1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



571 



In cultivating potatoes or any other crop 

 during a dry time like the present, I believe it 

 is considered on all hands that level culture 

 gives the best results. Stirring the soil has a 

 tendency to make the surface dry out faster, 

 it is true; but notwithstanding this, a soft mel- 

 low surface resists drouth infinitely better 

 than a hard solid crust; so we must stir the 

 soil. But if, after having stirred the soil, you 

 leave it in ridges or furrows — even small fur- 

 rows—such as our 13 or 14 tooth cultivators 

 leave — the drying-out process goes on more 

 rapidly than if these little furrows were all 

 brushed down level and smooth; and in order 

 to do this, friend Terry has a strip of board 

 fastened to the back end of his cultivators, the 

 corners of the board rounded off. and the lower 

 edge sightly rounding, so that the ground 

 which is a little lower in the middle of the 

 furrow curves slightly upward toward the top 

 of the hills. This treatment, both in theory 

 and practice, leaves the soil in the best condi- 

 tion to resist droath, and to take advantage of 

 the first shower. As soon as you have rain 

 enough to leave a crust over the surface, the 

 harrower with the board follower should go 

 over it again. 



I found Richard Fenn (still another cousin) 

 harrowing his potatoes with an ordinary square- 

 toothed harrow, the teeth being straight down 

 instead of slanting. I asked him if that was 

 not rather rough treatment for the little potato- 

 plants; but he told me to look at them after he 

 had gone over, and see how much they were 

 injured. I had to give up that he was doing a 

 splendid job of cultivating, with little or no 

 injury to the potatoes. His field had been gone 

 over with the clod-crusher, shown above, just 

 before the potatoes were up. 



Further on I visited Mr. Metlin. He married 

 a bright black-eyed cousin, who used to be a 

 playmate of my childhood. I tell you, friends, 

 it is awful nice to have a good lot of cousins, 

 especially on the Fourth of July. These people 

 had gone away; but the old black-cherry trees 

 where I used to help myself to their fruit. 45 

 years ago, were still furnishing their luscious 

 treasures. A big broad ladder stood right in 

 front of the door, reaching into the top of one 

 of the great old trees. Before I took my wheel 

 again I pinned a paper on the door, which read : 

 "Cousin Amos called, and in your absence 

 helped himself to the cherries. He extends 

 many thanks." Then I paid a brief visit to my 

 aunt Julia, who is now 91 years of age, and the 

 only remaining one on earth of my father's 

 family of eleven boys and girls. 



When my wheel and I reached my own home, 

 our people were just gathering around a Fourth- 

 of-Jnly supper on the lawn. And thus ended 

 my Fourth. 



FLOKIDA TKAVELS. 



The home of Irving Keck, of Bowling Green, 

 was my next stopping-place. Friend K. select- 

 ed his present location after quite a little ex- 

 amination over different portions of Florida. 

 One thing that attracted him to Bowling Green 

 was the beautiful soft water; and his good wife 

 has hit it exactly in calling it "snow water." 

 It is so clear and soft that it reminds one of 

 melting snow in winter time when you want a 

 nice drink of pure water. Another thing that 

 took hold of him was the sight of real corn- 



cribs filled with real corn. Perhaps there are 

 few other places in Florida where farming is 

 carried on to such an extent as to require a 

 corn-crib; but before friend Keck got down to 

 raising crops of corn he brought in tools for 

 farming such as they use in Illinois and Iowa; 

 and he tells me that, when he first started to 

 plow with two horses, the neighbors came for 

 miles around to see the new-fangled farming- 

 tool. But it was not long before they caught 

 on, and he sold several plows. But before one 

 of his neighbors could make it work he had to 

 go over and start up and get the thing going. 

 The corn raised is, however, different from our 

 corn here in the North; and it is put in the 

 crib with the husk on, the husk protecting it 

 from the weevil, which are very bad in that 

 warm climate. The locality seems to be a pret- 

 ty fair one for bee culture; but friend K. has so 

 many other industries on hand — fruit-growing, 

 gardening, general farming, a small mill for 

 grinding corn, with an engine to run it, etc., 

 that he does not give the bees very much atten- 

 tion of late. 



Charles Stevenson, of Bowling Green, pur- 

 chased a queen and one pound of bees of us in 

 the month of June; and from this start, and 

 nothing else, he increased to seven colonies, 

 besides the original, in one season, and produc- 

 ed 113 lbs. of comb honey. The next season he 

 secured 3.50 lbs. of comb honey from five colo- 

 nies; and this product from a single queen and 

 a pound of bees in June is perhaps the largest 

 on record. A sad fact stares me in the face 

 right here. When friend Stevenson got that 

 first pound of bees and queen he was full of en- 

 thusiasm and energy and love for the wonder- 

 ful new industry. Is it not a little sad to think 

 that a mere novice, almost without experience, 

 should sometimes produce larger results in the 

 outset than he does when he gets to be a vet- 

 eran in the biisiness? Now, Dr. Miller must 

 not feel hurt because of what I have said, and 

 imagine that I have nobody in mind but him- 

 self. It is not so. doctor; but just now my im- 

 pression is that some bee-keepers right around 

 Bowling Green would complain that theirs is 

 not a good locality. 



Most of our readers have at different times 

 experimented with a little vegetable called 

 chufa. or earth-almond. Well, these are raised 

 in immense quantities in Florida, for pigs. 

 The pigs harvest the crop, and leave the ground 

 in splendid condition for any future crop. I 

 think these little nuts (for they taste like nuts) 

 are fully as good as if not better than peanuts, 

 and they can be grown with verv little care or 

 labor in almost any locality. I believe they 

 have a permanent value on the market, but I 

 have forgotten what it is. 



A great many experiments are being made in 

 the way of permanent pasture in Florida; but 

 the weather is altogether too warm for most of 

 the clovers and forage crops of the North. The 

 cassava root is very valuable, both for food and 

 for stock; but it can not be kept any way but 

 in the ground. It must be dug almost as it is 

 fed out. This is the plant that furnishes the 

 tapioca of commerce; and it is such a simple 

 matter to separate the tapioca from the root 

 itself that each housewife can prepare it her- 

 self. The residue of the root, after taking out 

 the starchy portion, makes most excellent pud- 

 dings—at least, it does under Mrs. Keek's ma- 

 nipulation. The plant is propagated by cut- 

 tings, or. in fact, by chopping up the stalks at 

 almost any stage of growth, if I am correct. 



There is very much difference in the quality 

 of the soil in Florida. If you want good land, 

 select that with a heavy growth of pine-trees- 

 large trees, and close together. Where the 

 trees are few, and far apart, and small and 



