28 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 1. 



think I could almost tell a Southerner by 

 simply asking him whatdirection I was to take. 



Judging from past experience, and especially 

 the way my throat was buzzing and humming, 

 I expectea to pass a sleeple.-^s night, and be 

 down sick the next day. I stepped into a cor- 

 ner drugstore and told the clerk my predica- 

 ment. He reached into a drawer, and gave me 

 some throat lozenges without any sugar in 

 their composition. I told him that^I did not 

 want any thing with sugar in it. 



"Now," said he, " you can fix that throat of 

 yours so you will sleep all night, by a counter- 

 irritant. Bring that pain and soreness to the 

 outside. Thiit old remedy. Perry Davis' pain- 

 killer, will do it as well as any thing you can 

 get. Take a good dose of it when you go to 

 bed, according to oirections, then rub it on 

 your neck and throat and chest until it begins 

 to take hold of the flesh and make it burn. 

 This will relieve your throat. Tai<e one of 

 your big drinks of hot water before you go to 

 bed; cover up warm; and in the morning, if 

 you are all right, score one for Perry Davis." 



The above is my version of what he said, and 

 it succeeded so well I think I shall have to 

 score one" right here for a chapter on doctor- 

 ing with medicine. By the way, these counter- 

 irritants are often of much value, and their 

 action is as straight and sound sense, almost, as 

 a surgical operation. Why, don't yuu know, 

 boys, when a certain hive of bees is robbing 

 some other one, if you disturb their hive and 

 break down their honey you turn the current of 

 mischief in a harmless direction? Give the 

 robbers all they can attend to somewhere else. 

 Well, this throat of mine seems to be the weak 

 point in my system. A cold always takes hold 

 and centers there first; and it was really only a 

 very simple thing to drive it off with an exter- 

 nal irritant instead of one thai is internal. The 

 former I did not mind; the latter prevents me 

 from talking; and when you keep me from talk- 

 ing, you have pretty nearly boxed me up. I at- 

 tended the convention all next day; and by 

 keeping in a warm room I was pretty nearly as 

 well as usual, and did my full share of talking. 

 Now, here is another point: The druggist 

 charged me only 20 cts. for that bottle of pain- 

 killer, and I have the most of it yet. Twenty 

 cents for a good-sized bottle is a reasonable and 

 fair price. It gives the manulacturer a big 

 profit, where he puts it up by the wagonload or 

 carload. Yes, 20 cts. not only pays a good prof- 

 it, but it enables the manufacturer to put in a 

 good corkscrew (one of those made by that 

 automatic machine I told you about, probably), 

 even at that price. One of the bee-friends (1 

 think I will not tell which one) got his digestion 

 out of rig by drinking Atlanta water. He did 

 not have it boiled, and taken hot as I do. He 

 was away from home, and a good deal troubled 

 as to what to do, and asked me to advise him. 

 He said he did not believe in taking brandy; 

 but under the circumstances he did not know 

 but he would have to do it. although he had 

 taken hardly a bit in all his life. What do you 

 t/iink I advised him? Said I, "No. no! do not 

 get any brandy, even if you knotv it will get you 

 out of your present trouble. There aie better 

 medicines. Go to the drugstore and get some 

 fluid extract of Jamaica ginger, and take it ac- 

 cording to directions." He told me next day his 

 trouble ended soon after the first dose. By the 

 way, pure Jamaica ginger has a wonderful 



Eroperty of restoring a disordered stomach and 

 owels, many times. There is a kind of fluid 

 extract that is made without any alcoholic 

 liquors, and that is what you want to get. So 

 there are at least two cheap simple medicines 

 that I believe I can conscientiously recommend 



— painkiller and the ginger. By the way, I 

 think this painkiller I have mentioned has been 

 a staple medicine for fully fifty years. When I 

 was a child it is almost the first thing I can rec- 

 ollect in the way of medicine that was boomed 

 through all the newspapers until everybody 

 knew the name of it. 



SUB-IRRIGATION IN THK GREENHOUSE. 



The above is the title of Bulletin (31. from our 

 Ohio Experiment Station. I think I have nev- 

 er read any agricultural bulletin with so much 

 interest, and so many times, as I have this one. 

 Perhaps one reason is. the whole is entirely de- 

 voted to lettuce-growing, and especially the 

 Grand Rapids lettuce, which it was my privi- 

 lege to give to the world years ago One of the 

 pleasaniest things to me about ihese bulletins 

 is the concluding summing up in the back part; 

 and when I can not go through a whole bul- 

 letin on various subjects. I oftentimes turn ta 

 the summary and read that. I am now going 

 to give you the summary right here of Bulletin 

 61; and then if you want the whole you can 

 get it by wriiing to the Ohio Experiment Sta- 

 tion, Woosier, O. 



SUMMARY. 



1. A water-tight oench-botlom is necessary in sub- 

 irrigation, and may be made of matched lumber, or 

 of any rough lumber, the cracks being battened 

 with lath, after wfiich cement is sprewd over the 

 bottom to the depth of half an Inch. A better plan 

 is to make the bench-bottom of tile, with iron sup- 

 ports. A bed may be made on the ground also. 



3. The irrigatlng-tile may be laid lengthwise or 

 crosswise the beds, and the latter plan has been the 

 more satisfactory. Jf long runs of tile are U8ed» 

 there should be a slight fall of one or two inches to 

 the hundred feet, and strips of tin should be insert- 

 ed into the joints at intervals to check the too 

 rapid tlow of water to the lower end. 



3. Sub-irrigation in the greenhouse grew out of 

 an attempt to prevent lettuce-rot, by watering be- 

 low so as to avoid wetting the foliage. 



4. Waterit.g by sub-irrigation is more efficiently 

 and cheaply done than by the ordinary method; 

 sub-irrigated soil does not harden, but retains its- 

 original loose, friable condition, nor does it become 

 mossy and water-h gged. Futhermore, plants are 

 less liable to suffer from over-watering and disease 

 by sub than by surface watering, and, in conse- 

 quence, grow more vigorously. 



.5. TJiese good effects are supposed to be largely 

 due to the facts that sub-irrigated soil is always in a 

 condition to allow the air to permeate it freely, and 

 that utiiformity and constancy of the supply of 

 moisture to the roots are assured by this method of 

 watering. 



6. The gain in weight of sub-irrigated lettuce over 

 surface-watered has been, in some cases, as high a& 

 100 per cent; but in most of the experiments about 

 40 per cent. In one case the increase in the value 

 of the crop was sufficient to pay the cost of the 

 new bench-bottoms, and in all cases the cost of re- 

 construction has been reimbursed the first season. 



7. It is a fact that good head lettuce can not be 

 grown on heavy Sf)il by surface watering, and the 

 sameis, in a measure, true of all varieties; but with 

 sub-irrigation this kind of soil is not precluded, 

 hence the melhod of watering greatly enlarges the' 

 possibilities of lettuce culture. 



8. Local conditions should not be overlooked, such 

 as soil and market requirements. It would be 

 futile to attempt to follow Eastern methods in this 

 section, because the conditions are different. 



9. The head lettuces are grown in the East, but are 

 not demanded in our markets, hence the Grand 

 Rapids is more suitable here, as it can be grown 

 more cheaply. 



10. The practice in vogue in the East, of making- 



