82 



Bananas do not bear any seed. May be 

 you have heard bananas never grow from 

 seed; yet growing bananas is one of the 

 gi'eatest industries in the world. We are 

 told that the banana stopped bearing seed 

 because people kept propagating from 

 suckers. As nobody made any use of the 

 seed, if it ever had any seed, it stopped 

 yielding it. In the same way we have a seed- 

 less orange, or almost seedless, and other 

 plants have been following along. Now, 

 will the fly learn after a little to dodge the 

 wire-cloth weapon as it dodges a folded 

 newspaper or a flat stick? Who can teHf* 



In Avaging Avar against redbugs, mosqui- 

 toes, and infections diseases, such as the 

 foot-and-roouth disease, and I might go on 

 indefinitely, it may behoove us to look into 

 this matter a little more than Ave have done. 

 In other words, did the honeybee come 

 from Die hand of the loving Creator with 

 all its wondrous skill? or have centuries of 

 practice, and, you may say, the " survival 

 of the fittest," had something to do with it ? 

 And then, again, did this mischievous fly 

 possess the same skill from the creation 

 doAvn to the pi'esent time, or did it gradual- 

 ly learn the trade of dodging so it might 

 keep on annoying at a time when we wish 

 so vehemently he Avere at the other end of 

 tlie earth? 



My impression is, in closing, that the 

 great Father has for the best of reasons 

 ordained and planned that Ave should turn 

 in and help wherever it is possible to make 

 thinc's better in this busv world of ours. 



"the grt;at army op the unemployed.'-' 

 On page 780, Sept. 15, I have some kind 

 words to say in regard to a tramp, or at 

 least one Avhom the Avorld Avould call a 

 tramp. I think noAV it may be well to tell 

 another experience. A few mornings ago a 

 tolerably well-dressed and able-bodied man 

 came to Mrs. Root saying he Avanted some- 

 thing to eat. She told him to go into the 

 lumber-yard, that they Avould give him work 

 and then he could buy Avhat he needed. 

 She did this because I had told her not to 

 giA'e tramps food. Well, because he said he 



' How many ages oi' centuries does it require for 

 the fly to acquire the skill necessary to evade the 

 flipper? And, again, do flies and bees rememLer or 

 inherit the piledu'p e>.i5erienc-e of their ancestors? 

 Do you and T, dear reader, occasionally have 

 srlimpses of things our fathers and inotliers learned 

 before we were horn ? Some years ago I visited 

 AVaterbury, Ot., and I found there a few old gray- 

 headed people who cnuld tell me where my father 

 passed his boyhood days; and as I looked over the 

 surroundings and fried to recall what he had told 

 mr- vi his boyhood, it almost seemed as if away back 

 in the past I recalled glimpses of the landscape 

 and surroundings ; and yet it was the first tame in 

 luy life that I ever visited the place. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



conld not very Avell Avork without something 

 to eat slie gave him a fair meal. He asked 

 for colTee; but she lold him Ave used postum 

 cereal, and he said that Avould do all right. 

 Instead of going to the lumber-yard, how- 

 ever, he Avent to my daughter's, next door, 

 and asked if he could not have some real 

 coffee, making complaint about the cereal 

 col'i'ee. Not knoAving he had had a fair 

 breaktast she gave liim something more. 

 Then he asked if he could not do some work 

 for her. She lold him he might mow the 

 laAvn ; but Avhen he asked hoAv much pay he 

 Avas to haA'e she told him a man came 

 around once a week and mowed it for 25 

 cents. l]i^ replied that he was not going to 

 mow anA' big laAvn like that for 25 cents, 

 and then ])e jiut off. After he had bothered 

 tAVQ busy Avomen, and had eaten tAvo break- 

 fasts Avithout charge, ]:e Avas not Avilling to 

 Avork for the regular market jiriee. I "scold- 

 ed" both of the woivien for encouraging and 

 putting a jDremium on the Avhole tramp 

 business. 



NoAv here is something so sensible that I 

 have about decided to have a lot of slips 

 I)rinted; and Avhen somebody Avriles me a 

 letter about '"'the great army of the unem- 

 ployed " I will send them this elip])ing by 

 Avaj' of reply. Read it, and see if it does 

 not just about '' hit the nail on the head." 



CHATS WITH THE BOYS. 



A'cf enough cf Mm to go round. 



1 hired two boys. One tried to see how much he 

 could do, and everybody wanted him. There was 

 not enough, of him to supply the demand. He was 

 kind and helpful every way, always cheerful, and 

 ready for any .iob. He is now getting $1200 a year. 



The other fellow tried to see how little he could 

 do. If I sent him to the field to work, he would 

 fiud a berry-patch and spend a good deal of time 

 there, or loll under the bushes and try hard to see 

 how little he could do, and now he is hunting for 

 jobs, and the jobs always shy at the sight of him. 



1 have an old friend about my own age who start- 

 ed out to make his way in the world along in the 

 50's of the last century. Money was scarce, and 

 work was hard to find, but A. J. gathered himself 

 together and started out. Now, there is a, good deal 

 of a boy when he gathers all in and takes the whole 

 of himself along. Healthy, strong, willing, cheerful, 

 honest, with plenty of gumption and common sense, 

 he n^akes quite a combination, and he is bound to 

 win. A boy mourns because he has no money when 

 r.ine tenths of his capi'.al is vested in himself. 



Well, A. J. started out. He liad $5 which he 

 had earned by the hardest work. He heard of a 

 job which he could have in about ten days. Bufc if 

 he vent to the hotel his ff5 would not last long, so 

 he struck out for the country. He approached a 

 good-looking farmhouse and asked if he could stay 

 over Sunday. " No, sir, this ain't a hotel and we 

 don't keep tramps."' 



" But I can pay for my board." 



'• Well, go in and see wife." 



He went in and saw a poor over-worked woman 

 and asked if he could stay over Sunday. 



" Why, yes, I will try." 



The woman had her hands full, and a squalling. 



