1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



433 



make a success with my work. Well, if I 

 had stayed away from conference I should 

 have failed to hear that missionary tell 

 about how China had put her foot down on 

 the cigarette trade and the opium traffic. 

 Some of you may say that my talk along in 

 that line was, perhaps, of more benefit to 

 the coming generation than hundreds of 

 acres of thrifty corn-fields. God only 

 knows. But he knows 1 tried to do my 

 duty. 



Now, I hope my good friends of the clergy 

 will excuse me if I criticise conferences a 

 little. Although I have been greatly bless- 

 ed and profited in attending many confer- 

 ences, I have also felt that much valuable 

 time was wasted, or I do not know but I 

 should say ivorf^e than wasted, in discussing 

 unimportant doctrinal points. I have al- 

 ready alluded to a paper read at that same 

 conference in regard to the miracles of 

 Christ. In this day and age of the world, 

 with electricity doing such wonders, and 

 flying-machines gliding over our heads, it 

 vexes me excee<lingly to see educated men 

 waste their inecious time in matters per- 

 taining to bygone ages. Here is what our 

 good friend Terry has recently said in The 

 Prcicticcd Farnter. Read it over, and see 

 if you can not join with me in a hearty 

 amen to the sentiment. 



Carl S. English, Camas. AV ash., says: "What the 

 world greatly needs to-day is ministers \vho will 

 teach from the pulpit just such truths in regard to 

 right living as are found in The Practical Farmer 

 from Nveelc to week." How many times I have felt 

 this way; One goes to church, and often hears a 

 long sermon about things that happened thou- 

 sands of years ago. Then he goes home and thinlcs 

 no more about it. It was of little practical use for 

 every-day life. Oh that ministers would study cor- 

 rect living for this world, and teach it — air, water, 

 sleep, food, sunshine, exercise, etc.! They could 

 make us better men and women in every way. The 

 best Christians are in healthy bodies. 



SOUTHWEST FLORIDA IN THE SUMMER TIME. 



So many questions are coming in, not 

 only in regarcl to Florida for a winter home, 

 but in regard to it the year round, I have 

 thought best to give you clippings from let- 

 ters from some of my Florida neighbors: 



I was pleased to hear from you again and to learn 

 that you contemplated coming to Florida so soon. 

 I think that August will be the best month for you 

 to come, as you will at that time find some of the 

 summer fruits that you have not yet seen. 



My potatoes turned out very well, about 200 bush- 

 els to the acre, as I estimate them. My best pota- 

 toes were where the vines were the largest. W'e are 

 having lots of green corn now: also watermelons, 

 muskmelon.s. tomatoes, and peaches. Your brother 

 and wife seem contented and happy. 



Bradentown, Fla., June 4. E. B. Rood. 



POULTRY AMD BEES IN I.EE CO., FLA. 



This looks like a great bee country. The orange 

 and grape-fruit bloom are followed by pennyroyal, 

 then conies the saw palmetto, and that will be fol- 

 lowed soon by the cabbage palmetto. All of these 

 are rich in nectar. No one near here has movable- 

 frame hives: but the old box hive is in evidence, 

 and its occupants have stored a rich harvest. The 

 woods seem to be full of wild bees. A colony of hy- 

 brids occupies a hollow cypress about 20<1 yards from 

 where this is written. They are waiting to be put 

 on to Laugstroth frames as soon as a hive can be 

 obtained. 



Chickens flourish here. Their great enemy is the 

 "jigger flea." Moisture is sure death to that pest. 

 On that account hen-houses are here built without 

 roofs so that the rains may drown the fleas. A 

 framework to carry roosts and nest-boxes, and cov- 

 ered with poultry-netting to keep out the varmints 

 is the wisest construction, A Virginia creeper or 

 a grapevine trained over it for shade, and you liave 

 the ideal liouse. Food is abundant. Cireen stuff 

 grows the year round; hou.ses are clieap: chickens 

 are healtliy: eggs are plentiful in the winter, and 

 ))rices are good. What more can one ask? We are 

 camped at present, waiting until we can move into 

 the hovises we are building on our homesteads. We 

 bought an old hen and 27 chicks, newly hatched, 

 for SI. 88, about April 15. Something unknown got 

 one chick: 26 chicks weaned and feathered, not one 

 of which has shown a symptom of disease— sturdy, 

 healthy, and growing like weeds tells the tale of one 

 brood in this poultryman's paradise. 



The writer's experience with bees and chickens 

 has been gathered in Soutliwest Missouri, in the 

 Hluegrass and in the hill country of Kentucky, and 

 in that ricli farming section. Central Indiana. Tliey 

 are all bee and chicken sections, but none of them 

 .ire to be thought of In cojuparison with this favor- 

 ed region. 



For many years the writer led a very busy life. 

 He had only a little time for his i)ets. Now in his 

 old age he is planning to take It easy on one of Un- 

 cle Sara's free farms in tills genl&l clime, and play 

 with the bees and the chickens. lie is thankful 

 tliat a beneficent government has a homestead to 

 give hlra where he can grow his "winter garden"' 

 in comfort and spend Ills declining years cared for 

 by his Insect and feathered friends. He will have 

 no land to sell for many days, and pens these lines 

 only in the hope that some one else among your 

 readers who needs the advantages of this land of 

 promise may liave his attention called to it. 



Denaud, Fla., .lune U. Frank M. Baldwin. 



Perhaps I should suggest that the writ- 

 er of the above has been in P^'lorida only 

 since last October. After he has had a long- 

 er experience perhaps he will not be so en- 

 thusiastic; and yet I agree with him that 

 many parts of Florida do offer some unusual 

 advantages for bees and poultry. 



THE TRUTH ABOUT THE POULTRY BUSINESS 

 NEAR GREEN COVE SPRINGS, FLA. 



On page 366, .Tune 1, 1 clipi)ed from an ad- 

 vertisement in the Up-to-date Farmer the 

 following: 



Five years ago a Northern settler, with very little 

 money, located near Green Cove Springs, Fla., and 

 started in the poultry business. To-day he has about 

 3000 chickens, and receives .5T3,.500 annually for eggs 

 alone. 



Now, for the real facts in the matter see the 

 letter below; and, by the way, my impres- 

 sion is that the greater part of the extrava- 

 gant stories told by land agents will be 

 found, when cha;:ed down to the real source, 

 to be just about like what friend Hall tells 

 us. 



I noticed In June 1st ({leanings something about 

 a poultry-farm near Green Cove Springs, that has 

 about 3000 hens. I wish to tell you tliere Is no such 

 farm in Clay County, because I took the census In 

 precincts 1 and 2, Including (;reen Cove Springs 

 town, and I am personally acquainted with almost 

 every family in the county. We (myself and wife) 

 keep between 200 and :W0 hens, and raise from 200 

 to 500 chickens per year, and I think we sell as many 

 eggs as any one family In the county. I know we 

 made by far the best report on poultry and eggs of 

 any one in precincts 1 and 2. We use an Incubator, 

 and set hens at the same time, and give the chicks 

 all to hens, and have never used a brooder. \\'e are 

 much interested in your poultry writings, as they 

 agree with a good deal of our 27 years' work with 

 poultry. 



We now have 21 very fine colonies of bees: have 

 made more honey this year than ever before, and 

 are learning something new almost every day about 



