1884 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



(320 



from what is usual ; and by selecting seeds 

 from these tinted-leaved plants he coaxed it 

 in that direction. lie taught it tricks, as it 

 were, just as I teach Iluber tricks. Just a 

 few days ago, after IIul)er finished his din- 

 ner, he commenced pulUng me to go out- 

 doors and see the strawberries. Babylike, 

 he had got his tingei s greasy in eating, and 

 I told him he must have his hands washed 

 first. Well, what do you think? Next day, 

 as soon as dinner was over, he put up his 

 soft little padtlies, and teased to have them 

 washed. 



•• Why. bless the dear V)tn-,"' said I, '' he is 

 already" It'arning liabils of neatness, so that 

 he wants his little lingers clean before he 

 goes out. Just look and see, mamma, if you 

 don't believe it." 



I held the wash-basin down for him while 

 he washed those mischievous little soft fin- 

 gers, and then gave him the towel to wipe 

 them on, and he was ready to go and see how 

 the strawberries had grown since a few 

 hours before. The next day he more vehe- 

 mently insisted on having his hands washed, 

 and it was only when he began to demand to 

 have them washed on every slight occasion, 

 whether they were dirty or not, that it oc- 

 curred to me he hadn't any taste for neat- 

 ness at all. He had simply got it into his 

 head that a part of the programme to get out 

 into the open air was waslied liands. It was 

 a trick of his. Well. now. dear reader, plants 

 have tricks, and they just delight in being 

 taught tricks. This old, sober, homely, se- 

 date catnii) caught at the idea at once, of 

 putting on many-colored hues, outrivaling 

 those of autumn leaves, just lor tlie privilege 

 of having a nice place in the garden, and of 

 being watered often. It puts on these colors 

 exactly as Ilub^- demandetl to have his 

 hands washed ; and it has succeeiied so well 

 tliat almost every rich man in Columbus, 

 and, for aught I know, lots of poor ones, not 

 only in Columbus, but the world over, have 

 given the catnip a nice place in the front 

 yard, to revel in the rich soil and abundance 

 of water which it loves so well. Now, I 

 have not got through yet. I suppose you are 

 all well aware that these different varieties 

 of variegated plants are now multiplied with 

 wondrous rapidity by slips and cuttings and 

 layers. This deft gardener, in a little bit of 

 pleasantry, asked me what I should think of 

 a man who covdd take the leaf of a plant and 

 tear it all into little bits, and then plant 

 those little bits of leaves and make them 

 grow into bona-Jide plants themselves. I told 

 him I should think he was possessed of 

 witchci"aft, or something akin to it. With 

 an odd twinkle in his eye he turned around 

 and raised a newspaper from a bit of pure 

 sand. Little bits of leaves of many blight 

 colors stuck out of tlte sand. He took one 

 in his fingers, perhaps the size of a half-dol- 

 lar, and, drawing it out, displayed a bunch 

 of fibrous roots nearly as large as my hand. 

 Then he did the same with others, and so on, 

 until my astonishment knew no bounds. 



" But, you have shown me the roots, and 

 most beautiful roots they are, my friend ; 

 now where is the stalk? " 



lie held it up close, and, sure enough, buds 

 were starting from those bits of leaves. And 



then we looked at plants in different stages, 

 not grown from seed, bttt from a bit of leaf. 

 When he found a leaf that pleased him he 

 pulled it off, or a l)it of it, may be, and, 

 l)resto ! a great bed of i)lants came in a few 

 days from that Ijit of leaf. I think he said 

 they would root in five days. Clean sand, 

 plenty of water, no guano or fertilizer of any 

 kind. 



'• But, my friend, how large is the family 

 of plants that can be tlius multiplied?" 



'• I do not know. I think we may learn to 

 multiply all vegetable creation, possibly, in 

 this way," and his answer has been ringing 

 in my ears. Not only strawberries, but hon- 

 ey-plants and rare flowers may be eventually 

 propagated thus. 



Do vou want to know whether our old 

 friend tlie catnip still bears honey, after be- 

 ing put through all these tricks ? I can not 

 tell, but I rather thiidc it does not blossom 

 much if any. I know he told me it had be- 

 come a greenhouse plant, or, rather, in that 

 line, by being worked over. I bioiight some 

 of the plants home, and our gardener is now 

 putting them in tiie children's flower-bed ; 

 and when you come to visit the Home of the 

 Iloney-Bees 1 nm going to try to please you 

 with glimpses of beauty such as they showed 

 me on the college grounds. 



One thing 1 appreciate at the agricultural 

 colleges is, that they have no secrets.- It is 

 their business to impart information as well 

 as plants and seeds, and tliis they do faith- 

 fully. Would you not, my friends, young 

 and old, love tu "learn how to handle both an- 

 imal and -vegetable life in the way I have 

 been outlining? Well, just roll up your 

 sleeves, and go to work. The field is open 

 before you. It is an open door, and the 

 promise stands written over it. " He that 

 is faithful over few things shall be many ru- 

 ler over many things.'" 



PAYING OFF THE MORTGAGE. 



A STORY FOlt (JIUI 



/ / ilk ^ course, I'll tell you about Ruth; just wait 

 • k^r'l till I get another ball of yarn; this one 



I 



|<*1 is almost gone." And in a minute or two 

 ^^ Mrs. Morse came bustling back, and, seat- 

 ting herself in her low roclcer, asked, 

 " Where shall I begin?" 



"Oh: begin at the beginnins, and go through to 

 the end," I begged. 



"Then I shall have to begin with the night wh»n 

 Ruth came home with Polly, to stay all night. 



"That was five years ago last December. Ire- 

 member it well, because all the schools around here 

 had to be closed on account of the measles. Jordoii 

 \Vas teaching the Elm-Tree school that winter, and 

 Polly was going to school to him. It was not 

 our district, but Polly wanted to go to school to her 

 father, and the directors let her. It is two miles 

 from here and they walked there and back every day. 

 Ruth lived witii her stepmother over the creek at 

 the other side of the district; they had lived there 

 only a month or two, and 1 had never seen them. 

 Ruth was thirteen years old; but such a little thing! 

 she did not look to l)e more than ten, and no bright! 

 I don't think a night ])a8sed but Jowlon and Polly 

 had something say to about Ruth Webb. One tim« it 



