, 

 and is sold by the ton. I do not know just 

 how much a pound of it would cost; but 

 even if chemically pure it ought not to be 

 very much for, say, a teaspoonful. I sup- 

 posed the price would probably be a dime 

 or perhaps 15 or 20 cents. The drug clerk 

 carried it to his employer, and they talked 

 over something about it; but the price was 

 75 cents. Now, we have a lot of doctors 

 and a lot of druggists who take and read 

 our jouiTial, and I have no desire to pitch 

 into them. In fact, it pains lue to interfere 

 with anybody's business ; but when the good 

 of the rest of humanity demands it I hope 

 I may not be found shrinking from my 

 task. Let us go back a little. 



In this journal for September, 1914, I 

 told my experience with enserol. If you 

 have the back numbers I shouldn't Avonder 

 if it would pay you to hunt it up and read 

 it again. Somebody sent me a little pam- 

 phlet telling how awoman was cui'ed of deaf- 

 ness and a bad trouble in her ears. This 

 woman professed to be a Christian. She 

 said she had prayed over the matter, and 

 that God in his love and wisdom directed 

 her to a remedy. You are to go to the 

 drugstore and have a prescription put up 

 calling for glycerine, enserol. and boiled 

 water. I knew*^ what the glycerine ought to 

 cost, but I did not know anything about 

 enserol. I threw a half-dollar down on the 

 counter for it; but the clerk explained that 

 enserol was a very expensive medicine. 1 

 used the prescription according to the di- 

 rections every morning, noon, and night. 

 It took quite "a little time, and finally it got 

 to be rather monotonous, especially as I 

 could not discover that it did a particle of 

 good: and I had faith, too, from reading 

 that little book. 



Just about this time our Agricultural 

 Commission at Columbus sent out a pam- 

 phlet warning people against the medicine 

 swindles. This same " fluid " enserol stood 

 at the top of the list; and they explained 

 that it was nothing but cinnamon water 

 and boric acid. My prescription cost me 

 $1.40, and the whole thing could be sold for 

 five centf^ o gallon. (How is that for 

 "H. C. L. ? '") I ^^ent to the druggist and 



remonstrated. Said he, " Mr. Root, I got 

 the same pamphlet from Columbus that 

 you mention. But we are helpless in this 

 uiatter. An agent left the enserol medicine 

 with us, and said there was to be no pay 

 unless we sold it. If customers called for it 

 we were to sell it for so much." 



This druggist thought that no responsi- 

 bility rested on his shoulders if customers 

 came in and asked for enserol. I think 

 that, before taking their hard-earned mon- 

 ey, he should have showed them the warn- 

 ing, in that pamphlet sent out bv the State 

 of Ohio. 



Why do I bring the matter up now? Be- 

 cause our daily papers are full of like ad- 

 xertisements. I have not investigated all 

 of them, for I have not time; but I have 

 Ijought almost everything otfered for re- 

 lieving sore feet, curing corns, bunions, etc. 

 This particular medicine that makes your 

 corn " drop right out," roots and all, in 

 just a few days, is not only advertised in 

 all our dailies, but in our magazines, often 

 occupying a whole page. To be sure that 

 the " men folks " will all notice it, they pic- 

 t'lre a woman holding her dress up a great 

 deal higher than she needs to do, to explain 

 the way in which she applies the medicine 

 to her corn. Well, Mrs. Root and I have 

 tried nearly everything advertised in that 

 line. The directions are to soak the feet 

 15 minutes in water as hot as you can bear 

 it; then rub off as much of the com as you 

 can before you apply the remedy. (And 

 this will do a lot of good without any 

 '•'medicine.") Yes, these things do some 

 good; but a good sharp knife handled care- 

 fully will do just as much good, and I have 

 decided more, and it is less trouble and less 

 expense. The circular piece of cotton with 

 mucilage to hold it in place so that the 

 shoe may not press on the sore spot is 

 sensible, and T believe the price is i-eason- 

 able. But it is some bother to keep fussing 

 with them. The soaking of the feet in 

 water as hot as you can bear it will often 

 do the business without any medicine. This 

 same remedy was first advertised at 35 

 cents; but just as soon as a big demand 

 was created the price went up to 50 cents, 

 with some more " cents " added for war 

 tax. 



Several times I have warned our readers 

 against having anA^thing to do with any 

 article or any institution that waits, we will 

 say, for you to bite at their bait; and if 

 you do not soon " bite " they will follow 

 it up with some ingenious stoiy as to why 

 vou can have it at half price if you order 

 right off " instantly." Some of them later 

 on come down to a still lower price. The 



