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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 1. 



"lay out" or silence any other newspaper 

 writer or any other brother- farmer. He has at 

 times been abused and misused; he has been 

 shamefully treated, not only in print but in 

 public. I was present at one farmers' insti- 

 tute where he was sent for. and where they 

 paid him for coming and teaching; but even 

 there this disposition 1 speak of came up so 

 strongly that he was publicly insulted, almost 

 at the outstart. I do not know that they 

 intended it as such, but there had been a great 

 deal of outside talk and fault-linding. A good 

 many indulged in saying that they did not be- 

 lieve he had ever done what he claimed; and in 

 his first talk, or, rather, answers to questions, 

 he did not take time enough to make full ex- 

 planations, therefore somebody thought he saw 

 a place to get even Terry himself into a corner, 

 or, in other words, to catch him in an untruth; 

 and, even though our friend was an invited 

 guest, this critic did not hesitate publicly to ac- 

 cuse him of misstatements. Now. friend Terry 

 has abundance of opportunities to retaliate. 

 He is a strong man physically, mentally, and 

 morally. He could, if he chose, "lay out'" the 

 biggest part of us in a physical contest, or in a 

 contest with intellect; and perhaps if wewere 

 boasting of our good clean lives, he might, if he 

 chose, show a better record than most of us 

 there. Yet I have never seen him take any ad- 

 vantage of this sort. His honest desire seems 

 to be to help everybody up a little higher, and 

 never, by any means, push anybody down or 

 hurt his feelings. 



I do not know where this e.xpres'^ion "lay 

 out" came from. In our prizefighting (oh how 

 it pains me to say our- prizefighting I) I believe 

 the contestants do their utmost to lay each oth- 

 er out if they can. I have never witnessed such 

 a sight, and I am quite certain I never shall, 

 and so perhaps I am wrong; but my impression 

 is, that, when one can deal the other such a 

 blow that he lies stunned and still, he is said to 

 be "laid out." I do not know what the crowd 

 does on such occasions. Perhaps they cheer the 

 victor, and gather round him to shake hands 

 because God happened to give him more muscle 

 and skill than he gave to the other fellow who 

 lies helpless and still. Now, in newspaper con- 

 troversies where one writer can so effectually 

 use up the other that he quits writing, and does 

 not appear any more in print, I suppose he may 

 be said to be " laid out;" or if his opponent can 

 go away back and rake up some disgraceful 

 episode in the other's life, they lay him out in 

 that way; and then the crowd or the readers 

 laugh and shake hands over it. Is this Chris- 

 tianlike? Is it even gentlemanly ? Sometimes 

 we hear it urged in extenuation, "But just 

 look, will you ? at what he wrote about me." 

 Well, this sort of reasoning would do very well 

 were this not a Christian nation; and were it 

 not that every civilized individual assents to 

 the injunction, " Return good for evil, and do 

 good to those who h.'ite you." Terry says, 

 " May ( Jod take away the strength from my 

 right hand when I use my experience with the 

 pen to simply lay out a brother-farmer whose 

 practices are different from mine." The con- 

 test, it seems, was about potato-bugs. Terry 

 preaches and practices hand-picking the moth- 

 er-bugs before they lay any eggs or raise any 

 brood. One bug in April means a host in June. 

 Quite a number of very successful potato- 

 growers do not like this plan. They think it is 

 too much pains and fuss; and when friend 

 Terry has, at the different institutes, very mod- 

 estly given his vvay of doing, there have been 

 some rude and almost unkind replies. Howev- 

 er, after he has given the full particulars of his 

 plan, they usually look at it a little differently. 

 But even where unkind and harsh speeches 



have been made, my heart has been rejoiced to 

 hear him reply so gently, and in a way that 

 makes it so evident that he never lays up any 

 thing. 



On one occasion, some individual at an insti- 

 tute where W. I. Chamberlain was sjjeaker 

 would have it that friend C. had a grudge 

 against him for something that happened at 

 some previous meeting; and friend C. could 

 hardly convince this man that he did not even 

 remember the circumstance; and even if he did, 

 he would by no manner of means have cher- 

 ished any ill feelings because of it. Prof. Cook 

 once made the remark, that this life is too 

 short, and there are other things of too much 

 greater importance for us to indulge in grudges, 

 even if we feel tempted at times to do so; and I 

 believe this is the spirit of the age. 



As a rule, the speakers at our institutes are 

 men of enlarged views and generous feelings; 

 if it were not so they would not be employed by 

 the different States in these important posi- 

 tions. The great busy world oftentimes does 

 not seem to be able to comprehend that they 

 have no time nor disposition to take up little 

 things, or feel hurt at trifles. 



Last week one of the clerks told me that a 

 man below was very anxious to see me. He 

 apologized for taking me from my work, but 

 said he was about to change his location, and 

 wanted advice relative to the change. He 

 was a grower of small fruits, and lived several 

 miles from market. He had found a piece of 

 land in a brisk little town, at only $100 an acre. 

 Should he pay that price rather than give $30.00 

 or .f40.00 an acre for equally good land three or 

 four miles from market? He wanted to grow 

 strawberry-'ptants as well as berries, and it was 

 quite necessary for him to be near the post- 

 office. After asking me quite a number of 

 questions I told him [ thought it would pay him 

 to go into town. Then I asked him if he had 

 not already seen our book on strawberry cul- 

 ture, r—l I 3 1-31 



"You mean one that was written by Terry?" 



" Yes. by Terry; the latter part of it by my- 

 self. We call it o»r book because we are the 

 publishers." 



"I don't want any thing to do with Terry or 

 his books." 



I was astonished at his reply, and said, "Why, 

 my good friend, what should induce you to 

 speak in that way ? Have you ever visited his 

 place?" 



He replied that he had not, although Terry's 

 home was hardly more than twenty miles from 

 where he lived. 



" Have you ever heard Mr. Terry speak at an 

 institute?" 



Again he replied that he had not, but gave as 

 a reason for his position that he did not believe 

 Terry had ever accomplished any such results 

 as he claimed; and what do you think was 

 the ground for his want of faith ? It was some- 

 thing like this: 



" Now, look here, Mr. Root, if Terry ever 

 raised any such amount of extra strawberries, 

 on clover sod, as he tells about, why in the 

 world doesn't he plant his whole farm to straw- 

 berries, and make a big thing out.of it? " 



He evidently seemed to think he had got a 

 clincher on me this time. I replied: 



" Before we go any further, my good friend, I 

 want to tell you that ther« are a feir men in 

 this world who are not working solely to make 

 money, and who have no ambition to make a 

 " big thing," especially if the big thing would 

 be apt to bring a load of care, and interfere with 

 other things of far greater importance than 

 simply getting money." 



I presume that, when he received my reply, 

 he thought what I was saying was kind o* put 



