208 



GLEAKIKGS IX BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 



shown. Nail it up, and your box is dope. 

 Our Utica friend used whole laths; but as 

 soun as I got liome I found that, by split- 

 ting a lath with one of our thin buzz-saM's, 

 we could make the whole box from a single 

 lath. For additional strength, with slender 

 wire nails of the proper size, nail the cor- 

 ner laths at the bottom, one into the edge 

 of the other. This makes a box amply stout 

 enough, and yet very light. After I had 

 questioned the boy some, the father came 

 in ; but he was, in fact, but little more than 

 a boy himself. He explained that these lit- 

 tle boxes were usually sold with the plants ; 

 and as an illustration he reached up and 

 took down one of the boxes containing 

 twelve tomato-plants, perhaps six inches 

 high. I have tried to have our engraver 

 make a picture of the box containing the 

 plants. He is not as good on making toma- 

 {o-}jIants as he is in making boxes, as you 

 will notice. 



A DO/EN TOMATO-PLANTS IN A BOX. 



Said I, "■ My friend, how much do you get 

 for a box full of nice plants like that V " 



'' Twenty cents.'' 



" Only tw^enty cents V Why, that will 

 hardly pay you for your boxes.'' 



''Oh I yes, it will. I only wish 1 could 

 get plenty of orders at that price. You see, 

 the children make the boxes, and we get a 

 good many of them back again, so they do 

 not cost very much.'' 



" I suppose you raise these chickens just 

 for the fun of it." 



"• Oh, no I There is a man in the city who 

 sells boiled eggs, and he keeps a hen and 

 chickens in the show-window, to advertise 

 the eggs. Everybody stops to see the chick- 

 ens in the middle of winter, and that calls 

 attention to his boiled eggs and lunch-room. 

 Last Easter he paid me fifty cents apiece 

 for some little chickens, to advertise his 

 Easter-eggs." 



"• Well, my friend, 1 am glad to see there 

 is one individual in the world who has dis- 

 covered it possible to start celery-plants in 

 winter. How many plants can you raise in 

 this little building, say between now and 

 the time to put them out V 



'■'■ Well, 1 don't know exactly. Last 

 spring I sold 100,000 plants, besides planting 

 out about 50,000 myself." 



"Of course, you get celery in the market 

 before anybody else ; now, what do you get 

 for the first celery V " 



" The first celery I raised last spring went 

 to Kalamazoj, Mich.'' 



" Kalamazoo, Mich. V Why, can't they 

 raise celery there as soon as you can away 

 up here in the cold ? " 



" Well, it seems they did not last year. 

 You see, there was a couple there that got 

 married, and they wanted some nice White 

 Plume celery; but as it could not be found, 

 somebody telegraphed me for it. Of course, 

 I got a fancy price.'' 



" Well, I declare, the next thing will be 

 that a couple can't get married without 

 White Plume celery. Well, well ! we will 

 not object to the fashion, so long as they let 

 us raise the plants and furnish the celery, 

 will we, friend ? '' 



Xow, then, boys, here is an idea for you. 

 You can get right at it no wand make boxes ; 

 and when it comes time to sell plants, show 

 your friends and neighbors fine specimens 

 of transplanted plants in these very boxes. 

 Or, if you choose, leave them for sale at the 

 groceries or plant stores. Look after them 

 yourself personally, and keep them watered 

 and looking fine, and you can make a nice 

 little sum of money between now and the 

 first of June. Who would not give five or 

 ten ce-nts more for a dozen plants ready to 

 pick up and carry right home, when put up 

 in this style? You can put more than a 

 dozen plants in a box. with celery, peppers, 

 and a good many other kinds that do not 

 need the amount of room that a dozen to- 

 mato-plants do. 



Now, the point that pleased me particu- 

 larly in the above little incident is, that it 

 shows how we can not only find work for 

 ourselves on all stormy days, but we can 

 take the children out of mamma's way and 

 have them helping pay family expenses. 

 What more beautiful sight can you think of 

 than to see a lather enjoying himself with 

 his plants, and his children working by his 

 side, and acquiring skill at the same time 

 that they are earning money and keeping 

 busy V Only last Saturday our boys were 

 taking seedling cabbage-plants from the 

 greenhouse, and putting them into cold 

 frames outdoors. Our boy Huberwas great- 

 ly interested in the proceedings. We spaced 

 them equal distances by means of the frames 

 I of poultry-netting described in Chapter IX, 



