1885 



GLEANINGS IX BEE CULTURE. 



''Mr. Root," said he, '• we are not really 

 sure of any thing ; they may work, and they 

 may not. There are only two things :n this 

 world tliat are sure." 



'• And what are the two things that are 

 absolutely sure, Mr. II. V" 



" Death and taxes. They are sure to come 

 to all of us." 



"■ I agree with you, my friend. These two 

 things are sure ; and in view of the fact that 

 there is no escape from them, does it not 

 become us to be careful, verij careful, that 

 we are always ready to meet either?"' 



lie gave me a quick look, as if he were 

 not quite siu'e whether I was one of the 

 pious kind or not, but I v^-ent on : 



" Every good business )nan ouglit always 

 to be ready to meet the payment of his taxes 

 when they become due, uugJit he notV 



" Yes, sir, to be sure, he ought." 



"Nov/, my good friend, you have been 

 very kind to me this afternoon, and I thank j 

 you. I may never meet you again, and may 

 never have the opportunity of repaying | 

 your kindness : but do, I beseech you. l)e as i 

 ready to meet death when (Jod shall cail us 

 home, as you have been in life to meet the 

 payment of every just debt. I have l)een { 

 lold that you are a successful and responsi- ' 

 bh' man. Uon't forget tliis other thing be- 1 

 sides taxes that must be met.'" 



His countenance softened, and he looked 

 as though lii' was louclied. 



'• I know, I know."" said he, •• that we are 

 not often as ready to meet dejitli as tlie otli- 

 cr; and I know, too, Mr. Koot. tliat jve 

 ouglit to be."" 



I did not say a word about his swearing, 

 but h(! undei'stood it all the same: and 11 

 was sui'e, by the warnsth with wliidi he | 

 took my hand, that he was not at all dis- 

 pleased. IIi^ had no feeling lliat I had been i 

 preaching to him. As I jiassed away I gave j 

 another longing look at the lettuce-beds. | 

 Some of his men were tiansplanling some of 

 the bright-green little plants. I noticed, 

 tliat as soon as they i)ut them out. a board 

 shutter instead of a sash was placed over 

 them to keep olf the sun. Other men were 

 ]tacking the beautiful heads of lettuce in 

 barrels. One of Mv. lludsoiTs neighbors 

 (for that was his name! told me there was a 

 si)ell during the past season when New York 

 was almost destitute of lettuce. The de- 

 mand became so great that Mr. IF. sold al- 

 most his whole crop as high as six cents a 

 head, and with the i)roceeds lie got at least 

 a pait of the money to build these six green- 

 houses, all to be heated b.\ one boiler. There 

 before my eyes was the sight 1 had gone 

 clear to New York to see — plants growing 

 with wonderful vigor, and that, too. right at 

 the time when we here in Ohio, and over a 

 great jiait of the United States, are letting 

 every thing go to weeds and decay ; and be- 

 sides that, iireparations for having this 

 wondeitiil growth go on uninlei-ruptedly all 

 winter long. You' may say, " Oh, yes! that 

 will do very well for siirli a market as New 

 York.'" Rut, inv friends. I am inclined to 

 think those beau'liful heatls ol' lettuce tliat 

 .Mr. Hudson's men were pulling and putting 

 into lianels would sell in your town or mine 

 for ,at least five cents a head, at almost any 



time during the coming winter, and perhaps 

 even now befoj-e winteV has come. 



T. B. TERRY'SjTOOL-HOUSE. 



f^IlE friends will remember, that iu our 

 I" issue for Sept. 1-5 I gave a promise of 

 1^ having an engraving made, and here 

 it is. When I first looked about 

 friend Terry's premises, this tool- 

 house was about the first thing that attract- 

 ed my eye. One of the doors was open, so 

 that I could get a glimpse inside, and I 

 caught the idea at once. I was the better 

 prepared to appreciate it. because I had a 

 similar tool-house constructed about a year 

 ago, only mine was a lean-to shed, put: uj) 

 against "the east side of our largest wai-e- 

 house, and in ours the doors were omitted. 

 The consequence v/as, the only ■way to get a 

 tool in was to liack in. and everybody found 

 it so handy that pretty soon it was a half- 

 day's work to get a tool out or in. and so the 

 boys dropped back into the fashion of leav- 

 ing all the vehicles scattered around ^\ here 

 they were used last. 



1 rememlier one day of, wanting some little 

 implement for just a little while, and :a 

 iieighbor"s rea])er was so placed that it must 

 be pulled out in the mud. in order to get the 

 tool. \Ve didn't make the gravel bed inside 

 of the house, that friend Terry speaks of in 

 his account further along; and tlie conse- 

 (pience was. that when the ground became 

 (|uite soft the heavy tools sank into tin; 

 heavy <'Ia\ soil, and after a while they froze 

 fast, liesides. some of onr more enterpris- 

 ing chickens decideil that it was nicer, and 

 more airy a place in which to roost, and 

 therefore they took up their (piarters right 

 over some of onr high-priced machinery. J)o 

 you wonder I got, the lilues soni(>times. a.nd 

 iilniosl wished I iiad never tried to be a 

 farmer ":' Come to think of;it, 1 do not know 

 liiit I almost wished 1 had never tried to be 

 any thing or anybody. I thought of doors, 

 i)ut 1 remembered ftnnier experience in 

 having doors slammed by the wind until 

 thev were repeatedly torn from their hinges. 

 Soinebody suggested sliding-doors; but I 

 also remembered sundry times when I tried 

 to move heavy sliding-doors when I was in 

 a hurry, when they went so hard that it took 

 so much of my small amount of strength 

 that I had neither strength nor energy to 

 do thoAvork after I got niv tools out into the 

 lield. "Well, Mr. Terry agiees Avith me in 

 regard to sliding-doors ; at least, he said he 

 did not like them. He did not say he did 

 not like to have doors slamming; but the 

 moment 1 saw that little iron hand-spike 

 witli the eye on top, and hinged to the dooi-. 

 I knew what it w;is for. The othei' end is 

 sharpened to a blunt point, so as to stick in- 

 to the ground : i but lest it go into the 

 ground too far v.iien said ground is too soft, 

 a Avasher is shrunk on, as he describes. 

 Then Avhen this little hand-spike is not to 

 be used, instead of Iniviug it Hacking about, 

 it is lifted up and laid on a nice little strong 

 hook, prepared for the purpose. The en- 



