530 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



My good friend, we can rejoice and thank 

 God for two things that you make known 

 in the above letter. The first is that there 

 is a class of 52 ladies (young- ladias, I take 

 it) in the Congregational Sunday-school in 

 your place. Secondly, we can rejoice and 

 thank God that there is at least one pray- 

 ing woman in that class, one who is really 

 "hungering and tliirsting after righteous- 

 ness;" and you luiow what the reward is. 

 Keep on praying, and use every opportu- 

 nity to plead for Christ Jesus, and show 

 this, that I am dictating, to your good but 

 discouraged teacher. Tell liim that 1 say 

 he should by all means and under all cir- 

 cumstances hold his place at the head of 

 that class, and cease not to work and pray, 

 for the promise at the head of our text is 

 plain and sure. Sooner or later he will have 

 his reward. You do not tell me how many 

 of those 52 are professing Christians; but 

 the fact tliat they continue to attend, at 

 least in moderate numbers, is sufficient evi- 

 dence that they are not so far away as you 

 and he may thiidc. Many and many a time 

 during my past Christian life of 40 years 

 or more have I become discouraged and al- 

 most ready to give up, when, lo and behold ! 

 in some unexpected way my prayers Avould 

 be answered. Keep o)i hungering and 

 thirsting- after righteousness, you tAvo, and 

 you s](all "1)6 filled." 



FLORIDA LAND SWINDLERS^ ETC.; SOME OF 

 THE DRAWBACKS IN GOING DOWN 

 TO FLORIDA. 

 Dear friend Root : — I have been reading Glean- 

 ings for .July 1 while it is raining this afternoon. 

 I am glad to see you standing oy your guns in the 

 Florida swindling, for that is what a lot of it is. 

 Next April will be 30 years since I struck Florida 

 sand. I have not got rich, but I am content to end 

 my days here. I have no desire to leave it. I have 

 been from Pensacola to Key West, up and down, 

 and across on foot, by boat, by wagon, by train. It 

 is a big State, some of it as good as the sun shines 

 on, and a lot of it absolutely worthless. The sad 

 thing is to see men well up in years sell their homes 

 and come down here under strange conditions, and 

 blow in every dollar they have on propositions that 

 those of us who know the country could not be in- 

 duced to put a dollar into. A lot of them are pay- 

 ing for their experience right now; and if they alone 

 suffered it would not be so bad ; but women and 

 'liildren have to put up with conditions that are 

 furious. There have been four or five years of 

 exceptionally light rainfall, and it has given these 

 schemers the opportunity of their lives, and they 

 are using it. But I am inclined to think this sea- 

 son is going to put a damper if not a cold bath to a 

 lot of it — over ten inches of rainfall in May, over 16 

 in June, and I think it has rained every day in 

 July so far, with a prospect of this being kept up 

 till mid September. This will likely give the muck- 

 boomers some questions to answer that will be some- 

 what difficult. But as long as men are ready to list- 

 en to the fairy tales of men who are seeking for 

 their cash, I do not know what you and I can do 

 but refuse to be a party to it. To a man who wants 

 a pleasant climate, and work out of doors, that will 

 make a living or a little more, I know of no place I 

 would rather risk than the right location in Florida ; 

 and there are plenty of them, but they are not in 

 the hands of land-boomers. The successes are given, 



not the failures. I have followed what you have 

 written, with interest; and I think you have been 

 fair. There are great opportunities in Florida, and 

 there are great opportunities to blow your money in 

 and never be able to find the hole it went into. The 

 tenderfoot wants to go slow. About two years' ex- 

 perience right out in the field and he will begin to 

 know something of Florida sand — its worth and its 

 worthlessness. 



Bowling Green, Fla., July 18. Ieving Keck. 



1 wish to emphasize the point our good 

 friend Keck makes, by saying the good lo- 

 calities are not in the hands of the land- 

 boomers. These "land-boomers," as he calls 

 them, usually hunt up a tract that can be 

 bought for a little money, or a little money 

 comi)ared to its real value.- Then they start 

 out with their spread-eagle advertising, 

 and sell off lots or five and ten acre tracts 

 until they get their nioney back several 

 times over; and then they leave their de- 

 lude/1 victim to sell out (if he can) and go 

 back home. Let me give you a little his- 

 tory of a beekeeper here in Ohio Avho got 

 so wrought up over the talk about Florida 

 that he sold his home, farm, bees, and every 

 thing, and moved down to Bi-adentown, ex- 

 ])ecting to make it his permanent home. 

 His first setback (and this, ])erhaps, had 

 considerable to do with getting- liim dis- 

 couraged), Avas Avith the railroad company. 

 He went to the agent near liis home, and 

 made a contract for a carload of household 

 goods, etc., to be delivered in BradentoAvn. 

 As he has a little automobile he asked if 

 that could be put in the same ear. The 

 agent assured him that it could; but mea- 

 surement shoAved that he Avould have to 

 have a car Avith a Avider door to get the ma- 

 chine in. Tliis agent informed the railroad 

 company, and they sent to Pittsburg and 

 got a car Avith a Avider door. The goods 

 Avere all loaded in the car. He paid the 

 price, and got a receipt in full for the ship- 

 ment to BradentoAvn. Imagine his surprise 

 and disappointment to find that, before the 

 car could be opened, and before he could 

 get his goods, he Avould have to ]iay an ad- 

 ditional charge of sometliing like $200 ! 

 Tliis was the "penalty" affixed someAvhere 

 in JacksonA'ille for putting an automobile 

 in the same car Avith household goods. 

 NoAv, the automobile could have been ship- 

 ped alone for about $50.00. In fact, I have 

 had tAvo such shipments — one from Me- 

 dina, O., and the other from Chicago, for 

 only about $50.00 in each case. The other 

 $150 or more Avas a penalty imposed on an 

 innocent party — one Avho paid all the agent 

 asked, and got his receipt in full. He paid 

 some more money to a couple of attorneys 

 for letting him knoAV (?) that he could not 

 Avell hel]) himself. I took the matter in 

 hand, hoAvever, and (Avith the aid of the 

 Rural New-Yorker) I am not yet convinced 

 that there is no redress. 



