1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



715 



The greenhouses and the flowers, and that little 

 home, rejoiced ray heart; but, oh! a thousand 

 times more did I rejoice to see young boys and 

 girls growing in wisdom's ways, and stepping 

 heavenward — yes, the childish voices to be 

 heard above the music, practicing hymns of 

 praise, were to me the sweetest music ear ever 

 heard. 



After dinner, while standing on the hotel 

 steps of the Palmer Hou.*p. a man approached 

 me and introduced himself as James Storer. of 

 Lindsey. Ontario, a locomotive engineer. He 

 said he had begged leave of absence for just a 

 few hours in order that he might meet A. I. 

 Root, and he came pretty near not finding him. 

 It was not bees he wanted to talk about, 

 although he had been a be.- keeper years before. 

 Through the bees he got hold of Gt-eanings; 

 and through Gleanings, nearly fifteen years 

 ago, he was induced to give up the use of tobac- 

 co. Before he dropped it, however, one of his 

 four boys had acquired the habit. That boy 

 uses it still. The three other boys do not, and 

 could not be hired to. Said friend Storer. "Mr. 

 Root, if you were to give me $500 in gold to-day, 

 and furnish me, free of charge, the best tobacco 

 that the world can produce, all the days of my 

 life, I would not think of touching it; and I 

 came here to thank you in behalf of my boys, 

 in behalf of my wife, and in behalf of all my 

 children— in behalf of Christ Jesus, our com- 

 mon Savior, for the good you did in winning 

 me from that bad habit. Your Tobacco Column 

 presented it in a way that I could not take 

 offense. You reminded me of ray boys, who 

 would surely follow their father's exaraple: and 

 I said that, God helping me, I would not be a 

 slave any longer. To-day I am a free man, and 

 am rejoicing in better health; I am rejoicing 

 in cleaner habits; I am rejoicing in a clear con- 

 science. Keep up the Tobacco Column, and 

 never let it drop, or be crowded out." Of 

 course, the above are not his exact words, but 

 I think they are not very far from them. 



growing more. It has not attempted to blos- 

 som so far this season. I am much pleased 

 with the way it grows; and as soon as I test its 

 fruiting here I will plant largely if satisfactory. 

 Unionville, Mo., Sept. 2. E. F. Quigley. 



ALFALFA IN NEW YORK. 



On the steamer on Lake Ontario I formed the 

 acquaintance of E. A. Stratton, of Horseheads, 

 N. Y. He told me he was a market-gardener. 

 In May, a man to whom he had rented one acre 

 went back on his contract, and the ground lay 

 idle. He plowed it up and sowed half a bushel 

 of alfalfa seed. By the middle of August it 

 was two feet high, and lie cut it and got a tre- 

 mendous crop of feed. It was about a third in 

 bloom when cut. The day he left home, Sept. 

 5. it had grown to a foot in height since cutting. 

 Of course, this stand will winter safely — at 

 least, I should suppose it would; and if this 

 can be done in Chemung Co., N. Y., why can't 

 it be done in other places .' Friend S. said they 

 were having a heavy yiela of buckwheat hon- 

 ey. He had already secured .50 lbs. to the colo- 

 ny, of comb honey, and it was selling readily at 

 lOcts. per lb. 



THE 6AULT I.A8PBEKRY. 



Mr. Root: — In response to your request of 

 Aug. 1, I will say that I iiave good prospects of 

 getting 50 plants from tlie single (rank rasp- 

 berry sent me this sprin^r There are now over 

 40 canes ready to layer, and they are are still 



The Gault raspberry has, from the one plant 

 I got of you. given 30 nice plants, now growing. 

 They are all the way from blossom-buds to ripe 

 berries, loaded. I laid down the canes and cov- 

 ered three and four places with dirt like this; 

 — o o— o- o and I raised good plants, by what 

 you may call "layering." The consequence 

 was, the layering plants threw out a shoot 

 near, or about the surface of the ground, and 

 these shoots gave what is called the early or 

 first crop; then afterward they threw out good 

 strong shoots from beneath the ground. By 

 this time you can hardly tell which were the 

 tip or layer plants. "John Slaubaugh. 



Eglon. W. Va., Aug. 30. 



ENEMIES OF THE CLOVER. 



Mr. fJoot."— Perhaps I can give you the in- 

 formation desired by C. C. Welsh, of Fostoria, 

 O., concerning the clover midge. The clover 

 midge is a minute fly, or midge, which destroys 

 the corolla of the red c]over,TrifoHumpra- 

 tense. the larvae of the midee eating out the 

 heads until they have a blasted look, destroy- 

 ing the organs of reproduction, and sometimes 

 causing whole fields to be barren. The heads 

 as they ripen sometimes appear as though they 

 had been sheared, or the corolla plucked out. 

 The above is enough to make any one entirely 

 familiar with the work of the midge, which, 

 when full grown, is not ^ inch in length. 



Now concerning the worm mentif^ned by Mr. 

 Welsh. It is undoubtedly the Phytonomus 

 pu7ictatus. an iu'^ect that attacks young clover- 

 fields in this State in immense numbers, and, 

 were it not for the fact that the insect itself is 

 attacked by a fungus here, it would in a very 

 short time exterminate the trifoliate family 

 from our State, as, early in the spring, the sod 

 seems packed with them. The symptoms of 

 attack by the fungus will be known by seeing 

 the worms suspended from grass-blades, where 

 they soon die and dry up. This syraptom should 

 cause joy wherever seen, as it is a sign of no 

 further damage. 



Buckwheat honev is rushing at present. 



Baptisttown, N. J., Aug. 26. W. W. Case. 



BUCKWHEAT FOR PIGS. 



Mr. Root;— Can you give me the results of 

 feeding hogs on buckwheat? Is there any trou- 

 ble in pasturing hogs on fields of it? I have an 

 idea that we can raise pork cheaper on buck- 

 wheat than on any thing else, if it is healthful. 

 The only fear I have is that it may give hogs 

 a cough. I have some fine lots that I will turn 

 my hogs into soon, if I learn nothing unfavora- 

 ble. Last fall I had a small lot, and let my 

 pigs go in it. The results were wonderful, al- 

 though the animals coughed a good deal, but no 

 further trouble. I hope to hear from you with 

 any information you can give, so I will give the 

 results of this season as soon as over. I count- 

 ed 290 grains of buckwheat on one stalk, and 

 still fresh blooms coming. Of course, it was a 

 select stalk, but only an average of the best. 



Goldston, N. C, Aug. 16. J. M. Stinson. 



You have got us here rather out of our beat. 

 I do not know that I ever before heard of buck- 

 wheat for pigs, but doubtless our readers can 

 give you points in the matter. I can hardly be- 

 lieve that the buckwheat, as they ate it in the 

 fields, had any thing to do with the cough. If 



