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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 1. 



them or make much headway in their work of 

 destruction. He has visited friend Terry, and 

 they have compared notes, and talked matters 

 over. Now, a great truth comes in right here, 

 and one which. I am sure, friend Terry will 

 fully indorse. It is this: Mr. Fenn, as he is 

 situated, and as he has been working, does not 

 deem it best to follow Terry exactly. In the 

 first place, he does not put in wheat after his 

 potatoes; therefore he plants them late — just 

 as late as he can and avoid frost; and so with 

 other things. But a visit to friend Terry's 

 stimulates him to more energy and harder 

 study in the line he is working on, even if it be 

 a little different from that of Terry's. That we 

 may learn to thmk and act for ourselves, is, if I 

 am right, what Terry is trying to teach. His 

 potatoes are planted on clover sod; but there is 

 a heavy growth of timothy mixed in with the 

 clover. He plants with a machine. He said he 

 agreed with friend Terry about hand-planting, 

 and would prefer it; but as he is situated, it is 

 hardly possibly for him to take time to plant 

 by hand. As we went over the field, we fovmd, 

 as Terry has said, here and there a hill entirely 

 missing. Sometimes two hills pretty close 

 together were missing. These misses amount 

 to more than I had supposed until friend Terry 

 called attention to it. Mr. Fenn cuts to one 

 eye, or pretty nearly, as Terry does. I asked 

 him if there were no remedy for these missing 

 hills when planting by machinery. He said he 

 knew of none. Of course, there will be less of 

 thi^m if you set the machine so as to put two 

 pieces in occasionally instead of one; but when 

 you reach the proper limit, the remedy is as 

 bad as the disease, or even worse. Now, I am 

 inclined to think the men who make the plant- 

 ers will in some way get around this objection. 

 I suggested putting something else in to fill up 

 these empty places: but in that case vou have 

 two crops on the same piece of ground, and the 

 fuss and bother would he more than the crop 

 wotild be worth. Another thing, the value of 

 the land has a bearing upon the question of 

 missing hills. In my comments on Mr. Fenn's 

 farming, on page ^M. by a slip of the tongue I 

 said Empire State when I meant to say Monroe 

 Seedling. He calls my attention to it in the 

 following extract which I make from one of his 

 letters: 



I tell you. cousin Amos, g-ood plowing is absolutely 

 necessary for the best success in farming-; and tlie 

 farmers who plow as they .should are very scarce. 

 The variety of potatoes that I gTow is the Monroe 

 Seedling instead of the Empire State, as you put it. 

 I wish you woiild coi-rect tins, for a year ago last 

 spring I advertised the Monroe Seedling for seed, 

 saying that! sliould plant them entirely myself. 

 Now, people will think that, while I phur striilght I 

 don't inik straight. Tlie Empire State is heliind the 

 times, and run out. I have grown tlie Monroe 

 Seedling for three years, and tliinli lots of it. 



Tallmadge, O., Aug. 13. W. W. Fenn. 



I am ashamed of this blunder, for we our- 

 selves discarded the Empire State from our 

 catalogue some years ago. 



Before we left. I wanted to see the crop on 

 that ground where that straight plowing was 

 donp. It seemed almost incredible that there 

 should be a good stand of corn where he was 

 plowing so recently as June 1. But there it 

 was. I tell yon, friends, there is not a more en- 

 couraging sight in this world than an enthusi- 

 astic and successful young farmer: and one 

 secret of the success I have mentioned was the 

 bright intelligent young wife who shows by 

 her looks that she is in full sympathy, and 

 knows all about the work that is going on out- 

 doors as vvell in the hou.se. Yes, and this is all 

 true, even if she did have a fine healthy-look- 

 ing baby in her arms, that was no jiart of the 

 household during that other visit. June 1. 



Ourselves and our neighbors. 



Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like 

 men, be strong.— I. Cou. 16:13. 



Since something has been said about the way 

 men are "built," or, if yoti choose, exctising 

 mankind for various sins on the ground that 

 they were " built that way," or could not help 

 it, the matter has been a good deal in my mind. 

 Perhaps the fact that so many communications 

 or suggestions have come in through the mails 

 in regard to the matter has something to do 

 with it. I hope no one will feel hurt when I 

 say that it seems to be those who reject the 

 Bible as the word of God who claim that a man 

 acts the way he is built, and that the blame, 

 therefore, rests upon the builder rather than 

 the man himself. Here is a letter right before 

 me, from away off in California, in this line: 



Friend A. I. Root:— If I rightly understand, you 

 claim that all human beings are " free agents " — 

 I. c, capable of choosing and doing the right or 

 wrong at all times and places. It is said of Jesus, 

 that, at a certain time and place, he could )iot do 

 many mighty works because of their unbelief. St. 

 Paul says, "The good tluit I would, I do not; but 

 the evil which I would not, that I do." Was Paul a 

 free agent ? If not, why not ? J. H. Bemis. 



Ontario, Cal., Aug-. 13. 



Friend B.. I thank you for addressing me as 

 you do— "Friend Root." I take it from this, 

 that, even if you do not agree with me. you 

 cherish friendly and brotherly feelings. A 

 good many times, in discussing matters of this 

 kind, before making a decision I take a glimpse 

 of what the results of such decision may be. 

 Although you do not say so, I take it that yoti 

 do not accept the doctrine of free moral agency. 

 Now, let us look the world over and consider 

 what results will follow from your position or 

 from mine. I should say to every man, woman, 

 and child. " You aie responsible for your acts;" 

 and then I would add, in the language of our 

 text, "Stand fast in the faith, quit you like 

 men, be strong." Will it not be better, as a 

 rule, to preach and teach in this line? Of 

 course, there is a limit to human responsibility. 

 After we have done all we can with a man, or 

 for him — that is, all that we can consistently, 

 and he still persists in error and crime, our 

 responsibility is ended. Even if we are respon- 

 sible for our own acts we can not undertake to 

 be responsible for the acts of others; and, in 

 fact, even the Ma'^ter himself was helpless in a 

 certain degree on account of unbelief. Just 

 one illustration: A good friend of mine was 

 greatly elated a short time ago because he had 

 found a medicine at the drugstore that would 

 cure the appetite for tobacco. He was going to 

 do mighty things among his friends and ac- 

 quaintances. After the drug had performed 

 several wonderful cures, however, he met a 

 man where it entirely failed; and this last 

 friend finally gave as a reason for the failure, 

 that, to come right down to it. he "didn't want 

 to be cured." Now. the unbelief of the Scrip- 

 tures, I suspect, was right along in this line. 

 Jesus could not do any mighty works of healing, 

 because they did not really want to be ctired at 

 all; and, while we are about it. perhaps I 

 might say that this illustrates what is so often 

 meant by the word " unbelief" in ibe Scriptures. 



Your second case, in regard to St. Paul. I 

 would explain tbus: Paul realized that he was 

 human, and that to err is human. The best of 

 us. even when we have the best intentions, 

 make grievous blunders; and before we know 

 it we have done just that which we would not 

 do; and it is not only mistakes that we make, 

 for we are sinful as well as erring. The Bible 

 tells us, "The heart of the sons of men is full 



