194 



THF BE1!]-KEEPERS' REVxjjjW. 



members of the firm, by taking advantage 

 of legal technicalities, to have saved !|100, 

 000 for each one, but they preferred to fail 

 honorably. It was during these financial 

 troubles that Mr. Selser turned, for relief, 

 to the care of a few colonies of bees that he 

 possessed. He became more and more in- 

 terested, bought more bees, went into queen 

 rearing, dealing in supplies etc. I think 

 his home-yard now numbers some 200 colon- 

 ies, and he has, I believe, three out-apiaries. 

 He produces mostly extracted honey, For 

 one just beginning in queen rearing his 

 trade last year was usually good, he having 

 sold nearly 1.000 queens that year. He has 

 an excellent trade in extracted honey, going 

 out almost every day with his wagon deliv- 

 ering honey to grocers in the city. Of 

 course he has to buy much of the honey 

 that he sells, but he is very particular in 

 buying to get none but the best. He finds 

 it difficult to get enough white clover honey 

 to supply the demand. As you will see by 

 his advertisement in this issue of the Re- 

 view, he would pay as much as ten cents a 

 pound for strictly pure white clover honey. 

 Any one having any for sale would do well 

 to correspond with him, as he will pay that 

 price and pay it promptly, too. He is also 

 agent for The A. I. Root Company's goods, 

 and all who are in his part of the country 

 cannot do better than to patronize him, as I 

 am sure they will meet with promptness 

 and fair dealing. Mr. Selser told me that 

 while he never expected to become rich, 

 that the bee business is not one that will 

 enable any one to amass great wealth, he is 

 really happier than he was when he had up- 

 on his shoulders the responsibility of a 

 great business — one that sometimes reached 

 nearly a million dollars a year. 



The suburbs of Philadelphia are really 

 beautiful. Out for several miles, the coun- 

 try is occupied by the homes of wealthy men 

 doing busipess in the city. Each place con- 

 sists of several acres. Perhaps from ten to 

 twenty acres in each little farm. Then 

 there is the palatial home' with its barn and 

 out buildiugg, the grounds being kept in 

 first class condition. The afternoon of Fri- 

 day was spent by Mr. Selser and myself 

 driving through such scenery as this. One 

 portion of this drive was along the Wissi- 

 hickon and it was one of the most delight- 

 ful that I think I ever took. The Wissi- 

 hickon is a good sized stream with high 

 precipitious banks, and the people have had 



1 



the good sense to leave a good strip of woods 

 on each side, for several miles, in all of its 

 natural wilderness. A roadway has been 

 cut into one of the banks, and it is realljr 

 like driving right through the forest, witl 

 the brawling stream on one side and over' 

 head the leafy branches through which th( 

 sunshine sifts down in golden flecks. Th^ 

 road winds and winds, showing new beauties 

 at each turn. No wonder Bro. Selser and 

 myself opened our hearts and felt as though 

 we had known each other for years. It is 

 an ideal place for a lovers' stroll — if ever a 

 lover could bring himself to " speak out, " 

 it would be in this romantic spot. 



In the evening there was a gathering of 

 periiaps fifteen or twenty of the leading 

 members of the Association at Bro. Selsers'. 

 There was a game of ten-pins followed by 

 light refreshments. In short, during my 

 whole stay it seemed as though nothing was 

 left undone to make my visit a pleasant 



The next morning, in company with Mr. 

 Hahman, I went downtown to see the sights, 

 such as the City Hall, Independence Hall, 

 Academy of fint Arts, Wauamaker's store, 

 etc. The Wanaraaker store is one of the 

 largest, if not the largest, department store 

 there is in the world. It covers a whole 

 square, and is really a collection of dififer- 

 ent kinds of stores, or of stores that handle 

 different kinds of goods, all under one man- 

 agement. To me the most interesting de- 

 partment was that of the cashier's. It was 

 on the second floor, in a cage perhaps 

 twenty feet square. From all parts of the 

 building, came pneumatic tubes to this cage. 

 In cylinders that fit these tubes money ia 

 brought from all parts of the building and 

 the change sent back. These tubes come 

 down in a row just inside the cage — that is, 

 the row is conti nous, goes all around inside 

 the cage, and a row of young ladies are so 

 busy with quick brains and nimble fingers, 

 counting the money and sending back the 

 change. To look at them it doesn't seem 

 as though they stopped at all to count the 

 money, it seems as though they were sim- 

 ply machines, but I did notice that every sil- 

 ver dollar was thrown down forcibly to see 

 if it would " ring, " before it was put away. 

 Speaking of the silver dollars reminds me of 

 my visit to the United States mint where 

 these silver dollars are made. I wonder how 

 many people really know exactly how coins 

 are made, I know that my own knowledge 



