1888 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



693 



than this, and at others more. In the 

 swampy phices that liad been so thoroughly 

 underdrained, the yield would probably go 

 400 or 500 bushels to the acre. The pota- 

 toes were monstrous in size, and lay piled in 

 great heaps ; and these same spots that 

 were for years, before he got the place, only 

 worthless nuisances, now give immense 

 yields, year after year, without any manure 

 whatever. 



Now, it is all quite right to question and 

 point out faults in the system recommended 

 by any of our teachers at our farmers' insti- 

 tutes. But it should all be done, dear 

 friends, in i4he spirit of our text, and then 

 there is not a bit of trouble. Let me give 

 you one illustration before I close. 



At a farmers' institute held not many 

 miles away, the subject of feeding and car- 

 ing for cattle was up. Mr. A, a successful 

 farmer in this line, was asked some ques- 

 tions. He finally gave his plan at consider- 

 able length. Like Terry's teaching, it was 

 an astonishment to many. For instance, 

 friend A has a great big barn, and he never 

 has any haystacks nor grainstacks nor 

 strawstacks out of doors at all. There is 

 room enough inside, and he can not afford 

 to stand the loss caused by leaving his 

 stacks — not even his strawstacks— out in the 

 rain. After he sat down, somebody called 

 him up again, to know what breed of cattle 

 he had. Now, friend A is a breeder of 

 choice fine stock, and is interested in selling 

 it. Heretofore he had not said a word in 

 regard to his especial strain of cattle ; but 

 since he was called upon he answered fairly 

 and honestly, and then it turned out that 

 the success of his system depended a good 

 deal on his strain of cattle without any 

 horns.* More questions were asked, as is 

 often the case at farmers' institutes, imtil 

 the chairman began to watch anxiously for 

 an opening to call the house to order, that 

 they might take up other topics. At this 

 point, an old farmer, whom we will call B, 

 spoke out : 



" Mr. Chairman, I tliink A has advertised 

 his- muley cattle long enough. Let us talk 

 about something else." 



The room was silent. Mr. A sat down. 

 He had not advertised his cattle a bit. He 

 had simply answered questions, and that 

 reluctantly, under the circumstances. Of 

 course, it was not the thing for him to stir 

 up a quarrel by retorting to B that he had 

 not advertised a bit, intentionally, but that 

 he had only answered questions when called 

 upon to do so. At the intermission, a good 

 many felt indignant, and told Mr. B that he 

 ought to make an apology. He was stubborn, 

 however; but by the next morning, so many 

 insisted on it that he did come up to A and 

 say something like the following : 



" Mr. A, I guess I was a little hasty yester- 

 day. It has always been my habit to speak 

 right out, without thinking ; and while I still 

 think you had dwelt on tliat point long 

 enough, I want to beg your pardon for speak- 

 ing of it in the way I did. I will try hereafter 



to be more careful about speaking on the 

 impulse of the moment." 



Mr. A replied: ''•Why, bless your heart, 

 friend B, it is ail right. I did not mind it. 

 Our lives are not long enough to waste time 

 in taking up things of this kind." 



The two men are better friends to-day, 

 perhaps, than if this thing had not happened. 

 Now, the point 1 would wish to make is 

 right here : At our institutes and conven- 

 tions, this state of affairs is constantly com- 

 ing up. Somebody, or perha(js several 

 persons, will hang on to one subject longer 

 than is profitable for the meeting as a whole. 

 It is perfectly right and proper to call for a 

 change of subject; l)ut as time is valuable, 

 the person who calls for a change of subject 

 should be brief and to the point. How 

 would this do V 



"JSIr. Chairman, this is doubtless interest- 

 ing to a good many ; but if our friend who is 

 on the floor will excuse me, doesn't the 

 general good of the meeting demand that we 

 move on to other subjects?" Or in case 

 somebody has been grinding his ax, and oc- 

 cupying time, which, 1 grant you, sometimes 

 happens, let some good Christian man stop 

 it by something like this : 



"• Mr. President, I have no idea that the 

 brother who is speaking intends to advertise 

 his wares here at this convention ; but lest 

 it might look so to some who do not know 

 him as well as we do, shall we not take up 

 the next topic?" At such a time Prof. Cook, 

 Dr. Miller, or J)y. Mason, will do all that 

 needs to be done, and do it handsomely, 

 without hurting anybody's feelings. If no 

 such person happens to be present, tlien God 

 calls upon you to do just what you see should 

 be done ; and he calls upon you to do it in 

 the language of our text. Ask God first to 

 give you wisdom, and he will ; and we know 

 that '' the wisdom that is from above is first 

 pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be en- 

 treated, full of mercy and good fruits, with- 

 out partiality, and without hypocrisy." 



THE "WAY FKIEND TERRY RAISES 

 STRA^WBERRIES, ETC. 



*By the way, dear brethren, wouldn't it be a God- 

 send if we could have a strain of farmers without 

 any horns? 



SUGGESTIONS TO THOSE WHO LOVE TO GET OUT 

 IN THE OPEN AIR AND "WORK IN THE DIRT." 



ITp bout as soon as I could consistently 

 ^l|( ask the ladies at friend Terry's to ex- 

 ^m cuse my cousin and myself, we put 

 ■^^ outdoors on a voyage of discovery. 

 Friend Terry was absent at the time, 

 as you will remember, and my first investi- 

 gations were in the direction of the straw- 

 berrjMjed he has told us about. But it was 

 all neatly plowed under, and great big 

 plants of clover were already coming up 

 where before had been so much fruit. 

 These little clover-plants were so large and 

 thrifty that I did not recognize them at first. 

 It is wonderful how every thing seems to 

 grow on friend Terry's premises. Well, on 

 the other side of the house we found almost 

 an acre of strawberries and raspberries that 

 were a sight to behold, I tell yon. I thought 

 I had seen strawberry-plants equal to any 

 raised anywhere; Ijut although these were 

 set out only last spring, they were, during 



