780 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



HIGe=PME§§IUME GAKDEMNG 



THAMPS; WHAT SHALL WE DO WITH THEM? 



ALSO SOiCETHING ABOUT SOWING 



gvvEET CLOVER BETWEEN THE 



HILLS OP MATURING CORN. 



We dip the following from the Cleveland 

 Plain iJenler: 



One who gives a tramp a " hand-out" at the back 

 door is doing himself, tlie tramp, and the community 

 an injustice. A city which, rightly or wrongly, 

 gains the reputation of being composed largely of 

 these back door pliilanthropists suffers in tlie long 

 run, for hoboes are persistent advertisers. They 

 spread far and wide the glory of any city which 

 shows special consideration of their kind. 



I think there must be considerable truth in 

 the above, because I have noticed tramps 

 passing by our place and stopping at some 

 of the humbler homes on the outskirts of 

 our town. Very likely it is understood 

 among the craft that our establishment of- 

 fers work, but not cold victuals. But 1 

 im glad to say that I have had one experi- 

 ence that I am glad to mention. Monday 

 morning early a fellow just twenty years 

 old came to the lumber-yard and asked for 

 work. lie said he had not had a bite all 

 day Sunday, and had had no breakfast that 

 day. As it usually happens at this season 

 of I he year, our business is slacking up, and 

 the foreman of the yard told him he did 

 not' know how we could use any more help 

 just then. But he gave him a bite out of 

 his own dinner-pail; and although I re- 

 membered former experiences I gave him 

 a hoe and set him at work in the cornfield. 

 Well, it was one of my " happy surprises" 

 to see him get down and do about as nuich 

 work iu an hour as the usual run of help 

 will do in two Itours. The field had been 

 cultivated, but lagweeds had started up in 

 and around the hills. Of course, there were 

 not weeds in every hill; but he just flew, as 

 it seemed, from one weedy hill to the next 

 one — got down on his hands and knees, got 

 out oveiy weed, smoothed the dirt back with 

 a dextrous flourish of his fingers, and then 

 I'eally jumped and ran to the next weedy 

 liill. When T saw how he was " panning 

 out" I told ]\[rs. Root about it and she 

 hurried up a pretty good lunch of nourish- 

 ing food, remarking at the same time that he 

 certainly could not keep up at that "gait" 

 for the whole day. But, to my surprise 

 and astonishment, he did; and just before 

 the whistle blew (with the help of another 

 good man) the cornfield was finished. One 

 reason why I was anxious about it was 

 that the corn had been cultivated for the 

 last time, and we were in a hurry to get in 

 some sweet-clover seed. Tliis was put in 



with a drill (between the rows) with a 

 weeder tool to work the seed into the soil 

 after the seed had been dropped on the sur- 

 face. Although our business is slacking up 

 at lljis season of the year (July 20), I told 

 Mrs. Root 1 was going to see that that boy 

 had a job. By the waj', he seems to be a 

 foreigner, and speaks our language very 

 imperfectly, and I have before noticed that 

 some of these foreigners, before they have 

 leai-ned the Yankee trick of " soldiering," 

 are a refreshing example of what a man 

 ran do in the way of getting along with 

 his work if he is really anxious to have a 

 job. 



SOWING SWEET CLOVER BETWEEN ROWS OF 

 CORN AT THE LAST CULTIVATION. 



It is now August 20, just one month since 

 the sweet-clover .seed v/as sown, and it is up 

 and gTowing as only sweet clover can grow. 

 We put on about 15 lbs. per acre, and I 

 should judge there was twice the quantity 

 needed, and perhaps more than that. As 

 I he seed was put through the new scarify- 

 ing machine, probably almost every seed 

 germinated. The plants are now six inches 

 tall. The abundant rains seem to have just 

 suited the sweet clover. The corn, too, has 

 made a most astonishing growth. Some of 

 the great ears are lopping over already, and 

 it looks very much just now as if sweet 

 clover does not hurt the cornfield as do 

 ragweeds and other foul weeds. Before the 

 sweet clover gets up so as to take the fertil- 

 ity and moisture from the corn, the corn 

 will probably be beyond injury from the 

 clover. Of course, the abundant rains 

 probably have had much to do with the 

 tremendous growth of both corn and clover. 



Still later. — It is now Sept. 10. The 

 clover is a foot high, and much of the corn 

 would do to cut. By selecting ears of early 

 maturity for several years I have a strain 

 of early maturity; and I believe we have 

 about the best whole field of coi'u I saw on 

 my trip to Columbus and back. 



SWEET CLOVCR FOR FEEDING STOCK; A COM- 

 PARISON WITH CORN FODDER WHEN FED 

 rO MILCH COWS. 



I notice quite a number of our agricul- 

 tural periodicals are rather slow to give 

 sweet clover credit, for some of them go so 

 far as to say that farm stock will not eat 

 it except when they can get nothing else, 

 etc. Below is something which we clip 

 from the Beekeepers' Review for Septem- 



