GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



ON THE BOOKSHELF 



Wealth from the Soil 



When farm enthusiasts talk about the 

 returns in farming for the educated man, 

 they sometimes forget the fact that the 

 profits are only for the man with an educa- 

 tion related to the soil. Attending an 

 agricultural college is not the only way in 

 which the necessary information is to be 

 obtained, however. 



" Wealth from the Soil" (Forbes & Co., 

 Chicago, $1.00) is one means. This, and 

 other books of its type, are making farm- 

 ing an exact science, more interesting and 

 far less uncertain than it used to be. 



The author, C. C. Bowsfield, shows the 

 beginner how to select land, where to 

 locate, what to pay, and how to equip and 

 organi/e for money-making. With such 

 information the book will save amateurs 

 from serious mistakes. 



His chapter on beekeeping, while nec- 

 essarily elementary, is orthodox, and, like 

 the other portions of the book, forms a 

 basis upon which to build later experience 

 and further reading. 



George Washington, Farmer. 



When a man achieves gi-eat distinction in 

 one line of activity his brilliancy in others 

 is often forgotten by posterity. John Hay, 

 for exam2:»le, bad he not been Secretai'y of 

 State, would have been remembered as a 

 poet of merit. The career of George Wash- 

 ington as general of the continental armies 

 and first president of the United States has 

 so turned the attention of historians to 

 these more striking accomplishments that 

 his work as a farmer has been neglected. 



Now comes an author, Paul Leland 

 Haworth, who by patient research and per- 

 sonal visits to the scene of Washington's 

 labors has uncovered a great deal of inter- 

 esting information about the home and 

 agricultural life of this, one of the greatest 

 of American farmers. He shows that George 

 Washington was a progressive agriculturist 

 as well as the wealthiest American citizen 

 of the eighteenth century. 



Washington cultivated alfalfa on his farm 

 in 1760. He was the first American to raise 

 mules. He was one of the .first to conserve 

 the soil. On his estate at Mt. Vernon he 

 performed hundreds of agricultural experi- 

 ments. He made farming machinery with 

 his own hands. He was a pioneer in im- 

 proving breeds of stock. This volume is 

 well illustrated with photographs, facsimi- 

 les of documents and a map of Mt. Vernon 

 drawn by Washington himself. The book 

 is handsomely bound, and makes a worthy 



addition to any agricultural library as well 

 as any historical. In fact, it is one of the 

 few books which are necessai'y for the man 

 who would know the history of agriculture. 

 *' George Washington, Farmer," Paul Le- 

 land Haworth, 336 pages. The IBobbs-Mer- 

 ril Co., Indianapolis, $1.50 net. 



Sweet Corn. 



Among the valuable things which early 

 settlers in this country received from the 

 Indian inhabitants was sweet corn, a plant 

 of strictly American origin. It has been 

 profitably grown in gardens and truek- 

 farm.s ever since. What would our meals 

 be without it? 



Now for the first time a practical and 

 complete monograph on sweet-com culture 

 has been prepared. The author, Albert G. 

 Wilkinson, of the Department of Vegetable 

 Gardening, in the New York State College 

 of Agriculture, treats the subject in detail 

 as only a practical man engaged in sweet- 

 corn growing can handle it. 



Varieties, methods of culture, commercial 

 growing, and processes of drying and can- 

 ning, are completely covered. The book 

 will appeal to the small farmer, market 

 gardener, and suburban grower. 



" Sweet Corn," Albert G. Wilkinson, 203 

 pages. The Orange Judd Co., New York, 

 75 cts. net. 



Mushroom-growing. 



What boy has never known the keen joy 

 of gathering mushrooms on a warm day in 

 spring? As we remember it, even fishing 

 was hardly equal to the sport of hunting 

 for the lowly fungi. On the table nothing 

 was ever finer than the mushrooms we had 

 ourselves gathered, unless possibly it was 

 the honey from our own hives. 



B. M. Duggar, of the Missouri Botanical 

 Garden, is the author of a volume, " Mush- 

 room Growing," just published. Here are 

 the requiremenets for growing mushrooms 

 at home, making it entirely unnecessary, if 

 one has the facilities, to depend on chance 

 discoveries in pa^^tures or wood-lots. He 

 sliows how mushroom-gi-owing can be plac- 

 ed upon a paying commercial basis, espe- 

 cially if one lives near a good-sized market. 



The author has spent many years in ex- 

 tended observations upon the best practices 

 of the mushroom-growers of the present 

 time. For the past fifteen j^ears he has had 

 wide experience with experimental and 

 commercial production. The information 

 contained in the book is therefore reliable, 

 definite, up-to-date, and comprehensive. 



" Mushroom Growing," B. M. Duggar, 

 250 pages. The Orange Judd Co., New 

 York, $1.50. 



