GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



.TULY 15. 



spindling at that, the land is not of much value 

 — at least, for farming crops. At different 

 places in Florida you find little patches of sand, 

 of greater or less extent, where it seems that 

 almost absolutely nothing will grow. These 

 are called "sand soaks," or " chokes." There 

 are some of them on friend Keek's land, and he 

 has tried in vain to get any thing to grow on 

 these spots, unless it is the wild cherry. This 

 flourishes where nothing else will grow at all. 

 Friend Keck has a queer theory about orange- 

 trees. He says twelve good orange-trees on an 

 acre of ground will bear more fruit than any 

 larger number, after they once get established. 

 If these twelve trees were equal in size to some 

 of the trees I saw, it might be true. 



Most of our older readers will remember the 

 articles we used to get from Mrs. Mahala B. 

 Chaddock. Well, one of her queer speeches was, 

 that she wanted to go down to Florida and 

 wrap tissue paper around oranges, and drive a 

 mule team. Through the kindness of friend 

 Keck it was my pleasure to ride after a " mule 

 team " several days. In fact, he took me from 

 Bowling Green to Avon Park and back, a dis- 

 tance of twenty miles, or rather more, consid- 

 ering the roundabout way we went. Our first 

 call was on the National Peace River Phos- 

 phate Co. The phosphate is secured by a 

 process called in California " hydraulic mining." 

 The surface soil is removed until they reach 

 the strata containing the phosphate nodules. 

 These are granules, the size of shot up to that 

 of a hickorynut — perhaps the most of them the 

 size of a pea or bean. By means of a steam- 

 pump, water is thrown with great pressure into 

 the bank, or sides of the soil, crushing and 

 crumbling down the sand and phosphate grains 

 together. Then the same engine that carries 

 the pump sucks or draws up the mud and 

 water. This is elevated sufficiently so it can 

 pass through a series of revolving cylinders, 

 letting the mud. dirt, and sand run off into a 

 pond or lake, while the valuable phosphate is 

 saved. After the sediment settles in the lake, 

 the water is used over and over again. The 

 valuable phosphate is then loaded on to cars, 

 and carried to the mill, where it is more thor- 

 oughly washed, and then dried and shipped 

 where wanted, to different parts of the world. 

 Later on I passed shiploads of this phosphate 

 going to foreign countries. The composition is 

 similar to that of bone or bone meal; and it 

 contains so large a percentage of phosphorus 

 that it is now to some extent separated and 

 used for making matches. Its origin is lareely 

 a matter of speculation: but it seems likelv 

 that it comes from decaying bones and animal 

 matter of fish and various reptiles, which have 

 accumulated or washed up into beds.* In pro- 

 cess of time the phosphate erows or accumu- 

 lates in these nodules. It is a little strange 

 that this exceedingly valuable product of Flor- 

 ida is used but very little by Florida farmers 

 and gardeners, because it does not happen to be 

 the chemical element needed for their soils. A 

 little talk with the managers of the phosphate 

 plant very soon convinced me that there was 

 no imaginary value placed on the product. In 

 fact, they know what they are doing, almost 

 as well as does the miner of gold or silver. 

 The output is sold according to the per cent of 



* Quite a quantity of bones are thrown out in the 

 mining' operations; but these are either thrown 

 aside, or utilized in some other way. Sharks' teeth 

 are also quite plentiful in phosphate beds. T car- 

 ried a lot around in my pocket until they cut 

 through the lining:, and then I had to give them 

 away. If you were to see one of them, and feel its 

 serrated edges, you would not wonder so much how 

 it is that a shark can bite off a man's leg' at one snap 

 of its jaws. 



phosphate it contains; and this is determined 

 by accurate chemical assay. The managers 

 are as much at home in the science of chemistry 

 as bee-keepers are in discussing queens and 

 hives; and it brought vividly to mind my re- 

 searches in chemistry during my early years, 

 while I discussed the matter with them. One of 

 the men on the steamboat told me the phosphate 

 industry of Florida amounted to 27 millions 

 of dollars a year; but from some government 

 reports that I have gone over hastily since my 

 return home, I am inclined to think that some- 

 where about half that sum, or less, would be 

 nearer right. 



STRAWBERRY-PLANTS. 



It is altogether too dry here in Medina to fill or- 

 ders for strawberry-plants, unless it is very small 

 orders, with plants taken from our beds kept wet 

 by our sub-irrigation. 



WANTED— riGWOBT SEED. 



If you haven't got any. can't you gather some for 

 us ? We will pay you S'2.00 for a pound of fresh new 

 seed; and now is tlie time to gather it if it is grow- 

 ing on your premises. 



Samples of the new vineless sweet potato. As 

 there has been a good deal of inquiry in regard to 

 this, I wish some of the friends would mail me some 

 samples, to try their cooking qualities; also tell us 

 how low you can ship them by the barrel. 



SCARLET GLOBE TURNIP SEED. 



We have something over 100 lbs. of this seed, 

 raised by one of our bee-keeping friends. We can 

 offer it at the following prices: Ounce, 5 cts. ; ii lb., 

 10 cts. ; 1 lb., 3.5 cts. ; 3 or more lbs., 311 cts. per lb. ; 5 

 lbs. or more, 25 cts. per lb. If wanted by mail, add 

 10 cts. per lb. for bag and postage. By consulting 

 any of your seed-catalogs you will see the usual 

 price is 50 or 60 cts. per lb., of tener 60. 



SWEET CLOVER OB BOKHARA SEED FOR SOWING. 



As none has been offered in response to our call 

 in last issue, we are obliged to buy the hulled sweet 

 clover, called Bokhara, of the New York seed-mer- 

 chants. This is just as good, but it costs more than 

 the ordinary sweet-clover seed furnished by bee- 

 keepers. This is because the latter is usually sold 

 and sown with the hulls on. Now, this is just as 

 good for seed with the hulls on; in fact, some claim 

 that it germinates better; but when you are buying 

 it by the pound you do not get as many seeds as 

 when the hulls are off: therefore the best prices we 

 can make for the present, on hulled clover seed, 

 generally called Bokhara, is 18 cts. per lb. ; 5 lbs. at 

 16 cts. ; 10 lbs. or over, at 15 cts. If wanted by mail, 

 add 10 cts. per lb. for bag and postage. We can 

 supply any quantity promptly at the figures given 

 above. As soon as we get some of the new crop 

 with the hulls on the prices will probably be the 

 same as in our catalog. 



CRIMSON-CLOVER SEED, HOME-GROWN AND FOREIGN- 

 GROWN. 



In answer to several who have asked if the seed 

 we advertise is home-grown we quote from a letter 

 received by one of our New York seed merchants: 



"Our crimson-clover seed is all Imported stock. 

 There is very little, if any, American-grown. seed in 

 market; licsides, we are selling and shipping car- 

 loads to the producing countries; so, even if you 

 buy direct from Delaware, it is very doubtful 

 whether you get Delaware seeds. We consider the 

 imported seed better and cleaner than the domes- 

 tic." 



By another season, very likely there will be plenty 

 of home-grown. With the e.\cellent reports that 

 come with the crops that have been already produc- 



