790 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 1. 



matter of course, strawberry-plants grow every 

 month in the winter time, and have no rest at 

 all. Well, now, do you plow them under a;fter 

 getting one crop, or do you keep the weeds out 

 through all of the ensuing summer and get a 

 second crop of berries from the same bed? And, 

 by the way. what is to hinder you from getting 

 a crop of berries in the fall, as they do in Cali- 

 fornia? It seems to me that a timely applica- 

 tion of water — that is, if you do not have it in 

 abundance from the rains — may enable you to 

 have strawberries for Thanksgiving and Christ- 

 mas. 



UEDXTCING THE NUMBER OF VE6ETABI>ES, ETC. 



Dear Friend: — Perhaps you ai'e not aware of 

 having a subscriber away down in old Tide 

 Water, Va., who is depending so much upon 

 you for valuable information in the horticul- 

 tural line, and that I read Gleanings with 

 great interest, and always await anxiously its 

 arrival. Will you allow me the privilege of 

 expressing my opinion in regard to your con- 

 densed seed catalogue ? I think it is a capital 

 idea, provided you cover the whole ground and 

 include seeds for us large growers (the growers 

 for the great Boston nuirkcts), as well as those 

 who are growing tor (jnly a local market. Say, 

 for instance, I am growing melons for the great 

 market of New York. Were I to take your ad- 

 vice, and grow Landreth's Extra Early, why, it 

 would be the means of my losing a good deal of 

 money. I grew watermelons last year as a 

 field crop, and realized about 1100 net profit per 

 acre, and it was due to growing the i"ight varie- 

 ty — Kolb's Gem. 



In regard to your cantaloupes, while I have 

 never grown Landreth's Extra Early, I can't 

 agree as to the Emerald Gem and the Banana. 

 My local market greatly prefers Miller's Cream; 

 and while it is not so early, it is much the 

 heaviest cropper; and my advice to my brother- 

 truckers is, to grow the Hackensack or Acme, 

 to ship. 



In regard to lettuce for outdoor culture, the 

 way we cultivate it down here, I think the 

 Tennis Ball variety is second to,none. 



I agree with you about tomatoes. I have ripe 

 tomatoes from the same vines that I began to 

 gather from the 10th of June (Ignotum). The 

 coming season I expect to grow 3 varieties — 

 Ignotum, Burpee's -Matchless, and Livingston's 

 lieauty. I have never fairly tested the two 

 latter. I think the only fault the Ignotum has 

 is this: it won't stand dry weather, and will rot 

 at the seed end. 



Now, Mr. Root, I am a very good friend of 

 yours, and I advocate your advice everywhere. 

 1 have profited more by reading after you than 

 after everybody else together; and I feel as if I 

 knew you, and would like much to meet you. 

 If you ever come to old Virginia, and don't call 

 to see me, I shall not like it at all. 



I am a great friend to the son of toil; and if 

 it is possible for me to speak in liis behalf I will 

 take pleasure in doing so. E. L. Lipscomb. 

 West Point, Va., Oct. 23. 

 Many thanks, my good friend, for the valua- 

 ble suggestions you give us; but instead of 

 helping to reduce the number, you rather give 

 us excellent reasons why we should enlarge it. 

 Well, this is just about as I expected; and as 

 diiferent localities and different markets re- 

 quire special varieties, perhaps it is impossible 

 to keep the number down so small as I had 

 planned, especially for a general seed catalogue. 



J^Y^EIiF MB PY ]S[EI6HB6RP. 



COPY OF A PAPER PREPARED FOR READING 



AT THE NATIONAL CONVENTION IN 



KEOKUK. IOWA. 



Have faitli in God.— Mark 11: !J2. 



Perhaps, dear fricMids, you think my text is a 

 rather strange start-out for a paper on the 

 honey-resources of the United States. May be 

 it is; but I believe it is applicable to the subject 

 in question, after all. For a little time back it has 

 seemed to many of oui' bce-keejjing fi'iends as if 

 oui'industry were going (low 11 hill. ^^'(' liavebeen 

 ill danger of losing faith in liec-kceiiiiig; and I 

 fear that some of us have been tempted to lose 

 faith in the great Ruler of all things. How can a 

 man be a successful bee-keeper, without faith in 

 an all-wise overruling power? How can he, in 

 fact, be successful in any thing, in this whole 

 wide world, without faith in God? In working, 

 and devising means, and in planning for the 

 future, what incentive is there to push ahead 

 unless we have this faith? Perhaps some of 

 you will agree with me in a general way; but I 

 wish to exhort you to-day, not only to have 

 reverence and resjject for the all-wise Creator, 

 but to have faith that he cares for us and loves 

 us, and keeps watch over us, and hears prayer. 

 During the past few weeks we have had an 

 unusual amount of rainy weather — at least, 

 such has been the case in Ohio and adjoining 

 States. Men have planned, but God seems to 

 have thwarted their plans by so much wetness. 

 Shall we complain of him? Surely not. The 

 words of oifi- text bid us have faith in God. 

 Shall we grumble at his dispensations? By no 

 manner of means. There are certain things we 

 can control, but we can not control the weather 

 — at least, we have not done so yet: therefore 

 we may safely say, just now at least, that the 

 weather is God's })art, and all we have to do is 

 to attend to our part. Perhaps some of you 

 say that I do not know what it is to have my 

 bread and butter cut off by such unheard-of 

 weather. I know something of it, dear friends. 

 My crop of seed beans, including the bush 

 limas, that are worth quite a lot of money, are 

 still out in the wet. ^lany arc rotted and spoiled 

 hopelessly. My special croji of seed corn, that I 

 value a good deal, has not been dry enough in a 

 month to do any thing with, unless each ear be 

 hung up in a dry place, as it hangs on a stalk. 

 I must lose it, or cure it at a great expense. 

 But I have not looked sour nor felt ci-oss yet, 

 although I sometimes have to say to myself, 

 " Thy will, not mine, be done." It has been very 

 perplexing for me to keep a large force of hands 

 at work, for we do not send our men home when 

 it storms, as many establishments do. Again 

 and again have I asked God in the morning to 

 give me wisdom in devising ways and means to 

 keep my men at work, and at the same time 

 have them work profitably. So far the answer 

 has come, and I have often wondered how it 

 was that things change around, and seem to 

 dovetail one into another, in such a way as to 

 call for just the man that I did not know what 

 to do with next. Then how much happier one 

 feels who has faith in God, and, as a natural 

 sequence, faith in humanity! I fear, dear 

 friends, that I should not have been away off 

 here away from home, when so many things 

 seemed toneed me, if it were not for faith in 

 God and faith in you. I believe we shall al- 

 ways be blessed and prospered in doing our 

 duty, and duty seemed to call me here. 



Now, about the honey resources of our own 

 country. My faith is brigliter to-day than it 

 was a few years ago. I have prayed for oiu' in- 

 dustry a good deal; and we have in our con- 



