1894 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



519 



SOWING GOOD SEED. ETC. 



Pleaso find inclosed tho price of Gleanings 

 for one year. It was not for the want of funds 

 that I did not remit earlier, but because of an 

 interna! commotion within my breast on ac- 

 count of that Evergreen sweet corn I ordered of 

 you one year ago. The coin looked so nice and 

 good I planted without resting, and you may 

 judge of my surprise, after waiting anxiously 

 for some time for it to make its appearance, to 

 find that much less than half ever sprouted, 

 and I had to replant with another variety, 

 which made the crop late and very unsatisfac- 

 tory. You may judge of my feelings when it 

 came to mature, with such large beautiful ears, 

 and such a heavy growth of blades and stalks. 

 Well, I have wanted to say sotne awful big 

 '•swear words," but I had just signed the 

 Juvenile Pledge not to sw(^ar or u-^e any other 

 bad language. I can hardly restrain myself, 

 even at this late day, from using very expres- 

 sive language. I have waited and watched 

 Gleanings for a bad report or good report from 

 some other lucky or unlucky individual, for I 

 have been in a miserable state of mind all this 

 time. I think I shall feel better after freeing 

 my mind in this somewhat restrained nianner; 

 in fact, 1 begin to feel better already, after 

 stating these facts, and forming a firm resolu- 

 tion to never again plant corn without testing 

 the seed. H. S. Tuckek. 



Freeport, Iowa. May 30. 



[Many thanks, friend T., for your very frank 

 and outspoken way of stating your grievance ; 

 and I am very glad indeed that you held on — at 

 least, until you looked at the point in all its 

 bearings before using the "expressive language"' 

 you allude to. I do know what a serious matter 

 it is to lose a crop just because the seed was not 

 strictly first-class; and I, like yourself, have re- 

 solved again and again not to offer any thing for 

 sale until I had first thoroughly tested it my- 

 self. Every season I am importuned and urged 

 to olTer for sale this, that, and the other, that is 

 recommended with the strongest testimonials ; 

 but I have always replied, "Not until I have 

 grown the thing on my own grounds.'' This 

 course makes me behind the rest of the world, 

 a good many times, on valuable new varie- 

 ties, say of strawberries and garden-seeds; 

 but I would rather be behind the times, and be 

 sure. 



Now about that Evergreen corn. Please ob- 

 serve, we have never advertised nor recommend- 

 ed Evergreen sweet corn at all. My attention 

 was called to it on account of the excellent 

 quality of the canned corn gi'own and put up by 

 the Lake-shore Canning Factory. So many 

 wanted seed that would grow corn equal to that 

 in those cans, that I wrote to friend Cummings 

 about it. He told me he purchased the seed of 

 C. F. Clark. VVakeman, Huron Co., Ohio. Ac- 

 cordingly I purchased four bushels of the very 

 kind that friend Cummings plants year after 

 year for his canning factory. I offered it to the 

 readers of trLEANixGs with the alDOve explana- 

 tion. There has been l)Ut one complaint besides 

 your own, friend T.: and if you have written to 

 me in reference to the matter l^efore, this other 

 complaint I allude to may have been from your- 

 self. It is true, our own planting did not come 

 up well; but neither did any of our sweet corn 

 last season, planted at the same time. The ex- 

 cessive wetness just after planting time was, I 

 supposed, the reason why the seed that was 

 planted rotted in the ground. This may not be 

 true, however. If friend Clark sent me exactly 

 the same kind of seed he furnished to thi; can- 

 ning-factory, and they had a good stand of corn, 

 I should be inclined to think the failure due to 

 some other cause. 



At the close of your letter you strike upon a 

 very important fact— not in corn-growing, how- 

 ever, but in something far more important. You 

 say you have been in a '"miserable state of 

 mind." Who is thei'ewhohas not been through 

 this same expfrieruM!? And you say, again, "In 

 fact, I begin to feel better already." 1 presume 

 many others have also br<'n through this expe- 

 rience. In fact, I wii-h more of us had. This 

 seems to be true: So long as you dwell on a 

 wrong you have iccrived from somebody, and 

 biood over it, so lung you are miserable. But 

 when you go to the one who has wronged you, 

 and in a kind, neighborly way, state the case, 

 then you begin to feel better right away. I 

 have a great many limes put it this way: Be- 

 fore I am harsh or severe. 1 will put the matter 

 very gently, and see how Mr. So and So takes 

 it. If, after having put it very mildly, I discov- 

 er that there are no extenuating circumstances, 

 then, but not before, I will bring in the " heavy 

 artillery " that I have had in mind. I suppose 

 the very "expressive language" you say you 

 felt like using would be the " heavy artillery" 

 I had in mind. Well, I hardly need say that 

 the " heavy artillery " is almost never required 

 at all when we go about it in this way. 



In conclusion, friend T., even though I do 

 not grow the Evi^rgreen corn, nor advertise it 

 in our price list, if you feel certain that your 

 loss was caused by poor seed, I will try to do 

 what you think would be right and neighborly 

 in the matter.] A. I. R. 



ON THE WHEEL. 



" Hello, boys! there comes a locomotive right 

 off through the lots, and into our berry-patch. 

 Just lookl" 



" Well, now, that is A. I. Root on his wheel, 

 I'll bet a dollar; for there ain't another man 

 around who would undertake to run awheel 

 off through the lots in this style." 



By this time I had caught up, and was shak- 

 ing hands with the man who called me a loco- 

 motive, and then we had a good laugli. as I 

 shook hands again with our old friend Uan 

 White, whom our older readers will recognize 

 as no small authority on bee culture in years 

 past. Mr. White is also in love with straw- 

 berries and other small fruits. In fact, when I 

 was away back in the road I was speculating 

 whether 1 had time that morning to go off to 

 the back end of the farm to see Mr. W.; but 

 when my eye caught sight of the beautiful 

 green rows of wondi^fu! luxuriance off on that 

 gentle slope, I concluded I should have to go 

 over there for a few minutes any way. The 

 beautiful crop was strawberries — two rows of 

 Crescent and tlien one of Jessie, and so on 

 through the patch. Even though it was only 

 the 39ih of May, many of the Jessies showed 

 their red cheeks through the green foliage. I 

 did not wait to be introdu.ed to the strawber- 

 ries, nor even to be invited; but I commenced 

 picking those great big fellows, and biting off 

 the bright-red side first. I have thought be- 

 fore that I liked the Jessies better when they 

 were red on only one side; and that morning I 

 thought so again. Mr. White says he has 

 never found a better f(!rtilizer than the Jessie; 

 and, judging from his stand of plants and show 

 of berries, I should call the Jessie all that was 

 ever claimed for it, on his premises. His soil is 



