374 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mab 15 



have made a splendid picture for a medicine 

 almanac — the Kind where they say "before 

 and after " taking their medicine. Mr. Rood 

 and other friends told me to "stop scratch- 

 ing" — let it alone, and it would soon cure 

 itself. It made me think of my time-honor- 

 ed remedy for bee-stings; viz., "after the 

 sting is removed, don't touch it or think of 

 it, but 'get busy' about something else." 

 There are a multitude of remedies, and I 

 went to the drugstore and asked for the best 

 thing; but my colored boy, Charlie, gave 

 me the most sensible remedy of all He 

 said if I rubbed a little coal oil on my ankles, 

 where they usually get on you first, when in 

 the woods, the bugs would keep away; for 

 all insects dislike coal oil or the smell of it. 



The man who built our chimney said that 

 rubbing the oil around the tops of your shoes 

 would Keep thfim from getting on your body 

 when walking in the woods. 



Now, here is something very funny about 

 these insects, The people who live here are 

 seldom annoyed by them. Raymond goes 

 barefooted, with his trowsers rolled up, all 

 through those woods, and wades in where I 

 bathed, and yet the red bugs never touch 

 him. It is mostly the new comers, or "ten- 

 derfeet," who get in the fix I was. I had 

 something similar when I first got on the 

 island a year ago, and also when I first ar- 

 rived in Cuba. If the Department at Wash- 

 ington has ever published a bulletin on red 

 bugs, "jiggers," etc., I should be very glad 

 to see it. 



There is no danger in walking through a 

 beaten path or on a traveled road. The in- 

 sects are said to be mostly on stumps or rot- 

 ten trees, and new comers should be very 

 careful about sitting down in the woods or 

 even on the ground. One of our Braden- 

 town ministers from the North thought he 

 would go fishing, and he sat on the grassy 

 bank, just as we do back in the old home 

 When Sunday came he was in a fearful 

 plight. Think of stopping in the midst of 

 your sermon to scratch — well, say your ankle, 

 when it has just "got to be scratched." 



When Mrs. Root came a month later I was 

 very careful (and / thought very kind) to 

 inform her that, before she went out in the 

 Florida woods, she must anoint her ankles 

 and shoetops with coal oil; but she very 

 promptly declared she would do nothing of 

 the kind, "red bugs or no red bugs."* So 

 far she has had only one or two evidences of 

 them, and I have had no trouble since the 

 first week or two. Mr. Rood declares we 

 soon become immune to them as one does to 

 bee-stings. 



So far as reptiles are concerned, there are 

 no more snakes here, if as many, as in the 

 North. 



During very dry weather the sandy roads 

 are a drawback in many parts of Florida; 

 but we have here in Manatee Co. very good 

 roads most of the time, and beautiful roads 

 are now being constructed all over the State, 



* If things come to such a pass that she must go 

 round amoDg people smelling of coal oil she would go 

 back to " good old Ohio." 



especially near the towns and cities. Neg- 

 lected farms, and poorly managed farms and 

 gardens, are perhaps more plentiful than in 

 the Northern States. I have sometimes 

 thought the reason for this is that so many 

 come here with the notion that profitable 

 crops may be grown without steady hard 

 work with both brain and muscle. 



Early in the morning, when the dew is on, 

 the black sandy soil sticks to your feet; and 

 unless great care is taken it is tracked into 

 the house and makes the floors very untidy, 

 and entails lots of work. This is especially 

 the case on new ground just cleared up. 

 After your dooryard is covered with Ber- 

 muda or other grass, or after you have walks 

 of wood or cement about the premises, this 

 trouble is mostly over. There are usually 

 very good grassy foot-paths all along the 

 roadsides, especially along the out-of-town 

 roads. During a dry time, when there are 

 high winds, this same black sand blows or 

 drifts into the houses, and calls for a deal of 

 dusting on the part of the tidy housewife. 



There, haven't I done pretty well in giv- 

 ing the dark side as well as the sunny one? 

 Mrs. Root's greatest objection to Florida, 

 after all, is tnat she can not here see the 

 children and grandchildren every day by 

 simply crossing the street; but, of course, 

 this objection would apply as well to any lo- 

 cality on earth except the "old Medina 

 home." 



By the way, she sometimes makes "great 

 discoveries" as well as your humble servant. 

 Her latest one is that the very best remedy 

 for homesickness on earth is to go and find 

 some other new comer who is also homesick, 

 and in cheering him up and showing him 

 your kind sympathy you both get over your 

 trouble.* As there are quite a few bee- 

 keepers with their wives now here from the 

 North, she has done more visiting, especial- 

 ly among strangers, than she has for years 

 past; and a part of her "discovery" is that 

 not only are bee-keepers, as a rule, very 

 bright, intelligent, nice men, but they seem 

 to have managed in some way to get some of 

 the nicest women for wives that there are in 

 the whole wide world, and I think she is ex- 

 actly right about it. 



Neakly 2000 new names have been added 

 to our subscription list within the last month. 



For the benefit of those of our readers who 

 are interested in irrigated lands we wish to 

 record the fact that the first stage in the im- 

 mense Rio Grande project near El Paso, 

 Texas, has been reached by the completion 

 of the Leesburg diversion dam, in New Mex- 

 ico. The big dam at Engle will next be pro- 

 ceeded with. The total cost of the project is 

 now estimated at between eight and nine 

 millions of dollars. 



*It just occurs to me that this is the Christian way 

 of getting relief from all our troubles, and there is a 

 beautiful text somewhere in the Bible referring to 

 this very thing. Who will tell us where it isr 



