1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



783 



without great labor. Friend W. had a large 

 crop of strawberries during the past season, 

 and sold them all at extra prices. Three or 

 four cents more per quart for your berries will 

 easily pay for the extra labor; and when you 

 get right down to it, a good many times it is 

 about as cheap to do any thing right as to let it 

 go, or to get out the weeds by tits and starts 

 after they have done a big lot of damage. He 

 placed his berries right In the market, side by 

 side with other berries that were selling at 5 

 and 6 cents. When the dealers protested about 

 his asking 10 and V.1 for his he replied. 



"You need not buy them at all, my friend, 

 unless you have a mind to. Set them right out 

 here on the walk, put a tag on them, stating 

 the price, and I will allow you a commission 

 for selling." 



If the above conversation took place on the 

 sidewalk, where it usually does, about this time 

 somebody going by wanted some of the berries. 

 Then somebody else wanted some more; and 

 pretty soon the dealer says, '• Here, Mr. White, 

 I will take them at your price." Now, this is 

 the same thing Terry describes in his straw- 

 berry-book. It can be done every time when 

 you have something away ahead of the general 

 run in the market. Terry accomplished the 

 matter of getting his plants so as to give each 

 one plenty of room, by cutting out the surplus 

 plants in the fall. Friend White's plan is more 

 work, but I think it is a little ahead, because 

 the surplus plants are out before they get start- 

 ed. And then, what a pleasure to show to your 

 friends — I do not mean the berries — I mean the 

 plants and the strawberry-garden! I should 

 judge friend W. has something like a quarter 

 of an acre clo^e by his dwelling, managedion 

 this high-pressure principle. 



While breakfast was ueing prepared, a tine 

 horse was quickly put in the buggy, and we 

 went half a mile back through his raspberry- 

 plantation. They are managed a good deal as 

 he managed his strawberries — that is, the 

 greater part of them— and they are certainly a 

 sight to behold. The frround is nicely tiled, 

 and it is just the kind of sandy loam that 

 berries revel in. Sure enough, there were two 

 rows of the Gault raspberries; but the demand 

 for plants was so great the blossom-buds had 

 all b<^en picked ofT, and the tips were down in 

 the ground. Yes. and his plants were all sold 

 before they were fairly well rooted, even though 

 he should have a couple of thousand. That is 

 the way to do business, friends — make your 

 product of such a grade that it is sold before it 

 is ready to take out of the ground. 



On the way back we passed a rield of Stoweil's 

 Evergreen sweet corn that so took my fancy I 

 engaged then and there ten bushels of shelled 

 corn for seed. 



"Breakfast is ready!" As friend White's 

 oldest bov. Ford White, is under training for 

 bicycle-riding— that is. a sortof home training- 

 he kindly shared his nice beefsteak with me, so 

 I came out all right, even if I was driven off 

 my route by the rain. Then friend W. and I 

 were off for friend Gault's plantation, seven 

 miles away. But, lo and behold! just as we 

 were crossing the railway, our genial friend 

 Oaidt was seen coming for ns with great strides. 

 Ke was on his way to the Elyria fair, with a 

 basket of Ganlt raspberries to be exhibited; 

 and so I did not reach his plantation at all that 

 day, but made him turn round and go to the 

 fair, even though he protested somewhat. 



Two things at Elyria attracted my aiieniion 

 especially. One was the great show of potatoes, 

 including almost every variety of any note. In 

 fact, there were potatoes enough to fill the 

 vegetable department to the exclusion of all 



else, and they had to fix a sort of " annex " for 

 them outdoors. The other thing that attract- 

 ed my attention— well, it did not just exactly 

 attract ?rtj/ attention, after all, so much as it 

 seemed to call the attention of the crowd in 

 general. It was not the big potatoes nor the 

 big squashes, nor friend Gault's show of rasp- 

 berries toward the first of October; but it was a 

 great lot of establishments for games of skill 

 and chance — throwing a bail at a doll-baby, 

 with a cigar for a prize; shooting at the mark, 

 and other things that ran so near gambling the 

 sight was any thing but inspiring to me. Why 

 should the gambling-mania and rural industries 

 be thus linked together hand in hand, as it 

 were, at our county fairs'? Bv the way, I won- 

 der if there is any sort of diet, or any sort of 

 wholesome food and drink, that we could fur- 

 nish to our boys and girls to discourage this 

 disposition toward the gamhling -mania. No 

 doubt these fellows make money .or they would 

 not work so hard to call people to their respec- 

 tive places. They evidently get a pretty big 

 harvest of nickels or they could not afford to 

 pay the fair-managers so big a sum for the 

 small amount of space they occupy. By the 

 way, where do our farmers' boys and girls get 

 so many nickels, anyhow, for popcorn, candy, 

 games of chance, etc., if it is true that " farm- 

 ing doesn't pay "? 



On a later day, when it did not rain, my 

 wheel and I managed to reach friend Gault's; 

 but it was only after there had been frost 

 enough to " cook " (at least partially) the Gault 

 raspberries. But a small part of friend Gault's 

 plantation is allowed to bear fruit, because the 

 demand for plants is so great. We found stacks 

 of great clusters of berries, picked and brought 

 into the house before the freeze, some only half 

 ripe, and a good many more on the bushes, that 

 had been covered with old sacks, blankets, etc. 

 Surely, no other raspberry ever bore its fruit in 

 such tremendous great heavy clusters and 

 bunches. I think one single shoot contained, 

 by actual count, 348 berries; and there was any 

 quantity of them having from .50 to 100. On the 

 old plantation there were single branches lying 

 flat on the ground. In fact, the Gault rasp- 

 berry is almost sure to lie flat on the ground, 

 through its weight of fruit, unless it is tied up 

 or supported in some way. Although we have 

 some very large fine bunches on our grounds, 

 our plants have not as yet shown as much dis- 

 position to fruit heavily as they do on the 

 grounds of the originator. Of course, the frost 

 last spring made havoc with the fruit in every 

 locality. When it comes to raising fruit for 

 the market, these great bunches must be sup- 

 ported in some way, or tied up, or they will be 

 in a worse plight from the effects of mud and 

 sand than even strawberries. 



It is really worth while to see friend Gault 

 exhibit his berries at a county fair, and notice 

 the animation with which he answers ques- 

 tions, and explains to everybody his new rasp- 

 berry. I presume he could take a large number 

 of orders for plants, to be sent out this fall; 

 and I fear that nurserymen generally will not 

 be as conscientious as he is in advising every- 

 body to wait until spring, and not undertake 

 fall planting with the Gault raspberry. 



FLORIDA. TRAVELS. 



Just here it occurs to me that several items 

 in regard to our Florida trip were not taken in 

 their proper order. This is not very strange, 

 as it is now several months since I made that 

 pleasant trip. In writing up Silver Spring in 

 our last issue I omitted to say that it was my 

 good fortune to be present when the steamers 

 both came in with their merry crowd of laugh- 



