106 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 



somewhat expensive. In the same way, 

 after running the manure- spreader over the 

 ground, I have gone to the expense of 

 shoveling out the roadways. With straw- 

 berries, raspberries, currants, etc., we have 

 to meet the same thing. I have been so 

 much pleased with the little sketch of the 

 grounds of one of our seedsmen, that I 

 asked him to loan the cut to me. Here it is. 

 Well, friends, what do you think of it V 

 Wouldn't almost anybody like to be a seeds- 

 man if he could have a seed-house like that, 

 with grounds and garden beyond ? The cut 

 is the work of a professional horticultural 

 engraver, Mr. A. 131anc. lie has wonderful 

 taste in that direction. Perhaps on this ac- 

 count this pretty picture is somewhat of an 

 ideal one. We do not know how much 

 ground Mr. Mills has laid out thus tastily ; 

 but, judging from the human figures, covered 

 wagon, and seed-house, there must be from 

 one to two acres. I think I would go a 



looking tracts of run-down, deserted gar- 

 dens. No climaie in the world will do it 

 alone. It must have a live man to watch 

 over it. I suppose the garden of Eden itself 

 would have soon run down without Adam 

 to take care of it. 



Now, reader, what is your plan for a gar- 

 den in the spring of 1890"V Friend Mills has 

 a very pretty greenhouse, just back of the 

 seed-house, near the fence. If you haven't 

 any other occupation to take up your spare 

 time, I think you will enjoy just a little bit 

 of a greenhouse— say as large as you can 

 afford ; and then 1 am sure that you will en- 

 joy your garden outside a great deal more if 

 you carefully go over it, and plan it during 

 winter evenings. Lay o& your ground on 

 paper ; decide just how much of every thing 

 you can dispose of safely ; estimate how 

 much ground it will take to grow it ; figure 

 closely how many seeds will be needed, and 

 have every thing in readiness to go at it 



SEED-HOUSE AND GROUNDS HELONOING TO F. B. MILLS, THORN HILL, N. Y. 



couple of hundred miles to see a garden just 

 like that in reality. It is very pretty, and it 

 is worth a good deal of hard work to be able 

 to produce any thing so handsome. We do 

 not notice any weeds, neither are there any 

 crops past their prime, waiting to be cleared 

 up, nor any appearance of rubbish, heaps of 

 weeds, brush, briers, cabbage-leaves, turnip - 

 tops, nor any thing of the sort. The en- 

 graver has usually an advantage over the 

 photographer in this line of work. The 

 camera takes every thing true to nature — 

 rubbish and all, while the engraver can omit 

 the objectionable features. Near .Vrlington 

 I saw some gardens pretty nearly as perfect 

 as the above ; and in California I saw orange- 

 groves that were handsomer, more sym- 

 metrical, and neater, than any picture ever 

 put in any catalogue. In portions of Cali- 

 fornia, however, there were many very sad- 



when the weather permits. Friend Mills 

 has not got his pretty garden laid out in 

 long rows, so as to be worked by horse 

 power. If the seed-garden is purposely 

 planned to raise seeds, perhaps he will not 

 use a cultivator very much, although I think 

 it would pay, unless the land is pretty ex- 

 pensive. Most of his crop could be put in 

 rows, so as to be cultivated with the help of 

 a small horse, almost as well as in beds, as 

 he has it. By the way, we recently pur- 

 chased a pony, small in size, with very small 

 feet, with the view of training him to draw 

 a small cultivator in very narrow rows. 

 His feet are so small that he would not 

 damage a Wakefield cabbage, even if he 

 should step on it. Blue Eyes stipulates, 

 however, that he is to be used for cultivat- 

 ing the garden, only when she does not need 

 him to ride horseback. So you see there is 



