1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



6i9 



about my foolish investment, and actuall}' 

 let it lie out In the bushes the greater part 

 of one summer, and toward fall it was 

 pushed back under the house, out of sig"ht, 

 and I would have sold it for a very small 

 part of the original cost. Well, this bov 

 g-ot his eyes on it one day, and beg-an to ask 

 questions about it. I told him it was "no 

 good," and that we could not afford to 

 waste time with it. If I remember, he 

 finally asked if he might try it, on his own 

 time. Of course, I could not object. Do 

 you know what happened? He looked it 

 over, g'ot the " hang " of the tool, and then 

 pulled up stumps of small trees that had 

 been cut off for the big- team, and did it at 

 a pretty good jog-. The tool is a fine thing; 

 but three grown men (myself one of them) 

 had not the genius and patience to get " ac- 

 quainted" with it. A boy of sixteen, and a 

 slender one at that, made it work right 

 away, and I had been scolding that same 

 boy because he was so "curious" about 

 all kinds of work and machinery. 



AVhen we were ready to plant our early 

 potatoes, John and a companion of about 

 his own age planted them so rapidly with 

 the little hand planter I have been telling 

 you about I felt sure the}' couldn't be doing 

 the work well enough. It seemed to me 

 they were just walking through the field 

 " rattlety bang, " and wanted a 'good nice 

 job of my planting. They assured me they 

 were all right, and that there was a piece 

 in every place that would come up. I final- 

 ly let them go on, but felt a good deal wor- 

 ried until my potatoes were all up in good 

 shape. They now cover the ground right 

 before the window where I write, and their 

 white blossoms make the hillside almost 

 like a bed of roses, only they are potato 

 blossoms instead of roses. 



We got behind in planting our late pota- 

 toes, and I borrowed a planter and essayed 

 to help the boys. You know how fully I 

 have published the directions for using 

 these cheap hand planters. I supposed I 

 could, of course, very soon go right along 

 with it as the boys did. Well, friends, I 

 soon found not only that I was not " ac- 

 quainted " with the tool, but it seemed as 

 if I couldn't get acquainted with the little 

 "animal." The boys would plant four 

 hills to my one. They stopped and showed 

 me how; but I would get the " wrong foot 

 forward;" then I dropped my piece of pota- 

 to, or it stuck in the planter,* and I tired 

 myself out and did almost nothing. They 

 had used the wonderful little tool almost 

 from childhood up, and would swing it 

 about either right or left handed, and make 

 it "click" at every hill, until I couldn't 

 help thinking of a bright pretty girl with 

 her typewriting machine. Yes, it is much 

 like learning to use a typewriter, in becom- 

 ing expert with modern farm machinery. I 

 took a rest, and then " tackled " the plant- 



* The boys showed me that, if the potatoes were cut 

 and spread out an hour or two liefore planting they 

 would not hinder by the wet surface sticking to the 

 smooth bright steel of the planter. 



er again, and learned to plant tolerably 

 fast, but couldn't keep up with the boys. 

 To succeed you must train both feet, both 

 hands, and both eyes, to do their work au- 

 toniatically, or. perhaps I should say, to do 

 the work without any exercise of the will. 



When 3'ou see people about here walk 

 over acre after acre, and see the potatoes 

 come up looking as well as or perhaps bet- 

 ter than if planted by an expensive ma- 

 chine, with a perhaps more expensive team 

 of horses, you will not wonder that it takes 

 a big factory at Traverse City to supply 

 the world with these "stick planters" as 

 they have been called. 



This morning (July 11) our potatoes need- 

 ed cultivating badly; but every horse in the 

 neighborhood was busy, and could not be 

 spared. Finally I got one that the owner 

 thought might cultivate some if one of us 

 led her and the other held the cultivator. I 

 led her over nearly an acre of the worst 

 hilly ground, and studied her disposition. 

 Finally I took oft' the lines and hung them 

 on a tree; and while I write she and John 

 are doing fine work. Nobody is "yank- 

 ing " the lines, for there are none. Nobody 

 is scolding her, for she minds "gee" and 

 " haw " beautifully, and she is happy and 

 contented, for she can swing her head and 

 look about just as freely as she does in the 

 pasture. Of course, John deserves a good 

 deal of the credit. By the way, he just 

 gave me a point on potato-growing I never 

 knew before. He remarked, as we took an- 

 other row: 



" There is your Freeman and here is 

 your Lee's Favorite." 



" Why, how do j'ou know? Can you see 

 a difference in the foliage? " 



"No; but here is your one row of Tri- 

 umphs between the two kinds." 



" But how do you know that row is Tri- 

 umphs? The leaves are not dift'erent, are 

 they? " 



"No; but the stems close to the ground 

 are red. See? " 



All at once I noticed the blood-red stems 

 or stalk of the potato, and it was plainly 

 visible as far as yoti could see in that row. 

 I thought it (luite an invention of mine, 

 putting a row of red potatoes between all 

 the diff'erent varieties; but it did not occur 

 to me one could find the " red row " with- 

 out digging out a potato or two. Now I 

 shall be able to distinguish the dift'erent 

 varieties any time, when passing along, by 

 watching for the red stems. 



I am just getting " acquainted " with 

 John. He is getting acquainted with red 

 potatoes, and getting ahead of me, even if I 

 am a potato-specialist. We have both been 

 getting acquainted with Maude (the horse 

 whose owner gave her a bad reputation); 

 and the result is, we are all pushing the 

 work and having a pleasant time all round. 

 Dear reader, are you in like manner get- 

 ting acquainted with j'our tools, your horse, 

 your hired men or boys, and j-our neigh- 

 bors all around you? 



