718 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 1. 



my friend, have been permitted to live in the 

 age of electricity. We do not know what is 

 3-et coming ; but we may thank God, who has 

 permitted us to see these great conveniences, 

 for his loving regard to us his children. All 

 together, this little time I passed just before 

 going to sleep on that particular night was one 

 of the richest experiences I have ever known 

 in my life. I have alluded to these things be- 

 fore, and told you that it almost seemed to me 

 as if I were in the presence and enjoying the 

 companionship of unseen friends — the com- 

 panionship of those who know of God, and of 

 his love to us his children. If I had been in 

 the habit of taking drugs and stimulants I 

 might have thought that this was the effect of 

 something of the sort, and that there would be 

 a reaction. No, I had not even been guilty of 

 drinking even strong tea. The exhilaration, 

 what there was of it, came from exercising my 

 muscles, lungs and heart included, in riding 

 over difficult hills just about sundown. And, 

 besides this, I had been praying that God's 

 kingdom might come, and his will uiight be 

 done on earth as in heaven. My prayers had 

 been answered to the extent of giving me a 

 little glimpse of heavenly things, and I was 

 surprised, but not ungrateful , I assure you. 



VAI^UABLE RECIPES FOR A CERTAIN SUM OF 

 MONEY. 

 Below we give an advertisement verbatim 

 which appeared in a recent horticultural jour- 

 nal : 



FRL'ITS, VEGETABLES, BERRIES, GRAPES, ETC., NEAR- 

 LY TWICE USUAL SIZE. 



A1.SO make.s melons, corn, etc., grow mammoth size. 

 A wonderful liquid plant-food. Has never failed. Re- 

 sults guaranteed. Formula sent sealed for $1. Send 

 2c stamp for more particulars if wanted. Reputable 

 reference. Address W. H. GARRETT, 



Box 2.57, Mobile, Alaliama. 

 As soon as the journal was received I 

 promptly sent a dollar — not that I expected 

 any thing of value, but because I am anxious 

 to see this business stopped, of advertising 

 recipes, etc. Below is what I receiv«;d, written 

 with a pen, as an equivalent for my dollar : 



FORMULA. 



Sulphate of iron constitutes the plant-food. Take 

 old pieces or scraps of iron and put them into a wood- 

 en vessel, filling it about h full, and pour on water 

 until the vessel is full. I^et it stand 24 hours, then 

 draw off and use. The ves.sel may be refilled a num- 

 ber of times with water. If the iron is not convenient 

 take copperas, using one pound to /o/<;- gallons of wa- 

 ter. Suspend it in the ves.sel in a gunny or other 

 coarse-fiber bag, and it will dissolve rapidly. This 

 should be applied after the bloom falls. Pour' it about 

 the roots, using one pint on a hill of vines, and a quart 

 on trees 2 to tj years old, and half a gallon on those 

 over (j years old. This should be applied once a week 

 until the fruit is half grown. 



If used in solid form, put one ounce of copperas 

 about the roots of the hill — not in contact with them — 

 and for trees 2 to -1 years old, 2 ounces; and over 6 

 years, 4 ounces. Applications ever>^ other week for 

 period named. Pieces of iron buried about the roots 

 will give a con.stant .supply. 



Pear Blight. — Spread I J4 pounds copperas under tree 

 out to end of limbs; or bury pieces of iron about the 

 roots; or bore a ^^-inch hole'into the tree and put in a 

 teaspoonful of copperas, and plug up. 



Mobile, Ala., Aug. 31. 



The above recipe may, it is true, have some 

 value, although I am sure its value is greatly 

 exaggerated. For years statements have ap- 



peared in different periodicals, to the effect 

 that iron filings or iron chips are valuable as a 

 fertilizer. The fact that luxuriant and produc- 

 tive pear-trees are so often found closely ad- 

 joining a blacksmith shop has been adduced 

 as proof. To test this matter we have at dif- 

 ferent times taken iron filings and iron turn- 

 ings from our machine-shop, and placed them 

 around fruit-trees ; but I have never been able 

 to see any positive benefit, judging from sev- 

 eral experiments. If I am correct, our experi- 

 ment stations have also tested the matter thor- 

 oughly. The idea of boring a hole in a tree, 

 and putting in copperas or any other chemical 

 to cure pear blight, is all folly. The matter 

 has been full}- written up. I\Ir. Garrett may be 

 a well-meaning man, but he has certainly let 

 his enthusiasm run away with his better judg- 

 ment. I do not know how many dollars he 

 has received besides lu}- own ; bttt I hope he 

 will think better of his plan, and stop taking 

 money from his fellow-men in this way. One 

 dollar should buy a good-sized book telling all 

 about chemical fertilizers, and sulphate of iron 

 among them. 



ELECTROPOISE, OXYDONOR, ETC. 



We are pleased to notice that that excellent 

 periodical. Electricity, has seen fit to copy a 

 large part of our article given in issue for Aug. 

 1 ; and in speaking of the Patent Office and 

 the way in which it was finally persuaded to 

 grant a patent, it says : 



It now seems that the Tnited States Patent Office 

 has al.so had its .skirts besmeared in the .same puddle. 



At the close of the extract they sum up as 

 follows : 



As stated further along by our contemporarj'. it is 

 certainly a remarkable position for our government 

 to take that it will grant a patent for a class of things 

 which intelligent men the world over c6nsider to be 

 frauds. 



It .seems, however, that such is the position taken 

 by our Patent Office, and if this be .so in one ca.se, 

 where is it going to .stop? The spiritualist, the necro- 

 mancer, and the fakir of every kind will neces.sarily 

 have to be protected, and the hone.st man will go 

 •without his dues. 



While this matter is again before us, permit 

 me to say that two persons have rated me 

 soundly, because they believe Oxydonor to be 

 an honest invention. One of the writers goes 

 so far as to quote Scripture, saying, ' ' Whether 

 this man be a sinner or no, I know not ; but 

 one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, 

 now I see." I give this to show how hard it 

 is many times for people to give up their de- 

 lusions. Now to business : If it is neither 

 electricity nor ox^-gen ( as thej- still persistent- 

 ly claim) it must be some new force just dis- 

 covered, and hitherto unknown to the world. 

 But the question then arises. Why does not 

 the w^orld, especially the scientific world, re- 

 ceive it with joy ? Why is it not heralded 

 from one end of the world to the other as were 

 the X rays which we are all now familiar 

 with? Has the world been backward? have 

 scientific men been slow in investigating and 

 assenting to the claims of this wondrous thing 

 brought out by Roentgen ? Let those who 

 defend Electropoise and Oxydonor explain if 

 they can. 



