450 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June I. 



hills. On a part of my trip there were some 

 sandy and dnsty hills; and when many teams 

 made a cloud of dust as I was climbing along 

 the hill, it seemed strange that I did not as 

 usual feel the efTect of dust on my chain. 

 The beveled gears are perfectly inclosed, and 

 run constantly in thick oil. This one fact 

 alone is a most important item. And, again, 

 with the gears there is almost no lost motion 

 — no jerk or play, or clank of machinery when 

 you change from pedaling ahead to back 

 pedaling. 



I found the celery-farm looking wonderful- 

 ly nice, for the recent abundant rains have 

 kept their plants going almost without irriga- 

 tion. I had planned so as to see the effect of 

 the sunlight across the swamp near sunset. 

 Away off in the distance the rows ran toward 

 the setting sun like threads of emerald tinted 

 with gold. I never saw plants before of such 

 beautiful color, and so near alike that there is 

 neither a poor one nor a best one in the thou- 

 sands after thousands, the bright green of 

 the plants contrasting most beautifully with 

 the almost jet blackness of the damp mucky 

 soil. 



The onions were also looking remarkably 

 well. I have told you of their troubles from 

 blight in former years Well, they think they 

 have discovered a remedy by the use of a 

 dressing of common salt. Less than ten miles 

 from Creston, in Wadsworth, there is a great 

 salt-factory. This salt is pumped, as I have 

 told you before, from a well 1700 feet deep; 

 and then there is a sort of waste product, in 

 the way of salt, that is furnished cheaply for 

 agricultural purposes, that our friends are 

 utilizing on the celery-farm. 



Although the new (close) celery culture has 

 not been a success heretofore, they are still 

 trying about half an acre again this season. I 

 believe the blight was a little worse in the 

 close planting. There was also more trouble 

 by the plants running up to seed. This latter 

 was probably occasioned by a lack of sufficient 

 water. To "remedy the blight, salt had been 

 sprinkled all over that half-acre. At one point 

 a new hand was set to sprinkling. I presume 

 he thought he could do it all right ; but he 

 got on too much, so there is one spot where a 

 great part of the plants are killed out. Salt 

 may be good for certain purposes; but be care- 

 ful about getting on too much. I suggested a 

 manure-spreader, or some other kind of ma- 

 chine for putting it on evenly. 



Jordan Brothers are using chemical fertiliz- 

 ers to some extent ; but they told me that, 

 although it answered for a time, they found 

 there must be, once in two or three years at 

 least, a good dressing of stable manure in or- 

 der that any commercial fertilizer might do its 

 best. The season has been so wet thus far 

 that the Breed Weeders have not been used 

 very much. The consequence is, gangs of 

 men and boys were at work with their hand 

 ciiliivators, and down on their hands and 

 knees getting the weeds out. This is the only 

 serious drawback to the Breed weeders and 

 other machines of that type. They can not 

 be used in wet weather; and if the weeds get 

 ahead of you during wet weather, you have 



got to get them out with cultivators and by 

 hand work before you can get your weeders 

 going. I am glad to notice that these weed- 

 ers are all getting to be very much lower in 

 price. . Machines that sold for SIO a year ago 

 are now offered for but little more than half 

 that amount. 



A SHORT SERMON IN REGARD TO DELAY IN 

 FILLING ORDERS. 



A. I. Root Co. Dear Sirs: — " Thou hast loved right- 

 eousness and hated iniquity." — Heb. 1 :i(. A very nice 

 text to preach a sermon from; but how about my or- 

 der. No. (>1,712, that I .sent in .six weeks ago, and which 

 voii said would be delayed a week or ten days longer 

 than usual? You usually filled orders for me inside 

 of ten da} s. Ten daj s in filling and ten days delayed 

 make twenty days. I have looked for the goods ever 

 since the twenty days were up; went tour miles to the 

 depot five times to see if the goods were there; disap- 

 pointed all my cu.stomers ; made enemies; have had 

 no end of trouble and vexation of spirit, just because 

 of your utter indifference to the above text, and dis- 

 regard for "doing unto others as jou would have 

 them do lo you." 



To be sure, my order was small; but you say that 

 small orders receive the same prompt attention as 

 large ones. Then, again, I have dealers' rates, and 

 there is not so much money in my orders as there is 

 in others ; but voit sa v that money is not your god, 

 consequently that should not have delayed my order 

 twentj'-two days longer than i'o« said it would. 



You say you are not greedy for more jobs Then 

 why are you running advertisements in all the leading 

 agricultural and bee papers, and voluntarily .sending 

 catalogs out all over the country? 



I expect this is all the "boys' '' fault; but they should 

 have been trained to "love righteousness and hate 

 iniquity." I have written the above to show you how 

 matters appear to the eyes of a dear bee-keeping 

 friend. I have written you several times in regard to 

 the order, and have not received any reply. You have 

 my sympathy for not being able to handle the 7i'kole 

 supply business, as I know'it grieves you to let some 

 of it go; and if you want me and my customers to 

 read Gle.-\nings with less skepticism you will ship 

 mv order at once. Yours truly, 



bceola, O., May 17. E. B. Foster. 



P. S.— This letter would be nice to fill up some of 

 the extra pages of Gleanings. 



At the close of the above letter our friend 

 seems to think there is some doubt about our 

 putting it in print, even though he suggests 

 doing so. In choosing matter for Gleanings 

 it is not a question as to whether it would be 

 for our interests to publish certain letters so 

 much as it is whether such letters will prove 

 to be a general benefit to our readers. In 

 the present crisis I think the above will be a 

 benefit, and I think it belongs among what 

 might be called " kind words," even though 

 some of the charges are pretty severe. The 

 brother calls himself "a dear bee-keeping 

 friend," and I believe he is and would be now 

 if he were not considerably vexed when he 

 wrote. I do not blame him for feeling vexed, 

 and yet I do not see how either myself or the 

 boys can help the trouble he mentions. When 

 we say a "week or ten days," especially when 

 the letter is one of a thousand, so the writer 

 can hardly make a personal matter of it (even 

 if he tried ever so hard), the expression must 

 be taken with considerable latitude. In regard 

 to going to the depot five times to see if the 

 goods were there, I would urge the friends 

 not to go after them until they have received 

 a notice of shipment. When I saw how things 

 were going, I myself employed an extra clerk, 

 and invested a good pile of dollars in postal 



