'.)3<) 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 1."). 



to complain as though /were responsible for 

 his troubli^s. I was lold afterward that he had 

 a steady job in Clevplaiid at *1.35 a day. but 

 somebody told liiin I employed help and paid a 

 good deal more than that. Without even writ- 

 ing to inquire, or making a journey himself, he 

 gave ui) his job and moved liis family to Medi- 

 na; and theJa-^t 1 knew the King's Daughters 

 were helping his wife and children along until 

 the father could get work. He finally came to 

 nie in such desperate straits that I told him I 

 had some wood that I wanted chopped, and said 

 I would pay himOOcts. a cord, stovewood length. 

 He said that, if he only had an ax and saw he 

 would take up with my offer In a minute. I 

 told him I would furnish him both ax and saw, 

 and goout in the woods and teach him how to 

 do the work mO't expeditiously. After I made 

 the promise I considered how many responsi- 

 bilities were on me already, and felt sorry that I 

 had undertaken to look after one more helpless 

 individual. The ax and saw were put in order, 

 and I placed them where I could find them 

 quickly when he should come along, drawing a 

 long sigh at the lime, to think the printers were 

 out of copy, and that perhaps more than one 

 was already doing his work wrongly because I 

 could not get time to look after him. Well, 

 when the morning caine when we were to start, 

 out for the woods, and the needy man did not 

 put in an appearance at all, I drew another 

 sigh, but it was a sigh of relief. 



Now, then, if I have not got all the truth in 

 my talk to-day. I have got hold of one great 

 big truth; for I am sure one of the greatest rea- 

 sons why there are not more people who are get- 

 ting two or three dollars a day, and are at the 

 same time honestly earning it, is because they 

 do not heed this grand old text — 



Be not weary in well doing; for in due seai^ou ye 

 shall reap if ye faint not. 



High-pressure Gardening. 



GARDENING IN DECEMBER. 



As a rule we have about as little gardening 

 to do in December as in any other month in the 

 year. Of course, there is stuff to sell that has 

 been stored away in the cellar; but people gener- 

 ally are not quite ready for greenhouse products 

 during this month. liut something comes in 

 right here that is a little encouraging. I re- 

 member that, two or three years ago, when we 

 took lettuce and onions out of our greenhouses 

 in the month of January, the boys would bring 

 thein back, saying that everybody made fun of 

 them for bringing lettuce in January. They 

 said the time to buy lettuce was in the spring. 

 A month later, however, when people had be- 

 gun to get anxious for green things, the lettuce 

 sold very satisfactorily. Since then, however, 

 we have had some i-ales of lettuce in .January; 

 but I think we never sold any of any account 

 in Dectmiber. 1 have tried to start a trade in 

 it Thanksgiving and Christmas, but the sales 

 were very small. 



Perhaps you may remember that, in my Notes 

 of Travel, page 821. I mentioned the fact that 

 our folks were building plant-beds for lettuce 

 right over the pathway of the big exhaust- 

 steam pipe running from the factory to our 

 home. This was on the :.'()th day of October 

 that the boys were setting out the plants. I re- 

 member that, a week later, our people in pass- 

 ing along there, and seeing handsome beds of 

 lettuce in vigorous growth where there was not 



any thing, less than a week before, uttered a 

 good many exclamations of surprise. Well, 

 those beds of lettuce have not had a bit of care 

 since that day. The ground has not been stir- 

 red, nor has a weed been pulled; yet now we 

 have about the handsomest lettuce I ever saw 

 in my life. We purposely put it in rather close 

 together; and now on this 11th day of Decem- 

 ber, just .todays later than they were set out, 

 we are taking out every other plant to give 

 them room. Of course, they were covered with 

 sash; but the weather has been so severe that 

 the sash has hardly been off unless it was to 

 catch an occasional shower of rain. I'y the 

 way, the very best remedy for the green fly I 

 have ever found is to give the lettuce-plants a 

 good soaking for V2 hours, or, still better. 24, 

 with a rather cold rain. If tiie plants are prop- 

 erly haidened by tilting the sash, any rain that 

 is not so cold as to fiteze into ice will do the 

 lettuce no harm; and even a little freezing does 

 not harm it much. When it gets tall enough so 

 that the foliage rests against the glass, the 

 frost on the glass will injure it. Well, these 

 plants I have been telling you about were, so 

 many of them, touching the glass, that, day be- 

 fore yesterday, we raised the sides of the beds 

 all around to accommodate the extraordinary 

 growth. We did this with IJ^^-inch lumber. 

 To hold those side pieces in place, a skillful 

 mechanic first toenailed them to the sides of 

 the bed. This was to make a close joint to keep 

 the frost out. Then these 4-inch plank were 

 held from tipping over by driving a stake down 

 inside of the bed at every joint, and another 

 stake in the middle of the 16-foot plank. The 

 stakes would not be necessary were it not that 

 the sash sometimes have to hold a heavy weight 

 of snow; and if they should tip over, crushing 

 down a big crop of lettuce, it would be rather 

 expensive. The reason why these lettuce-beds 

 have required so little care, is, that they have a 

 steady, constant heat, day and night, week in 

 and week out. Speaking about this steady, 

 constant heat, reminds me that I have not yet 

 told you that my new discovery in utilizing ex- 

 haust steam is now running six difft rent radia- 

 tors in our home. I do not suppose that every- 

 body feels as happy over them as I do. Two of 

 them — those in otir biS. i0)ms — are nicely 

 bronzed; and as I exhibit them to admiring 

 friends I usually say, ''There! do you see that? 

 — a ' thing cf beauty and — h t forever.' " Now, 

 isn't this just wonderlul. that we can take such 

 an irregular source of heat as exhaust steam, 

 and m.ake it send a steady, even, and constant 

 stream, and afterward, by means of hot-water 

 radiators, have this steady, even, constant heat 

 concentrated at any one point you choose? 

 Mrs. Root could not believe that such quiet- 

 lotiking, innocent things, hardly warm enough 

 to burn a person's hand, could heat up a good- 

 sized room; and it does look a little funny, it is 

 true. The secret is, these modern radiators 

 with their many coils contain a vast amount of 

 heating surface; and even if the inclosed hot 

 water is not up to the boiling-point, if the 

 machine is kept steadily at work it sends a 

 great quantity of warm air all over the room. 

 But this is not gardening. 



How about selling the lettuce? Why. when 

 we got ready I told the boys to put 14 lb. in a 

 good strong neat paper bag, and fill a basket 

 with these packages. They sold the whole lot 

 the first trip, sold out again the next trip with a 

 larger quantity, and the prospect is now that 

 we shall get rid of all the lettuce in these plant- 

 beds, right in the middle of December, at 20 cts. 

 per lb.; and I am not sure but real nice lettuce, 

 bleached so as to look almost like White Plume 

 celery, would bring 20 cts. per lb., at least a cer- 

 tain quantity of it. any day in the year, winter 



