340 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



forty years or more. The first box went so 

 quickly I wired for a second. I don't recall 

 where my good mother (or wife?) was just 

 then; but here is lesson No. 2 that God sent 

 me : 



A washwoman whom I knew came into 

 the crowd with about a dozen broken pack- 

 ages and a lot of jewelry. I distinctly 

 remember among the lot a gold(?) locket 

 and neck-chain said to be worth ten dollars. 

 She broke right in through the crowd and 

 said something like this: 



" Mr. Root, you probably know that my 

 husband and I have hard work to get along 

 and care for oureelves. Well, we had just 

 scraped np money enough to get a sack of 

 flour, and I trusted the poor old man to go 

 up town and get it. This crowd you see 

 here persuaded him, if he bought your 

 needles, he might get a gold watch that he 

 could swap for several sacks of flour. Now, 

 here is what he brought home instead of 

 the flour. What does the like of us want 

 with these trinkets'? If they are of any 

 value to anybody, you know how much and 

 what to do with them. Will you kindly 

 excuse my poor old man and take these and 

 give me the money to get the floui"? " 



I was not a professing Christian then ; 



hut 1 shut up the box and told the firm that 

 sent it they could allow me what they chose 

 or nothing, and from that time to this I 

 have tried to steer clear of " prizes." 



Just about a year ago a young beekeeper 

 paid us a visit. Between here and town 

 some lots were sold at an auction. A little 

 girl gave out cards. Our young friend took 

 one of the cards from the child, and it 

 happened to be worth $20 on the purchase 

 of a lot. He didn't want any lot; but a 

 man who expected to buy one gave him, I 

 think, $15.00 for it. So he made a visit to 

 A. I. Root and gathered in quite a few 

 "shekels" on the way.' 



If I am rightly informed, something sim- 

 ilar is going on most of the time down here 

 in Florida, and perhaps in many other 

 places where there is excitement about real 

 estate. I feel sad when I see it or hear of 

 it, and sadder still when I meet so many who 

 seem to think no harm may come from 

 that way of doing business. If nobody 

 wanted (or coveted) anything without ren- 

 dering a fair equivalent, what a happy 

 world this would be! and if everybody real- 

 ly loved his neighbor as himself, God's 

 kingdom would come, and his will woidd be 

 done on earth as it is in heaven. 



HOW TO MAKE " THINGS " GROW. 



I have been expecting some of you would 

 complain because I, as I grow older, get to 

 telling the same thing " over and over." 1 

 have heard no such complaint as yet; and 

 when it comes I am going to " come back 

 at you " with the declaration that there are 

 things that should be told " over and over," 

 and what I am going to talk about is one 

 of the things. 



Perhaps thirty years ago it was, when 

 one of my hobbies was the growing of veg- 

 etable-plants for the local trade around 

 Medina. The plants were grown in shallow 

 boxes about a yard long and 16 inches wide, 

 and about 3 inches deep. We first put in 

 a layer of old well-rotted stable manui'-e, 

 and on this some rich sifted garden soil; 

 and when we were short of plants, and it 

 was desirable to rush them along, we sifted 

 in a little gnano. Well, when the weather 

 became real warm, saj' in May, we found 

 the flea-beetle was getting bad on our 

 young cabbage-plants; and reading in a 

 paper that slaked lime, or lime water, 

 would head them oft',_I told the boys to sift 

 some lime into the soil before they sowed 

 the seeds, and then forgot all about it. In 



E (CAEDENING 



a day or two my attention was called to a 

 box of plants of such luxuriance and dark 

 rich color that I uttered an exclamation of 

 surprise. The first seed-leaves of the cab- 

 bage were larger than any thing I had ever 

 seen ; and when I began making inquiry I 

 was told it was the effect of both lime and 

 guano. Then I began to explain to the 

 interested crowd that the lime had probably 

 liberated tlie ammonia in the guano at just 

 the time the sprouting seeds needed it, 

 when one of theiu exclaimed : 



"Ammonia? I should say so! When 1 

 sprinkled the box Avith warm water, as you 

 told us to do, after sowing the seeds, it 

 smelted like a bottle of hartshorn or smell- 

 ing-salts." 



After we had tested the matter so we 

 were .satisfied we could get the same result 

 every time, 1 said to the bovs something like 

 this: ■ 



" Boys, if some one had come along here 

 and showed me a box of plants like these, 

 and had offered to sell me tlie secret for a 

 hundred dollars, 1 think I should liave ])aid 

 it at once." 



Well, we grew plants in that way for 

 several years ; and if I remember we gave 



