1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



733 



Special Notices by A. I. Root. 



"the land of BBULAH, ' ETC. 



Since I gave the words of the little hymn on p. 498 

 (Gleanings for April 1) I have been informed the 

 verses were composed by Mrs. Harriet Warner Re 

 Qua, of Winterset, Iowa. This lady is also the author 

 of a book of poems that have been very warmly re- 

 ceived and hiifhly commended by many of our great 

 religious journals, by Ira D. Sankey, Francis E. Wil- 

 lard. and other noted Christian workers. 



While speaking about poems and hymns, one of the 

 kind friends who reads Gleanings has furnished me 

 with the words and music that impressed me so much 

 at the close of Wooley's address at St. Louis last fall 

 (see page 187, Feb. 1st). The title is, " The King's 

 Business." I am told it is one of the revival hymns 

 used by Torrey in his recent meetings in Cleveland. 

 The friend who was so kind as to tear out a leaf from 

 the hymn-book and send it to me recognized it by the 

 closing words, "Oh, be ye reconciled to God!" We 

 have made arrangements so we can mall this latter 

 hymn, with the words and music, on receipt of a two- 

 cent stamp. 



CELERY CULTURE THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES. 



A beautiful little bulletin, just published by the 

 Department of Agriculture, is in my hands. It con- 

 tains 36 pages, and is full of excellent illustrations. I 

 planned to make mention of celery-growing, which 

 has lately become a great industry in the southern 

 part of Florida; but this bulletin goes over the whole 

 ground so well I think I will not take up the subject 

 again. By the way, I notice that now in Florida, and 

 perhaps other places, the celery is taken up and trim- 

 med and crated out in the lields, without any washing. 

 The washing and final trimming are done at the desti- 

 nation. A few years ago it was thought necessary to 

 trim and wash thoroughly before shipment. The 

 growers told me that it keeps much better in transit 

 without being wet at all before shipment. I should 

 hardly dare to tell you how muph money some of the 

 Florida growers get per acre. Of course, it costs 

 more down there where such expensive fertilizers are 

 needed; and one of the most beautiful sights— beauti- 

 ful to the nostrils as well as the eye— is to see a gang 

 of men harvesting a successful up-to-date crop of cel- 

 ery. The tempting perfume is carried by the wind 

 quite a distance from the field. Now, if you wish to 

 grow only a little celery for your own use in the gar- 

 den, you should send for this bulletin; and if you make 

 a business of growing celery for the market, it ought 

 to be worth dollars to you. Address United States 

 Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C, ask- 

 ing for Celery Bulletin, No. 282. 



WHAT TO DO, AND HOW TO BE HAPPY WHILE DO- 

 ING IT." 



The above is the title of a book published in 1888, 

 and appendix added in 1900. This book was published 

 at a time when great numbers of people were out of 

 work, and it has had quite a sale. Just now, while 

 everybody has a job, no matter whether "good, bad, 

 or indifferent," there is, perhaps, not quite so much 

 of a call for the book; but I think it will still be found 

 to be very helpful to people who are getting interest- 

 ed in gardening, growing stuff under glass, and all 

 other rural pursuits. I have looked it over very care- 

 fully to see whether I would at present approve of the 

 several chapters on poultry, written in 1888. I am 

 glad to tell you that my experience since then corrob- 

 orates every thing I then wrote. The book contains 

 over 200 pages the size of Gleanings; and it is almost 

 the only book that gives full details of steam-heated 

 hot-beds. While the scope of the book is principally 

 agricultural, and written in a way to make it attrac- 

 tive to the young, it also upholds righteousness, tem- 

 perance, and purity more or less all the way through. 

 It has been my happy privilege to give the world 

 fiuite a few useful books, but I deem this one of the 

 best of them, although it has but little to say in re- 

 gard to bee culture. The price of the book is, in paper 

 covers, 50 cents; but in order to get it before the peo- 

 ple we will send it for $1.35 with Gleanings for one 

 year. If you have already paid for Gleanings, serd 

 us 35 cents. If you want the cloth-bound edition, send 

 60 cents instead of 35 cents. 



"gold-mine" SWrNDLERS, etc. 



