742 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 



and so oil ; who can estimate the effect on 

 these little characters just forming, gathered 

 ai"Ound the family board, in contrast with 

 having the talk during the meal occupied by 

 scandal or neighborhood quarrels, lawsuits, 

 and such like? I need not tell you how hard 

 the mother toils to provide food that she 

 knows the little ones like. AVho has not 

 noticed her smile of pleasure when some 

 little chick announces, " O mother ! where 

 did you get such nice squash V I like squash, 

 /do.'' 



Now, my friends, we can not all of us be 

 engaged in agriculture as faimeis, but we 

 can be gardeners, at least to the extent I 

 have described on some of the earlier pages 

 of this book ; and whatever our calling or 

 profession, we must certainly meet together, 

 to take some food of some kind , at least 

 two or three times a day— three times, I be- 

 lieve, as a rule. What can we do to make 

 these meetings profitable, and to strive to 

 have them lead toward righteousness and 

 godliness? I feel sure that one great means 

 of leading our little tlocks heavenward is by 

 the associations of these daily meals ; and 

 when the head of the family bows his head 

 to give thanks to the all-wise and kind Crea- 

 tor, is it not his duty to see that the table is 

 well supplied with something to make the 

 simple prayer consistent? Let there be 

 something placed before the little ones to 

 lead them to feel thankful to the great Giver 

 of all good. What shall it be but the prod- 

 ucts of the soil, largely, even if such prod- 

 ucts must come from the market-wagon V 



Fruits and vegetables are already largely 

 used for presents to the sick, presents to 

 friends, and for presents to the loved ones 

 at home. Some years ago I happened to be 

 in the large city of Cleveland, in company 

 with my old pastor. Rev. A. T. Reed. A lit- 

 tle before train time he ftiade the remark 

 that he never liked to go home from the city 

 without taking some sort of a little present 

 for the children. What should it be? and 

 who has not had similar feelings? Great 

 shops and stores were all about us, holding 

 out inducements to purchasers, and many of 

 these shops and stores were kept to supply 

 this very want. AVhat sort of a present 

 should a minister of the gospel carry to his 

 children? I watched him with much inter- 

 est. He went to a green-grocer's, and pur- 

 chased a little basket— one that held about a 

 peck, for instance. The basket cost only a 

 nickel, but it was new and clean. This 

 made it proper for the occasion and circum- 



To be continued Oct, 15 



stances. Now, then, for the contents. I be- 

 lieve it was mostly if not all vegetables from 

 the garden. As it was early in the spring, 

 no such things had at that time appeared in 

 our Medina market, and I especially re- 

 marked how handsome a bunch of beets 

 looked. They were grown rapidly under 

 glass, and were some of the choice varieties 

 advertised in our seed catalogues, that look 

 so very tempting when first taken from the 

 soil. The tops looked fresh and green also. 

 Well, the siglit of the contents of that bas- 

 ket had something to do with giving me the 

 "garden fever." The basket and contents 

 cost some SO or 40 cents ; but as I glanced 

 at them repeatedly I could not help but 

 think I agreed with him that there was 

 nothing in that whole great city so pleasing 

 and appropriate for the loved ones at home 

 as this little simple token of his love and re- 

 membrance of them— a little basket of gar- 

 den vegetables. I have always had a par- 

 ticvilar fancy for beets and radishes tied up 

 in neat little bunches ever since that time ; 

 and while I think of it, early beets are one 

 of the "things with which the market has 

 never been overstocked, to my knowledge. 

 For many months during this season just 

 passed, early beets retailed in Cleveland at 

 10 cts. per bunch, or 80 or 90 cts. per dozen 

 bunches. At the same time, fine large 

 bunches of radishes and onions were selling 

 for 15 to 20 cts. per dozen bunches. Some 

 way it seemed as if the great vegetable-lov- 

 ing public could never get beets enough. 



Early beets were the second crop on our 

 " New Agriculture " grounds; that is, they 

 were planted between the lettuce ; and when 

 the lettuce was all sold off, the beets came 

 on. The boys on the wagon reported every 

 day, right along, " Beets sold out, and more 

 wanted." And so the demand kept up until 

 I began to be greatly astonished. After 

 people began to have plenty of them in their 

 gardens, however, the demand dropped olf. 

 They are hardy, and easy to raise. Thou- 

 sands of plants can be easily secured in box- 

 es in the greenhouse, or in boxes in the win- 

 dows I have described ; and just as soon as 

 the weather will permit any thing to grow at 

 all outdoors, with the right kind of soil and 

 a protected situation the beets will take 

 right hold and thrive. I think it would be 

 an excellent investment to build cheap hot- 

 beds or greenhouses expressly for early beets 

 and nothing else. I think a good demand 

 for them ^yo^ld spring up in almost a-ny 

 locality. 



