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gLEzVnings in bee culture. 



811 



willingly have given four dollars for an 

 azalea growing in a small pot, were it pos- 

 sible for me to have got it home without in- 

 jury. Were there ever such poinsettias, ja- 

 ponicas,and camelias before V The proprietor 

 was engaged in fixing a basket of exotic flow- 

 ers, intertwined with smilax, while he talked 

 with me. May be such collections of beauties 

 have been in sight where I was around be- 

 fore, but I can't remember it. One green- 

 house was devoted to orchids ;' and even 

 these odd-looking things liad a beauty that 

 morning that I had never seen in them be- 

 fore. Do you want to know why every thing 

 seemed to be speaking of (Jod's glory, and 

 moving me to lift my heart toliim iu thanks- 

 giving and praise V Why, I had been hav- 

 ing -A brisk loalk in the open air. Do you re- 

 member what I said alH)ut the Peck's Pleas- 

 ant apple, and the ( 'alifornia honey V That 

 was it — brisk, health-giving exercise out in 

 the wintry air. Following his directions I 

 took a street-car, away over to the other side 

 of the city, and on iv.y way I stopped at the 

 central market. Here 1 found celery on 

 sale, away ahead of any thing our grounds 

 had get produced. I looked for lettuce, and 

 finally inquired of one of the stout German 

 women who stood by their stands, even 

 thoixgh the weather was down toward zero. 

 She threw a blanket from the top of a bar- 

 rel, and showed me the same kind of fringed 

 lettuce I saw in the market in Columbus, 

 evidently raised out of doors, protected by 

 some sort of mulch. It seemed a -little 

 strange to me that the lettuce was kept from 

 injury by tlie frost, by a simple barrel and 

 blanket. These people at tlie market have 

 learned by sad experience, just to a dot, 

 what their vegetables will bear, and I was 

 greatly pleased to see how they managed 

 daring such a winter morning, and also to 

 see how they succeeded in handling choice 

 vegetables so safely. 



There was nice honey on the market, and I 

 was pleased to see some of tlie finest pack- 

 ages labeled, '' Prom the apiary of M. II. 

 Hunt, Bell Branch. Wayne Co.. Mich." All 

 the honey offered for sale had the name of 

 the producer plainly printed on the jtackage; 

 and from appearances I shoidd iU'mk they 

 were having quite a trade in the gemiine ar- 

 ticle. Why can't newspaper men interview 

 the m((rket'men, and — tell the truth V 



I was told in the market that there was a 

 man by the name of Cieorge Ferguson Avho 

 had a greenhouse specially devoted to rais- 

 ing lettuce, and that he brought the finest 

 lettuce into the city of any man in the mar- 

 ket. Nobody knew exactly how far away he 

 lived, but it was somewhere between one 

 and four miles. It was just eigiit o'clock, 

 and I started a little sadly to go back with- 

 out having found a greenhouse devoted to 

 mai'ket gardening. I mentally figured this 

 way : Street-ears will carry me six miles an 

 hour. Mr. Ferguson is probably not more 

 than two miles away. Perhaps I can find 

 him and get back before the covention opens 

 at nine o'clock. Olf I started. The driver 

 said he knew on which street Mr. Ferguson 

 lived. It was oif from the line of street- 

 cars, but he did not know how far olf. Soon 

 I was on foot again, in the suburbs of the 



city. I found the place, as I supposed, and 

 for the first time in my life I saw nice large 

 heads of lettuce in the middle of the month 

 of December. They were whiter than ordi- 

 nary lettuce — in fact, almost if not quite as 

 white as nicely bleached celery, on account 

 of the heavy manuring they received, proba- 

 bly, and the confinement of the greenhouse. 

 A boy in his teens showed me through the 

 houses, but I was somewhat dissatislied at 

 the want of order and system. Finally my 

 young friend remarked, with a touching sad- 

 ness, '• AVe used to have things looking nicer 

 before father died."' I did not feel like crit- 

 icising any more. If God should see fit to 

 take me away, would that sad remark, or a 

 similar one, "be heard around my home 'r* 

 May God help the widows and the fatherless! 

 Pretty soon he said that his micle did a good 

 deal more at lettuce than they did. His wi- 

 dens name was Oeorge Ferguson, the man I 

 was after, so I hadn't found the place after 

 all. His younger brother said it was proba- 

 bly about a mile, but the other said it was a 

 little further. I walked a mile, and inquir- 

 ed. They said it was a mile yet. Another 

 mile, and I found a man mulching spinach. 

 This was just what I wanted to see. After 

 he had shown me all about it, he said my 

 destination was still about a mile. Shall I 

 go back and give it up ? Fifteen minutes 

 more time, and I shall probably find what I 

 seek. No doubt I shall lind some hint worth 

 to me at least thirti/ minutes' time, and so I 

 pushed on, and I got my reward, not only in 

 seeing the beautiful lettuce, but Mr. Fergu- 

 son's wife told me that he had more orders 

 at SI. 7.5 per bushel than he could possibly 

 fill. In fact, he had gone to town now with 

 a load hardly lar^e enough to cut. She said, 

 that the day before Thanksgiving he could 

 easily have sold forty bushels at §2.00 a bush- 

 el ; and yet a few years ago people wouldn't 

 buy it at all in December. The demand for 

 such stuff is of recent date. I Mill tell you 

 what else I saw. Adjoining one of the 

 greenhouses was a warm light room for 

 poultry. Old Izaak Walton once remarked, 

 "Doubtless (iod could have made a better 

 berry than the strawberry, but doubtless he 

 never did." 1 felt like saying, '• Doubtless 

 (iod //(/;//(/ have made a handsomer flock of 

 Light Brahmas"than my friend the old Ger- 

 man woman exhibited to my admiring gaze : 

 but it seenud to nie '• doid/tful whether God 

 ever did " make another flock as handsome. 

 They were cackling and singing, and laying 

 eggs, apparently oblivious of the fact that it 

 was the middleOf December and not May. 

 But, weren't they beauties'i'— spotlessly clean, 

 covered with soft down, and of immense 

 size, with grace and symmetry in every mo- 

 tion, and that kind, neighborly look (if it is 

 proper to say a hen can have a neighborly 

 look) that is so characteristic of the Light 

 Brahmas. Do you wonder why they gave 

 me sudi pleasure, tliat keen, frosty morning? 

 Why, I had got loose in the fields, and had 

 been walking briskly two or three miles 

 across lots, climbing fences, studying God's 

 wonders, and loving his creatures. 



There was one thing about their green- 

 houses where I think I could have made an 

 improvement, in raising lettuce at least. 



