1901 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CUI^TURE. 



157 



tion so much in that corner of the State for 

 three years in succession. But somebody said 

 it was the best point for honey in the whole 

 State, and there were more bee-keepers there; 

 and, besides, when it was put to vote, that 

 was the decision. Of course that would be 

 natural, for nearly all present lived not far 

 away from there. 



At the convention I was bantered not a lit- 

 tle about my ranch in the woods, eight miles 

 north of Traverse City. After the convention 

 was over I went up there in company with 

 Mr. Hilbert, and we commenced clearing off 

 a place for the cottage. I was greatly anxious 

 to know if I could keep warm and feel well 

 at work out in the woods in winter time. 

 Well, toward night I was ready to swing my 

 hat and praise God because the experiment 

 seemed a complete success. I worked all day 

 in the open air, and enjoyed it hugely. But 

 we were a mile and a half from home. Of 

 course, friend Hilbert's ponies took us flying; 

 but I was so warm and comfortable I declared 

 I did not need the great big outside overcoat 

 that I had when I came up in the morning. 

 Mr. Hilbert, however, constituted himself my 

 guardian, and insisted on my putting it on ; 

 but I was so exceedingly warm and comforta- 

 ble without it, I fear I did not button it up 

 very well. I had planned for another outing 

 in the woods next day — in fact, had hired 

 some extra help ; but along in the night I was 

 taken with a coughing-spell that came pretty 

 near waking up the rest of the family as well 

 as myself, and I reluctantly gave up my work 

 in the woods in winter. Now, I firmly believe 

 I should not have caught any cold if I had 

 managed right, or if there had been a little 

 bit of cabin or some warm place where I could 

 have stayed in the woods over night. I be- 

 came so much interested in the work that I 

 did not have a nap all day long at all ; then 

 in going home we had to go over hills, and 

 the wind that blew from over across the lake 

 was pretty fierce and cold. If I can just get 

 over in that little bit of dense woods in among 

 the hills, and stay there, I feel sure I shall be 

 all right, winter and summer ; and when I get 

 to be too old to be of any use anywhere else, 

 that is where Mrs. Root and I are going to 

 stay until — we get tired out and want to come 

 home. 



I have spoken to you once or twice about 

 the little girl that I found digging those Early 

 Rose potatoes. She and I have become fast 

 friends since then. One day at the dinner- 

 table her mother remarked : 



" Alice says she wishes Mr Root would stay 

 here, and live right here with us always." 



At this remark Alice colored up somewhat 

 and hung her head, while the rest laughed 

 and asked her why she wanted me to stay 

 there always. Miss Erna (the young lady 

 who carried one end of the pole for marking 

 the potatoes) suggested it was because her 

 father, Mr. Hilbert, was so much pleasanter 

 when I was around. This made another 

 laugh, and finally Alice was urged to tell just 

 why. She only said we might all guess ; and 

 when we guessed right she would tell us — not 

 before. Nobody could guess. I told her we 



should have to let the readers of Gleanings 

 guess why Alice wanted Mr. Root to live at 

 their house always. By the way, we had a 

 joke on Alice a few days later. She came 

 home from school one day and marched into 

 the dining-room with a book in her hand 

 which she picked off from the table where her 

 father and I had left it. As she held it up 

 she said, " Why, what a funny book this must 

 be!" 



Her sister then put in, "Why, Alice, what 

 is the book about? Read us the title." 



"Why, it reads, ' Farmers with Green Man- 

 ners.' " 



At first nobody caught on, and I was saying 

 to myself, " What in the world does the child 

 mean — ' Farmers with Green Manners ' ? " 



But somehow the title sounded a little fa- 

 miliar. Then friend Hilbert began to shake. 

 One after another they caught on. It was the 

 O. Judd Co.'s excellent work entitled " Farm- 

 ing with Green Manures." And, by the way, 

 friend Hilbert has been reading the book over 

 and over, and building some tremendous air- 

 castles on this subject. He says that next 

 year, instead of taking four or five acres to 

 grow a thousand bushels of potatoes, he is go- 

 ing to follow the teachings of that book and 

 get a thousand bushels from one acre. I think 

 I will have to tell the O. Judd Co. of this joke 

 in regard to the title of their book. May be 

 it will furnish somebody a subject on which 

 to write a new book on agriculture. 



THE GRAND TRAVERSE HAND POTATO PLANT- 

 ER. 

 On page 817, Oct. 15, I described the hand 

 potato- planter used in the great potato locality 

 round about the Grand Traverse region. Let 

 me repeat, there are quite a number of hand 

 potato- planters, somewhat similar to this, on 

 the market, or that have been peddled around, 

 especially the one with a tin tube to drop the 

 potatoes in at the top. Now, this tube ar- 

 rangement is not what is wanted at all. I 

 was induced to buy one of an agent, and so 

 was friend Hilbert ; but they are not worth 

 any thing at all. To push the implement 

 down, even into mellow ground, you want 

 your foot right on it as in the figure. In the 

 first place, you want your ground marked 

 both ways ; and I would use the chain arrange- 

 ment as pictured and described on p. 975, Dec. 

 15. You can plant your potatoes, with little 

 extra expense, so as to cultivate both ways ; 

 but whether you decide to cultivate both ways 

 or not, I would mark the ground both ways. 

 By the way, at a recent visit at friend Hil- 

 bert's, one of his daughters, a bright young 

 lady of 14, remarked that the picture was not 

 just right. She said there ought to be a boy 

 at one end and a girl at the other, and the 

 girl would represent herself, for she carried 

 one end of the pole to mark their potatoes last 



