1886 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



.577 



I wanted them kept on the wagon any more 

 or not. Now, if there is any thing in busi- 

 ness that vexes me, it is to find that our 

 boys or girls liave dropped sometliing, or 

 pushed it away out of sight, and let it go; 

 and then, when (luestioned about it, say 

 they did not know I wanted it used or kept 

 in sight any longer. I could not believe 

 that the honey-jumbles would not sell if 

 properly introduced; so I sent to the manu- 

 facturers for lu barrels; and then I explained 

 to all those who went with the wagon that 

 I wished them to take them to every house, 

 tell the folks what the cakes were made of, 

 and see if they could not get them started. 

 What do you think the result was V Why. 

 they sold IG dozen the lirst forenoon. Tlie 

 next forenoon they sold IS dozen ; and in 

 about a Aveek they had sold four harreh out 

 of the ten. It is true, I reduced the price 

 from 10 cts. a dozen to 8 cts. a dozen ; but I 

 am sure that giving them a fair showing had 

 more to do with it than lowering the price. 



Do yon see the point, you friends who till 

 the soil, and raise honey or any thing else 

 for sale? 



Where a crop is going to spoil, there is no 

 harm at all in using a little extra pains to 

 sell as much of this as possible, in place of 

 something else you are short of. If the let- 

 tuce is nice, theie are few families where it 

 will be wasted or thrown away ; and it is 

 relished by more or less people at every sea- 

 son of the year ; but if your salesman is in- 

 different, or tired out, you may lose a great 

 part of your crop in consequence, so you 

 must keep an eye out for such contingences. 

 Do the same thing with your radishes ; and 

 when raspberries and strawberries come, 

 dispose of them in a like manner. Green 

 peas are one of the great staples in market- 

 gardejiing. Plan so as to allow nothing to 

 go to waste, and luive each article presented 

 to your customers in the best i)ossible shape, 

 fresh and attractive; and this brings us to 

 Chapter XX. 



CllAPTETl XX. 



He that shall eiuUue to the end shall ))C saved.— Mahk 13: 13. 



Not only will the man who patiently and 

 faithfully endures, be saved, but he will be 

 prospered here in this world. How many, 

 many give up because, for a time, circum- 

 stances and conditions seem to be against 

 them ! When we first started out our market- 

 wagon it was a thing so new and unheard of 

 here that quite an opposition was raised to 

 it. The grocers said it was not fair to go 

 around to people's houses and catch their 

 customers, and take away their trade. Men 

 who had done a very little in the way of 

 gardening thought that it was not fair that 

 I, with my many resources, should break 

 down their business by raising garden-stuff 

 when I was not obliged to do it to get a liv- 

 ing. Others thought the idea was ridicu- 

 lous, that we could here, with our Medina 

 clay soil, compete with the quality of the 

 produce from Cincinnati and other great 

 market-gardening points. AVell, for a time 

 it seemed as if there were some reason in all 

 the al)ove positions. People laughed at our 

 produce, some of it ; others refused to look 

 at our stuff at all, because they thought we 

 were not using the grocers right. A third 

 sajij they ueyer s;nv n§ Imve finy thing nice, 



When we raised lettuce in the greenhouse, 

 and put it on the market in February, they 

 woiddn't buy it, because, they said, nobody 

 wanted lettuce in February ; and Ave Avere 

 finally obliged to send a large part of our 

 crop to Cleveland, where we got ^'5 cts. per 

 lb. by the barrel for it, instead of trying to 

 peddle it out on the streets here at home at 

 only ^0 cts. per lb. Well, I didnl give up, 

 for I knew, or thought I knew, that people 

 would in time be educated to these things. 

 Last year they woiddn't buy caulillower, be- 

 cause they didirt know what it was for. 

 Somebody finally discovered that it was good 

 to make pickles, and we sold pretty nearly 

 our whole crop at pretty fair prices, to be 

 made into pickles. This year we started 

 some kohlrabi-plants in the greenhouse ; and 

 during the month of June we had quite a lot 

 of beautiful bulbs ready for the market. 

 The boys suggested that the vegetable would 

 not sell, because nobody knew what to do 

 with them. Perhaps I slioidd add, that our 

 wagon this spring has been getting to be a 

 little more fashionable ; that is, the nice 

 vegetables we have been sending out " talk- 

 etl " them,selv£g, fuul wou their way into 



