412 



Gleanings in Bee Culture 



SO I took up gardening, berry-growing, etc., 

 as you may remember. 



What brings all of this to mind is that I 

 have only lately noticed that Montgomery 

 Ward & Co., and Sears, Roebuck & Co., 

 have taken up something along the same 

 line, with this difference: They have a list 

 of articles at 2, 4, G, 8, and 12 cts. each. 

 With their vast wealth and facilities they 

 are well prejiared to astonish the world with 

 their bargains. Let me name a few of them 

 that we have recently purchased of Sears, 

 Roebuck & Co. 



The asbestos stove-mat that we used to re- 

 tail at 10 and 15 cts. is now oflfered at 2 cts. 

 A very pretty nickel-plated stove-lifter is 2 

 cts., a nut-cracker, a cake of scouring soap, 

 recipe-book, hinges for screen-doors, and a 

 mouse-trap, at the same figure. .Tust think 

 of it! a few months ago I thought I was giv- 

 ing our peoi)le a tremendous bargain by 

 offering these same mouse-traps for a nick- 

 el; but now we have one just as good for the 

 ridiculous sum of only 2 cts. 



There are so many of the articles I can 

 not mention them here; but I want to give 

 you one more illustration of what I find on 

 that two-cent counter. The door of my in- 

 cubator cellar is like the usual sloping cel- 

 lar-doors. Every time I go down to look at 

 the incubator this door is opened and closed, 

 and I soon found it considerable fatiguing 

 labor. On this two-cent counter I found a 

 coiled steel spring. In a twinkling the 

 spring was hooked to the cistern near by, 

 and the other end to the cellar-door. When 

 the door was open the spring pulled it up 

 against the cistern and held it so the wind 

 would not blow it over with a "whack." 

 When shut down so as to close up the cellar, 

 the spring so nearly balanced the weight 

 that it came down very quietly, and a very 

 little effort with one finger threw it up again. 

 That coiled spring that cost only 2 cts., I 

 verily believe was worth to me ■$2.00; and 

 when I wanted a dozen of them so as to 

 have one in each poultry-house door, I got 

 the whole dozen for only 21 cts. On this 

 two-cent counter there are beautiful nice 

 bright tin cups, pretty good-sized tin pans, 

 beautiful little funnels, corkscrews, can- 

 openers, chalk-lines, fish-lines, etc. On the 

 four-cent counter I found a finely made steel 

 punch that has a better temper than any 

 other punch I ever had. There are also neat 

 and handy screwdrivers, putty-knives, gar- 

 den-weeders, fish-lines (84 feet long), egg- 

 beaters, and beautiful japanned steel fire- 

 shovels. Let me pause a minute. The fire- 

 shovel your wife is using is old and rusty, 

 and banged up by long use. Suppose you 

 take it in one hand and have one of these 

 new japanned fire-shovels in the other hand. 

 Ask the good wife how much she will give 

 to have the old one cleaned up and polished 

 like the new one. Well, it can be done for 

 only 4 cts. in this way: Toss the old one out- 

 doors to be used in the garden, and give her 

 the new one. The latter will do very much 

 better work because the ashes or any thing 

 else will slide right off, leaving it bright and 



clean. On this four-cent counter are very 

 pretty tin wash-basins, tin pans of various 

 sizes, a very i)retty tin pail with a cover, a 

 nice japanned dust-i)an, and a most beauti- 

 ful bright japanned baking-pan. I^et me 

 digress again. 



Mrs. Hoot wanted a bread-pan of a certain 

 size to fit our little oven. We went to differ- 

 ent hardware stores, but they did not have 

 the size wanted, but we took what they had, 

 although it was so rusty that a lot of time 

 was spent in the vain effort to scovrr it up 

 so as to look decent. They would not throw 

 any thing off the i)rice because it was rusty. 

 I think it cost 15 or 20 cts. Well, now, this 

 four-cent pan was made of better stock, 

 much finer workmanship, and is as bright 

 and clean as a silver dollar. You can find 

 on this four-cent counter also a very pretty 

 small-sized mason's trowel; a dozen lamp- 

 wicks; a very useful pair of scissors; a dozen 

 shoelaces, etc. On the six-cent counter 

 there is quite a useful assortment of 

 wrenches; and on the farm it is exceedingly 

 convenient to have wrenches in different 

 places. There is also a two-bladed pocket- 

 knife for 6 cts., and it is a pretty good sort 

 of knife too. A spring tape (iO inches long, 

 nickel-plated, is also on this counter. You 

 can carry it in your vest pocket, and it may 

 be worth a dollar to you. For 12 cts. you 

 can get a great lot of different kinds of tin- 

 ware; a six-quart covered pail, and saw and 

 frame for sawing metals; tea-kettle; coffee- 

 pot; dinner-pail, and a pair of pliers. 



By the way, I forgot to say in the proper 

 place that I purchased a pair of pliers for 

 handling gas-pipe for only 6 cts., that has 

 been worth to me more than I can tell in 

 handling the small gas-pipe in our poultry- 

 yard that carries the water to the eleven 

 different yards. This gas-pipe plier cost 

 only 6 cts. For 8 cts. there is a still nicer 

 one, nickel-plated. 



Now, the above is only a brief glimpse of 

 the bargains to be found in these books. 

 They are sent to anybody free of charge; 

 and with the aid of this catalog you can tell 

 in a minute just what you ought to pay, or 

 about that, for any article needed in the 

 home. Every little while we find traveling 

 men and sonietimes tradesmen who are so 

 lacking in conscience that they will not 

 only charge double price, but treble and 

 quadruple — whatev^er the traffic will bear. 

 The "spectacle fiends" often get ten times 

 the proper price for a pair of glasses — that is, 

 they succeed in getting $2.50 for a pair of 

 spectacles that should be just 25 cts. Now, 

 these catalog books will post you on every 

 thing. Not only that, as a rule they sug- 

 gest the best brand of goods for the least 

 money; and on all these new things that 

 are coming up they keep you posted. And 

 last, but not least, they say, " If for any rea- 

 son whatever you are dissatisfied with any 

 article purchased from us, we expect you to 

 return it to us at our expense. We will then 

 exchange it for exactly what you want, or 

 will return your money, including any 

 transportation charges you have paid." 