Collier's Weekly for May 4 gives about the best 

 warning in regard to the gold-mine swindles of any 

 thing I have ever come across. Not only are these 

 human vultures hunting up the deacons of our church- 

 es but ministers of the gospel, and even the governors 

 of our States, to add character and confidence to the 

 gambling speculations. Something over a year ago a 

 relative of mine, younger than I, was persuaded to in- 

 vest in a gold-mine. I did every thing I could to keep 

 him out of it; but the promoter was a deacon in the 

 church, and the company finally agreed to pay his 

 way to a mine in Colorado and back again if he would 

 just " look the thing over." For a time it seemed all 

 right, and clear sailing. But recently this deacon in 

 the church died, and then his villainy came to light. 

 My relative, to use his own words, said, "The rotten- 

 ness of the whole institution was simply disgusting." 

 His money is gone; but he has some recompense in 

 the fact that he is probatjly for ever cured of his de- 

 sire for gold-mine investments. 



The Chicago Evenina I'ont says: 



" The public can expect nothing from the human 

 vultures who prey upon the poor and weak through 

 oil, mining, or other schemes of wildcat finance. But 

 it has a right to expect protection from its reputable 

 press. That this is refused is the gravest indictment 

 lying against American journalism to-day." 



" R. G. Dun & Co. say, during the past year more 

 than one hundred and fifty million dollars have been 

 bjown in on fakes, largely mining stocks, not a dollar 

 of which will ever be returned to the investors." 



A *5.00 POULTBY-BOOK. 



In many of the poultry-journals just now we find the 

 following advertisement: 



PROFITS IN Poultry-keeping solved. 



Title of my new book, wlik'h is revolutionizing the poultry 

 business ail over the countrj'. My frreat feed at 10c per bushel 

 will save you *'i.'>. 0(1 on every 10(1 liens you fee<l a year, as well 

 increase yiiur eKU' .yield over :v) per eent. Xiitliiuij: like it ever 

 discovered for iircKlueinj; winter ent;s and fertile eggs. For 

 tirowinsr chicks, it has nil eciuai. No mashes or cookiUK feed 

 iiniler tliis threat system. Broilers ^rrow 1 if lli. in 7 weeks on 

 it. No science rec|uireil to feed by my system. Failure Im- 

 possible. Start ri);lit. Circulars and testimonials free. Write 

 to-day and stop that big feeil-bill. Kii(i.\R Brigc:s. 



New Kochelle, N. Y. 



The author informs us that this information is giv- 

 en only through his $5.00 book. Well, that book, 

 which I now hold in my hand, is a paper-covered 

 pamphlet of only 71 pages. I am sorry to make this 

 criticism, because the writer of the book is one who 

 has taken Gleanings toward 20^ears, so he tells me. 

 I suppose the excuse for charging $5.00 for a 25-cent 

 perhaps a50-cent poultry-book is for the valuable in- 

 formation it contains, especially that part about feed 

 at 10 cents a bushel. This food is sprouted oats; and 

 as one bushel well sprouted will make three or four 

 bushels, the cost of the product may be only 10 cents 

 per bushel or less. Where poultry is confined, or at 

 seasons of the year when the fowls have no access to 

 green food, this, no doubt, is a great help, but it is not 

 new. On p. 112, Jan. 15, I wrote the following: 



Green food I furnish in my yard by burying rather more 

 corn and wheat than they scratch out before It sprouts, and 

 they en.ioy digging up the sprouted grain fully as much as if 



they had gotten into .your garden. 



Besides, the same information has been given in our 

 poultry and other journals. See the following, which 

 I clip from Poultry Husbandry for April, the same 

 periodical in which I found the advertisement: 



GREEN STUFF. 



Sometimes oats sprouted in thin layers of soil on plates or 

 in shallow boxes supply the first green food. 



The book in question is well written, and contains 

 perhaps more than the average amount of information 

 to be found in our cheap poultry-books; but I hope 

 our good brother will furnish all who have sent him 

 $5 00 a good large cloih-bound book or else send back 

 a part of the money he has received. A new enlarged 

 edition of the book is already under way. 



If this sprouted grain is really of such great value 

 for poultry, why should it not be of like value for oth- 

 er domestic animals? We all know how fond crows 

 are of sprouted corn; and, by the way, I have just been 

 feeding our Rhode Island Reds some of the corn that 

 was sprouted in testing our seed corn. Those that 

 were confined in the yard would take down with great 

 avidity grains of corn with sprouts and roots an inch 

 or two long. The sprouting process converts the 

 starch into sugar; and we have malted nuts and other 

 malted products on the market already for human 

 food. Very liUely this is a matter of much impor- 

 tance; but is it right to charge $5.00 for calling atten- 

 tion to .something that is already pretty well known? 



