704 



Gleanings in Bee Culture 



kind of apple to make a schoolboy rejoice, 

 especially if he can get enough of them to 

 fill all his pockets. I do not know where 

 the Early Joe can be obtained. Mr. Green 

 said his brother had a few trees, and I have 

 spoken for half a dozen for our children. If 

 any of the nurserymen whose eyes meet 

 this have the Early Joe for sale I will give 

 them a free notice of it in these columns, 

 providing, of course, it is offered at a reason- 

 able price. May God be praised for that 

 little Early Joe apple. 



MNEMONICS, OB AIDS TO MEMORY, ETC. 



MEMORY "CORRESPONDENCE 



SCHOOLS," ETC. 



Some time ago I spoke of my failing 

 memory as age advances, and I gave you 

 some illustrations. Since that, as a matter 

 of course, I have been looking out for adver- 

 tisements and every thing else to assist the 

 memory. On page 544, Sept. 1, I spoke 

 about the $25.00 correspondence school for 

 the memory, and my warning seemed a 

 timely one. One good friend, however, had 

 invested $10.00 before he saw my caution. 

 He thought a jump from $25.00 down to 

 $10.00 was worth taking advantage of. 

 What he received for his $10.00 was ten 

 little books or paper pamphlets of perhaps a 

 dozen pages each. Twenty-five cents would 

 have been a big price for all the printed 

 matter. While there is much in it that is 

 good and no doubt valuable (as there is in 

 almost any book), it is a great outrage to 

 ask one to pay even $5.00 for it. In glanc- 

 ing over it hastily, I find nothing in it par- 

 ticularly new. It is in line with suggestions 

 to help memory to grasp things quickly. 

 Let me give you a simple illustration that 

 may be helpful. When I first moved to our 

 Florida home, of course I wanted to get 

 acquainted with the neighbors; and as their 

 names were strange and sometimes peculiar 

 I was telling my troubles at neighbor 

 Rood's. A bright young lady, Mr. Rood's 

 daughter, took me in hand and gave me a 

 little memory drill. She spoke something 

 as follows: "Mr. Root, I will tell you how 

 to remember folks. You were surprised 

 when Mr. Armstrong lifted your trunk out 

 of his wagon without any assistance. He 

 certainly has strong arms for a man of his 

 age. Now just recall the trunk episode 

 when you want to think of his name. And 

 that other man, Mr. Amlong, who is quite 

 tall, when you can not recall his name, re- 

 member he could very consistently say, ' I 

 am-long,' for that is his name." Then she 

 named several more neighbors on the street 

 in a similar way; and from that time to this 

 I can always call them by name at once. I 

 think it is done by the association of ideas, 

 part by "suggestion," as the memory folks 

 call it. Now another way: Few people 

 can remember which months have BO days 

 and which have 31. In my childhood some- 

 body taught me the little stanza below, and 

 from that time to this I can tell instantly 

 which months have only oO days. 



Thirty days hath September, 



April, June, and November; 



All the rest have thirty-one, 



Save February, which alone 



Hath twenty-eight; and one day more 



We add to it one year in tour. 



Now, I have stored away in memory's 

 pigeon-holes, ready for use, a great number 

 of names, facts, dates, etc., that I recall in 

 just that way. For instance, for a longtime 

 I had a great deal of trouble in recalling the 

 name of the beautiful and delicious Graven- 

 stein apple. Finally I told myself that I 

 must think first of Gravenhorst, the great 

 teacher in bee culture; and then I was to 

 think of the word "stein," which is the 

 German word for stone. In the same way 

 the name of the Northern Spy would get 

 away from me; but to catch on I had only 

 to recall a little incident that happened sev- 

 eral years ago. A woman across the way 

 kept a boarding-house, and occasionally 

 sold liquor on the sly. The Anti-saloon 

 League detectives went there one day to 

 purchase. But the lady of the house was 

 suspicious of them, and called them "spies." 

 So when I want to think of that beautiful 

 apple with greenish-red streaks I think of 

 the detectives who were called "spies." Of 

 course you can keep a memorandum-book; 

 but an alert and trained brain is better than 

 all the books, and it improves by use. Per- 

 haps I might suggest that in old age we 

 should avoid loading down either brain or 

 body with too much or too many burdens. 

 I am getting on very well nowdays by 

 pushing away a great multitude of things I 

 should like to take up if my busy life would 

 permit. I keep saying I am going to do a 

 feiv things, and do them thoroughly and 

 well; and the world must excuse me if I per- 

 sistently hold fast to the course I have 

 laid out. 



DBAGON-FLIES, MOSQUITO-HAWKS, SNAKE-FEED- 

 ERS," " SNAKE-DOCTORS," ETC. 



I was out in the yard the other day watching my 

 bees fly to and li-oni the hives, and a snake-feeder, 

 or dragon-fly, sat upon a telephone wire close to 

 the hives. This snake-doctor wovUd catch a bee, 

 make it drop its load, and then turn it loose. I 

 watched this insect for 15 or 20 minutes, and it was 

 quite easy for him to catch a bee both coming and 

 going from the hive but would let it go again. I 

 wondered if the bee stung the fly or if he was after 

 pollen or wished to kill the bee. 



Pleasant Hill, Mo., June 1. Frank A. Thomas. 



Friend T., this insect has been considera- 

 bly discussed in years past. When I was 

 on the island they came in such droves as 

 to catch a large number of bees, and in 

 queen-rearing time we had great trouble 

 from the loss of young queens, we presumed 

 from the ravages of the mosquito-hawk. I 

 suppose our friends understand that these 

 various names refer to one and the same in- 

 sect. Our apiarist, Mr. Marchant, tells us 

 that they have at times had much trouble 

 (in his home down in Northwest Florida) 

 during queen-rearing, from this insect. 

 But, fortunately, they are gone in a few 

 days. Some years ago some bee-keeper in 

 the South said he succeeded in driving 

 them away by setting the children after 

 them with whips. I think likely the fly- 



