o;!s 



GLEANINGS IN BEK CULTURE 



Aug. 15 



instance. Mr. Hood has beautiful crops in 

 all stages of growth, of beggarweed, velvet- 

 beans, peanuts, and last, but not least, 

 strawberries putting out rank thrifty run- 

 ners and making as fine thrifty plants as I 

 ever saw in the North. These plants are to 

 be planted out soon, to bear his crop of ber- 

 ries, ripening about Christmas and later on. 

 He pulled up a hill of ])eanuts that I should 

 say had hanging to the roots nearly a cou- 

 ple of ({uarts (and they are good to eat green 

 too, as I can testify). As I never saw beg- 

 garweed before, I was astonished to find it a 

 very pretty bean that stands up without any 

 pole, about as high as your head. It makes 

 excellent hay, as does the velvet-bean. 



Now very soon celery seed will be sown in 

 the seed-beds, for the crop next year; in 

 fact, some has been sown already, I am told. 

 Sweet potatoes grow at any time, and al- 

 ways, and, what is more, you can leave 

 them in the ground as long as you choose, 

 and they will just stay there in good condi- 

 tion until wanted. One potato will often 

 make several meals, and these great big fel- 

 lows are fine eating too, I can tell you. 



Neighbor Abbott planted quite a patch of 

 pole lima beans some time last winter. 

 Well, he has been picking and selling beans 

 for months past, and the vines are now 

 loaded with blossoms and little pods. Al- 

 though planted about the usual distance 

 apart, the vines have reached across from 

 "pole to pole," until the whole garden is a 

 tangled thicket. They are on a sort of 

 swamp that he has drained off, so they with- 

 stood the drouth before the rainy season 

 came on. 



The peaches grown here are fine; and the 

 mango, which I have just sampled for the 

 first time in my life, is a most delicious 

 fruit. Somebody once said they tasted like 

 " turpentine and cotton batting," and there 

 is a certain aromatic resinous flavor (which 

 I very much like), and around the great 

 seed or stone is something like cotton bat- 

 ting, and this latter makes it a sort of mus- 

 sy business to eat one. I don't know how 

 that fellow would manage to eat one who 

 "always mussed his ears when he ate huck- 

 leberry i)ie." I generally take my mango 

 out on the grass, near the wash-basin and 

 napkin. 



^^■hen I first got here California apples 

 were 40 cts. a dozen; but next day the genial 

 grocer informed me they had just received 

 some nice (ieorgia apples at only GO cts. a 

 peck. They were small but fine. By the 

 way, the Cleveland P/ai7i Dealer has for 

 some time been quoting early apjiles at 90 

 cts. to $1.00 per bushel, and yet the eating- 

 houses all along the way down here wanted 

 "three for a dime." How much of this 

 dime does the producer get? We don't 

 use much meat here at this season ; but 

 when we can get beautiful salt-water fish, 

 enough for two or more meals, for 20 or 25 

 cts., who wants any meat? Of course, 

 chicken and eggs are always close by at our 

 home, and we have nice .Jersey milk every 

 morning at 10 cts. per ([uart. 



THK DISAGHKKABLE THlN(iS ACOIT KLOK- 

 JJ>A IN SUMMER. 



I think I have heretofore spoken of the 

 sandy roads in Florida ; but during the 

 rainy season there is very little trouble 

 about the roads, and just now around Bra- 

 dentown we have the very finest roads in 

 the world, made of crushed stone, rolled 

 hard and smooth, and then oiled, so there 

 isn't a particle of dust or mud either. They 

 are just perfect for the automobile. Well, I 

 really don't know of any thing disagreeable 

 just now but the insect pests, and they 

 really are ])retty tough on both i)eoi)le anil 

 chickens. There are almost no house-tlies 

 at all around lure; but my brother's good 

 wdfe may deserve some of the credit ; and 

 mosquitoes have been troublesome only a 

 few mornings and evenings. This evening 

 I sat and read on the porch quite a long 

 time, and not a mosquito or gnat came near. 

 The worst thing I know about Florida is 

 the "red bugs." As a rule I believe they 

 do not trouble old residents very much; but 

 new comers, if they go out in the woods 

 much, or through tall grass, weeds, or brush, 

 are sure to get them. I never ^aw the "crit- 

 ters," and I am told they are almost invis- 

 ible they are so small; but their bite alTects 

 most people much like the poison of certain 

 plants, say poison ivy. Sal soda, ammonia, 

 or kerosene wull seetu to neutralize the poi- 

 son, and the smell of kerosene will, it is 

 said, act as a repellant, as I have before 

 mentioned. Put it around the tops of your 

 shoes, as the ankles are the principal points 

 of attack. Stick-tight fleas also pester peo- 

 ple; but they do not poison or produce swell- 

 ing like the red bugs and mosquitoes. They 

 dig into the flesh, however, and must be 

 got out with tweezers or with the point of a 

 knife. 



1 believe all these pests are much worse 

 in the dry-weather period. They breed in 

 dry sand; and when the rainy season comes 

 on they mostly disappear. I found none on 

 myself all last winter, and so far none this 

 summer; but they are very bad just now on 

 on the newly hatched chickens. N'arious 

 salves are oliered for sale; but my brother 

 thinks any grease just as good, and he has 

 had the best results Irom the fryings of fat 

 pork. A very little on the head of the 

 chick, where they may be seen, will induce 

 them to "let go" soon. Here is something 

 from a Medina Co. boy who has had many 

 years of experience in Florida in regard to 

 the matter. 



IM'vOSl'FCT HIDGF FARM 



.1. N. }'AUKEK, I'KOJ'. 



I'ou i;iKY. vkgetahi.es 



KUUIT : AND : HONEY 

 Wkst Palm n^ACH, Fla., .luly Zi, 1910. 

 I see your brother lias had trouble with chicken 

 tlea.s. I want to tell you how to get rid of them. 

 Get acetilc-ne lime. It is what is left in making 

 aeetilene gas. Sow it liberally in and around your 

 fhicken-house, and in the nest-boxes: and pile up 

 a bushel or two in the yrrd for them to wallow in, 

 and I will guarantee you will not have any "jig- 

 gers," mites, or lice. I. N. Parker. 



I nolice friend Parker advertises "day- 



