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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



June, 1917 



— not only wars but famines and pestilence ; 

 and when the loving Father finally decided 

 that nothing but this terrible war would 

 wake up the United States, is it unreason- 

 able to think that he said, if I may use the 

 expression, "Let the war come'"? And, 

 by the way, altho I have not the figures at 

 present, I think it has been stated that more 

 people go down to untimely graves every 

 year by intemperance than have ever been 

 lost so far in one year of war. Just now 

 while I write, the question is being debated 

 as to whether the best " preparedness " the 

 United States can adopt is to get out of the 

 liquor business, or at least have prohibi- 

 tion while the war lasts. See the article in 

 our last issue by our good friend Attorney 

 Smythe, of Bradentown. Well, just re- 

 cently another tremendous reason has loom- 

 ed up, for the Department of Agriculture 

 urges vehemently the gTowing of something 

 that will benefit humanity instead of de- 

 stroying it. 



Well, the war is bringing about the 

 things mentioned above ; and, what is more, 

 it is urging people to get up early and 

 work late in making the unsightly back 

 yard a place where good and wholesome 

 food can be grown. Even the schoolchil- 

 dren and all other children, and old men 

 and old women, are getting the craze to 

 study agriculture, and learn how to keep 

 our people from starving — oi', better still, 

 how to send food to the starving in war 

 nations. Girls and boys in their teens, and 

 girls and boys that nobody ever thought as 

 being "extra smart," are astonishing their 

 parents and surprising the world by Avhat 

 they have done in growing corn, potatoes, 

 and tomatoes on a little patch of ground — 

 say a sixth or a tenth of an acre. Down in 

 Florida, where one can grow good and 

 wholesome food every day in the year on 

 every square rod of ground in the state, 

 the people are getting particularly alive and 

 on the alert. I have told you on another 

 page of what an old man like myself, going 

 on toward 78, may do. Two crops of po- 

 tatoes in 180 days on the same ground, and 

 good fair yields of extra nice potatoes at 

 that, can be grown. I cannot think of any- 

 thing except this war that would arouse 

 such enthusiasm for " reducing the high 

 cost of living." The Department of Agri- 

 culture has sent out a plea to have as many 

 as i^ossible start beekeeping in order to save 

 every pound of honey that has been going 

 to waste, especially as sugar continues to 

 mount up. The war is stirring up the 

 whole wide world to a newer and greater 

 activity than was ever known before. Not 

 very long ago there was big talk about " the 



great army of the unemployed." What 

 has become of that army? Another thing, 

 in the city of Cleveland not many weeks 

 ago there was a good deal said in the papers 

 about elderly men and women who were 

 quite capable, but could not find anything 

 to do. Now, these old fellows like myself 

 have discovered that they can not only make 

 garden, but, like the title of a book I sent 

 out over thirty years ago, can learn not 

 only " what to do " but " how to be happy 

 while doing it." By the way, just about a 

 year ago our folks told me that my book 

 was not selling as fast as it used to do, and 

 I gave it an editorial write-up, as you may 

 remember. The book is all about garden- 

 ing, chickens, etc. Well, since this back- 

 yard garden craze has started, every copy 

 of the book, both paper-bound and cloth- 

 bound, has gone off like hot cakes. When 

 the book was sent out we iJrinted ten thou- 

 sand copies, but bound and, put covers on 

 only a part of them; but just now we have 

 put those printed sheets in the bindery, and 

 a new lot of books will soon be out. 



Well, dear friends, what I have just dic- 

 tated above is only preliminary to some- 

 thing of still greater importance. Thru the 

 activity of the Y. M. C. A. and other re- 

 ligious bodies, more bibles and testaments 

 are being sent out and eagerly read and 

 appropriated than at any other time since 

 the world began. Yes, I am told that the 

 soldiers on both sides are reading their 

 testaments and holding prayer - meetings, ' 

 and then, perhajDS only a few minutes after- 

 ward, go out into the business of killing 

 each other. 



While I dictate these words on the third 

 day of May we are told there is quite a 

 wave of protest from the common soldiers 

 themselves against this business of killing 

 each other when the larger part of them 

 have no idea or comprehension as to the 

 reasons wliy they should do so. 



Yesterday it was my pleasure to listen 

 to John R. Mott, the International Secre- 

 tary of the Y. M. C. A. Now, I shall have 

 to confess that I did not fully understand 

 what " international " meant until I heard 

 this great and good man speak. He stands 

 at the head, or at least nearly so, of the 

 Y. M. C. A.'s of the whole wide world. 

 May God be praised that the Y. M. C. A. 

 now covers almost the whole wide world. 

 Well, here is another wonderful fact that 

 we praise God for. Every nation on the 

 face of the earth, by some blessed and 

 wonderful arrangement, favors the Y. M. 

 C. A. ; and their secretary, Mr. Mott, has a 

 passport, if I am correct, into every nation 

 of the world, notwithstanding any war legii- 



