1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



(303 



ais much disgust at tbiMr droppings as almost 

 anybody. One of the first lessons my father 

 taught 'me was to save every thing: and the 

 poultry are adepts in economizing and saving 

 every little odds and ends eatfible. Within the 

 past few days they have been making sad havoc 

 by eating off the foliage of our late cabbages 

 where they were planted near the barn. Of 

 •course, it was the Brahmas that did this. We 

 stopped it, however, by giving thc^m all the 

 shelled corn they could eat, and planting some 

 ■early cabbages very close together right around 

 the poultry-house. 



It was a great treat to me to be permitted to 

 run over Mr. Terry's farm and ask all the ques- 

 tions I chose. I had been carefully scanning 

 the crops through Medina and Summit Coun- 

 ties, and therefore I was better prepared to 

 notice the marked difference through all of 

 Terry's fields. First, the crops were all even. 

 How I do like to see a crop all alike over a large 

 field! The rule is. you know, spots of fine 

 growth, and then larger spots of poor miserable 

 growth; and on many of the farms we see 

 places where they do not even get back their 

 seed. How can there be any good average, so 

 long as such things exist ? Well, Mr. Terry has 

 been hard at work for years in fetching uiJ the 

 poor spots. Where it is wet, careful, thorough 

 underdraining has fixed that part of it. Where 

 it lacks in fertility, a little manure, or mulch- 

 ing with straw at just the right time, and en- 

 couraging a growth of clover fii"st, last, and al- 

 ways, has brought those poor places up to the 

 general average. Now, I wish to emphasize 

 one point right here. Everybody seems to be 

 trying to find out some excuse for Terry's great 

 crops, rather than to admit that the credit 

 belongs to Terry himself. One friend of mine 

 said, a few days ago, something like this: 



"Oh, yes! you talk Terry. Terry has a great 

 army of men to help him, and plenty of money, 

 and it is no wonder that he can raise big crops." 



I stared at the man in surprise, and he stared 

 at m(^ in surprise a little when I quietly re- 

 marked, "Why, my good friend, you are mak- 

 ing a tremendous mistake. Terry's great hobby 

 (next to clover) is in managing so as to avoid 

 ■employing high-priced help. He and his boy 

 and one hired man do all the farming; and a 

 great part of the year they do not have even 

 the one hired man." 



Well, a good many have said, "Oh, yes! Mr. 

 Terry has got a piece of the richest land in the 

 vState of Ohio; and anybody can make a living 

 on .sntc/i soil as he has." 



That, too, is a big blunder. We got a bright 

 clean spade out of the tool -house, and I made 

 it my special business to dig down as I passed 

 through the fields. In one place where the 

 clover was particularly rank and strong I ut- 

 tered an exclamation of surprise when the spade 

 showed poor yellow-looking dirt almost exactly 

 like the poorest ground on my own place at 

 home. Yes. we have some ground that is so 

 poor that I have just thrown away manure in 

 trying to make it raise something. It is doing 

 better, but it takes time. Well, friend Terry 

 has several acres yet that has never been re- 

 claimed. As we looked it over he said it would 

 probably not bring over $15.00 per acre. The 

 original soil had been wash(jd off, and it was 

 hard, stony, gravelly, yellow clay. A part, 

 however, of this same kind of land lias been re- 

 deemed. Just over the fence there was a beau- 

 tiful stand of wheat, all even, with great long 

 heads just bending under their loads of plump 

 grain. Clover and underdraining did the busi- 

 ness. From what experience I have had, I 

 should say that his tiles were too small; but he 

 said they were all he could afford when he did 

 the work. Another thing, many of them have 



no outlet, except being stopped right in this 

 hard gravel; but they are doing very satisfac- 

 tory work. Mulching tlie poor portions with 

 straw has also been a wondeful help in getting 

 a stand of clover. It is the result of enthusi- 

 asm and steady work year after year, together 

 with careful planning and experimenting, to 

 make the most of some of the poorest ground to 

 be found in the State of Ohio. There is, how- 

 ever, soine very good ground on the place. This 

 will produce excellent crops without very much 

 care or attention since it is thoroughly under- 

 drained. 



While at Everett, on the river, we talked 

 Terry, of course; and a store-keeper there told 

 me he would like to see Terry manage with as 

 little help as he used, on their rich river-bottom 

 land. I asked him where the trouble lay, and 

 he replied: " Why. Mr. Root, the xoeeds grow so 

 enormously. It beats any thing you ever heard 

 of. You can scarcely raise a crop of any kind, 

 for the weeds shoot up, and get away above it, 

 and you can see them all around you "here, high- 

 er than your head." 



Y"es, I did see them " higher than my head;" 

 and I saw rank luxuriant corn and potatoes 

 struggling with the weeds. Oh, dear! what an 

 excuse to bring forward — that the ground was 

 unfortunate because the weeds grew so fast! 

 Why, I just delight in seeing weeds grow on 

 our place — that is, I delight in seeing them un- 

 derUike to grow. Now, I, too. should like to see 

 Mr. Terry take hold of some of that rich river- 

 bottom ground, and I should like to see him 

 manage the weeds. There may be a provi- 

 dence, however, in the fact that God has seen 

 fit to plant him where he is — on a farm that 

 averages about as poor naturally as almost any 

 farmer in the State of Ohio has to contend witli. 

 If you think I am deceived, just visit friend 

 Terry, as I did. and take the spade and go over 

 his farm. 



I was a little surprised to see their straw- 

 berry-patch struggling with wheat, so that it 

 might almost be called a wheat-field. But the 

 reply was. that, after the frost killed the ber- 

 ries, it was not worth while to go to the ex- 

 pense of pulling out the wheat. 



" But. my good friends, why didn't the wheat 

 come up in the same way last year? When I 

 was here a year ago there was not a spear of 

 wheat on the whole half-acre.'' 



"Oh! we pulled it out last year." 



"Oh! you did, did you? Well, now, when I 

 wrote about it in the strawberry-book I was 

 under the impression that you shook the straw 

 so thoroughly that no grain was left to germi- 

 nate." 



Now, friends, look here. Right here is a 

 significant fact. Even our best thrashing-ma- 

 chines (for I suppose friend Terry employs a 

 good thrasher) leave enough grain in the straw 

 to make a thin seeding where the straw is put 

 on the ground for a mulch as thoroughly as Ter- 

 ry does it among his strawberries. It is true, his 

 strawberries were almost a failure, with the ex- 

 ception of the Sterling. I thought I had seen 

 and tasted handsome berries; but I certainly 

 never enjoyed any berries before as I did those 

 during my last visit. I took supper while my 

 horse was eating at Everett; but when I told 

 them the fact, Mrs. Terry said I must have 

 some strawbei'i-ies anyhow. You know I not 

 only eat a quart at a meal, as friend Terry does, 

 but I eat a great many Ixitween meals. In the 

 first place, the Sterling, besides being hardy, is 

 about the most handsomely colored berry I ever 

 saw. I do not believe the colored plates of 

 strawberries have ever overdone the matter, 

 so far as the Sterling is concerned. The berries 

 are not extra large, but they are of good shape 

 and even size; and then the strong tart taste 



