278 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 1 



A. L root: the man and bis work. 



The portrait on the outside cover page for 

 this issue will be recognized by our older 

 readers as that of their old friend A. L 

 Root. Its publication at this time will be as 

 much of a surprise to the man who started 

 this journal, and who for nearly half its ca- 

 reer was its sole editor and proprietor, as to 

 any of its readers. But we know we are 

 satisfying an oft expressed wish on the part 

 <'f many of our subscribers when we now 

 formally introduce (if introduction be neces- 

 sary) our senior editor as he looked about 

 len years ago. Since that time he has 

 .^rown somewhat grayer,and otherwise shows 

 unore the advance of years. During the last 

 t .venty years, to a greater or less extent he 

 has been "turned out to grass," as he says, 

 J>y his sons and sons-in-law. Indeed, they 

 iiil feel he has richly earned his rest, and 

 that, if there is any value in his Home talks, 

 he should be kept away from the distract- 

 ing whirl of business, and husband his ener- 

 gies for the Home papers which have pleas- 

 ed and helped so many of our subscribers in 

 years gone by. 



For the last few years, at least, he and 

 Mrs. Root have remained at Medina only a 

 few months in the year, the rest of the time 

 being spent at "the cabin in the woods" in 

 Northern Michigan. Now that they have a 

 new " cabin " we hope their winters will be 

 spent in Florida, for neither of them can 

 stand our Northern cold. 



A. I. Root controls 51 per cent of the 

 stock of The A. I. Root Co. ; and while, as I 

 have said, he is " turned out to grass " to a 

 certain extent, yet he is kept posted as to 

 all our policies and plans. 



While he can not, necessarily, be familiar 

 with every detail, yet no large plans or in- 

 vestments are entered into without his sanc- 

 tion. 



It seems hardly necessary to describe A. 

 I. Root's hobbies or his general characteris- 

 tics. Almost any of our readers could do it 

 just as well as one who has been associated 

 with him all his life. But I may say this: 

 He is a man of action, and must be given 

 something to do or he will begin to pine. 

 He often says he would rather ' die in the 

 harness," and I think we may truly say 

 that, when he does pass from the scenes of 

 this earth, it will be because the golden 

 cord snaps, not because it withers up. 



While he is " turned out to grass" he is 

 giving his attention to gardening and rural 

 pursuits in general, but, more than all else, 

 to the thing that is nearest his* heart, the 

 salvation of souls. While some have object- 

 ed to his writings relating to Christian con- 

 duct and our duty to our fellow-man, yet I 

 think it is safe to say, judging from the 

 string of letters bearing on this point, that 

 999 out of every 1000 of our readers are 

 glad that he thxxi gives those plain Home 

 talks that have been the means of bringing 

 life and light to many. He contributes lib- 

 erally to all the missionary societies of his 

 denomination, and especially to the Anti- sa- 

 loon League, which he believes to be the 



most effective organized effort against the 

 drink evil that was ever started. When a 

 new temperance law is passed, or some fur- 

 ther progress made to drive the dramshop 

 further from our homes, or when some city 

 begins to "put down the lid," his almost 

 invariable exclamation is, ' ' May the Lord 

 be praised! " (I fancy he is saying it often 

 these days.) He believes intemperance to 

 be the chief cause of sin, crime, and graft 

 in our cities, and that until we can drive the 

 brewer and saloon keeper out of politics (as 

 it looks now as if we might, here in Ohio at 

 least), we shall not be able to make very 

 much progress in civic righteousness. 



In person A. I. Root is slightly under rne- 

 dium height, yet wonderfully wiry and active 

 for one of his years (66) . His walk is brisk 

 and his movements alert. With all his mal- 

 aria, chills, and cold, he has scarcely had a 

 stiff joint nor a twinge of rheumatism. 

 This has made it possible for him to be out- 

 doors and enjoy to his fill the exhilaration of 

 light exercise. How much his capacity to 

 drink in the delights of outdoors has spared 

 him for his work on the Home papers can 

 only be surmised. 



MR. BETSINGER AND THE POSSIBLE FUTURE 

 OF HIS WIRE- CLOTH SEPARATOR. 



We learn with much regret that our old 

 friend Mr. N. N. Betsinger is now sick at 

 the Hospital of the Good Shepherd, Syra- 

 cuse, N. Y., with but little chance for his 

 recovery. And this reminds me that the 

 Betsinger wire- cloth separator is just com- 

 ing to be recognized as a device that will 

 produce more and better comb honey than 

 any separator or fence ever invented. Our 

 old friend introduced this some eighteen or 

 nineteen years ago; but, like some other 1 

 good things, it was clear ahead of the times, I 

 and hence but little attention was paid to it. 

 But Mr. S. D. House, Camillus, N. Y., has 

 been testing it a number of years, and has 

 demonstrated beyond a doubt (for I have 

 seen his honey) that this separator produces 

 more strictly fancy honey than any similar 

 device hitherto offered for sale. He showed 

 me case after case of his wire- cloth separa- 

 tored honey at random, every section of 

 which would be considered extra fancy. It 

 is easy to see how Mr. House has been able 

 for a number of years back to carry off all ^ 

 the first prizes for comb honey at the Syra- 

 cuse, N. Y., fair. 



Mr. F. A. Salisbury, of Syracuse, N. Y., 

 showed me the results of some experiments 

 he had made. He selected several colonies 

 of about equal strength. To some he gave 

 ordinary fences, and to others wire cloth 

 separators. He took off the honey from 

 each lot, put them in the honey room, and , 

 when I stopped off at Syracuse last summer || 

 he asked me to say whether I could see any fl 

 difference between the two lots of honey. 

 I said without hesitation, that one lot seem- 

 ed to be all fancy, while the other seemed 

 to be a fair grade of No. 1 and fancy. 



