ISStl 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



235 



take the dimensions of every machine we use. 

 You can bring your " Kodak,"' and take views 

 of the machinery and api)liances that we have 

 been long years in studying up. At tlie Detroit 

 convention a young fi-iend came to me in a 

 sort of bashful way. and told me he had been 

 making Dovetailed hives to some extent. I 

 assured him I was glad to know it. and looked 

 at the samples of his work. He finally told me 

 that he felt a little ashamed of having copied 

 us in the way he had done, without even ask- 

 ing for the privilege. He then asked me how 

 much money he should pay us so that he could 

 go home with a clear conscience, and make 

 Dovetailed hives out of ])ine-trees that grew on 

 his own farm, for lie already had a sawmill. I 

 indulged in a good hearty laugh, and told him 

 I was glad to know they had a man in ISIichi- 

 gan who was enterprising enough to make bee- 

 hives out of his own trees. \Vhen an oppor- 

 tunity offered. I held a sample of his work up 

 to the eyes of the convention, and told them 

 they could save expensive freights by sending 

 their orders to our friend in question. Now, do 

 you think it was any task for me, or that I 

 found any selfishness to overcome in so doing? 

 Why. bless your heart, no. My temptations do 

 not lie in this direction at all. I have doiK^ this 

 thing so many times (I was going to say all my 

 life, but I had better say, since I became a 

 Chrif<ti(in) that I have not a particle of fear of 

 the result. I have seen the little text, " Give, 

 and it shall be given unto you.'" verified so 

 many times right along in this line that I feel 

 as sure I shall not lose by it as I do that the 

 sun will rise to-morrow. The enjoyment of 

 helping somebody who is rt^ally honest and 

 hard-working is worth a great deal more to me 

 than the dollars and cents. I have my tempta- 

 tions, like yourself, to struggle with, and 

 scai'cely an hour of my life passes withotit a 

 regular tussle in overconu'ng some sort of evil. 

 But it is not at all in the line of wanting all the 

 business in supplies for e\'ery apiary in the 

 world. It is rather, that I want to be lielpful 

 to my felloic-meii. and, therefore, I wish to re- 

 spond with alacrity, and show myself wide 

 awake whenever somebody comes to me with 

 his wants. Do yon know how many people 

 there are in this world who fail in business just 

 because of the half-hearted way in which they 

 wait on customers? A grocer sits oh a chair 

 out on the sidewalk, waiting for customers. 

 By the \\'ay. I always feel suspicious of the 

 proprietor of a)iy store who thinks he has noth- 

 ing to do but to wait for trade. The grocer, 

 like the farmer, should always know a dozen 

 tilings that he can do profitably, no matter 

 what the circumstances ai'e. Well, suppose 

 you go to one of these chaps who is waiting for 

 trade to " turn up."' You ask him whether he 

 has any eight-penny nails. I liave seen dealers 

 who would say, "No. sir, I haven't any," and 

 go right on talking yKditics with his neighbor, 

 without another word to his customer. What 

 should he do? I will tell you what I would 

 have him do. If he really is sitting on a chair 

 on tlie sidewalk, he should spring to his feet 

 with alacrity, and say, "" My dear sir, I am sorry 

 to say that 1 am just out of cif//)t-peuny nails; 

 but i have some nice sevens and tens. Just 

 look at them. Perhaps you can make them an- 

 swer. If the tens are too long, you may drive 

 them a little slanting: and if you drive them 

 first one way and then another, they will hold 

 a great deal stronger than eights driven 

 straight in." 



Now, I think this latter is the right way to 

 treat a customer. Of course, you should not 

 hold on so as to detain him. If he says he 

 rather thinks he will go somewhere else 

 to get the eights, don't hinder him another 



minute. A man who wishes to sell goods 

 should strive to be (tccommodatin<i in the tru- 

 est sense of tlie word. He should try to be 

 lielpful to his customer: and even though some 

 people should say iltat he acts "grasping "" and 

 use such remarks. I do not believe he should al- 

 ter his plan on that account. Sometimes, when 

 I go somewhei'e to trade I tind the clerks over- 

 do the matter in tryimj to make sales. But 

 this does not happen one time in a hundred, 

 compared with the people who are so half- 

 hearted and sleepy and dull in taking care of 

 their business thali they cr//("t succeed. I have 

 never found more than one or two clerks in my 

 life wlio would wait on every customer as'l 

 would have them waited on. Our successful 

 drummers, mIio command a salary of fi'om two 

 to three thousand dollars a year, give us a fair 

 illustration of what is wanted. They will tind 

 out in a little while what a man wants, and 

 they will make themselves really useful and 

 helpful to him. They will give him hints, and 

 tell him things of value in his business, worth 

 many dollars to him: and they do it just as 

 cheerfully and pli'asantly, evenif they do not 

 succeed in making a trade at all. A man once 

 came into our machine-shop. He looked over 

 our work and our machinery, and finally show- 

 ed one of the men how he could have the lathes 

 arranged so as to keep two running instead of 

 one. and finally demonstrated to us so clearly 

 that we could save more than a dollar a day by 

 having an extra lathe, that he made a sale of 

 one worth ^loO. He was the 'proprietor of a 

 machine-shop in a neighboring city, and he 

 was obliged to wait here for a couple of hours 

 for the train. Now. he did a stroke of business 

 for himself in these two hours. He also gave 

 us some valuable suggestions in our business 

 that have been wortli considerable money to us 

 ever since. You see. friends, there is an ex- 

 treme both ways in waiting on customers and 

 in looking up trade: and is it not clear, too. 

 that a man may seem greedy where he is only 

 wide-awake, and full of energy and zeal to do 

 with his might what his hands find to do? But 

 inasmucli as the Bible admonishes us to beware 

 of even the appearance of evil, we thank our 

 good friend Luther foi' his timely caution, and 

 promise to be careful in the future about even 

 seen^ing to '"want to gain the whole world. "" 



SPECIAL DEPARTMENT FOR A. I. ROOT, AND HIS 

 FRIENDS WHO LOVE TO RAISE CROPS. 



farmers" institutes. 



We had a farmers' institute in our town on 

 the 4th and 5th inst. Among other things the 

 silo question was discussed. One of Crawford 

 County's progressive farmers stated that he 

 could raise feed enough on one acre to keep a 

 cow twelve months, in good condition. Teach- 

 ing agriculture in the common schools was dis- 

 cussed at length. Secretary Wood ^^ aid said, 

 "Put yourself in as boss of your farm: value 

 your services at one hundred dollars per month, 

 and make the farm pay it."" Your friend T. B. 

 Terry was present, and delivered an excellent 

 lecture on potato culture. All valued Mr. Ter- 

 ry's remarks highly. It made one feel as though 

 he wanted to plant i)otatoes right away, after 

 hearing him talk. Tlie bee-industry was touch- 

 ed- slightly, and some of our neighbors who 

 liave kept bees "•nigh onto forty years,'" gave a 

 few hints on tlie subject. By the way. friend 

 Root. I think if we could have more such meet- 

 ings as this it would be a source of health, 

 wealth, and happiness. Yerxe Free. 



Townville. Pa., Mar. 7. 



