604 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 1. 



although it was too dark to SPe much but an 

 indistinct mass of foliage. I rapped at the 

 door, but nobody came. As said door was wide 

 open, and a bright light shone beyond, I finally 

 walked toward the light. A bright clean lan- 

 tern was throwing its rays through an open 

 veranda, but I did not see anybody. Finally 

 the sound of liuman voices reached my ears 

 from the house just beyond. Many of the best 

 houses in Florida have a little building for 

 cooking and dining, separate from the main 

 building; and therefore during meal time the 

 living-rooms are mo^^tly deserted. After knock- 

 ing at the door of this second building, which 

 seemed to be a sort of summer-house out in a 

 large garden, a very pleasant, nice-looking 

 young lady informed me that her father had 

 iust gone over to have a talk with their pastor. 

 Rev. J. M. Sweat. This was over in another 

 part of the town; but I rather enjoyed the 

 prospect of becoming acquainted with the pas- 

 tor of the place, as well as with friend Gardner. 

 Well, I found them; and, oh what a pleasant 

 visit we did have for an hour or more, talking 

 over matters social, industrial, and spiritual! 

 The minister knew me by reputation, and 

 friend Gardner used to preach in Medina Co. 

 some forty years ago, and remembered me 

 when I first commenced business here. He is 

 an enthusiast in Florida fruits and flowers; 

 and they told me on the steamboat that he 

 actually raised so much fruit of different kinds 

 In his garden that he had started a factory for 

 canning guavas, and for making lemon and 

 orange jelly. I have told you before about the 

 delicious guavas. And now I want to say that 

 his orange and lemon jellies are the finest I 

 have ever tasted anywhere. 



After we had looked over the garden by the 

 light of the afore-mentioned lantern, viewed 

 the rosebushes that had, been in bloom every 

 month in the year for ten years or more past, 

 and tasted the delicious oranges while I smelled 

 the perfume from the open blossoms, and after 

 I had admired and asked questions about the 

 wonderful plants and fruits, then he showed 

 me their handsome canning-factory. Although 

 no visitor was expected, it was as neat and tidy 

 as a well-kept pantry. Their crop of guavas 

 was so great, that, in order to keep them from 

 spoiling, they had successfully canned them in 

 great tin cans holding from five to ten gallons; 

 then during the winter season these great cans 

 were opened, and they made guaya jelly, or put 

 it in shape as the market called for it. I asked 

 them how it was possible they learned to mas- 

 ter the mysteries of the canning business so 

 successfully. He told me they worked it out 

 alone. I was afterward told that the bright, 

 intelligent daughter whom I met was at the 

 bottom of the nice-looking establishment and a 

 successful industry. Mr. Gardner is a wonder- 

 ful man; and that garden comes back to my 

 memory as I write, as a veritable little garden 

 of Eden, crammed with every thing luscious 

 and entrancing to the eye. to say nothing of 

 the perfume of the beautiful flowers. Fort 

 Myers was the only place I visited in Florida 

 that was practically unharmed by the freezes. 



I reached Fort Myers toward night: and by 

 the time I had looked over the branch of the 

 experiment station, and got my supper, it was 

 dark. The visit to the canning-factory and to 

 friend Gardner's garden used up all of that eve- 

 ning. The boat on which I was to leave was 

 to go out very early the next morning; and in 

 order to see as much of Fort Myers as possible, 

 I arose next morning before anybody else was 

 stirring — at least. I did not see anybody. As I 

 walked through the streets of the silent town, 

 the cows got up lazily when they happened to 

 be in my way; and 1 enjoyed seeing the sun 



rise, and the bright-green grass sparkling- with 

 dewdrops. almost out in the middle of the 

 streets. To tell the truth, I am afraid there is 

 not very much business going on in the town of 

 Fort Myers. I do not believe they have very 

 many progressive and go-ahead men like W. P. 

 Gardner. Perhaps the absence of frost-bitten 

 vegetation was one thing that made me think 

 Fort Myers was one of the prettiest spots in the 

 whole of Florida. The soil seems to be exceed- 

 ingly fertile. It is not altogether sandy. I do 

 not know how much manure or fertilizer they 

 use on their gardens; but there seemed to be a 

 vigorous, luxuriant growth almost everywhere. 

 On the outskirts of the town I passed by a gar- 

 den that was so much ahead of any of the rest 

 that I ventured near enough to look through 

 the picket fence. A stuffed animal, that I guess- 

 ed must be a wildcat, seemed to be standing 

 sentinel among the vegetables. I thought of 

 friend Boardman's chicken-hawk, and wonder- 

 ed if other people were using taxidermy in a 

 similar way. Finally the door opened, and a 

 lady looked out. I was so near by, I thought 

 some apology might be needed for my apparent 

 inquisitiveness: so I asked permission to look at 

 their beautiful garden, and naturally made 

 some inquiries about the ferocious-looking wild- 

 cat. When I happened to say that I had al- 

 ready described this method in our journal, she 

 hastily interrupted me by an exclamation: 



" Your journal ! Why, it can not be possible 

 that this is^. I. Root himself, away down here 

 at Fort Myers?" 



Then she came toward me with extended 

 hand, while I inquired how it came that she 

 knew of A. I. Root. 



"Why, bless your heart, Mr. Root! haven't 

 we taken Gleanings for years past? and 

 haven't we in our wanderings followed you on 

 its pages in your wanderings? " 



Then she made haste to call the goodman of 

 the house, and told him to hurry up and see A. 

 I. Root himself, who had been right there look- 

 ing through the pickets at their garden, before 

 any of them had enterprise enough to get up. 

 The stuffed wildcat was an idea they had taken 

 from Gleanings; but the rabbits (I think it 

 was the rabbits) had been helping themselves 

 to their early cabbages and cauliflower, and 

 they did not seem to have very much respect 

 for Gleanings or his snarling catship either. 

 I had just time to shake hands with Mr. and 

 Mrs. David Hadley, and say " how d' do ? " and 

 "good-by"to the children, when it was time 

 for the steamboat to leave. There may be ob- 

 jections to choosing Fort Myers as a place for a 

 home: but I did not notice them unless it was 

 a sort of apathy or indifference on the part of 

 many of the inhabitants. I made some in- 

 quiries, early in the morning, for a clump of 

 giant bamboo I was to find in the town: but a 

 young man who was sweeping out before a 

 grocery, who had lived there all his life, said 

 he did not know of any giant bamboos, and had 

 never heard of them. I afterward found them 

 sending their tall spires away up above and 

 over the hotel where I had stopped over night. 



On my way back, in Charlotte Harbor I saw 

 six boatloads of Florida phosphate, drawn by a 

 tug. I should not omit to mention that at 

 Fort Myers a very pretty residence was pointed 

 out to me, belonging to Edison, of electrical 

 fame: and. in fact, here and there throughout 

 the whole State of Florida we frequently found 

 residences built for noted men. As in the case 

 of Edison, however, a good many of them rare- 

 ly go down to even take a look at their places. 



I don't think I can get along- without Gi.kaninGS 

 while we keep bees; sol want to subscribe for it 

 three years. Mrs. Gko. Giddings, Laporte, Col. 



