September, 1917 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



725 



The great instructor did not even know 

 that this potato bug has not yet made its 

 appearance in Florida. 



While there are a good many and an 

 increasing number of periodicals tliat not 

 only discriminate but absolutely guarantee 

 every advertisement, there is no end' of 

 periodicals that accept "any old thing" pro- 

 vided they get their pay for its insertion. 

 Here is an illustration : 



Pretty nearly every poultry-journal still 

 advertises "The Natural Hen Incubator." 

 I have shown this up every little while for 

 the past fifteen or twenty years. The ad- 

 vertisement reads, "Pi-ice $3.00; no freight 

 to pay." Now, any one would reasonably 

 suppose they furnished an incubator for 

 $3.00,^ freight paid ; but the real truth is, 

 tliese advertisers have no incubator at all, 

 and never did have. All they send you for 

 your money is a single sheet of paper tell- 

 ing 3'ou how to make some nests with little 

 yards to accommodate a dozen sitting hens, 

 more or less, at one time. The thing has 

 been pictured and described in our agricul- 

 tural papers again and again during the 

 last thirty or forty years. I think they 

 have some sort of patent on their par- 

 ticular method of constructing these com- 

 bined pens for several sitting hens. If you 

 are so much taken ujj with the thing that 

 you send your $2.00, or a smaller sum, all 

 well and good ; but if you do not "bite" 

 within a reasonable time you can have this 

 single sheet of paper for less; and after a 

 while for still less; and I think that finally, 

 after you have held off long enough, you 

 can get the Avhole "individual right" for 25 

 cents. 



In our Jan. 1st issue, 1915, I wrote up at 

 length an athlete who advertises physical 

 training-courses, etc. To be fair I sent the 

 advertiser a copy of what I was going to 

 publish. He said if I put it in print he 

 would sue for ever so many thousand dol- 

 lars. It is now considerably over a year 

 since the transaction ; but I am still alive 

 and exposing fronds. 



My good friend H. W. Collingwood, of 

 the Rural New-Yorker, showed up the same 

 man, and in the same article he also men- 

 tioned a woman who advertised to give in- 

 structions so other women might become as 

 good-looking as herself as she poses in 

 various papers in her advertising. Well, 

 friend Colling-wood, in a kind letter to me 

 in regard to these two health philanthro- 

 ]iists, writes as below: 



As for Miss Blank, nothing has been heard 

 from her yet. She may be waiting to see how 

 tho other comes out on his suit. Nothing in the 

 world would do me better than to see this ladv 

 compelled to get up in the morning along with 



the ordinary farmer's wife, cook a good-size! break- 

 fast for the hired men, then take care of the milk, 

 ( !e;ui ip the breakfast dishes, go thru the motions 

 of a good-sized wash, including a number of overalls 

 of the aforesaid hired men. Then let her get up a 

 good hearty dinner of baked beans, fried ham, pota- 

 toes, and a couple of apple pies on the side. Then 

 let her do her l)aking of about 25 good-sized loaves 

 of bread. By this time the clothes will come in off 

 the line, and she will find about three square yards 

 of holes to be darned up and well pi-ovided for. 

 Probably a couple of the children will then come in. 

 One has cut his finger, and the other has run a 

 splinter into his toe. The woman must act as 

 surgeon and comforter. Tlien a couple of the other 

 children get into a scrap, and mother must come 

 out and act as peace-maker. Then comes father 

 out of the field, feeling very much discouraged. 

 Things are going all wrong, and he wants to quit. 

 The mother must act as pace-maker as well as peace- 

 maker ; and by the time father has been tuned up 

 ready to take hold of things properlv, the hired men 

 are looking at the kitchen and thinking about sup- 

 per. That must be put over at once, then the dishes 

 are to be washed once more, the clothes are to be 

 prepared for ironing next day, and half a dozen 

 other jobs are waiting. Now, I want to have Miss 

 Blank go thru that job and see how well she will 

 keep her remarkable shape which she is so glad to 

 put before the public and pay for the privilege 

 of doing so. When Miss Blank goes a full week 

 following the job I have outlined for the far:ner's 

 wife, and turns up smiling as she does in her ad- 

 vertisement, and with her shape as fine as it is when 

 she started, I will guarantee to buy her method and 

 have it applied to five different farmers' wives ; but 

 if I were a sport I would bet that Miss Blank would 

 quit before supper time. That's what I should like 

 to say about Miss Blank ; butl suppose if I did we 

 should get another libel suit for a million dollars ; 

 and with the high cost of paper, and the coming 

 charge for postage, libel suits are not assets. At 

 any rate, it seems to me so perfectly absurd for 

 these creatures to talk as they do, and try and get 

 the money out of sensible people for going thru 

 their motion. I have been told by those who have 

 patronized these athletic advertisers that they are 

 expected to lie down flat on the floor, roll themselves 

 over and over, kick up their heels so as to have their 

 toe come over and touch their head, and, for all I 

 know, stand on their heads at times. Surely the 

 farmer's wife whose daily stunts I have outlined 

 above has little time for turning somersaults, danc- 

 ing the tango, and other things which seem to keep 

 Miss Blank in shape. 



New York. H. M. Collingwood. 



I have thought bsst not to submit names, 

 as most of our readers will notice ; and one 

 reason why I give this j^ortion of the letter 

 is that friend Colling•^vood so graphically 

 describes the woman spoken of in Proverbs 

 — the one whose "price is far above rubies." 



I have given the above because it pays 

 tribute to a class of women mostly from the 

 farms of our nation who, I greatly fear, 

 have never had the full credit that belongs 

 to them. When this wicked war is ended, 

 and peace and good will shall prevail, it is 

 my honest belief that the credit will b? due to 

 the good wives out on the farm as much as 

 to the manhood who went forth and crossed 

 the ocean to do battle for the perpetuation 

 (if the stars and stripes. Truly " her price 

 is far above rubies." 



