534 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 1. 



serves to keep the bprrii'S baok so as to avoid a 

 late frost. Only two kinds were on tlii< patch- 

 Crescent and Downing— three rows of one and 

 then three rows of the other, and so on. Vari- 

 eties that sncceed splendidly here In Medina do 

 nbt prove to be the best there, just ten miles 

 away, and therefore I feel sure it behooves 

 every strawberry-grower to test, say, one row 

 of each of the best kinds prominently before 

 the public: then make a selection of what suits 

 your locality, and stick to your selection. I do 

 not believe any grower wants very many kinds 

 for fruit alone in his locality. It may pay him 

 to have a few Michel's Earl v. and. sav, a ff^w 

 late ones like the Gandy; or if other extra late 

 ones or extra eatlv ones do better, take them 

 instead. Friend W. does almost all the work 

 on his 30 acres with the help of his wife and 

 two children. It keeps them prettv busy, es- 

 pecially during the berry time: but, if I am 

 right, the happy families are the busy families. 

 I shall long remember the hour I spent in and 

 around that pleasant little home. And, oh! by 

 the way. I picked up 



A HORSE -STORY 



at that home that I am sure will interest you. 

 Friend W. is about two miles from the town of 

 Brunswick. His girl attends school there, and 

 comes home nights. Now. this will do very 

 well in good weather; but how about bad 

 weather? I will tell you. They have a sa- 

 gacious, gentle horse that takes the young lady 

 to school every morning, and comes home him- 

 self. About the time for school to be out he 

 goes back for his young mistress. As there is 

 not any driver he sometimes takes things easy 

 in going the two miles, and does not reach his 

 destination till after school is out. At such 

 times the young lady comes to meet him on 

 foot along the sidewalks that go a piece out of 

 town. He has learned that, w'hen he meets 

 her, he must turn around and go back again; 

 so he watches all the little girls of about her 

 size as they come out of the school and come 

 down his way, turning his head and pricking 

 up his ears while he scrutinizes each miss to 

 see whether she is the one he " belongs to." 

 Sometimes he seems somewhat undecided, and 

 stops in the road to take a better look. When 

 he is satisfied the one in question is not his 

 " best girl " then he goes on for the next, and so 

 on. This brings in an interesting point just 

 here: How far can a horse see, and see plainly 

 enough to distinguish one person from another? 

 I suggested that meddlesome people might tie 

 the horse up, thinking it was astray: and they 

 very soon found that a card would have to be 

 hung on to the harness, to the effect, " You let 

 me alone. I know where I am going, and I am 

 all O. K." After this, especially as the people 

 round about have "caught on," he made his 

 daily trips without hindrance. 



THE BARBER BERRY-FARM. 



This is about two miles directly north of 

 Brunswick. It is near what they call Stone 

 Hill. As I pushed my wheel up the neat grav- 

 eled path under the trees, a pleasant- faced 

 woman met me with smiles, telling me her hus- 

 band was just starting off, but that I could stop 

 him if it were attended to at once. Friend Bar- 

 ber has been in the fruit-business from child- 

 hood up. and he has perhaps 50 acres on a grav- 

 elly stony hill, devoted entirely to fruits. This 

 hill is a very high one. The slope toward the 

 west must be down a hundred feet or more; 

 and the consequence is, he has his trees and 

 berries loaded with fruit— grapes, plums, cher- 

 ries, peaches, etc. It was a real pleasure to me 

 to find I was able to name not only all his 

 strawberries, but his raspberries, currants, and 

 some of the blb,ckberries After experimenting 



some he has decided to plant the Victoria cur- 

 rant almost entirely, and nothing else. For 

 raspberries he has the Cuthbert for red. and 

 Gregg for black; some Shaffer's Colossal, and 

 some Marlboro for early. He not only uses the 

 hill. but. like myself, he has a creek-bottom 

 strawberry-patch which is nice to start plants; 

 and when the frost holds oft' it gives quite a lot 

 of fruit. Various springs in the hillside would 

 probably fill a reservoir sufficient to irrigate his 

 lower grounds, and he is just now planning to 

 have this done. 



REDUCIN'G THE EXPENSE OF PICKING. 



Friend Williams gave a valuable suggestion 

 right here. Both he and Mr. Barber had their 

 berries picked at the rate of :> cts. for a four- 

 quart basket. Now, it costs more than this to 

 get our berries picked; but we pick them every 

 other day. Friend W., by using Crescents and 

 Cumberlands, can wait three or even four days, 

 as the berries are firm enough to stand hanoling, 

 even if some of them are a little overripe. You 

 see, the pickers can work cheaper where the 

 berries are very plentiful. Heavy mulching, 

 with his peculiar soil, perhaps helps to raise 

 berries that will stand this length of tim*- be- 

 tween the pickings. 



Before I was half through looking at and 

 sampling the Haverlands, Cumberlands, Jes- 

 sies, etc., the sun was setting, and I was ten 

 miles from home Saturday night. Oh what a 

 nice thing is a wheel! We were back in the 

 fields about half a mile from the road, and the 

 half-mile was up a long steep hill. I suggested 

 that I could cross the fields and strike the road 

 in the valley, as that route would be much less 

 hilly for me for my trip home. Now comes in 

 the advantage of a light wheel. I could hang 

 it over my shoulder, climb fences, or get through 

 bushes, without much hindrance. It made me 

 puff some until I struck the highway, and then 

 what a delight it was to spin along a road al- 

 most level! To really enjoy wheeling to its 

 fullest extent you should walk occasionally 

 until you are tired of walking; then the wheel 

 comes in and gives you that delicious rest. A 

 boy in his teens came down from a pretty house 

 by the way, and mounted his wheel. He did 

 not see me; but I thought I would, just for the 

 fun of it, run past him and show him what an 

 18-lb. Rambler could do. But I did not show 

 him the Rambler at all. Do you know why? 

 Why. he kept ahead of me in spite of any thing 

 I could do. and in a little time he was awav off 

 in the distance, clear out of sight, even if his 

 wheel did weigh more than twice as much as 

 mine did. Never mind. I always feel glad 

 when somebody gets ahead of me, even if I had 

 planned otherwise — at least, I hope I do; and I 

 am certainly happy inseeing the boys and girls 

 put distance to naught, even outdistancing 

 myself in it. There seems to be something es- 

 pecially fascinating about wheeling during 

 twilight; and after visiting California and 

 Florida, and experiencing almost sudden dark- 

 ness as the sun goes down, I enjoy our Ohio 

 twilights more than I ever did before. 



My road was a little back from the great 

 highway of travel: but there seemed to be an 

 unusual number of pretty homes. At different 

 times I had visited some of the places, talked 

 with some of the young farmers about tiling 

 their low lands, and utilizing the springs for 

 irrigation, etc., so that the improvements that 

 met my view added largely to my enjoyment. 

 A« I neared home I passed through the locality 

 of the Abbeyville Sunday-school that our older 

 readers will remember. Many of my old pupils 

 were now fathers and mothers, having pleasant 

 little homes of their own: and oftentimes the 

 children would glance up at me smilingly, 



