184 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



March, 1919 



to 100 pounds. Other bees in the neighborhood also 

 were in working distance — how many colonies I 

 could not say. That field was sowed the summer 

 before with a nurse crop of barley. The stand was 

 not good as we have a soil too sandy for sweet 

 clover to do its best. 



In spite of all the pasturing it seeded heavily ; 

 but, as I feared to use it as pasturage for another 

 year, I seeded to wheat, and it is looking fine. 



I expect that the clover seed will come up in the 

 spring, and after the wheat harvest will make a 

 fine crop of hay or pasturage. A field here at home 

 was sown with mixed seed of different clovers with 

 alfalfa and some sweet clover, the latter making 

 a rank growth, as this soil was well fertilized and 

 had been limed and ashes put on it. From my three 

 colonies I got 300 pounds of comb honey and have 

 them home again well packed for winter, with an 

 abvndanve of stores for any emergency. I did not 

 do like Billy Sourweed — "trade 7ny bees for the old 

 mule to haul home sugar in two-pound lots," but 

 just kept the bees and used honey. Parmei-s here 

 are just beginning to take to sweet clover. My 128 

 pounds was secured just at a time when usually 

 but little honey is coming in, but the stock pruning 

 the clover kept it branching and blooming afresh 

 thru that period of usual shortage. 



M. L. Brewer. 



906 Main St., Three Rivers, Mich., Dec. 2, 1918. 



BEE CULTURE IN FLORIDA. 



We clip the article below from the 

 Bradentown Herald: 



Fifty years ago, people thought I had gone crazy 

 on bees. When after a time I announced I had se- 

 cured a barrel of honey from one colony in one sum- 

 mer, some one was kind enough to say he didn't 

 believe I ever saw a whole " barrel of honey." 

 They didn't have honey by the "barrel full" "them 

 days." 



Well, during the past season our company filled 

 a single order from the U. "S. Government for ten 

 carloads of honey. I won't tell you what it amount- 

 ed to, for the figures might make you dizzy. Florida 

 helped us out in filling the order to the extent of 

 fifty thousand dollars' worth or more. 



A few weeks ago I 'told you Mr. Daniel Abbott, 

 a little east of town, received of us for honey over 

 $600.00. On visiting him recently I learn it was 

 over $1,200.00. Please don't accuse me of exag- 

 • geration. I think Mr. Abbott started in the spring 

 with only about 60 good strong colonies. He must, 

 therefore, have averaged close to 100 pounds per 

 colony. At 20 cents this would be $20 per colony 

 on the average. Let me caution you that this past 

 season has been extra good, and friend Abbott has 

 had some years of experience. Said I : 



" Friend A., you must have had to hire quite a 

 little help to handle all these tons of honey." 



"Help? Not a bit of help. I did it all myself." 

 I think about ten years ago, Mr. Abbott came here 

 an invalid. If you could see him now, chest and 

 neck bare to the Florida sun and wind, you would 

 laugh at any one calling him an "invalid." 



A. I. Root. 



cigarettes; a testimonial from a sufferer. 

 I smoke cigarettes, too, but I wish I had never 

 seen them. When I first started I smoked a few. 

 I don't smoke as many as some do, but I smoke 

 three or four packages a week. That is 45 or 60 

 cents a week wasted for 80 to 100 cigarettes and 

 matches; and then one has to give some away. I am 

 not tight, but it is money wasted. If I run out I 

 do not know what to do. Is it harmful to have a 



habit or to be a slave and worship idols? If I 

 smoke a cigarette fast and inhale I can feel it go 

 thru me and tingle to my toes. Sometimes I am 

 dizzy. 



Now, please do not tell me I ought to quit. I 

 know that ; but put it to a vote and see me help to 

 stop them from making cigarettes and then quit. I 

 just voted dry. I like the taste of liquor, but I 

 keep away from it and vote dry. 



Elwood City, Pa. Edwin A. Wright. 



Special Notices by A. I. Root 



THE "beautiful ground" book. 



The above is the title of the Reasoner Brothers' 

 catalog for 1919. It seems a recent part of the 

 business of this old-established institution, is to 

 beautify the grounds of homes in Florida and other 

 States, and the artistic pictures, in this book, of 

 such homes, was a " revelation " to me. Of course, 

 they are real photographs, printed on the finest pa- 

 per and with the best of inks in colors. I have en- 

 joyed visits to this celebrated nursery of tropical 

 and semi-tropical plants, more or less for the past 

 25 years, and if you can't make the visit, I advise 

 you to send for the 1919 catalog. You will find it 

 an educator as well as a book of reference. Ad- 

 dress Royal Palm Nurseries, Oneco, Florida. 



POTATOE growing in OHIO, MICHIGAN, BERitUUA, 

 AND FLORIDA. 



For 70 years or more, potatoes have beem, more 

 or less, my hobby. My good mother gave me my 

 first lessons, in order to get me interested in out- 

 door work, that I might "live, and not die." Over 

 40 years ago I put out my first book, largely writ- 

 ten by our lamented friend, T. B. Terry. It was 

 soon translated into several foreign languages. In 

 order to "practice what I preach," I spent a winter 

 on Bermuda Island where they grow such beautiful 

 " spuds," that bring such fancy prices in New York 

 City. I also grew potatoes by the carload in the 

 great potato region of nortliern Michigan. Recently 

 I have been demonstrating the possibilities of new 

 potatoes for the Northern markets, grown here in 

 Florida in the winter time. Additions and appen- 

 dixes have kept the book well up to date, and the 

 last one was added in November, 1918. 



The Editor of The Florida Grower says, in issue 

 of Jan. 11, in regard to the book: 



One of my best friends in Florida, and in whose 

 friendship I take a great pride, is A. I. Root, edi- 

 tor of Gleanings in Bee Culture, who spends his 

 winters in Florida. Mr. Root has mentioned The 

 Grower very warmly in his splendid magazine 

 many times, and he is a man who has done much 

 work for Florida by the favorable publicity he has 

 given his chosen location at Braclentown on the 

 Manatee River. Mr. Root is over 70 years old and 

 yet in many ways he is still a young man, taking 

 great interest in his winter garden in Florida and 

 writing many splendid articles about Florida for his 

 paper. He is a devotee of the electric-driven auto- 

 mobile and at his winter home has a windmill ar- 

 ranged so that while his machine is in the garage 

 the mill is generating electricity for his batteries 

 and he is very proud of this innovation and writes 

 to say that he is surprised that we did not mention 

 it in our recent story of Bradentown. 



Mr. Root is joint author of a book entitled " A 

 B C of Potato Growing," and in this book appears 

 an appendix relating to his experience with potato 

 growing in Florida. We can offer this 400-page 

 book in paper cover at 50 cents, and I recommend 

 it as a work that should be in the hands of every 

 amateur potato gi'ower, as he will find information 

 contained therein that will prove of considerable 

 value to him. I wish that there were more of the 

 men of Mr. Root's type in Florida, but believe that 

 we are getting them very fast and that in time they 

 will be iiere and that tlieir influence will be so felt 

 that Florida will be the best and most favorably 

 known State in the Union. 



You can order it of The A. I. Root Co., Medina, 

 O., or of The Florid-a Grower, Tampa, Florida. 



