28 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 1 



she got hold of it, it was used for. saloons. 

 TheA' have the low price on it of $10,000. 

 She has already paid $3000; and, God help- 

 ing- her throug-h the hearts of the people, 

 she expects to pay it all in a short time. 

 The property would bring inany times the 

 price mentioned were it not for the reputa- 

 tion the locality has held for so many years; 

 and Miss Remington is fast bettering the 

 name that has so persistently clung so long 

 to the junction of Canal and Erie Sits. 



THE JESSIE STRAWBERRY ; ITS ABILITY TO 

 STAND DROUTH, ETC. 



Along the latter part of July I was try- 

 ing to ride up a preltj' steep hill right op- 

 posite the home of "William Hineforth, near 

 our Michigan home. When I just began 

 thinking I was too tired to propel the wheel 

 any further up so steep a grade mj' eye 

 caught sight of some beautiful strawberries 

 sparkling among the green leaves. In fact, 

 the strawberry-rows ran clear up to the road. 

 When my wheel tipped over, somehow or 

 other it tipped toward the strawberries, 

 and I was just about refresliing myself 

 with the tempting beauties when it occur- 

 red to me I should be setting a bjid exam- 

 ple; therefore I left my wheel i and the ber- 

 ries too), and went over and asked permis- 

 sion of Mr. H. to sample his beautiful ber- 

 ries so late in the season. I noticed on the 

 way that every fourth row in his berry- 

 patch was bright and green, vv-hile the three 

 rows between were almost dried up and 

 worthless. Said I: "What berry is this, 

 friend H., that stands the drouth and gives 

 you berries worth picking so late in the sea- 

 son ? ' ' 



•' Why, don't you know, Mr. Root? That 

 is the Jessie. You see I planted three rows 

 of Warfield. and one of Jessies for fertiliz- 

 er. The Warfields could not stand the 

 drouth, and are dried up, as you see; but 

 the Jessies keep right on growing-, and 

 bearing fruit. It certainly is a wonderful 

 object-lesson in regard to the ability of the 

 Jessie to stand drouth." 



Now, some of 3'ou may remember that I 

 assisted considerably in introducing the 

 Jessie. Well, I have never noticed on our 

 grounds that it stood the drouth better than 

 other varieties. Perhaps this is onlj' anoth- 

 er peculiarity of location. Yes, I sampled 

 the berries. Now, if you never rode a 

 wheel up a long hill in the month of Julj^ 

 and got tired and thirsty, and then sort o' 

 accidentally tumbled over into a strawber- 

 rj'- patch — vfhy, unless j'ou have been 

 through such an experience, you have never 

 yet realized what a wonderful gift God 

 made when he gave strawberries to his 

 children. After I came back I discovered 



Mrs. H. and two girls picking berries. I 

 had not noticed them before; but suppose I 

 /lad just jumped off my wheel and helped 

 myself to those berries, as I was tempted 

 to do, without saying a word to anybody. 

 I know it is a small matter; but how much 

 better I felt, and how much better the ber- 

 ries tasted, after I had permission! I do 

 not remember now just how much the ber- 

 ries brought a quart ; but those Jessies 

 brought a pretty big price after everybody 

 else had quit bringing strawberries to mar- 

 ket. 



PLANTING POTATOES TOO CLOSE TOGETHER 

 AND PLANTING THEM TOO FAR APART. 



Last fall at potato-digging time, Mrs. 

 Root and I were taking- a ride across the 

 country in the Traverse region. At one 

 point our road took us right through a po- 

 tato-patch, and men and boys were dig^ging 

 potatoes close up to the wagon-tracks. Just 

 as soon as I got into that potato-field my 

 eye quickly caught on to the fact that the 

 potatoes were larger, finer- shaped, and 

 more of them, close up to the wag-ou-tracks 

 on both sides. Where they had not 3'et been 

 dug the vines were larger, stronger, and 

 thriftier. I stopped the horses and said 

 something like this: 



"Look here, friends, do you pick out 

 your nicest potatoes and put them close to 

 the road on each side, just to make people 

 stare, or do they grow that way?" 



"They grew just as you see them, stran- 

 ger. Potatoes always grow bigger next to 

 the road, because they have more room. I 

 suppose. You see there are no potatoes on 

 the other side to rob them of fertility and 

 water when there is ii scarcity of rain. We 

 were talking about it before you came along; 

 and I believe it is g-enerally the case in this 

 region if not in other places." 



I suggested that perhaps the road was 

 traveled enough so the manure the horses 

 had dropped in years past might have made 

 the difference, but they thought not. I have 

 wondered many times why the people in 

 that region planted their potatoes so much 

 further apart than we do in Ohio. You 

 know the men who sell the hand potiito- 

 planter figure only five or six bushels to 

 the acre, while we use eight or ten, and 

 sometimes twelve. Now, their potatoes are 

 three feet apart, and sometimes more, and 

 planted so they can be cultivated both ways. 

 But I am sure early potatoes could be plant- 

 ed much closer. We had some beautiful Ear- 

 ly Michigans last year, and they make only 

 a small top, and are quite earl}*. I w' as not 

 present when the}' were planted; but after 

 they came up I said there might have been 

 a hill of potatoes half way between, one 

 way at least, and the whole patch would 

 hiive yielded almost as many to the hill. 

 But this object-lesson of the potatoes along 

 b}' the road would rather indicate that there 

 is danger of getting them too close in that 

 region. I asked if potatoes always j'ielded 

 better clear around at the outside of the 

 field, and I was told this was not always 



