1908 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



835 



times I delayed and neglected to take the precau- 

 tions that I knew oiiirht to be taken. The most 

 of you have boys and girls growing up in your 

 homes (or if you have not, you oiiv;ht to have); 

 and it is just as important that you be up and 

 dressed, and ready to take the lead, as it is impor- 

 tant for you to have your seed corn ready. Some- 

 times the younger ones around here say some- 

 thing like this: 



"Why, father, there is no need for you to fuss 

 and worry about the corn crop. We have expe- 

 rienced men who know how to do it all right; 

 and you do not need to pay any attention to it 

 unless you feel like it," etc. 



Well, now, this is bad advice. My very health 

 depends on my being busy about something; and 

 it is my business to be busy about something 

 that ought to be attended to, rather than some- 

 thing that I "feel like" doing. As fathers and 

 mothers (at least most of you are), why are your 

 boys and girls not going to church and Sunday- 

 school? Talking to these young people about it 

 is all right; but to make a success of raising chil- 

 dren (as well as corn) you must be right in the 

 business yourself. Go to church yourself and 

 set an example; and go to Sunday-school also to 

 set the example before the children and grand- 

 children. Nothing else will do the business. I 

 explained to the men the importance of saving 

 the seed as I have told you. But I ought to have 

 been out in the field myself to see that all the 

 help that was sent out to assist in husking the 

 corn obeyed orders to the letter, no matter wheth- 

 er they thought I had peculiar notions or not;* 

 and just the same way with your boys and girls. 

 There are plenty in almost every neighborhood 

 who are just beginning to inquire into things. 

 Satan works every day in the week, nights and 

 Sundays; and if you do not sow good seed he 

 will get in his sort of seed. Remember what I 

 have been telling you — "Whatsoever a man sow- 

 eth, that shall he also reap." 



"cabins in the woods" nos. 1, 2, 3. 



I suppose most of our readers remember about 

 the cabin in the woods up in Northern Michigan 

 — the house that was built in one day with lum- 

 ber that was brought in one load by one team of 

 horses. Most of you have probably also read 

 about the cabin in the woods No. 2, down on our 

 " Robinson Crusoe island " in South Florida; and 

 I now take pleasure in giving you a picture of 

 the same — see page 818. 



The picture does not give as much of a glimpse 

 as I could wish of the tropical plants — palms, pal- 

 mettos, different kinds of cacti, and of the rubber 

 tree, that grows naturally just at the right of the 

 building. You get a very good view of the 

 gnarled and twisted live oaks. The one on the 

 left is a curiosity, and many people come to see 

 it. Two pretty good-sized oak-trees are united 

 by a large limb or tree-trunk that reaches across 

 from one to the other; in fact, it makes a very 

 nice seat where a dozen can sit down in the shade. 



*As the matter has turned out, it would have been money in 

 my pocket to pay $10.00 a bushel for the ears that those buskers 

 refused to save out from the stalks having the tops clipped off. 

 The damage to my crop will probably be a great deal more than 

 that in spite of all that can be done now to make up for the mis- 

 hap. 



Various speculations have been made as to how it 

 came about. I think most likely that the tree 

 tipped over when it was young. One of the 

 branches came down to the ground and took 

 root. Then shoots shot up, one from this branch 

 and one from the root of the tree. When these 

 shoots each became large trees, a horizontal trunk 

 nearly a foot in diameter was left bridging over 

 the space from one tree to the other. 



In the foreground you can get a glimpse of 

 friend Shumard's queen-rearing hives. Off at a 

 distance, back of the house, is the Gulf of Mexi- 

 co, that makes itself heard if not seen almost 

 every hour of the day. I found the booming of 

 the breakers was a fine thing to lull me to sleep 

 when tired. 



The washtub on top of the barrel was put there 

 to get it out of the way of the chickens. When 

 neighbor Shumard and I were both in "the 

 chicken business " every thing had to be elevated 

 or fenced in to be safe from their depredations. 

 Perhaps I should explain that cabin No. 2 cost 

 about $200. It took rather 7tiore than a wagon- 

 load of lumber; but every thing, including the 

 doors and windows, was brought in one load by 

 a sail boat called the Phantom. Perhaps you 

 may wonder how I manage to build so many 

 cabins. Well, this one was built with the under- 

 standing that, when I got through with it, friend 

 Shumard was to take it off my hands at half the 

 original cost. 



On page 818 you will find a picture of our 

 last cabin in the woods. Mrs. Root, however, 

 objects to calling it a "cabin." She says she 

 thinks it deserves the name of " cottage in the 

 woods." The people standing out in the front 

 porch are your humble servant, Mrs. Root, and 

 Mrs. Brewer, the good wife of the friend (M. L. 

 Brewer, Philo, 111.) who kindly furnished me the 

 pictures. In Florida the houses are all up on 

 brick piers or piers of some kind. It seems to be 

 necessary for health, and to preserve the timber, 

 to get it a certain distance above the ground that 

 is so damp a good part of the year. Usually the 

 air is allowed to circulate freely under the build- 

 ing. Mrs. Root objected to the untidiness of 

 such an arrangement, so we had latticework put 

 up. You will notice one part of it has tumbled 

 dow;n. You will notice also the long-leaf pine- 

 trees in the background and at either side. These 

 had to be cut away to make room for the house. 



Mrs. Root is great on lawns — green lawns. 

 She says she can not admire flowers or shrubbery 

 without green for a background; or perhaps, 

 rather, for a foreground. Well, we got our lawn 

 well started by taking up clumps of Bermuda 

 grass out of neighbor Rood's field. It is tremen- 

 dous stuff to grow where you do not want it. 

 Our boy Charley graded and leveled the dooryard 

 and marked it off in furrows about two feet apart. 

 The grass was then torn to pieces, thrown into 

 the furrows, and covered up. But even though 

 we had almost no rain for five or six weeks in 

 February and March, nearly every spear of grass 

 started. The chickens admired the grass as much 

 as we did, or more, and we had a long fight to 

 make them let it alone and stay in their own 

 place down in the back yard. We planted quite 

 a lot of shrubbery purchased of the Reasoner 

 Brothers, of Oneco. 



At the right you will notice a very pretty 



