48 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



January, 1919 



from the very bottom of my heart. The 

 companion of my boyhood and kmd 

 counselor of my early manhood is still 

 with me by my side; and still to me, as 

 described in the good book, " Her piice is 

 far above rubies;" yes, indeed, or wind- 

 mills and electric autos. 



How about the garden? Well, Wesley 

 was offered such big pay (on account of 

 the war) that the garden was nearly a 

 " wilderness of weeds " when we aiTived. 

 He didn't even get around to harvest the 

 corn; but the Florida rats did a very good 

 job, leaving us the cobs to show there was 

 corn. There were two crops that thrived 

 in spite of the wilderness of weeds — the 

 roselle, or " Florida cranberries," of which 

 I have said so much in past winters, and 

 sweet potatoes. The roselle was ready to 

 gather when we arrived. The sweet po- 

 tatoes came up all over " volunteer," and 

 in spading u}? the beds for our crops we 

 find more fine potatoes than we can use at 

 present. Some time in October Wesley 

 planted one bed of Irish potatoes, and 

 there are a few now as large as hens' eggs; 

 but as they are growing thriftily it will 

 not paly to disturb them just yet. Irish po- 

 tatoes in the groceries are 75 cents a peck, 

 and some of them are badly scabbed at 

 that. In the last 10 days we have jDlanted 

 peas, corn, snaj) beans, turnips, onion-sets, 

 etc. ; and with the abundant summer show- 

 ers, all (except the corn) are up so as to 

 present a most beautiful picture from the 

 top of the tower of the windmill, 50 feet 

 high. Why does not everybody down in 

 Florida grow his own potatoes (and other 

 garden stuff) as we do, instead of paying 

 75 cents a peck for poor ones? I suppose 

 it is because they think it is " too much 

 trouble," and do not love the work as I do. 

 Of course, we may have a frost as we did 

 a year ago; but we have managed so Ave 

 have suffered very little loss by frost so far 

 during past winters. 



THE FLORIDA HOME; ELECTRIC WINDMILL. 



Today, Dec. 9, I am 79 years old. Yes- 

 terday I walked fully sis miles, and then, 

 instead of feeling tired, I felt more like 

 walking than when I started. Because the 

 wind didn't blow with sufficient force for 

 several days, the auto " ran out of juice," 

 so Mrs. Root (she is 77) and I both decided 

 to walk a distance of a little over a mile to 

 church — I walked also to the evening serv- 

 ice. It still remains to be tested how many 

 miles per day the average Florida wind 

 will give. 



GROWIXG YOUR OWN GARDEN SEEDS. 



Once more I am strongly impressed witli 

 the imiDortance of saving seed from your 



own garden, especially with beans, peas, 

 and corn. When gathering beans and peas 

 for the table or market, save carefully for 

 seed every pod that is overripe, and when 

 planting time comes another season, just 

 contrast these " home-grown " with what 

 you buy of the average seedsman. Very 

 often we put in an extra amount of seeds, 

 because we have learned by experience that 

 many seeds don't grow. Should they hap- 

 pen to grow, however, you have an expen- 

 sive " thinning out " of the plants. I have 

 just been hoing a row of lima beans, the 

 seed having been brought from Medina. I 

 put one bean just where I wanted a plant, 

 and there is hardly a missing plant in the 

 whole long row. It is just the same with 

 all other seeds of our own growing. Now 

 look at your seed catalogs, and see what 

 you have to pay for peas, beans, and corn. 

 Just a year ago today, we had that awful 

 freeze, the worst in Florida for about 25 

 years. Today, as I write, the mercury is 

 80, and tomatoes, beans, etc., are unharmed 

 so far. New potatoes are 90 cents a peck; 

 potatoes shipped in from the North, 70 

 cents. 



BEEKEEPING IN FLORIDA UNDER PRESENT 



CIRCUMSTANCES. 



Again and again I have letters asking 

 about Florida as a place for beekeeping, 

 and what part of Florida is most favorable, 

 etc. The following clipping pretty well 

 answers the above : 



The A. I. Root Company, Medina, Ohio, has paid 

 the beekeeipers of Flo^rida something over $50,000.00 

 up to the present date for their honey crop for 1918. 

 In answer to the question as to where are the 

 best locations in Florida for bee culture, my reply 

 is that no one can answer. There are certain lo- 

 calities that give tremendous yields during particu- 

 larly good seasons. Sometimes these big yields 

 come from the northern part of Florida, sometimes 

 from the east coast, and again the west coast, and 

 I think there is promise that a great heretofore 

 unexplored or undeveloped field will.be found in 

 the vicinity of Lake Okechobee. Mr. Daniel Ab- 

 bott of Bradentown, Pla., whose principal business 

 is eggs and chickens, keeps 50 or 60 colonies of 

 bees as a sort of a side issue. We have recently 

 paid him over $1200.00 for his honey crop. Mr. 

 Notestein, also of Bradentown, who has something 

 like 150 or 175 colonies, has received from us dur- 

 ing the present summer a little over $1,600.00 for 

 his honey. Of course, the prices are just now away 

 up. A few days ago I asked the price of peaches 

 in one of our Medina groceries. When he replied, 

 I gave a low whistle, and then he said: "Well, 

 Mr. Root, the price is awful. It's just like honey. 

 We iised to sell a tumbler of the 'Airline Honey' for 

 ten, cents. Now it's 25 cents." I didn't find any 

 more fault with the price of peaches. The shortage 

 of sugar has made it exceedingly important that 

 the honey that has been going to waste in the 

 State of Florida, be just now gathered as much as 

 possible. Of course, the price will go down after 

 the war, but so will the price of everything else; 

 but please keep in mind that bees where intelligent- 

 ly managed " both work for nothing, and board 

 themselves." A. I. Root. 



