514 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



INQS I should jud?e land in Florida to be more pro- 

 ductive than in tliis much--praised portion of Mexico. 

 Take, for instance, cassava. It appears that 25 lbs. 

 per hill i.s not uncommon. Down here three or four 

 pounds is a big yield, and it sells for 5 cts. per lb. 

 Thirty-five bushels of corn per acre is also a big 

 yield here. Under these conditions, Americans, in 

 order to exploit tropical agriculture, have no neces- 

 ity for deserting the protection that the stare and 

 stripes afford them. F. H. Breakell. 



Perez, V. C, Mexico, April 29. 



My good friend, I am sure that our 

 Florida soil is, as a rule, no better than 

 yours. Where we got great yields, say V2 

 bushel of dasheens fi'om a hill, we turned 

 under a great quantity of vegetation — gi'ass, 



leaves, palmetto, weeds, etc. It was con- 

 siderable labor in the first place ; and since 

 then we have been rising poultry manure 

 and stable manure and chemical fertilizers 

 to some extent, keeping down all weeds 

 until the cassava gets a start. There is also 

 a vast difference in Florida soils. In fact, 

 we often have good and bad spots on a 

 single acre. But intelligent management 

 will as a rule make the bad spots good 

 unless they are exceedingly bad. May God 

 grant that poor Mexico may have good 

 protection, and that right speedily, such as 

 we now enjoy here under the stars and 

 stripes. 



HI(CIHI=PME§§UME (CAMDENENC 



SPINELESS CACTUS PROM TWO POINTS OP 

 VIEV^. 



It is of great importance that the real 

 truth about this plant be made known. On 

 page 429, May 15, I told you of an adver- 

 tiser who has ten different varieties, from 

 60 cents up to $5 a leaf. I am now going 

 to give him some free advertising. 



I have told you before that I have one 

 leaf of the fruit-bearing cactus that cost me 

 $1.75; and on page 473, June 1, we are in- 

 formed there are buds on the leaf already, 

 and we propose to keep our readers posted. 



Now, here is a clipping from the circular 

 that induced me to invest ; and I must con- 

 fess that the prospect of " fifty tons of 

 beautiful and delicious fruit " is what got 

 hold of me largely. 



On good soil, some varieties of spineless cactus 

 will produce fifty tons per acre the first year, one 

 hundred tons the second year, two hundred tons the 

 third year, and four hundred tons the fourth year, 

 and fifty to two hundred tons per acre on poor sandy 

 land, without irrigation or fertilizer, some varieties 

 producing fifteen slabs the first year, forty-five the 

 second, ninety the third, and one hundred and 

 eighty the fourth. Some varieties will produce fifty 

 tons of beautiful and delicious fruit per acre which 

 can be kept like apples and shipped without ice, and 

 which contains over 30 per cent more sugar than 

 sugar cane does. 



It has produced nearly fifty times its volume in 

 one season, and over two hundred slabs from one 

 slab within two years in north Florida, thereby ex- 

 celling the world's record elsewhere. It is growing 

 successfully in several places in Florida now. 



Monticello, Fla. Samuel Kiddrr, Nurseryman. 



It is true I have had in mind writing my 

 good friend Prof. Rolfs, of the Florida Ex- 

 periment Station, but for some reason I 

 have neglected to do so; therefore you can 

 imagine with what interest I read over and 

 over Iho following, clipped from the Jack- 

 sonville Times-Union of May 20: 



FROM DIRECTOR ROIiFS. 



Farm and Home, of Springfield, Mass., had the 

 following recently: 



" In Farm and Home, November 1, E. P. Powell 

 states that the Florida Experiment Station reports 

 favorably upon the results obtained by growing 

 spineless cactus without irrigation. This is quite 

 contrary to the facts. The results of the Florida 

 Experiment Station with the growing of spineless 

 cactus have been about as unfavorable as could 

 well occur. 



" Further down in the same article Mr. Powell 

 states that fat cattle can be seen at the station that 

 have never seen M-ater otherwise than that which 

 is produced by the cactus leaves. This is also con- 

 trary to the facts in the case. 



" A\\ of our attempts to g:row spineless cactus, 

 which include thirty varieties, as well as the at- 

 tempts of the Department of Agriculture, have given 

 negative results." 



This is signed by P. H. Rolfs, Director Florida 

 Experiment Station. 



This is not all the information of the same nature 

 we have in our possession, but the above will serve 

 to show what is the attitude of agricultural scientists 

 regarding spineless cactus. These men have experi- 

 mented without any prejudice or personal interest 

 against spineless cactus, and their conclusions all 

 agree as to its lack of real merit. We special 

 agents of the United States Department of Agricul- 

 ture are under instructions to conserve the welfare 

 of our demonstrators and co-operators, and have no 

 personal ends to gain in warning the farmer against 

 engaging in undertakings that threaten to take his 

 money without giving him any return for the ex- 

 penditure of his money and labor. 



The Department of Agriculture, as I un- 

 derstand it, has been for some years making 

 tests of Burbank's spineless cactus in Cali- 

 fornia. The bulletin concerning it can be 

 had on application. I have already made 

 mention of it. Now, it is exceedingly im- 

 portant, especially to the good people of 

 Florida, that they should have the real truth 

 in regard to the spineless cactus. It was 

 Burbank who gave it the boom, or at least 

 the Burbank Company. We have been re- 

 peatedly told that Burbank himself is not 

 resjoonsible for what the Burbank Company 



