1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



503 



Bro. Reed s])ent a coiijile of weeks here by 

 niy invitation, in his effort to build up the 

 church, some of the folks laughed at us 

 because our church-members were 'just a 

 lot of children.' But when this lot of chil- 

 dren stood u]) in this little church for the 

 Lord Jesus Christ they signed the pledge 

 for life, and they are here yet. Some of 

 them have grown so much since I last saw 

 you that I did not know them. You little 

 know, dear friends, young and old, what 

 the outcome may be away along in the 

 great unknown future, of the work that has 

 been done here by your superintendent and 

 others."" 



Four or five years ago I made a flower-bed 

 across the front end of the church, and filled 

 it with plants from the greenhouse in Trav- 

 erse City. I was happily surprised to find 

 this still kept in beautiful trim, even though 

 it entailed bringing quite a little water dur- 

 ing the present drouth. When I inquired 

 who cared for the bed and the plants so 

 nicely, the answer was, "The women folks 

 of the church." 



After the school was close 1 I was told that 

 a Y. M. C. A. had been organized, and that 

 they met just before the sermon in the 

 evening. I was requested to talk to the 

 Y. M. C. A. members, and tell them what I 

 could about that association and what it is 

 doing in the great outside world. Of course, 

 I did this gladly, and I also gave a brief 

 account of what the Y. M. ('. A. has done 

 to open up China to the gospel of Christ 

 .lesus, when the missionaries of the differ- 

 ent churches have failed after years of earn- 

 est effort. 



As it was time for the evening service I 

 ])repared to close and sit down ; but some- 

 body suggested I keep on talking until the 

 minister should arrive. As he has now a 

 circuit of four different churches he is some- 

 times a little late in getting around. I was 

 told I would know him when he came in 

 the door, for he is a one-armed man. As he 

 had recently come to Bingham church I 

 thought he might be a little surprised to see 

 a stranger talking to his flock; and there- 

 fore when I saw hini come in the door I 

 stopi)ed my story and introduced myself. 

 But he took a seat near me and bade me go 

 on and finish my talk. I should like to tell 

 you something about that sermon if space 

 permitted; but I can say this: Even if he 

 did lack an arm, there was certainly no 

 "lack" in spirituality and ability to pro- 

 claim God's message. 



I had proposed to spend my -Ith of July in 

 packing up our tools and implements, that 

 were no longer needed at the "cabin in the 

 woods;" but I told Leland to go to Traverse 

 City and celebrate if he felt so inclined. 

 But he declared he would rather spend the 

 day with me in the woods than to be with a 

 crowd in the city. He said he used to enjoy 

 such things when a boy (?) , but he did not 

 care for them of late. Pretty good for a boy 

 of nineteen — don't you think so? I wonder 

 if even the boys are not beginning to realize 

 that a " safe and sane " 4th of July is more 



fitting for the present age and progress of a 

 Christian people. Is it not really true, dear 

 friends, that even in celebrating the 4th of 

 July we are getting on higher ground? I 

 forgot to tell you that at the conclusion of 

 that Sunday-school they sang "Mr. Root's 

 favorite hymn " ( " Higher Ground " ) . See 

 page 469, July 15. 



After we had got our stuff all securely 

 boxed and crated I took a trip over the hills 

 to engage a neighbor to haul it up to the 

 station at Traverse City next morning. 

 This neighbor, like most of the people in 

 that region, was engaged in growing straw- 

 berries largely for the Chicago market. This 

 year, just as the first strawberries began to 

 rii)en, and were ready to ship, a severe 

 drouth sat down upon them, and thousands 

 of dollars had been lost in consequence. I 

 was interested in knowing ^vhat could be 

 done to avert the disastrous results of such 

 a drouth. Of course, clean cultivation and 

 stirring the soil constitutes one of the best 

 remedies for drouth ; but when the berries 

 are just ripening this is hardly adequate. 

 Mr. Hilbert thought the best remedy, added 

 to the above, is heavy mulching, and have 

 the mulching put on so as to get thoroughly 

 soaked before the drouth comes on. Mr. 

 Palmer, close by, has a "water-wagon" 

 that he backs down into Grand Traverse 

 Bay under water. It fills itself, and then 

 he draws the load up into his garden. In 

 this way he had saved a i)art of his berries; 

 but it takes a deal of water and much hard 

 work, even with such a rig. Red raspber- 

 ries were also a great industry in that region, 

 and Mr. Palmer had about the nicest-look- 

 ing patch, in sjiite of the drouth, that I 

 think I have ever seen. 



As I have mentioned before, one of the 

 great industries of that region is the beauti- 

 ful cherries that they ship to Chicago. 

 While I was there my neighbor Hilbert took 

 me through his seven-acre cherry-orchard; 

 and in spite of what I have said about the 

 other fruits in Florida and elsewhere, it 

 seems to me now that I would like to place 

 his beautiful great luscious black Tartarian 

 cherries at the very top of the list of beau- 

 tiful-looking and delicious-tasting fruit that 

 our heavenly Father has ever given his 

 children. Just think of it ! seven acres of 

 beautiful cherries without spot or blemish, 

 some of them rivaling the colors of the 

 rainbow ; but the glittering, bright, shiny 

 black Tartarian, I believe, caps them all. 

 How can anybody on the face of the earth 

 talk about their high-priced wines (not to 

 mention brandy), when they can get such 

 delicious nectar right direct' from the hand 

 of the beneficent Creator? 



I told you some time ago that Mr. Hilbert, 

 besides his cherry-orchard, had forty acres 

 of peach-trees. His good wife and I tried to 

 dissuade him years ago from going into the 

 l)each business so heavily; but he has kept 

 his 4000 trees going for seven or eight years, 

 and this year he is going to have a pretty 

 fair crop. He said he had spent at least 100 

 days personally in pruning his 4000 trees 



