990 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 15 



Since the above was in type I find an edi- 

 torial by Willis L. Moore, Chief of the 

 Weather Bureau, in the Monthly Weather 

 Review, entitled "Fake Forecasts." From 

 this I make the following brief extracts : 



So far as we recall the names of those who have dis- 

 tinguished themselves for making popular weather pre- 

 dictions based on principles that are contrary to all our 

 knowledge of meteorology, the list runs somewhat as 

 follows: Vennor, 1875-1890; Hicks. 1890 to date; Dunne, 

 1892 to date; Foster, 1885 to date; Elmer, 1903 to date; 

 Snavely, 1902-1904. While these have been active in the 

 United States, the rest of the world has also had its 

 varied experiences. In England, Mr. Hugh Clements 

 and his great expounder, Hon. William Digby, have 

 vexed the printer with an imposing volume and the 

 public with daily predictions in the local newspapers. 

 These authors speak as confidently about the moon as 

 Rev. Mr. Hicks does about Vulcan, Jupiter, and the 

 other planets, i-eal and imaginary. Italy and Austria 

 have gone through a sad experience with vortex-ring 

 cannons for driving aWay hail. 



Wherever the life and property of the citizens are at 

 stake, the Government of the people, by the people, and 

 for the poople must necessarily look after their inter- 

 ests, and the time must soon come when a general law 

 shall forbid the publication of weather predictions and 

 storm warnings, especially those of a sensational char- 

 acter, by any others than properly licensed persons. 



" HIGH-PRESSURE " STRAWBERRY-GROWING. 



Mr. Hoot:— Aiter carefully reading your ABC of 

 Strawberry Culture I have decided to try my hand at 

 strawberries. Three years ago I planted some after 

 having just turned a heavy sod, with the result that the 

 large white grubs ate off the i-oots, and the plants died. 

 Now, we have only about seven acres in all, only four of 

 which are available for a cultivated crop. We have one- 

 half acre in early potatoes. When these are off I in- 

 tend planting strawberries there, putting them close in 

 single or even double rows, say nine inches to a foot in 

 the row; keep off all runners, get a crop of strawberries 

 next spring, then plow plants under and plant a late 

 crop, say late cabbage. Please give your opinion of the 

 plan. I realize that this is intensive culture, but that is 

 what we have to resort to. The increased price for the 

 greater number of strawberry-plants needed will, I 

 think, make no perceptible difference, as we shall get 

 three crops off the land in two years. 



I forgot to state that our soil and climate fully war- 

 rant this venture in strawberries. We are within six 

 miles of Milwaukee, with 300,000 people (a good mar- 

 ket for a good product). Arthur p. Loewe. 



Milwaukee, Wis., July 9, 1904. 



Your plan of strawberries after early po- 

 tatoes is all right. The finest strawberries 

 I ever grew were managed in this way; but 

 I should not think of planting as close as you 

 do; 20 inches, or, better still, two feet, is 

 none too far for hill culture; but I would not 

 think of plowing them up after they had 

 grown one crop. You might get a very good 

 crop the first summer after the potatoes, but 

 you will get a much better one if you keep 

 the runners off and grow one year more. It 

 is so much work to fix a strawberry planta- 

 tion just right, it generally pays to get an- 

 other crop. If, however, you decide on just 

 one crop, perhaps your close planting will be 

 all right, providing your land is very rich, 

 and in this way you will save laborious weed- 

 ing. The big city you mention is quite an 

 item in the matter. Under such circum- 

 stances you can afford to put a lot of work 

 and a lot of manure also on a small piece of 

 ground. 



Humbugs and Swindles. 



THOMAS A. EDISON, JR.'S, ELECTRIC 

 VITALIZER. 



More than a year ago I received a flaming 

 pamphlet saying that the son of Edison, the 

 inventor, had just gotten out something for 

 the cure of sick people more wonderful, and 

 of more value to the world, than any thing 

 his illustrious father had given. I was 

 pained and surprised at the news that Edi- 

 son should in any way let his good and great 

 name be used in support of a humbug. I 

 asked for particulars, and have been getting 

 their printed matter ever since. I thought 

 of the feelings of the father, but reasoned 

 that he must know all about it, and agree to 

 it. Among other things in the advertising 

 matter was the following : 



"Never has the truth of the law of heredity been so 

 well illustrated as it has in the Edisons— father and 

 son." 



I felt sure that it was a fraud of some 

 kind, but it never for a moment occurred to 

 me young Edison was not actually at the 

 bottom of it. Yet I could not understand 

 why his greed for money should tempt him 

 to use his father's good name in this way. 

 In the Cleveland Leader of Oct. 6 we are 

 told that the Postoffice Department has 

 finally shut down on the whole thing. May 

 the Lord be praised ! Below is the expla- 

 nation: 



It was disclo.sed that Edison, Jr., was not the inventor; 

 that, under the agreement he had with the company, he 

 never received more than $35 a week, and that the 

 company sold thousands of the vitalizers at $8 a set at a 

 large profit. 



Extravagant claims were made for young Edison's in- 

 ventive genius. It was claimed he had refused an offer 

 of $750,000 for the " vitalizer," and that the Japanese 

 government was anxious to secure it for its troops in 

 the .field. 



The elder Edison received hundreds of letters of in- 

 quiry about it. He then appealed to the authorities, 

 and said, among other things: 



"My son, who is named in the company's literature as 

 a great inventor and medical authority, and in personal 

 charge of the regulation of the vitalizers to the needs of 

 individual cases, is a young man of no scientific or in- 

 ventive attainments. He has never represented himself 

 as such. The boy was gotten hold of solely for the 

 use of his name." 



Just think of it, friends. The truth of the 

 matter is, a fake company paid young Edi- 

 son $35.00 a week for the use of his name; 

 they then went to work and wrote whatever 

 they pleased, and put his name at the bottom 

 of it. The only thing we can blame the 

 Edisons for is for letting the thing go on till 

 the present time, "robbing sick people" by 

 the hundreds and perhaps by the thousands, 

 using names and testimonials till our gov- 

 ernment finally put a stop to it. The ap- 

 paratus is Electropoise over again, only 

 there is in real fact a little electricity about 

 it, while Electropoise has none and never did 

 have. It must be a combination of Electro- 

 poise and cheek— the kind of cheek used by 

 the Duffy Malt Whisky people. We are 

 told young Edison is now seriously ill. It is 

 a little strange that he should be sick when 

 his own vitalizer was advertised with such 

 vehemence to "cure every thing." 



