1890 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



501 



homeless people ; and 1 always enjoy seeing 

 how well they carry out this idea. 



" My good friend, we want some supper 

 just as soon as our horse can eat his feed. 

 VV^e have quite a piece to drive yet, and we 

 wish to get there before the people have 

 gone to bed." 



I was pleased to see how quickly he mov- 

 ed to the kitchen to tell the women-folks to 

 start it going. Then he directed in regard 

 to the care of the horse, and stepped briskly 

 to the meat-shop ; and almost before the 

 kitchen door was shut we heard them 

 pounding steak. Before I had time to be- 

 come impatient or nervous, we were called 

 to partake of the nice steak and potatoes, 

 with a couple of fried eggs, nice sweet but- 

 ter, good bread, and a good saucer of straw- 

 berries. If you want to see me have a good 

 appetite, just let me ride twenty miles 

 across the country. For serving us thus 

 handsomely, the whole charge was only 25 

 cents apiece. The horse counted the same 

 as a man. Now, when I get promptly serv- 

 ed, and yet on such short notice, do you 

 wonder that I thank God for hotels; and 

 that I feel kindly toward hotel-keepers? 



Just a little before nine o'clock I had the 

 pleasure of telling my companion, Mr. W., 

 that this was friend Terry's home. I 

 watched him as he looked at the bright 

 pretty barn and tool-house in the dim moon- 

 light. Friend Terry was off to Hudson, 

 with berries ; but his son and a hired man 

 welcomed us. 



" You said you would be here between 

 nine and ten ; but you are a little ahead of 

 time, are you notV" said the young man. 



I always like to be ahead of time. It is a 

 grand idea, in business, boys, to make your 

 promises, even in traveling, so that you are 

 on hand a little sooner than you agreed to 

 be. You try it awhile, and see if you don't 

 find that I am right. We were warmly wel- 

 comed by all the family, even if we did 

 come three or four days before we were ex- 

 pected. Friend T. soon returned, then got 

 a lantern, and we went to see those wonder- 

 ful strawberries. The first glimpse I ever 

 had of the Grand llapids lettuce was by the 

 light of a lantern. I shall never forget it. By 

 the way, there is something wonderfully 

 fascinating to me in going about among the 

 plants after dark. How cool and beautiful 

 the ground looked in friend Terry's new 

 plantation of strawberries ! The beautiful, 

 thrifty little plants, each one as much like 

 its neighbor as two peas can be alike, at ex- 

 act distances (rows four feet apart, plants 

 two feet apart in the rows), with all the in- 

 tervening ground in process o£ being raked 

 until nothing cotdd live except the straw- 

 berries— why, I fairly ached to get hold of a 

 fine-tooth steel rake, just to stir the beauti- 

 ful, fine, soft rich loam. If there were any 

 weeds, they had not come to the surface of 

 the soil. In fact, weeds never get s) as to 

 be visible on the Teriy plantation. Then 

 we went with the lantern over to that half- 

 acre in full bearing. 1 have a photograph 

 of It that I will show you before long ; but 

 no photograph can begin to do justice to the 

 sight we beheld. The varieties of straw- 

 berries are selected so as to have no rusty 



leaves. Every leaf is thrifty, perfect, and 

 has that bright new look that indicates a 

 rank luxuriant growth. The whole ground 

 between the plants is carpeted with cut 

 straw, so not a berry can find any thing 

 gritty or that will soil it in the least. 

 Strawberries growing and ripening on 

 "straw"! and, oh what clusters of them! 

 It seemed as if there were hardly room 

 enough for them to ripen without lying pil- 

 ed up on each other. Paths were provided 

 for the pickers, a foot wide ; but these paths 

 were also filled with straw. The Sterling, 

 Cumberland, Gandy, Downing, and Bubach, 

 kept their berries out of the path ; but the 

 wonderfully productive Haverland could 

 not be satisfied with piling the berries up in 

 the row, but it just kept pushing its great 

 long stalks full of fruit clear out into the 

 path ; and it was very difficult indeed to 

 walk in the paths without stepping on these 



freat beautiful handsome berries. Did any- 

 ody ever see such a plant as the Haver- 

 land? One reason for wanting to visit 

 friend Terry was, that I wished to see wheth- 

 er his Haverlands were really lying in heaps 

 around the plants, as ours were. They 

 were doing that very thing. Friend T. is 

 not excitable. I never saw him get very 

 much excited about any thing. He is cool 

 and quiet in almost all emergencies. He 

 does not sail his hat nor get as enthusiastic 

 as I do ; but for all that he enjoys nature's 

 gifts fully as much as the rest of us, if I am 

 correct. Now, the catalogues have been se- 

 verely censured for being extravagant in 

 regard to many of these new things ; but 

 since I have been home I have searched all 

 the catalogues in vain to find any thing that 

 does half justice to the Haverland. It is 

 true, the berries are rather tart, and have 

 not very much flavor compared with some 

 of the others ; neither are they as large as 

 some. But the berries are of good size ; and 

 with a little sugar they are almost as g(iod 

 as any of them. And, oh my! what an 

 abundance! I have not any figures just 

 now about the amount per square rod; but 

 you will find them in the book. It seems to 

 me that this plant is destined to bring about 

 a new era in strawberry culture. We have 

 had them for two years. The first year we 

 kept our original plants so busy furnish- 

 ing runners, that we did not get very much 

 fruit. During this last spring I let the old 

 plants go, and they were pretty well covered 

 with grass and weeds ; but when they began 

 to set their fruit I was almost alarmed. I 

 could not believe it possible that any plant 

 could ripen the quantity of green berries 

 that lay around them on all sides. But they 

 did do it ; and as fast as they turned red 

 they increased in size to such an extent that 

 it seemed almost like popping corn. 



The lantern was put away, and we went 

 to bed. I obtained permission to get up at 

 daybreak, and I proposed not to disturb 

 anybody else. 1'he bwometer's prediction 

 troubled me a little, anrl so I was not sur- 

 prised t> hear the patter of the raindrops a 

 little before daylight. The rain let up, 

 however, a little after daylight, and, oh 

 what a be lutiful sight met ray view 1 One 

 of friend Terry's hobbies is keeping things 



