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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Dec. 15 



Our Homes 



By a. I. Root. 



And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in 

 Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. 

 And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow ev- 

 ery tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food. 

 —Gen. 2 : 8, 9. 



OUR FLORIDA HOME. 



Adam's first home was in a garden; and 

 his and Eve's first occupation was "mak- 

 ing garden " and tending the things in the 

 garden. We can imagine somewhat the fun 

 they had in looking over this garden and 

 studying the many curious and beautiful 

 things in it, tasting the strange new fruits 

 (the unforbidden fruits) , and discovering the 

 wonderful new flowers, one after another. 

 There is hardly a doubt that Adam, every 

 now and then, put his arm around Eve and 

 declared she was the most beautiful and 

 precious flower of them all; but we can not 

 stop to discuss that feature of the garden of 

 Eden just now, for I have started to tell you 

 about our "Florida home." 



Before I start out, however, I want to warn 

 you that this morning I shall very likely 

 overdraw Florida. First, I am feeling ex- 

 ceedingly well, and, of course, happy. I am 

 really in love with my dooryard, garden, 

 chickens (including the "Buttercups"), and 

 last, but by no manner of means least, my 

 neat, trim, energetic, lovable "helpmeet." 



I don't mean, dear brother, she is any dif- 

 ferent from or any better than other women 

 (may God bless the whole lot of them) ; and 

 if your own wife is not to you all that I have 

 said in the above, go to work and make her 

 so. It is your privilege (and a glorious one) 

 and your duty. 



Now one more caution: /am quite likely 

 to be happy anywhere. I suppose I am 

 largely "built that way."* After I began 

 marching under the banner of the Lord 

 Jesus Christ (with a clear conscience toward 

 God and mankind) why shouldn't I be hap- 

 py? I am like the boy I met in California on 

 top of the mountain. When I asked him 

 how he liked living away up there he re- 

 plied: 



"Why, Mr. Root, /like to live anywhere." 



I suppose I could be comparatively happy 

 in my northern home just how; but I tell 

 you 1 have found it a great comfort to get 

 where I can work outdoors all day long with- 

 out needing a clean pocket handkerchief for 

 even one minute. 



When I spoke of the disagreeable things 

 in Florida a year ago or more, I mentioned 

 the black sand that is almost, in spite of you, 

 getting tracked on the floors and porches. 

 Well, to help Mrs. Root in her efforts to 

 keep the house tidy we planted our dooryard 

 to Bermuda grass; but while we were away 

 the summer after, our flock of chickens ate 

 it all up, root and branch. Last winter we 



* It occurs to me that it is. after all, largely a matter 

 of choice whether we shall be " built that way " or 

 some other " way." 



tried it again, and now we have about the 

 finest sod and nicest grassy lawn I ever saw. 

 It pushed clear up under the fences, up 

 around the doorstep, and clear up under tlie 

 house. Wesley (our colored man) planted 

 some, in the summer, down in the deserted 

 poultry-yard; and now that is a great mass 

 of luxuriant Bermuda. My sixty or seventy 

 fowls roosted one winter on a certain pine- 

 tree. We wheeled away the droppings sev- 

 eral times. So much fertility killed the tree, 

 but not so the Bermuda. All around and 

 under that tree is now a perfect mound of 

 rank luxuriant green. My eighty Leghori s 

 are enjoying it, and it looks now as if it might 

 grow as fast as they can consume it. 



We came into our house after dark; but I 

 noticed by the moonlight a very thrifty plant 

 at the corner of the porch. At dayhght Mrs. 

 Root said she wondered why I had not gone 

 into ecstacies over that bougainvillia on the 

 front porch; and when I looked I raised both 

 hands while I exclaimed, "Oh! was there 

 ever Si more beautiful plant? "and, to think it 

 all "our very own"! Again and again as I 

 would come on to it suddenly it gave me a 

 start and an uplift I can hardly describe. 

 There is at least a heaping bushel of the 

 brilliant magenta colored flowers (or rather, 

 perhaps, bracts, that surround the real 

 flower) ; and when the morning or evening 

 sunshine illuminates them in a certain way 

 the sight is almost entrancing. If Adam and 

 Eve had such a vine in their garden they 

 might have thanked God for it and been su- 

 premely happy without going near the for- 

 bidden tree. 



Now, I can't tell my story without mixing 

 up flowers, fruits, and chickens; so you will 

 have to let me tell it my own way. 



I put five of the "Buttercup " chickens in 

 a half-bushel basket covered with wire cloth, 

 and expressed them down here for $1.60. 

 When I let them out they flopped their 

 handsome gauzy wings, and said as plainly, 

 almost, as did the boy, "/like to live any- 

 where; " and when they sampled the Ber- 

 muda grass I imagine they voted a prefer- 

 ence for Florida over Ohio, especially in No- 

 vember. While the Buttercups are as full of 

 life as the Hamburgs, they are very much 

 unhke them in being about the gentlest 

 chickens I ever saw. Our dooryard and lawn 

 are forbidden ground nowadays for poultry; 

 but the Buttercups soon gave us to under- 

 stand that where / went they went also. 

 When building a fence around my new acre 

 (it cost $1.50, and is for our new and en- 

 larged chicken-yard) they were away out in 

 the street along with us; and when I stopped 

 to admire again the bougainvillia they were 

 at my heels, and, it seemed to me, looking 

 the whole plant over with wonderful inter- 

 est. 



Let me explain that, for several days, I 

 had been trying to discover what insect or 

 worm it was that was eating off the tender 

 twigs and foliage. Mrs. Root made the dis- 

 covery that it was a sort of measuring worm 

 that, when surprised, assumed the form and 

 attitude (?) of a dead twig. 1 at first de- 



