596 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



JUIA- 15. 



wants to make his life count, not only for his 

 own sake and that of his family, but for his 

 friends' and neighbors'. At the same time phy- 

 sicians admonished him that his health would 

 be broken down if he kept on teaching. What 

 was to be done? He said he had heard people 

 speak of A. I. Root, and of what he was doing 

 in gardening and in growing small fruits. He 

 visited onr place, and what he saw was .simply 

 an astonishment to him. He could not under- 

 stand how it was that other people did not go 

 to work and get results such as he saw on our 

 grounds, and on some of the poorest land in 

 Medina Co. He pondered the matter, and made 

 a huge resolve that, God helping him, the rest 

 of his life should show forth something differ- 

 ent. 



While we were talking, the horse was stop- 

 ped; and we went through a little hit of woods, 

 and one of those poor worthless hills — that is, 

 it used to be poor and worthless — was revealed 

 to my gaze. It was covered from foot to sum- 

 mit with the most luxuriant growth of rasp- 

 berries — all the different kinds — that ever met 

 my eye; and the fruit, which was almost ripe, 

 was in quantity and size beyond any thing I 

 had ever beheld. It was indeed an oasis in the 

 wilderness.* 



I shall not have space to-day to tell vou of 

 my visit to the Experiment Station. On the 

 way we talked raspberries, you may be sure. I 

 asked him how much competition he had in the 

 business, and he said he had almost none at all. 



On the way home T happened to look off 

 across a hill, not very far from his residence, 

 and T broke forth: 



"■ Whv. look here, friend Grannis. you told me 

 you had almost no competition. If that rasp- 

 berry-patch over there is not competition 

 'right smart.' I should like to know what it 

 is. Why. that man's ranch is taken care of 

 just as well as your own; and I declare" (this 

 latter was said as we came a little nearer) "I 

 am afraid it is a better plantation than even 

 your own." 



He began .laughing at my first remark: and 

 as my enthusiasm warmed up he laughed still 

 harder. When I turned around in surprise to 

 know what he meant he replied, "Whv. Mr. 

 Root, that aNo is my plantation. Didn't I tell 

 tell you I had 20 acres of raspberries all togeth- 

 er? Now, I do not mean to say that I own this 

 land. It belongs to a relative. But the crop 

 of berries on it is mine." 



A few minutes latei-. as I was preparing to 

 step out of the buggy and get hold of my be- 

 loved wheel, he concluded with something like 

 this: 



*At a second visit paid to friend Grannis, I found 

 tliat, on the 9th of July, lie picked and sold 40 bush- 

 els at $2.50 per busliel. Sixt.v pickers were at work 

 at once, and 2.5 bushels were sold to people who 

 came there with pans and pails from tlie surround- 

 ing- country. You know how much Terry has urged 

 that a man should niiike it a, liusiness to have some 

 certain specialty; and I do believe that the right 

 man, witli the right sort of soil, will do better to 

 raise raspberries alone, selling- plants as -well as 

 berries, than to try to raise and keep posted clear 

 up to the times on all of the other small fruits. 

 Friend Grannis has under cultivation almost all the 

 raspberries promineiit before the world. This g-rav- 

 elly side-hill is simply Mu astonishment. The rasp- 

 berry foliage on both the old and new was the 

 brigiitest, most luxuriMut, and thrifty, ot any thing- 

 I have seen, and yet he is not using- one particle of 

 manure. He says that gravelly knoll has been un- 

 der cultivation thirty or foi-ty years, and has given 

 fair crops of wheat year after year, without a par- 

 ticle of stable manure, chemical fertilizers, or even 

 turning under clover or timothy. How many such 

 g-ravelly hills are there scattered over our land V 

 and are they being- utilized? Pi-of. Grannis" ad- 

 dress is Lodi, Medina, Co., O. 



"Mr. Root, this day has been a happy mo-;^ 

 ment that I have for a long time looked for- 

 ward to. Several years ago I had planned, in 

 imagination, inviting you to come down to see 

 my work after I had succeeded; and I had 

 planned, also, of telling you what lam going 

 to tell you now. What I have accomplished, 

 and what you have seen to-day. I owe to yon. 

 You have been my teacher and my inspii-aiion; 

 and the best part of it all is, that you did not 

 know it. I have been around, and, when you 

 wei'e not busy, I have asked you questions, and 

 you have courteously given me all the informa- 

 tion you coiJld. and then — forgot all about it. 

 I say this for your encouragement. Do not get 

 weary. Your untiring enthusiasm in cultivat- 

 ing the soil, in searching out God's gifts, will 

 bear fruit — in fact, it is bearing fruit in places- 

 where you know nothing of it; and such teach- 

 ing as yours, and that of others like you, is to 

 be the salvation of your country." 



.Yesterday. July 10, my wheel and I made a 

 raid through the onion-farms of Medina Co. I 

 found that the most if not all of them are 

 threatened seriously with the onion-midge. 

 The symptoms are. a chalky, sickly color at the- 

 tops, with more or less curling up. This whit- 

 ish color is caused by the surface of the leaves 

 being gnawed all over by a minute aphis. You 

 can see tliem with the naked eye, only by 

 spreading the tops where the new growth starts 

 and letting the sun shine down in. You will 

 see them down there at work, so small as to 

 look like fine grayish powder. .They eat over 

 the surface of the leaf when it is young and 

 green. One of the professors in our Experiment 

 Station has visited the plantations, and they 

 havt^ decided that the only feasible remedies 

 are tobacco tea or dilute carbolic acid. They 

 think the latter will be cheaper — one part of 

 carbolic acid to 100 parts of water, put on the 

 onion-tops with the spray-pump. 1 find the 

 onions in almost every garden, and even on our 

 own grounds, affected in the same way. We 

 can not tell yet how great the damage may be. 

 As is usually the case, where there is a very 

 strong rank growth the insect has less power to 

 do serious injury. The enemy is not an entire- 

 ly new thing, but it has never been so wide- 

 spread, and in such numbers, as during this 

 present season. Theinjurvis done to the leaf 

 when it first starts out of the center of the top. 

 Onr American Pearl escaped the insect entirely 

 by being mature, and part of them on the mar- 

 ket, almost before the midge got to work. 



THE BEST THING IN THE WORLD. 



At the great national Christian Endeavor 

 convention held in Cleveland. O., July 11 — 1.5. 

 Gov. McKinley said something like the follow- 

 ing: " I love the Endeavorers because they are 

 building Christian character; and just at this 

 stage of human progress there is no currency in 

 the whole wide world in such universal demand 

 as Christian character." The attendance was 

 even beyond the most sanguine expectations. 

 The great building, provided esoecially for the 

 meeting, was speedily filled. Then the great 

 tent, holding lO.OOO more, was almost as speedi- 

 ly packed, with ever so many on the outside 

 looking through the openings. Then an over- 

 flow meeting filled one of the largest churches, 

 and then still another was filled likewise. The 

 special feature of the meeting was the court 

 eous. kindly Christian spirit that one met on 

 every hand. Hundreds of white-capped ushers 

 were ready to answer any question, and some- 

 times they would even approach you and say, 

 "Friend, is there any thing you would like to 

 know? " or. " Can we direct you anywhere you 

 want to go?" There was no cigar smoke — at 



