AUGUST 15, 1912 



529 



part of them for $100 per colony, and a 

 few were sold at over $200 each. 



It was my pleasure, in 1903, to have a 

 grand visit with both Mr. Harbison and our 

 old friend J. G. Corey. You can imagine 

 friend Corey's delight in not only astonish- 

 ing the world with the quantity of honey he 

 secured, but also with the quality of the 

 California water-white sage honey. 



In closing up this Home paper I wish to 

 make a brief extract from an article in 

 Gleanings, away back in 1879, headed 

 "Troubles." It illustrates the difficulties 

 we then had with the express compau}'. 



In May a customer from Texas ordered three 

 $3.00 queens. To avoid delays and save expense we 

 tried to prepay the charges; but the express com- 

 pany could not tell wli^t it would be over the south- 

 ern lines, so they would not receive the money in 

 advance. Time passed, and the queens were not 

 received. A tracer was sent, and, after long delays, 

 they were found held at some point in Texas. They 

 were held until the back charges should be paid, yet 

 neither myself nor my customer was notified where 

 they were nor what the trouble was. The cages 

 were made in such a way that the officials could 

 easily see that they were bees, and perishable, and 

 yet they put them up on a shelf, and let them die; 

 and, nearly two months after, we were asked for the 

 back charges, and whether we wanted the dead bees 

 forwarded to destination. I sent back word that 

 they should throw them out of the window, stifling 

 my temper as best I co\ild. They very kindly con- 

 sented to do this, but sent back for $1.75 charges 

 for carrying them so far and keeping them until 

 they starved. I felt very much, then, as if it would 

 be inexpressibly delicious and soothing to be per- 

 mitted the luxury of tearing that Texas man's shanty 

 all down, and giving him such a shaking that he 

 would never think of starving any more innocent 

 bees as long as he remained in the express business. 

 But I put away such thoughts, paid the $1.75, and 

 prayed God for patience, and that he would help us 

 to soften even the hearts of the express companies. 

 What do you suppose happened ? Nothing differ- 

 ent from what has happened a great many times in 

 my business troubles and trials. A gentleman 

 came in, a few mornings after, introducing himself 

 as the superintendent of our express line. He said 

 he had noticed the amount of business we had given 

 them, and asked if he could do any thing to aid us. 

 In a twinkling our printer had some neat little 

 labels directing any express agent in the United 

 States to forward the package it was on, without 

 delay, under any circumstances whatever, signed 

 with the superintendent's name. He also made ar- 

 rangements to carry queens, smokers, etc., over any 

 or all northern lines for one single charge of 25 

 cts., besides fixing many other things greatly for 

 the comfort and convenience of myself and you. 



I want to quote another sentence from 

 that article, further on : 



I felt again, that, when men held important posi- 

 tions, and were too proud and lofty to give us 

 notice, God never was, and he would always answer. 



No wonder such a faith and snch a prac- 

 tice built up business. My pr;iyers were 

 not for self, as you may notii 'i — at least 

 not altogether for self, but for the friends 

 scattered all over the world wl j were anx- 

 ious to engage in the new ind stry of bee- 

 keeping. 



While on tins subject it ; lartles me to 

 note that, during all of the-e years, the ex- 

 press companies have been alloAved to do 

 business, and still do it at least occasion- 

 ally, in the way the above 1 1 ansaction indi- 

 cates. 



Below is a letter received tliis present 

 year, as you will notice, from our good 

 friend Corey : 



THE COLD-BLAST SMOKER. 



Necessity is said to be the mother of invention, 

 which is true in this case, as something had to be 

 done. In the early history of beekeeping in South- 

 ern California we were poorly provided with imple- 

 ments, and used our wits to make such as we were 

 in need of, as the problems presented themselves. 

 First of all, smokers were the old saucepan filled 

 with many different kinds of fuel. This was used 

 by nearly all the early beemen, utilizing the wind to 

 waft the smoke where desired. Then came the two- 

 inc.i tin tube, about a foot long, rags or old gunny 

 sacks being used for fuel, and the breath of the 

 beeman used to carry the smoke where desired. The 

 results of this smoker were imperfect in only one 

 case, where it never failed. Headache always fol- 

 lowed blowing. 



Then came the announcement of the invention of 

 the Bingham smoker, which was patented in 1878, or 

 thereabouts ; but the dealers on this coast never sold 

 goods "for their health," so the price was too high 

 for us. Mr. A. I. Root, then publishing Gleanings, 

 brought out a cheap smoker called "Simplicity," that 

 answered our purpose, and it was going into general 

 use. Then suddenly a cloud (no larger than a man's 

 hand) came over the horizon, and threw our cheap 

 smoker into a dense shade. Mr. Bingham notified 

 Mr. Root that his Simplicity smoker infringed on 

 his patent. That made a mess of our favorite 

 smoker, and stopped its manufacture. I looked over 

 the situation, and decided to run the cool-air tube 

 up into the nozzle and create a vacuum, which 

 would cause the smoke from the fuel-box to rush up 

 and be blown out as desired; and that the cool air 

 from the bellows, by not being passed through the 

 fire-box, would furnish a cooler smoke than the 

 Bingham smoker. I sent one of my cold-blast 

 smokers to Mr. Root, and received substantia) 

 thanks from him. Now after over thirty years have 

 come and gone, many different patterns of smokers 

 have been invented and manufactured, all of them 

 having advocates. All of them are fairly good, and 

 moderate in price. 



Our modes of handling bees, now that we all use 

 a quilt out here, thus avoiding the snap in removing 

 a sealed cover, and by breeding bees of a better dis- 

 position, enable us to use very much less smoke than 

 in early days. 



Many changes have taken place since then. Four 

 years ago Mrs. Corey died, leaving me to finish up 

 the battle of life alone. My health is fairly good; 

 but my great age admonishes me to be ready at any 

 time. I am 84. 



Santa Barbara, Cal., Jan. 3. J. G. Corey. 



The above letter reminds me that, in one 

 of friend Corey's letters, he said, after see- 

 ing how successfully liis smoker worked, he 

 had designed to get it patented; but he 

 finally told his good wife he would rather 

 send it to A. I. Root, and have liim improve 

 it, and give it to the world at a moderate 

 price, than to go to the fuss and bother of 

 getting out a patent, even if it should 

 prove to be of considerable value. 



BE NOT WEARY IN WELL DOING. 

 Mr. A. I. Root: — In reading one of your articles 

 m Gleanings for March 15, 1911, it led me to 

 write you to know what you would do with a Bible 

 class in Ohio of 52 ladies in a Congregational 

 Church who had one of the best teachers a class 

 ever had, and who was very anxious to have the 

 class do something to help in God's work, such as 

 rescuing the fallen or helping the Salvation Armv in 

 their work, or do something to down the white-slave 

 traffic. They seemed to be so unheeding he became 

 discouraged and resigned from the class. What can 

 be done to stir up such women? I am a member of 

 the class, and would like your advice. I ask God to 

 help, and show me what to do. O. C. M. 



