562 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



brothers in growing and storing and mar- 

 keting their fruit. The story is as interest- 

 ing as the Arabian Nights, and the feats 

 accomplished quite as wonderful; but this 

 story, unlike the Arabian Nights, is true, as 

 it relates actual performances. Mr. Dean 

 goes on to recite the early struggles of the 

 father of the three brothers who have built 

 on the splendid foundation he laid; of how 

 this father in his younger days had a vision 

 of gi'owing fruit on a large scale; of the 

 heroic struggle he made; of how he began 

 and failed; lost every cent he had; of how 

 he worked out to make more money, and 

 started again and failed. Most men would 

 have been discouraged and given up the job, 

 feeling that he was a miserable failure ; but 

 not so with John Repp. He went at it 

 again. 



In the mean time he was raising a family 

 of three boys, and was lucky enough to have 

 a wife who had the same kind of pluck he 

 had. Of course these boys were brought up 

 right ; that is, they learned how to work. 

 They profited by their father's early ex- 

 perience, by his repeated failures and oc- 

 casional successes. The father struggled 

 on ; and just as he was on the point of real- 

 izing the vision of his early days he died. 

 Had it not been for the indomitable courage 

 that appears to have been bred into the 

 boys, this story as it appears in the Coun- 

 try Gentleman would never have been wi'it- 

 ten. But the boys were made of the same 

 stuff as their father. That dearly bought 

 experience that spelled apparent failure for 

 the old gentleman did not come amiss. At 

 all events, the boys are now proprietors of 

 an 800-aere fruit farm, mammoth cold-stor- 

 age plant, where ten thousand bushels of 

 fruit can be stored and kept till the market 

 is right, and an office where the records and 

 the business of the concern are taken care 

 of. 



Albert Repp is the grower who is on the 

 job from sunrise to sunset. Charles Repp 

 is the man who keeps the fruit in that 

 10,000-barrel storage-plant. Joseph Repp, 

 in Philadelphia, is the merchant who sells 

 the stuff. All three make up what is known 

 as the Repp Brothers, located in Gloucester 

 Co., N. J., and a splendid working team 

 they are. 



Well, what has all this to do with bee- 

 keeping? Read the following extracts from 

 the intei'S'iew Mr. Dean had with Albert 

 Repp, the grower: 



I had walked the mile or so from Pitman to seek 

 out this Albert Repp who grows the things for Repp 

 Brothers, and found him returning to his home from 

 overlooking the spraying of certain blocks of trees in 

 the orchards. 



" Too windy," he remarked snappily. " "We'll stop 



spraying until the air steadies a bit. Yep, spraying 

 is no fool's job — it's got to be done right or not at 

 all. We're spraying for peach scab now, and have 

 already been after the codling moth in the apples. 

 Look at the bloom on those pears. Isn't it a dandy?" 

 It was. I looked through a fairyland of blossoms 

 on correctly pruned trees, in a weedless, grassless, 

 thoroughly worked soil covered with shedding blos- 

 soms like confetti after a carnival. It was good for 

 the heart to see such a sight. 



MUST HAVE BEES IN AN ORCHARD. 



" And if crying would do any good," mused Albert 

 Repp, seeming to forget business for a moment as 

 he, too, gazed at the sight, " I'd cry an, hour to 

 bring out the sun so the bees could get to work. It's 

 too cool for them to-day." 



" You have an apiary in connection with your 

 farm? " I ventured. 



He looked astounded at my question. " Of course ! 

 Couldn't do without them. I never take a pound of 

 their honey. All I want them to do is to pollinate 

 the blossoms. I'd as soon think of managing this 

 orchard without a single spray-pump as to be without 

 bees. I've got fifty colonies now, and am building 

 up the apiary each year. There they are — look at 

 them ! ' ' 



The hives stood in perfect rows, as white as the 

 blossoms above them. But there seemed to be a sup- 

 erabundance of bees, I thought. I mentioned this. 



" Not with 450 acres of orchard," he explained. 

 " You see we've got bearing orchards of apples, 

 peaches, and pears, with many varieties of each. 

 Now when you've got a new variety of one of these 

 blooming while others are just budding, it gives the 

 bees and the spray gangs all they can do to keep up 

 with them." 



Beekeepers would do well to cut this out 

 and paste it in their honey-houses, or at 

 least put it where they can bring it to the 

 attention of farmers and fruit-growers in 

 their vicinity. Those who have a scheme of 

 outyards should hunt up the fruit-growers, 

 and see if they can not make some arrange- 

 ment whereby the fruit-growers will ask to 

 have the bees put on their jilaces rather 

 than compel the beekeeper to pay for the 

 privilege. For example, at one of our out- 

 yards a few behind-the-time^ grape-grow- 

 ers have made a protest that our bees will 

 damage their grapes. If these fellows could 

 know what these Repp brothers (and we 

 will see that they do) are doing it might 

 change their opinion. 



This article is so interesting that Ave sug- 

 gest that the readers of this journal hunt 

 up a copy of the Country Gentleman for 

 May 24. from which we have made the 

 above extract; and if you can not find one 

 you had better send to the Curtis Publish- 

 ing Co., Philadelphia, inclosing fen cents 

 for a copy. You had better get it, even if it 

 costs a dollar. It is worth any man's Avhile 

 to read the early struggles of John Repp, 

 and see how when what appeared to be fail- 

 ures spelled the biggest kind of success for 

 the boys who took hold of the plow-handles 

 when the father, possibly worn out, was 

 stricken by death. Such a story should be 

 an inspiration to any young man, especially 

 if he has met with some reverses. 



