^38 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sep*. 



Seest thou a man <lilij;i'iit in his lii:s'.nrf:s 

 men.— Pitov. U'i:'!U. 



On the opposite page you will find a sketch 

 of friend Rawson's ten acres under glass. 

 AVhen I first came on the grounds T turned 

 up by the building in the foreground whicli 

 you see surmounted by a windmill. I passed 

 along by the alley on the left-hand side of 

 the picture until I found a boy hoeing let- 

 tuce. I inquired for Mr. Rawson, and the 

 boy told nie Mr. R. was absent on a vacation. 

 But he further remarked, that the best man 

 to sliow me around would be Ihe foreman of 

 the greenhouses, whom I would find at work 

 in the building mentioned. I have for- 

 gotten the young man's name, but he was 

 very obliging and communicative. lie went 

 all over the grounds with me you see in the 

 picture. The four large greenhouses in the 

 foreground are those used for raising cucum- 

 bers. The three long ones on the left-hand 

 side of the picture have movable sash, and 

 these sasli are taken clear off in the summer 

 time. This latter plan of greenhouses has 

 some very great advantages, especially the 

 one permitting the sash to be removed, so we 

 can reap the benefit of summer sliowers. 

 These greenliouses are all warmed by steam, 

 as I have before remarked, and my attendant 

 informed me they had no trouble whatever 

 in using steam in place of hot water. You 

 can run your pipes up and down anywhere 

 you wisli, providing you remember to put 

 a drip-pipe wherever there is a low point 

 or depression in the steam-pipes. Tliis drip- 

 pipe is to have a valve, which is kept open 

 just enough to let the condensed water get 

 out of the way. The back part of the 

 grounds is covered with hot-beds and cold 

 frames. During severe weather they use 

 large mats made of very tall rye straw. In 

 fact, they raise a patch of rye every year in 

 this wonderfully rich ground, in order to 

 get straws six or more feet in length for 

 making mats. The mats are woven by the 

 watchman in the night time. When these 

 mats are removed from the glass, as they al- 

 ways are vvlien the sun shines, they must be 

 placed somewheie. Now, even a simple 

 matter .'like this is sometimes quite a prob- 

 lem. If you lay them on tlie ground they 

 will get wet, and rot; if you lean them 

 against the fence the wind will blow them 

 down, and the most convenient way Mr. 

 Rawson finds to be a tight board fence set 

 on a slant You will notice such fences at 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



lie shall stand before kings; ho shall not stand before mean 



intervals among the hot - beds and cold 

 frames. These fences also serve as wind- 

 breaks. 



At the left of tlie picture you will notice a 

 six-sided inclosure, with one side left open. 

 This is for composting manure. It keeps 

 the manure from getting scattered about in 

 the dirt, and is easy of access from the open 

 side. My attendant, though a young man, 

 has entire charge of the heating arrange- 

 ments, and he told me that, instead of em- 

 ploying expensive city plumbers, they cut 

 their own pipes and put in their lieating ar- 

 rangements, according to their needs and re- 

 quirements. 



The building surmounted by the wind- 

 mill contains tlie steam-engine used in pump- 

 ing water when the wind does not blow. 

 They always use wind in preference to steam 

 when the wind blows. I believe that the 

 boiler for heating the greenhouses is also in 

 this building. 



When I spoke of looking over the hundred- 

 acre farm which also belongs to Mr. Rawson, 

 my guide very obligingly asked me to take a 

 seat in one of tlie market-wagons that was 

 standing near the building, right where you 

 see a wagon in the picture. The horse that 

 drew the wagon was so well accustomed to 

 his business that he took us wherever we 

 wanted to go, almost without being told. I 

 presume I asked more questions than some 

 of the newly fledged scholars in A B C of 

 bee culture. 



I was particularly taken up with a field of 

 Boston marrow squashes. The vines were 

 so large for the time of year, and so exceed- 

 ingly thrifty, I burst into exclamations of 

 surprise. 



" Why, my friend, were these not raised 

 in a greenhouse, and planted out here?" 



'' No, sir ; the seeds were planted, and the 

 vines grew right where you see fhem. 

 Aren't they handsomeV" 



I admitted that they were handsome, but 

 I didn't feel quite sat- 

 isfied with his answer. 

 Why, some of the 

 squashes were almost 

 ready to send to mar- 

 ket, and it was not 

 even the first of Aug- 

 ust yet. Before we got 

 around, howevei, my greedy eyes caught 



RAWSON'S BOX FOB STARTING 

 SQUASHES, ETC. 



