642 



GLEAXIN'GS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 15 



ries very early; good shape and color, but 

 not very large. 



Ljon much resembles the War field, but 

 the berries are longer, rather svs-eeter and 

 larger, especially if the plants are thinned 

 out and not allowed to stand as thickly in 

 the row as they grew. Both of these last 

 two make so many plants that the matted 

 row must be thinned out; and if they are 

 to ripen the great mass of berries they set, 

 they must have rich soil, and water during 

 a drouth. 



Senator Dunlap is the greatest plant to 

 send out runners and make plants, I think, 

 that I ever saw. It was the outside row 

 nearest the top of the hill; and this was 

 lucky, as it climbed the hill like a squash- 

 vine, starting vigorous plants all along the 

 way; and even in this thickly matted bed 

 (it isn't a "row") it is giving us beautiful 

 berries, some of them of good size, and, 

 best of all, when fully ripe, of exquisite 

 sweetness and flavor, something like the 

 best specimens of wild strawberries. 



As I write, we have just had a gentle 

 rain for 24 hours, and strawberries and 

 every thing else are just looking glorious 

 this 24th day of June. Our peach-trees 

 among the crimson clover, and, in fact, all 

 over the hill where the woods were cleared 

 off, are making such a growth I have to 

 stake them or the wind will break the tops 

 off, they are so heavy with new foliage. 



About the handsomest tree on our place 

 is an Acme apricot. Its perfect glossy- 

 green leaves, contrasting with the glossy 

 blood- red twigs and leaf- stems, make it 

 about as handsome a tree as I ever saw 

 anywhere; and when we consider the hand- 

 some fruit, ripening before early peaches, 

 I do not see why it is not more grown. 



My neighbor Hilbert said they grew some 

 years ago; but when they took them to 

 town the merchants said folks wouldn't buy 

 them, because they "didn't know what 

 they were." We had a few last year, and 

 shall have more this season; and I call 

 them, as grown here, about the finest fruit 

 I ever tasted. So far no insect or disease 

 has harmed either the trees or the fruit. 



RENDER UNTO C.^.SAR THE THINGS THAT 



ARE Cesar's, and unto god the 



THINGS that are GOD'S, ETC. 



Several years ago a friend of mine, Mr. 

 Oeo. A. Root, spoke to me about a low- 

 priced outfit so that people, especially those 

 in rural districts, away from a shoemaker, 

 could repair their own shoes. We had 

 quite a little talk about it. In 1892 he had 

 a booklet printed at our place, describing 

 this repair outfit for footwear. On the 

 cover of the book there was the print of a 



shoe that looked as if somebody with wet 

 feet had stepped on the book and left an 

 imprint. Right under it were the words, 

 " Somebody has been steppingon my book." 

 I remember there was a good deal of merri- 

 ment about it, and people picked it up and 

 looked it through just because of this joke 

 on the cover. He started in a small way 

 to make this shoe-repairing outfit. Friend 

 Root is a sort of eccentric inventor — per- 

 haps something like myself. I think he 

 never got out a patent; but the thing seemed 

 to fill a public want, and quite a business 

 was soon started. You may remember see- 

 ing the advertisements in the papers of 

 " Root's repairing outfit." Well, I am not 

 writing up the work of the Root Brothers 

 just now; I am simply calling attention to 

 a piece of injustice that the great wide 

 world should condemn. It is this matter 

 of borrowing (or stealing, rather) other 

 people's ideas without so much as saying 

 "thank you." Just as soon as friend Root 

 got his business well going, different per- 

 sons started out with the same thing. They 

 even copied the wording and the pictures 

 on his advertisements; and, so far as I 

 know, not one of these land pirates ever 

 said so much as "by your leave." Very 

 soon the agricultural papers began to of- 

 fer these things as premiums. I remon- 

 strated with one or two editors about en- 

 couraging a steal by patronizing somebody 

 besides the original inventor; and I felt a 

 good deal disheartened when they would 

 reply, at least in substance, " Mr. Root, all 

 you say may be true; but John Smith of- 

 fers his outfit a little cheaper than we can 

 get them of the original inventors and 

 pioneers." Of course, a large part of my 

 readers will say Mr. Root should have 

 patented his invention. But there are a 

 good many things that can not well be pat- 

 ented; and, more than that (thank God), 

 there are quite a few persons nowadays 

 who do not feel like going to the Patent 

 Office and then carrying on patent litiga- 

 tion. Right here I am glad to be able to 

 say that at the present time there is only 

 one man who manufactures and advertises 

 these outfits besides the Root Brothers at 

 Pl3'mouth, Ohio; and this man is not doing 

 enough to be considered as a formidable 

 competitor. The fellows who were so lack- 

 ing in fairness as to steal another man's 

 ideas kept on stealing, and in due time ran 

 themselves out of busi?iess, especially while 

 the Root Brothers adhered to honest fair 

 principles in all their undertakings. I 

 have seen this same thing happen a good 

 many times in my life. But sometimes it 

 is disheartening to see "the wicked flour- 

 ish " for quite a spell, " like a green bay- 

 tree." 



What brought this up just now was sug- 

 gested by looking over a beautiful little 

 pamphlet from the BattleCreek Sanitarium. 

 Many of our readers know about how these 

 people started; and they will remember the 

 time when they began to manufacture 

 health foods and healthful substitutes for 



