502 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 



painted. The barn and tool-house and cov- 

 ered barnyard had jiist been treated to a 

 coat of bright new paint. By the way, this 

 covered barnyard has just been enlarged to 

 about twice its former capacity. But I tell 

 you, it is handy— especially where one has 

 as many tools as friend Terry and I have. 

 Friend T. has a knack of combining colors, 

 with a small amount of architectural curves 

 about the covered yard, that makes it won- 

 derfully pleasing to the eye. The fence be- 

 fore the house was also neatly painted, and 

 in good repair ; gates all working nicely. 

 A gravel walk led around to the front door, 

 and a gravel driveway on the other side of 

 the lawn led around to the rear of the house. 

 Friend T. has a gravel bed, or bank, on his 

 own farm, and therefore it is not a very ex- 

 pensive matter to have neat gravel walks all 

 about his home. The painters had also been 

 at work about the house ; and when I sug- 

 gested that most of us would think that it 

 did not really need painting, he remarked 

 that it was cheaper to paint before buildings 

 really needed it, in the common acceptation 

 of the term ; and there we have the same 

 story over and over again all over friend 

 Terry's premises. Every thing is done be- 

 fore it begins to suffer from lack of atten- 

 tion. The weeds in the strawberry-bed are 

 killed before they get to the top of the 

 ground. His fourteen-acre potato-field is 

 tilled in the same way, even during this re- 

 markably wet season. The potatoes stood 

 so regular through the field that one might 

 think they were spaced by machinery, 

 which, in fact, they were, by the machinery 

 of the potato-planter. Instead of there be- 

 ing hills of potatoes, however, there was a 

 single stalk standing up like a little tree, 

 each one just like its neighbor, as in the 

 strawberries. This comes from the '' single- 

 eye " idea. If we let a great lot of sprouts 

 grow in one hill, it is like having eight or 

 ten stalks of corn in a hill — you have only 

 nubbins instead of fine large ears. This 

 single potato-stalk produces only a few po- 

 tatoes ; but as these are not crowded at all, 

 they are large, fine-shaped ones; and his 

 potatoes, like his strawberries, command an 

 extra price. Some time last fall I sent 

 friend Terry an order for 25 bushels of po- 

 tatoes, to be kept for seed. I was too late. 

 They were sold out, and I was astonished to 

 learn during this visit that 2S0 different peo- 

 ple sent money for potatoes, after the pota- 

 toes were gone. That is worse than any thing 

 we have done — or better, whichever you 

 choose to call it. The receipts for strawoer- 

 ries during the day I was there were some- 

 thing over $23.00. 



When I mention about friend Terry's 

 farming, many people reply at once, '' Oh, 

 yes ! friend Terry has got money, and can 

 afford to hire all the help he needs." 



Now, this is a sad mistake. One great 

 feature of Terry's farming is to manage 

 with the very smallest amount of help. If 

 I am correct, he has only one hired man, 

 aside from himself and boy, and the assist- 

 ance his wife and daughters give in berry- 

 picking. Many people ask, with wonder 

 expressed in their eyes, " Why, do Mr. Ter- 

 ry's daughters work outdoors in the straw- 



berry-bedsV" Yes, my friend, they do. 

 After they had finished their education, 

 they, like most young ladies, wanted some- 

 thing to do. They might teach school, clerk 

 in the store, or perhaps find a situation in 

 an office in some of our large cities. They 

 preferred to stay at home, however, and 

 work with their father, rather than to be 

 '••bossed" by somebody else who is not 

 their father. Do you blame them? Their 

 father suggested that they raise strawber- 

 ries, instead of teaching school ; and I 

 think they aie getting more money than 

 most schoolteachers. I did not see them 

 picking strawberries while I was there, be- 

 cause it rained. As they were living at 

 home, and working for their father, they 

 could work when they chose. I looked sev- 

 eral times longingly at the beautiful large 

 piano that has recently been purchased, and 

 which stood right in sight ; but so many 

 important matters crowded I hardly dared 

 ask them to treat us to some music. Now, 

 I sup]iose women-folks should be free to 

 choose an occupation, just as men are; but 

 if it were myself, or if it were my daughters 

 under consideration, I should say. " Give 

 me strawberry culture a hundred times 

 over, rather than schoolteaching or any of 

 the other employments open to women- 

 folks." AVhen I mention these rural pur- 

 suits, and the wonderful success some have 

 met, the constant objection raised is, that 

 the markets are frequently overstocked. 

 Strawberries a week ago sold in our town at 

 5 cents a quart. Ours, however, when 

 freshly picked, brought 8 cents readily. 



I now wish to relate a little incident illus- 

 tratinsT the character and quality of friend 

 Terry's berries. I think it was on Tuesday, 

 June 17, that the quantity of berries became 

 so great that friend T. took a small load to 

 Akron, while his son went to Hudson. He 

 feared there would be more than the town 

 of Hudson could manage. As he approached 

 Akron he met farmers coming home, telling 

 him there was no sort of use in carrying 

 another strawberry to Akron that day. He, 

 however, pushed ahead, but found it all as 

 they said. Stacks of berries were piled up 

 in front of every store and grocery. The 

 troubled proprietors were standing out on 

 the street, trying in vain to get an offer. 

 He drove to the place where he was accus- 

 tomed to trade, and asked them to look at 

 his berries. This they positively refused to 

 do, saying they were in trouble already be- 

 cause of having been induced to purchase 

 beyond what prudence would dictate. The 

 proprietor, however, finally consented just 

 to look under the cover of the drawers. 

 Friend T. assured him he need not buy, but 

 that he would like to have him see some of 

 his product, as he might at some future time 

 wish to bring him some berries. He reluc- 

 tantly approached the spring wagon. Friend 

 T. expected to see him an astonished man 

 when he raised the cover; but he was not 

 prepared for his sudden change. The ber- 

 ries were sold at a price away above those 

 already standing on the' sidewalk. When 

 he got home, his" son had orders for all the 

 berries they could pick, from the Hudson 

 dealers ; and on going to the postoffice he 



