60 



Gleanings in Bee Culture 



(o)qod° \i^®{m 



A. I. Root 



NOTES FROM OUR FLORIDA HOME. 



It is now Dec. 23; and although we have 

 been here since Nov. 9 I have been so busy 

 (and happy in my many busy tasks) that 

 1 have not until this very moment felt like 

 taking time to say a word to the many good 

 friends who are following me — that is, I 

 have not found time to speak especially of 

 this Florida home. Speaking about homes, 

 there are more homes being started just now 

 right here in Bradentown (that is, new 

 houses building) than in any other place I 

 ever visited that I can remember. Most of 

 these homes are started by elderly people; 

 and it is really inspiring, to me at least, to 

 see old men flying around with the alacrity 

 and enthusiasm of boys, helping the sur- 

 veyor, making the cement blocks that all 

 structures nowadays stand on, and, a little 

 later, helping the carpenter and doing a 

 hundred things they perhaps never thought 

 of before, because tliey are so anxious to get 

 out of the little tent they have been living 

 in thus far all winter until ihey could get 

 up some kind of little house to live in. So 

 great is the call for rooms that every house, 

 idmost, is full to overflowing, one little cot- 

 tage sometimes sheltering temporarily sev- 

 eral families. But this is no great hardship 

 here, for out on the porch is usually a better 

 l)lace to sleep than anywhere indoors. 



For the past two mo'^'^hs there has hardly 

 been a house-fiyvisible--atieHSt around our 

 home — and, so tar as I am coi.cerned, there 

 has scarcely been a mosquito in evidence, 

 although Mrs. Root declares she has found 

 a few. Just at dusk I have been sometimes 

 annoyed by the almost invisible sand-flies; 

 but a single drop of citronella rubbed on my 

 wrists and neck stops the annoyance at once. 

 Crowded together as we are, there is not 

 only great need but there is an excellent op- 

 portunity to show a Christian spirit; and I 

 am glad to tell you we find it almost every- 

 where. You see most of us are comparative 

 strangers; and it is not only a Christian 

 duty, but good sense prompts us to be cour- 

 teous and obliging to the new comers in our 

 midst. I wonder if it isn't true that neigh- 

 borhood quarrels are more common where 

 ])eople have lived a long while in the same 

 place. Jf so, this is one good reason for go- 

 ing among strangers for a while. 



One good brother writes me to know 

 whether, if he has a cottage here in winter, 

 it will be safe to leave it while he goes back 

 north in the summer time. My answer is 

 that our home has been thus left for many 

 summers; and we not only leave all our fur- 

 niture but eatables that will keep, and we 

 have never lost a nickel's worth that I can 

 discover. Our barn has never been even 

 locked up where our gardening-tools, nails, 

 hammers, and wrenches are kept; but when 

 ve get back every thing is just as we left it. 

 Please consider we have colored people in 

 great plenty all around us; but they are, as 



a rule, educated and intelligent; but mark 

 this: There isn't a saloon in Manatee Co., 

 and never has been. The residents of Flor- 

 ida ^re, as a rule, all anxious to get people 

 to come into their own neighborhood, even 

 if they stay here only winter times, and on 

 this account every one seems to unite in 

 making it a safe place to leave while you 

 are back home in the North during the sum- 

 mer time. There is something very enticing 

 about the business of starting a temporary 

 little home down in this mild and genial 

 climate where one can work out of doors 

 every day in winter, especially to elderly 

 people who have, perhaps, builded several 

 elaborate homes in the far North. It really 

 does one good to figure out that many of 

 the things we have been accustomed to are 

 not really needful, and oftentimes we can 

 actually be happier ivithout them. Lots of 

 people are found in barns or even sheds, 

 and in "almost any old place;" and, judg- 

 ing by appearances, they seem to be quite 

 contented and happy. 



KEEPING CHICKENS IN FLORIDA; THE 

 TRUTH ABOUT IT. 



So many keep asking if they can come 

 here in the winter and make money " keep- 

 ing chickens" I have thought best to reply 

 at some length. The greatest trouble is in 

 getting into the business in the fall and 

 then getting out of it in the spring when 

 you go back north. 



One spring, as I have told yovi, I turned 

 over my flock to a neighbor at a rough 

 guess of 50 cts. each in the spring, and was 

 to take them back in the fall at what they 

 were worth in the market. When I got 

 round again he had been offered 75 cts. each; 

 so, of course, I paid that price. He had what 

 eggs he could get during the summer to pay 

 for their grain; and with the 25 cts. advance 

 in price he came out very well. As I took 

 them back again after the moulting season 

 was over, or mostly over, /did very well. 

 Of course the question came up in regard to 

 loss during the summer. I told him I would 

 stand all the loss where it was no fault of 

 management, and there was very little loss 

 except a Leghorn rooster that cost me So. 00. 

 He was gone just before I returned, and no 

 one could ever tell what became of him. 

 Well, during the past summer, roup or some- 

 thing like it got among the chickens; and 

 when I got around, there were only about 90 

 left out of about 140, big and little, turned 

 over to him. Aside from this, everybody 

 (that is, almost everybody) had unusual 

 trouble about getting eggs during the jaast 

 summer. Neighbors Rood and Abbott say 

 the same thing; and another thing, this 

 time I put in his care almost a hundred 

 chickens of different ages, some of them 

 only two or three weeks old. These, of 

 course, would not be ready to lay, or at least 

 to lay very little down here in Florida, in 

 the six months I was away, and I tell you 



