SEPTEMBER 15, 1913 



19 



of me with the " New Celery Culture." Served me 

 right for going to sleep.. But let lis give credit to 

 whom it belongs. 



LaSalle, N. Y., Sept. 3. T. Greiner. 



I still feel, however, that a goud deal of 

 credil is due him in letting the world know 

 through his book of the possibilities of cel- 

 ery under liigh-ijressure gardening. 



I believe that God placed every thing here to be 

 of use to man in some way or other, but only we 

 are so blind we don't catch on to all of them. 



I hope this will find you and yours enjoying the 

 best of health. God bless you" and your Home 

 papers. Long life to Gleanings and its editors. We 

 admire it from cover to cover — well printed, clean 

 advertising; size and all. 



Abilene, Tex., Sept. 2. M. E. Pruitt. 



SWEET CLOVER; SOME OF ITS QUEER FASHIONS, ETC. 



I received some sweet-clover seed from you last 

 year, and sowed some with oats, and it failed. 

 Thinking the seed was not good, late in the fall I 

 tried it in the garden. It surprised me. It did not 

 have time to bloom, so I kept it from freezing out, 

 and it matured this year. I sowed more with oats, 

 and never saw a plant. Like other grasses it will do 

 best without a cover crop on some soils. I will try 

 again next vear with lime. T. A. .Stansberry. 



Little Falls, W. Va., Aug. 28. T. 



Friend S., the above illustrates how queer- 

 ly sweet clover sometimes behaves. A year 

 ago \ye made a heavy seeding with oats, 

 and did not succeed at all; but last spring- 

 when sowing oats again we put in sweet 

 clover, and it seemed as if every seed made 

 a plant. "We have now, after the oats have 

 been cut, a splendid stand. I should men- 

 tion, liowever, that a heavy coating of lime 

 was given the piece of ground about a year 

 ago. This may have made a diti'erence. 1 

 do not think there will be any need of pro- 

 tecting it from freezing unless sown very 

 late indeed. We have always found it to 

 germinate nicely in the fall where other 

 stuff has been cleared off from our garden 

 jiatch. 



MUD-WASPS, THEIR MUD HOUSES, ETC. ; OUR GOOD 



FRIEND MADELINE PRUITT TKLLS US MORE 



ABOUT THEM. 



Dear Mr. Boot: — On page 590 of Gleanings for 

 Aug. 15 you tell us about the mud- wasps in Florida, 

 and mention one of their redeeming features. Allow 

 me to tell you of two others. Their despised mud 

 houses are highly valued by all grannies as one of 

 the most valued home remedies for stopping vomiting. 

 Detach one house about the size of a 4-oz. bottle; 

 carefully tear up the rooms and remove the spiders, 

 cocoons, etc., and put the mud ruins in a tumbler 

 of water; stir for about five minutes, and strain to 

 give to the patient, when vomiting will cease. Two 

 glasses generally have the desired effect. At times 

 I have had to administer the fourth, while at others 

 one would be sufficient. 



In August I always put some up in my medicine- 

 case (some twelve houses), to keep through the 

 winter. Wherein the virtue lies I do not know. I 

 just imagine that, since they use a deal of their 

 saliva in the building, that that is the ingredient 

 that turns the trick. That the mud is mixed with 

 a secretion of the salivary glands can not be denied. 

 I have watched them mix up their little mud mar- 

 bles, and then watched them build them on to their 

 houses. 



I have used mud of my own mixing to no avail — 

 got it just where they did, and it did no good. The 

 newly built houses are better than the older ones. 



You also failed to say that they do away with no 

 end of spiders. As soon as a room is built an egg 

 is deposited on the floor or bottom of the cell; then 

 from four to six spiders are crammed in and a 

 door is made and locked on. They have no prefer- 

 ence for any one kind or specimen of spider — just 

 any thing they happen to spot that they can carry 

 off. So in at least two ways they benefit humanity. 



" Why do the heathen rage, and the people imag- 

 ine a vain thing?" — Psalm 2:1. 



Just as soon as Gleanings was started, 

 or, rather, before it was started, I com- 

 menced warfare on the so-called patent bee- 

 hives. Unscrupulous men were then busy 

 going about the country selling farmers' 

 " individual rights " for making and using 

 their i^artieular patent hive. I soon decid- 

 ed that no patent was needed, and, in fact, 

 that the best hive in the world was a plain, 

 simple box without top or bottom. This I 

 called the Simplicity hive ; and it has been 

 for forty years shipped ail over the world 

 by carloads and carloads. The following 

 letter gives us a good glimpse of the char- 

 acter of the men who used to go around 

 peddling rights. He seems to be a poor dis- 

 couraged remnant of the old-time custom. 



Dear Mr. Root: — A man who said his name was 

 Clark Shirley, claiming he owned two or three 

 homes and a postoffice, has just left my house. He 

 is trying to sell hives and farm rights, etc. He gave 

 you a very bad name indeed, and also said that 

 Kev. L. L. Langstroth could neither read nor write, 

 and tliat his father (Shirley's father) furnished 

 Langstroth money to patent his hive. He said your 

 whole printing outiit could be bought for $150, and 

 that the A. I. Root Co. did not keep nor handle bees 

 nt all. I felt like having him arrested. I am sorry 

 I saw him. 



Well, Bro. Root, we have had two very poor hon- 

 ey years indeed. Last year, 1912, I didn't get a 

 spoonlul of surplus honey. This year started in 

 well ; but the dry weather cut the white clover 

 short, and we got only about one-fourth of a crop. 

 Boneset is beginning to bloom now, and the bees, 

 I hope, will gather enough to winter on. The corn 

 crop is cut short by the dry weather. 



When I sold out at Osprey, Pla., I came here to 

 Kevil, Ky., and bought me a little home. I shall be 

 74 years old the 5th of November. 



I was really hurt by that man Shirley for his 

 slanderous words against you and Mr. Langstroth. 

 May God bless you. 



Kevil, Ky., Aug. 27. J. G. Nance. 



Well, friends, the above is a little rough 

 on father Langstroth as well as your hum- 

 ble servant. Brother Nance, if you see that 

 man again, ask him to take a trip up here 

 to Medina and see whether or not the Root 

 Co. keeps bees. Do not worry or be trou- 

 bled, dear brother. Just get your Bible and 

 turn over to the second Psalm, where I 

 found the heading above. 



Convention Notices 



The Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin 

 Beekeepers' Association will be held in the court- 

 house at Freeport, Oct. 21, 1913. All interested in 

 beekeeping are cordially invited to attend. 



B. Kennedy, Sec. 



