646 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 15. 



confess it would give me a rather uneasy feel- 

 ing. It would destroy my faith in God, for I 

 can not but think that he knows what he is 

 doing; and although his plans may be beyond 

 the conception of our human minds, yet I pre- 

 fer to believe that he is infinite, and knows the 

 future as well as the past. As I suggested in 

 our last issue, this is deep water for all of us. 

 If I understand you, you do not accept the 

 doctrine that we are free agents. That relieves 

 Its of responsibility, and it would relieve the 

 criminals in our jails of responsibilitv. I con- 

 fess I should not have very much faith and 

 energy in tilling some poor feeble brother, 

 steeped in sin and crime, that he probably 

 could not do any better if he tried to. " What- 

 soever a man soweth, that shall he also reap," 

 seems to be written not only in the Scriptures 

 but all over the face of nature. No, friend D., 

 I am not able to prove or to show you exactly 

 how it is that God could consistently create 

 human beings knowing beforehand that they 

 would go to ruin. Now. mind you, when I say 

 that I can not understand it. I by no means 

 mean to say that it can not be explained. I think 

 I can get a qlimpse of the matter, as I told vou 

 in our last issue. This thing we know: The 

 choice is before us to do wpH or to do wickedly; 

 and every man is responsible for his acts unless 

 he is crazy. If he is crazy, then his responsi- 

 bility ceases. But I prefer not to be crazy, even 

 though it involves responsibility. You say you 

 have laid this question to scores of priests and 

 ministers. I can readily imagine how they 

 might turn their backs. If they judged by 

 your talk and your manner that you simply 

 wished to find fault, they might have decided 

 that that course was best; and the few who 

 told you that we have not the right of ques- 

 tioning what God does, perhaps gave in sub- 

 stance something like what I have said. You 

 reject the orthodox God of the Christian. Now. 

 without any desire to provoke controversy, I 

 should be very glad if you would tell us just 

 what you do think or believe in regard to fore- 

 ordination. If you say as I do. that it is some- 

 thing you can not fully understand or explain, 

 any more than the rest of us, then we stand 

 side by side; and is not that the sum and sub- 

 stance of it all. anyhow? Christian people 

 regard God as a father who loves his people, 

 and is doing every thing he can to lead them to 

 the highest and best that this universe affords. 

 " Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" 



High-pressure Gardening. 



MULCHING TOMATOES WITH PEAVINES. 



In visiting my neighbor Green I noticed he 

 had a plot of tomatoes looking unusually fresh 

 and vigorous during this severe drouth; and 

 the ground between the plants was entirely 

 covered with peavines. After harvesting his 

 early peas, the vines were pulled up and carried 

 a short distance to the tomato ground. Said I: 



"Friend Green, where in the world did you 

 get that idea?" 



" Why, to tell the truth I did not get it any- 

 where. I sort o" worked into it. I hare been 

 protecting them from the dirt, and at the same 

 tim » mulching the ground in this way for two 

 or three years past." 



"And is this the way you raised those extra 

 nice clean tomatoes that you sold me so cheap 

 for canning two vears ago?"" 



He assented. Now, preparing stakes, driving 

 them in the ground, and tying up the plants, is 



a great deal of work, as I know by experience. 

 Another thing, it is a sort of disagreeable piece 

 of work that is liable to be neglected, gathering 

 up the stakes and storing them away for an- 

 other season; whereas the pea and tomato 

 vines may be all plowed under right where 

 they are, after frost has wound up the crop. 



HIGH-PRESSURE GARDENING DURING A 

 DROUTH. 



We are at present having one of the most 

 severe drouths I believe I have ever had any 

 thing to do with since I have been in the gar- 

 dening business. Besides the dry weather, we 

 have had drying winds that seemed to lick up 

 every bit of moisture, and almost make light 

 of our efforts at watering. We have not yet 

 sent out a strawberry-plant. We gather from 

 letters and from the papers that the drouth is 

 so general that it would be hardly wise for us 

 to send out the plants, even if we succeeded in 

 getting thom in good order. Of course, all 

 kinds of garden stuff are high; so are fruits 

 and berrits. Besides the good prices, this gives 

 us an opportunity to test fairly a good many 

 plans of irrigation. It is true, we can make 

 the strawberry-plants boom by giving them 

 plenty of water; but the amount of water 

 needed is so great during such a time that it 

 wants a millrace in place of a windmill. Our 

 windmill would do pretty fairly, perhaps, for a 

 quarter of an acre; but hardly that, however, 

 when we have so many still days that one 

 hardly knows which way the wind blows. We 

 have soaked up our strawberry-beds where we 

 are raising plants, a good many times: but the 

 water must be put on again and again until it 

 has a chance to get away down. I heard of a 

 man who had been trying to make his lawn 

 grow by sprinkling. The sprinkling did not 

 do much good, however. Finally, one night he 

 forgot to turn oft' the hose, and left the water 

 running on a small spot all night. This had 

 the effect of soaking up the ground a foot deep 

 or more, and it made the lawn so mushy that, 

 when he attempted to walk out near the end of 

 the hose, his foot went down as if he were going 

 into mire. After this the grass started and 

 grew to his heart's content on this little spot; 

 and that is just about the way we must do 

 watering to make it avail. Of course, our 1600- 

 barrel tank is pretty nearly full of water; but 

 as we do not know how long this state of af- 

 fairs will continue, we do not dare to draw it 

 out much faster than the wind pumps it in. 



There is one kind of irrigation that greatly 

 pleases me. I knew of a friend of mine who 

 was drawing water for his plum-trees, and so I 

 decided to take my wheel and pay him a visit. 

 I found something like 100 young trees bending 

 down with fruit. He had mulched them 

 around the roots with coarse manure, swamp 

 grass, straw, spoiled hay, or any thing he could 

 get hold of. Then he drew the water on a 

 wagon, in barrels, and kept this straw mulch 

 wet. vSome of our own plum-trees were begin- 

 ning to look sickly, and the plums were shrivel- 

 ing up and dropping oft'. I at once had a little 

 dam made ai'ound the trees, so as to have a. 

 circle about six feet away from the trunk; 

 and this dam was filled with water by means 

 of a hose from our windmill tank. Then the 

 water was filled with coarse strawy manure. 

 This kept it from evaporating, and kept the 

 ground moist. Well, you just ought to see 

 those plum-trees pick up, start out new growth, 

 and see the plums swell out and look plump 

 and green. It is a decided success: and while 

 plums are worth from four to five dollars a 

 bushel, there is no sort of question but that it 

 will pay — yes, even if you have to draw the 

 wat<'r in barrels. Where the water is not too 



