1888 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



207 



WHAT TO DO, AND HOW TO BE HAPPY WHILE DOINC IT. 



Continued from Feb. 1. 



CHAPTEE XL VI. 



Better is little with the fear of the Lord, than great treasure and trouble therewith.— Prov. 15: 16. 



At the bee-keepers' convention in Utica, 

 N. Y., Jaik, 1888, as usual I set out during 

 the intervals of tlie sessions, in search of 

 greenhouses. The v^^eather is mucli colder 

 in ITtica than in Ohio ; but notwithstanding 

 this, I found tliere some of the most beauti- 

 ful greenhouses that I have seen in any 

 part of the United States. The floral houses 

 especially contained the most beautiful 

 show of orchids tliat it has ever been my 

 fortune to see anywhere. Passing through 

 one of the main streets, my eye caught a 

 glimpse of azelias that, it seemed to me, 

 surpassed any thing I ever before beheld 

 anywhere. The young man who owned the 

 neat glass structure, I was informed, took it 

 up at first in a sort of amateur w'ay. He had 

 been in the grocery business ; but he loved 

 flowers, and, without instruction, except 

 such as he managed to pick up, he gradual- 

 ly worked into the business. Some of the 

 old heads laughed at him, especially the old- 

 countrymen, who do not believe very much 

 in self-made men in that line of business. 

 This house showed to me more real life and 

 activity than any other one I found in the 

 city. There was no rubbish in any corner, 

 nor any plants occupying valuable space 

 that gave no returns. Every thing was 

 bright and fresh, and either fit for the 

 market, or making rapid progress in that 

 direction. There was one little tree-like 

 specimen of azelia Indica that so much 

 pleased me I paid the man two dollars for 

 it, without hesitation. It was taken to the 

 bee-convention, and graced the president's 

 table until the session closed ; and then 

 right in the midst of zero weather I brought 

 it all the way to Ohio, placed it before our 

 factory hands at the noon service, and after 

 that for two full weeks it was the life of our 

 household, and fairly made the bay-window 

 shine. These beautiful plants are made to 

 bloom in winter by letting them have a lit- 

 tle natural winter, and then an artificial 

 spring. 



It was not flowers 1 particularly sought, 

 however, nor did I care to see expensive 

 greenhouses. One of the seedsmen men- 

 tioned that a young man had a little green- 

 house in the outskirts, where he raised cel- 

 ery-plants, and I felt as if I could not go 

 home without seeing this. When I made 



inquiries I was told that it was a little bit 

 of shanty, and did not amount to any thing. 

 But this only made me the more curious. 

 We found him finally ; and in the same part 

 of the town there was quite a number of lit- 

 tle bits of greenhouses, owned by boys or 

 old men, who whiled away the winter days 

 in raising plants. The one I wish to speak 

 about was a room perhaps 12 x lo feet. 

 The roof was of glass ; the sides of boards, 

 without very much protection, unless it was 

 the deep snow that banked it all around. 

 Inside we found a boy, perhaps ten years 

 old, pricking out the celery-seedlings into 

 little boxes, which were occupying every bit 

 of available space, almost, and were vieing 

 with each other for every bit of sunlight. 

 The room was warmed by an ordinary coal- 

 stove. In one coiner a hen was kept, and 

 the chickens were making themselves hap- 

 py chirping around beside the plants. 

 They especially enjoyed stealing lettuce 

 whenever the boy's attention was so much 

 taken witli his plants that he forgot about 

 them. This boy sifted the rich black loamy 

 soil, and put it into boxes, smoothed them 

 off, and put out the plants, with the gravity 

 of an old gardener. My heart began to re- 

 joice over the materials for thought scat- 

 tered ^bout, perhaps almost as much, but in 

 a different way, from what they did in the 

 large expensive greenhouses. One of the 

 things that especially pleased me was the 

 plant-boxes. They were made entirely of 

 ordinary lath, and little bits of oblong 

 square boards. Suppose I give you a pic- 

 ture of one : 



THE PLANT-BOX I SAW IN UTICA. 



To make such a box, take two pieces of 

 ordinary lath, which can be bought any- 

 where for 15 cts. per bunch of 50. Cut each 

 piece into four lengtlis. This will make 

 eight pieces. You now want two bits of 

 board for the ends, of such a size as to leave 

 just such a space between the lath as I have 



