GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



will be a demand for homes and land. The 

 average person, if he does not take time to 

 investigate thoroughly before investing in 

 land — especially land remote from a good 

 town or water front, will lose out; for inost 

 of tlie land in the State is good for nothing, 

 either to-day or at any time in the future. 

 The three elements that determine values on 

 land in Florida are water front, proximity 

 to a good town, and productiveness The 

 man or agent who can guess where a big 

 town or resort will locate will strike it rich 

 if he can live long enough. 



A. I. root's FLORIDA VISITORS; AN OPEN LET- 

 TER FROM E. R. ROOT TO THE READERS OF 

 GLEANINGS. 



From one to half a dozen people almost 

 daily visit A. I. Root at his Florida home 

 in Bradentown. There is nothing great or 

 remarkable at his place; but our readers 

 evidently want to see the man whose writ- 

 ings on home, garden, and religious topics 

 they have read so long. Said a visitor the 

 other day, " There are just two men in this 

 world I have been wanting to see. One is 

 Elbert Hubbard and the other is A. I. Root. 

 Excuse me," he coiTected, " I mean A. 1. 

 Root and Elbert Hubbard. I shall go back 

 to my friends now and say I have seen Mr. 

 Root';" and he evidently was pleased; but 

 there are some, doubtless, who go away with 

 a different impression when they see a little 

 old ip.an in old clothes with cap drawn down 

 over his ears, who gives them only a moment 

 of his time, and wlio possibly rather abrupt- 

 ly excuses liimself, and they see him no 

 more. 



In all fairness to Mr. Root, it should be 

 stated that he was never of robust health. 

 Once, as a child, he was given up to die; 

 but his mother, the neighbors said, would 

 not let liim die. From childhood up he 

 suffered from frequent lung trouble, and 

 during the intervening years he has had to 

 be very careful of his health. The building 

 ui) of two large businesses during his earlier 

 manhood soon put him where it was thought 

 he would not live long. The doctors pre- 

 scribed midday naps and letting go some of 

 his business cares. He did not readily ac- 

 cept the latter part of this treatment until 

 a siege of malarial fever, which neaiiy took 

 him away, comjDelled liim to relax. His boys 

 came out of college, and from then on he 

 gradually let go of tlie active care of the 

 business. This, fortunately, enabled him to 

 go on with his experimenting and writing 

 until now many who have followed liim 

 these years, and read those lay sermons, are 

 anxious to see the author. 



Nearly seven ty-fi\e now, his years have 



begun to pull upon him, so that he is 

 obliged to take not only his noonday nap 

 but one or two more during the afternoon 

 and evening. If a visitor perchance hap- 

 pened to come upon him just before one 

 of these naps he may be surprised and 

 pained at the abruptness of the interview. 

 To apologize or explain might make matters 

 worse. 



The fact is, that there are times when 

 A. I. Root is i^hysically unable to give his 

 callers much attention. At other times, 

 fresh from a nap, his visitor may be sur- 

 prised at the exuberance of liis enthusiasm 

 in showing his garden (particularly his 

 dasheens), his chickens, his ducks, and his 

 tropical plants around the house. Such a 

 treatment seems wholly in accord with the 

 style of his writings. The abrupt inter- 

 views perhaps seems to be the very antithe- 

 sis of his Home papers. 



No one regrets more than Mr. Root that 

 he is unable to give to all the same consid- 

 erate attention that he gives to some. The 

 former may be justified in the belief that 

 the real A. I. Root is not the same as the 

 A. I. Root on paper. 



Right here it is proper to remark that 

 when A. I. writes matter for publication he 

 does it in the fresh hours of the morning, 

 or after a nap in the afternoon, when he is 

 at his best. In this connection, also, it 

 should be said that Mr. Root has no office 

 force at his Florida home — not even a sten- 

 ographer or a clerk. His replies to the nu- 

 merous questions that are sent to liim at 

 Bradentown, if at all, must necessarily be 

 brief. 



I wish to suggest that all questions be 

 sent to the Medina office. I have studied 

 Florida, and am fairly familiar with what 

 my fatlier is doing, and his views on va- 

 rious subjects. As I am in Medina eleven 

 months in the year I can, with our office 

 force, the dictaphone, and stenographer, 

 answer most of the inquiries that come in. 

 I make tliis suggestion that father may 

 prolong his life, and thus give tliousands 

 the benefits of his Home talks and lay 

 .sermons. The answering of many letters 

 is becoming a serious task to a man of his 

 age. 



A. I. says visitors are always welcome at 

 his Florida home; but if any one of you 

 should get a short visit or interview you 

 will knoAv that it is not because it is you, 

 but because you happen to come at his nap 

 times when it is absolutely necessaiy that he 

 take a rest, and without which his Home 

 talks would soon be no more. 



E. R. Root. 



Bradentown, Fla., Feb. 27. 



