3S4 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 15. 



MEDICINES FREE OF CHARGE; ELECTRO - 

 POISE ; THE AIR-SHIP, ETC. 



Doubtless many of you, at least if you read 

 the advertisements, have noticed the great 

 number of remedies that are sent absolutely 

 free, postage paid and all. The quantity sent 

 is only a sample, of course, so you may see the 

 thing really has virtue. When I first saw it I 

 said to myself, " Why, it certainly must have 

 something of real merit or they could never 

 afford to send it free of charge and pay postage 

 besides." 



But to make sure of the thing I sent for a 

 sample. The first was the wonderful " kakava." 

 The sample received looked like dried bark or 

 leaves of some plant. The taste of the "tea" 

 prepared from it reminded me at once of War- 

 ner's Safe Cure. No doubt it is a preparation 

 from the same plant. I once took about a 

 dozen bottles of the Safe Cure, as you may 

 remember. This kakava was warranted to 

 have a wonderful effect on the kidneys. It 

 would " save the trouble of getting up several 

 times during the night," etc. I was very 

 anxious to have the medicine succeed, and I 

 certainly had a great amount of faith. Now 

 may God help me to advise wisely and carefully 

 in regard to this matter of medicines for many 

 infirmities. 



Along with the sample came, free of charge, 

 a little box of pills. There were a dozen or 

 more. In order to have the root do its best, the 

 patient was to take a pill every night. I took 

 the pill, as a matter of course. I had been 

 troubled with constipation, as most people are 

 who are on the lean-meat diet. The pills were 

 certainly very good ones— that is, they were 

 the pleasantest and mildest physic I think I 

 ever found, and, as a matter of course, they 

 made me feel better. The pills certainly gave 

 at least temporary relief; but the kakava root 

 without the pills, I honestly believe, had no 

 effect one way or the other. Perhaps I ought 

 to be ashamed of myself to grumble or find 

 fault when the medicine was furnished free o^' 

 charge, postage-stamps and all. I am not going 

 to complain; in fact, I have sent them enoug'u 

 to pay for the medicine and the postage, be- 

 cause I do not want the remedy for nothing. 

 You may say, " Why not keep on with their 

 medicine, and why not take the physic?" 

 Because I am sure God did not intend that his 

 creatures should force Nature to do her work 

 by the use of physic. 



Apples are even now quite plentiful around 

 Medina. Farmers have been bringing in 

 some very tine ones at prices ranging from 25 

 to 50 cts. a bushel; and there are a few apples 

 in the market at that price even now, this 6th 

 day of May. All along during the spring, I 

 thought of the apples I enjoyed so much from 

 our own trees last fall, and tried repeatedly 

 those offered for sale this spring. Either I am 

 different or the apples are different, I am forced 

 to conclude, for they did not " set " well. They 

 made me think of the Irishman who had just 

 eaten his first peaches. He said he liked the 

 flavor of the fruit very well, but the "seeds" 

 lay rather heavy on his stomach. You see the 

 poor fellow had swallowed stones and all. not 

 having seen peaches in the old country. Well, 

 a few days ago a boy drove up with some re- 

 markably fine apples, and asked me if I did not 

 want some Belmonts. 



" Belmonts ? " said I in surprise. " Why, my 

 dear young friend, the Belmont is a fall apple." 



"Yes, I know; but these were kept in cold 

 storage. We just took them out to-day." 



He then handed me one. Now, you would 

 all think me foolish if I should tell you just 



how much I enjoyed those Belmont apples.* I 

 «t,e one, then another, and then a third one, 

 then waited to see what Nature said. Why, 

 they were so mellow and rich and delicious I 

 could not believe for a moment they would dis- 

 tress me, and they didn't. In the afternoon I 

 ate three more. The next day I ate half a 

 dozen in the forenoon and half a dozen in the 

 afternoon. Then I ate all I wanted as long as 

 they lasied. Now, please do not call me such 

 names as some of you called my good friend 

 Terry when he ate so many strawberries. 

 Nature was calling for just what my digestive 

 apparatus and physical system in general lack- 

 ed; and when she got hold of the thing she 

 craved she just in her own way said so, and 

 said, as well as she knew how, "Pass it along, 

 a good lot of it." The constipation let up at 

 once. Every thing got into natural channels, 

 and I felt like swinging my hat and giving a 

 big hurrah, and then using my muscles for 

 chopping wood or doing something useful. 

 Now then: 



God did not intend us to use pills, but he did 

 intend that we should select tender, luscious 

 fruit, and that we should use enough of it to 

 induce Nature to perform her appointed work 

 with regularity and thoroughness. Since the 

 Belmonts are gone I have tried greenings, Bald- 

 wins, russets, Ben Davis, and other apples that 

 we are likely to find in the spring, but all of 

 them proved to be more or less indigestible. 

 They are something like the Irishman's peach- 

 stones. 



The cold-storage building where these apples 

 were kept is in Wellington, Ohio. The apples 

 were worth 15 or 20 cts. a bushel when stored 

 last fall; but they sell now readily at 50 cts. a 

 bushel, and we retail them on the wagon at 

 about 75 cts. Here is an opening for fruit- 

 growers, and here is a hint, too, for those who 

 are in pursuit of health. I have furnished this 

 same kind of apple to my friends and relatives 

 who have been unable to eat ordinary apples, 

 and their verdict is just like mine. Let^us now 

 go back to free samples of medicine. 



1 answered another advertisement, and got a 

 bottle of liquid (postpaid) that tasted to me 

 exactly like brandy and good honey shaken 

 together. Please do not lose your respect for 

 Uncle Amos if he tells you he found it a very 

 nice medicine to take. Along with the medi- 

 cine came a free box of something to put on 

 chapped hands or sore feet. I found the latter 

 very good; but the medicine, I feel quite sure, 

 had no effect, one way or the other. If this be 

 true, how, then, is it possible for these people 

 to continue furnishins free samples, yes, and 

 filling our periodical* with expensive advertise- 

 ments. that thev may be permitted to furnish 



* The Belmont apple is the same thing, I believe, 

 that is known in many localities as the"Gat«s" 

 apple: and it is also very similar to what we used to 

 call in my childhood the Golden Pippin. These lat- 

 ter I can remember in my grandfather's orchard. 

 Their special characteristic was a peculiar honey 

 sweetness just about the blossom end; and we 

 children used to think so much of them when they 

 were fully ripe that we devoured them core and all. 

 How well" I remember of going down ceUar on a 

 winter evening to get some Golden Pippins ! Some- 

 times the tallow candle, held by unsteady juvenile 

 hands, let a drop of melted grease fall on the Pip- 

 pins. But that did not spoil them for the juvenile 

 taste and appetite. Since I have grown to manhood 

 I have procured trees and grafts of the old Golden 

 Pippins; but of late years they are affected by a pe- 

 culiar rotting at the core. The Gates (or Belmont) 

 apples do not seem to have this infirmity; but I 

 hardly think they are equal to the Golden Pippin. 

 There is still another apple that, when grown to . 

 perfection, reminds me of that old Golden Pippin. 

 It is the Vandevere. 



