898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 1.5. 



even know the name of this station, nor on 

 what road it was located. While having my 

 hair trimmed, as the barber seemed to be so- 

 ciable, and a well-informed man, I told him my 

 pi'edicament. and was greatly pleased to find 

 that he once carried on business in that very 

 locality, and therefore he could tell me all I 

 wanted to know. 



My first point was the lettuce-greenhouses at 

 Grand Rapids, Mich. I found our good friend 

 Eugene Davis as busy as ever, and as full of 

 enthusiasm in his chosen industry. He was 

 just completing two new greenhouses. In fact, 

 when I found him he was building the chimney 

 to one of them with his own hands. He insist- 

 ed, however, on taking otf his mortar-covered 

 apparel, and hitching up so as to take me 

 around to see the new houses just going up. 

 Eugene Davis was not only the introducer of 

 the Grand Rapids lettuce, but he is the pioneer 

 lettuce-growei'. It seems a little funny, but 

 nowhere else on the face of the earth do they 

 grow lettuce equal to the product of Grand 

 Rapids. Even away down in Cincinnati they 

 must send to Grand Rapids for their choice 

 lettuce. Now. it can not be in the soil and 

 climate, as it is with the Kalamazoo celery, for 

 the lettuce is all gi'own under glass, or neai'ly 

 all. Friend Davis found out how to do it, and 

 his neighbors all around are copying him. He 

 took me around to so many different places 

 where new greenhouses have recently been put 

 up, or just going up. that I was really bewilder- 

 ed. Although it was a cool November day, 

 quite a few were- handling putty and setting 

 glass. Perhaps there are now something like a 

 hundred houses, solely for lettuce-growing, in 

 the vicinity of Grand Rapids. These houses 

 are usually 100 feet long by 20 or more broad. 

 (See full description in our book. " What to Do, 

 and How to be Happy while Doing it.") Some 

 men have one house, others three or four, some 

 half a dozen. Friend Davis has now nine 

 houses in all. I made the visit principally to 

 satisfy myself on several puzzling points in 

 greenhouses. For instance, shall we lap the 

 glass, or butt the ends together? Friend Davis 

 tries both, and does not see much difference. 

 If I am correct, howevei', he. with what experi- 

 ence he has had, would butt them together in- 

 stead of lapping them. Shall houses stand 

 north and south, with the slope alike on both 

 sides, or shall they face the south, with a long 

 slope fronting the sun. Peter Henderson fashion? 

 Friend Davis favors the latter plan, although a 

 great many new houses are north and south. 

 Where one has two or more houses, shall he 

 place them close together or leave a driveway 

 between them? Of course, there is economy in 

 having them close together, and still more 

 economy in having the middle wall omitted, so 

 the two houses are virtually one. This will 

 do for houses standing north and south on level 

 ground. With the Henderson style, however, 

 they must either be on a side-hill, or leave a 

 roadway between them; otherwise the house 

 further south will shade the ow. behind it. 

 This may be remedied, however, by using a 

 side-hill with a gentle slope. In this case, how- 

 ever, the two houses must not communicate; for 

 if they do, the hot air, being lightest, will push 

 into the house standing highest. 



Shall we warm our lettuce- houses with 

 steam, hot water, or fine? Friend Davis pre- 

 f(MS the flue, and burns wood. A good many 

 who have steam and hot water in some of the 

 houses, and flues in others, give the preference 

 to the flues. Friend Davis tells us that a flue is 

 much the cheaper; and in winter time, when 

 the houses are inclined to be damp, the flue 

 seems to dry it out more effectually than either 

 hot water or steam; and this enables lettuce to 



receive with safety more fi'equent waterings.. 

 Another objection to having the houses stand 

 close together is the snow that comes down in 

 the gutter. Unless the houses are made un- 

 necessarily strong, the great weight may break 

 in the sash. Of course, it can be shoveled out. 

 but this is a cold and disagreeable job, and 

 somewhat dangerous, both to the glass and 

 to the operator. 



Friend Davis gave me the real history of the 

 origin of the Grand Rapids lettuce. It is not, 

 as it has been said, a selection from the Black- 

 seeded Simpson, but it is pi'obably a cross be- 

 tween the old Hanson lettuce and a strain, 

 name unknown, brought, by an old friend of 

 his, from the old country, sixteen or seventeen 

 years ago. 



Now, we have here a wonderful illustration 

 of what one comparatively obscure person may 

 do in developing and opening up a new industry. 

 Friend Davis first placed on the market a sort 

 of greenhouse lettuce that does not make heads. 

 By experimenting he developed a greenhouse 

 specially for its growth, and also in the same 

 way selected tiie very best soil and fertilizer. 

 What do you think they are? vSimply sandy 

 loam and horse manure! Four or five inches 

 of sandy loam, such as is found anywhere 

 around Grand Rapids, and two inches of fresh 

 clean horse manure, spread over it and forked 

 in as described in our book. What to Do, is all. 

 This gives rank, white, crisp lettuce, superior 

 to that raised in any other soil manured by 

 compost. Fermented manure has been tried 

 again and again, but it does not do as well. 

 Chemical fertilizers have also been tried, but 

 they are "no good." The stables in the city 

 save expressly for him fresh manure with- 

 out straw. VVhen it is spread over the beds, it 

 is beaten or pounded up fine with a stick a lit- 

 tle heavier than a piece of lath, having some 

 short nails driven into it. No matter how 

 many greenhouses his neighbors put up, for the 

 last fifteen years the demand has been, most of 

 the time, beyond the supply. Of course, this 

 may not always continue; but where the qual- 

 ity produced is equal to that raised by friend 

 Davis and his neighbors, there seems to be no 

 lack of a market. Even at the date of my visit, 

 Nov. 4, the grocers of Grand Rai)ids were offer- 

 ing 20 cts. a pound; and the proprietor of the 

 only lettuce that was fit for market would not 

 let it go. I asked him why; and he said that, 

 in two or three weeks, it would make such a 

 growth as to make nearly double the number 

 of pounds per square yard, therefore he prefer- 

 red to let it stand in the way I'ather than to sell 

 it as it was at 20 cts. per pound. Just one man, 

 with enthusiasm, and a love for work, both 

 with brain and muscle, has built up this great 

 industry. Dear reader, this world is not over- 

 stocked with such as he. Does not this little 

 story stir in you a determination to wake up 

 and do likewise — not in raising lettuce neces- 

 sarily, but in a thousand and one ways that God 

 has provided for those who love him through 

 his works? 



I now want to give you another illustration 

 right along in this same line. When I arrived 

 at Manistee my brother-in-law said I must go> 

 and see his friend Mr. Johnson. When he told 

 me he was a man who made clocks, I remarked 

 it had been so many years since I had had any 

 thing to do with clock - making, perhaps I 

 should not be well enough posted to appreciate 

 him. He remarked with a smile. "OhI you 

 wait and see. I guess there will be no trouble 

 but that you will find something interesting." 



While I was trying to imagine how a single 

 man could build clocks away up there in Man- 

 istee, we were ushered into a little square build- 

 ing standing by itself out in the dooryard. -Al- 



