183 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CUl/IURE. 



Mak. 1. 



Very likely the seed catalogues give the most 

 favorable side of the question. Perhaps I 

 should add, that mine are on some of our very 

 richest and best market-garden ground; and 

 the result is, that all through the fall we had 

 more or less great beautiful berries, and it seems 

 to me they were more luscious than any other 

 raspberries I ever ate before. Oni' reason for 

 this is the very rich soil, before mentioned; and 

 another is. I took them right from the bushes. 



BUSH I,IMAS, ETC. 



' I have just received $11 8.00 for Henderson bush 

 lima beans— part of the outcome of one quart 

 of seeds bought of you in the spring of 181)1. I 

 have a bushel of seed left for my own planting. 

 Your Mammoth sweet corn gave tiptop satis- 

 faction last summer in our market. In this 

 market almost all kinds of sweet corn are shown 

 side by side, and I had t he pleasure of the most 

 praise on the Mammoth, I believe. White 

 Plume celery is hard to "' butt against." I sold 

 $43.00 worth in ten minutes the other day. 

 Sidney, O., Feb. 21. P. O. Thompson. 



[Friend T.. this illustrates what may be done 

 with the novelties when we are so fortunate as 

 to get hold of one that is really valuable. You 

 may remember that I felt so well satisfied when 

 the bush lima bean first came out that I invest- 

 ed pretty heavily. The lirst season I sold quite 

 a good many of the dry beans for $30.00 a bush- 

 el. They liave only just now got down to about 

 the price of pole limas; and my impression is, 

 that they can be raised almost as cheaply as 

 common field beans. One trouble is, they keep 

 ripening through so long a period, that, if not 

 gathered, the pods will burst open and let the 

 dry beans fall on to the ground. To remedy 

 this, we have small boys go over the patch and 

 pick all that are ripe enough for seed, at inter- 

 vals, until just before frost; then we pull them, 

 dry them in the field, or in a loft, and thrash 

 them like common beans. While I golmy mon- 

 ey back, and made a very good thing on the in- 

 vestment on the Henderson bush lima, t lost 

 heavily on the Kumerle; but 1 thiuK now. that, 

 if I had held on to it until we had had a moder- 

 ately dry season, especially after I knew a little 

 more about putting them on dry ground, well 

 ridged up, I think I might have done well on 

 them also. You see by the seed catalogues that 

 they are just now coming to the front again.] 



[If I could have my choice, I think I would 

 a little rather have soft water for irrigation; 

 but well water is used for that purpose all over 

 thewoi'ld: and it is very rare to find water so 

 hard, in the alkali desei't regions of the West, as 

 to make it unfit for irrigation. I have known of 

 salt water from the ocean Ijeing used successfully 

 for many kinds of plants. The water from our 

 windmill is very hard indeed; but I have never 

 known any objection to it, except that, when it 

 evaporates, it sometimes leaves a whitish pow- 

 der or residue. Sometimes this spots the foliage 

 a little, and may possibly be a slight hindrance 

 until we have rain to wash it off; but I am not 

 sure of even this. I have sometimes wondered 

 if the chemicals contained in hard water might 

 not, in some cases, be beneficial to plants. We 

 know that, nowadays, they are using a great 

 variety of chemicals for fertilizers. I think I 

 have heard that, in the desert regions, water 

 very strongly impregnated with alkali, in time, 

 proves to be an injury to the soil: but the well 

 water you an^ likely to get in your locality 

 feel sure, would not be detrimental.] 



WEIvL WATER FOR IRRIGATION; POTATO 

 ONIONS, ETC. 



Friend Root: — I never got hold of a paper 

 I liked so well as I do Gleanings; it seems to 

 be condensed. There is nothing in it just to fill 

 up; it is all good, from cover to cover. 



Is well water unfit for watering a garden, 

 strawberries, or plants? Is there any thing 

 about the water that is injurious to vegetables. 

 any more than it would be from a creek or river? 

 I am about digging a well, putting up a wind- 

 mill and supply tank, mostly for tlie purpose of 

 watering strawberries. I lost at least $300 

 worth of strawberries last year on account of 

 dry weather: butthere was a man here the oth- 

 er day who told me that water from a well 

 would kill my plants. He said he learned that 

 while working in a garden in Chicago. I paid 

 a man 13.00 per bushel for my start with potato 

 onions. Your corresi)ondent describes them ex- 

 actly, but I set them out in the fall, just before 

 the gi'ound freezes, long enough for them to get 

 rooted well, and then cover them up well with 

 coarse manure or straw, or any thing that will 

 keej) them from freezing and thawing; then 

 thev are the earliest onion known. 



Tekamah. Neb.. Feb. ?. J. S. Robinson. 



OUR HOMES. 



He that foUoweth me shall not walk in darkness, 

 but shall have tlie llg-ht of lite.— John »:13. 



The above beautiful text I found in a new 

 book that has been taking a strong hold upon 

 me of late. The book is en til led, " In Health."' 

 But instead of considering this matter of sick- 

 ness and disease from the standpoint I have 

 been considering it. Dr. Ingersoll considers the 

 spiritual and mental conditions necessary for 

 health. He takes the ground that a great part 

 of the diseases that attlict men and women are 

 caused by rebellion against God's laws. As an 

 illustration: The Authorized Version of the 

 New Testament reads, "■ Whosoever is angry 

 with his brother, without a cause, shall be in 

 danger of the judgment.'" The New Version, 

 you will notice! leaves out the clause. " without 

 a cause,'" entirely. As it reads, Jesus made a 

 simple positive "statement as follows: " Who- 

 soever is angry with his brother shall be in 

 danger of the judgment."' Now, it is not our 

 province to discuss here which is right— the 

 new or the old. I do not believe it will hurt us 

 if we accept the New Version; and this book 

 teaches that a great part of our indigestion, 

 with paralysis, loss of strength, and a thousand 

 other resulting evils, comes from giving way to 

 fits of anger, or. more often, because of cherish- 

 ing a rebellious spirit when we are not angry. 

 People rebel against their lot in life. How many 

 of the readers of Gleanings are secretly rebel- 

 ling against the place which God has .«een fit to 

 give them in this world ? Well, my friend, it is 

 cherishing and allowing this rebellious spirit to 

 grow, that is the cause of your aches and pains 

 and general distress of body. If you say, when 

 this old doctor and your friend A. I. Root tell 

 you this, that you do not care if it Is injuring 

 your health, you an^ not going to submit, etc., 

 then you are in (jrcdt danger. Of course, I do 

 not mean that we two are infallible, nor do I 

 mean that it is one's duty to submit meekly to 

 every indignity: but I mean this: That, when 

 we get into a rebellious spirit toward the exist- 

 ing state of things, Satan is so sure to creep in 

 and suggest sinful thoughts, that the chances 

 are very great that we had better submit rath- 

 er than to get into a frame of mind that unfits 

 us for fighting i>xisting evils. What shall we 

 do? Why. you know already what 1 would ad- 

 vise; and "Dr. IngersoU most emphatically 



