436 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 1. 



confining for one who loved to be outdoors as 

 well as he did. He went back into the garden 

 near the shop and started a hot- bed for raising 

 tomato-plants. When he got some nice plants, 

 of course they sold for a good price, as they al- 

 ways do. So he enlarged his hot- beds until 

 finally his plant-business covered the greater 

 part of an acre right in town: and when he got 

 to a point where he made a, thousand dollars, 

 besides supporting his family, on this one acre 

 in one season, there was quite a stir in the com- 

 munity. I presume others did not go and do 

 likewise all at once, for they had probably 

 noticed that he did a great deal of hard work, 

 and was out among his plants at almost all 

 times of day. and sometimes even in the night. 

 Well, he not only grew nice plants, but he grew 

 so many nice tomatoes that the whole town 

 could not take care of them. Finally he went 

 to the tin-shop and bought some cans. If I 

 remember correctly, the cans cost him some- 

 where between ten and fifteen cents apiece. 

 But he canned his tomatoes that were spoiling; 

 and as he did it well, as he does every thing 

 else, they did not want for purchasers. Next 

 year he canned more; and by this means he got 

 the cans a little cheaper, and was enabled to 

 sell for a little less money. Every year the 

 business kept increasing. His family of boys, 

 three in number, although they didn't care 

 much about the "garden sass" part of the bus- 

 iness, liked the part pertaining to making cans 

 and putting up tomatoes; and now the Lake 

 Shore Canning-Factory is not only one of the 

 oldest, but perhaps the oldest successful institu- 

 tion of the kind that gives employment to hun- 

 dreds of men and women, and furnishes the 

 farmers for miles around with a new industry 

 in the way of tomato-growing. Friend C. said 

 that he very soon decided that, to make his 

 factory a success, he would have to save his own 

 seeds, raise his own plants, and supply the 

 farmers at the proper season with the plants he 

 wished to use to produce the product that was 

 to fill his cans. In order to keep business going 

 during the dull seasons, they manufacture cans 

 all through the year, employing various ex- 

 pensive automatic machinery that folds up the 

 tin. solders the joints, and finally sends word 

 down to the office below, just how many they 

 are making an hour for every working hour in 

 the day. If there is any hitch in the machine 

 or among the hands, the dial of the counter 

 tells it as plainly as the clock near by tells the 

 hours of the day. Some of this expensive auto- 

 matic machinery has been purchased, but the 

 greater part of it is the invention of friend C. 

 and his boys; and the pleasant way in which 

 the family seem to work together reminded me 

 forcibly of the Home of the Honev-liees. 



Now, although it may be a little foreign to 

 my subject, I wish to say a word in regard to 

 the way in which friend Cummins has built up 

 a beautiful home, and made it a veritable little 

 temple of God's gifts. In the first place, he has 

 a cistern in tlie attic. Of course, it stands on a 

 solid foundation, and is strongly made of boards 

 spiked together flatwise. After being suffi- 

 ciently braced and strengthened it is lined with 

 tinned copper; and as its upper edge is level 

 with the conductor under the eaves, when the 

 cistern is full no more runs into it, but the 

 water runs otf through the waste-pipe, or con- 

 ductor, in the ordinary manner. This cistern 

 supplies a closet adjoining every bedroom, with 

 beautiful soft water, for washing, bathing, or 

 for use in the water-closet. Next, he has on 

 his own premises three wells that furnish nat- 

 ural gas. This natural gas does the cooking, 

 lighting, and part of the heating, and furnishes 

 either hot or cold water in every one of the 

 wash-rooms before mentioned. As the gas is 



his own. and costs nothing except putting in the 

 plant, little gas-jets are burning day and night; 

 so when you need light or lieat you do not have 

 to even scratch a match — simply turn a valve or 

 move a lever with the foot. Well, besides hav- 

 ing water, both hot and cold, and heat, at pleas- 

 ure, he has one of the most perfect systems of 

 ventilation that I have ever seen. Abundance 

 of pure air is taken from outdoors: but it is 

 carried into the rooms so quietly and gently 

 that no draft is e\er fell anywhere. Before I 

 retired for the night, friend C. stepped to one of 

 the windows and pulled down one of the upper 

 sash. As the sash came down, a wire screen 

 followed it. The wire screen was incased, when 

 the building was made, in a cavity just above 

 the window. When you want the breeze from 

 outdoors to blow in. the screen comes down 

 automatically and keeps out insects or too heavy 

 a draft; and when you don't want it, it goes up 

 into its cavity, and stands like a faithful senti- 

 nel until wanted again. The kitchen is a 

 model of convenience, simplicity, and neatness. 

 In fact, about all the housewife or help has to 

 do is to sit down and pull levers, a great deal as 

 a locomotive engineer handles his train and 

 gives orders to his men. Now, water, air, light, 

 and heat are not the only gifts of God that are 

 pressed into service. Electi'icity also plays a 

 part; and if you are sick in the night, and wish 

 to summon some of the household, you may do 

 it by pressing on an electric button, which is 

 to be found close by the side of the bed in any 

 of the sleeping-rooms. Of course, there is a 

 windmill surmounting the neatly arranged 

 carriage-house and stable. This mill sends soft 

 well water, almost but not quite as soft as that 

 which comes from the clouds, to any part of the 

 premises, in case there should be a continued 

 drouth, or when water in greater quantity is 

 needed than it would be wise to draw from the 

 cistern in the attic. So perfect are all these 

 helps and aids that the kitchen help has plenty 

 of time to take a seat at the table with the rest; 

 and I suppose you know that, on general prin- 

 ciples, A. I. Root would always prefer to take 

 his meals at the same table where his helpers 

 take theirs. The best part of all the above is, 

 that the whole is the work of himself and his 

 boys, even to the plumbing and piping and 

 hard-wood finishing of the various apartments. 



Of course, I saw the hot-beds: and I smiled 

 to sei' that th(^y were covered with cloth, on a 

 plan quite similar to tlieone used by friend Day; 

 but. unTke friend Day, he nses steam, sent 

 through common drain tiles, to warm up the 

 l)eds. As the beds are all alike, and the strips 

 of cloth that cover them are also alik(\ when- 

 ever a freeze comes they can put two or more 

 blankets over the same seed-bed: and with 

 plenty of blankets above, and live steam in the 

 tile underneath, there is no trouble about keep- 

 ing off the frost. Years ago they adopted beds 

 only five feet wide. This makes it easy for the 

 boys and girls to reach across in transplanting, 

 weeding, sowing seeds, etc. I say girls, because 

 they told me they had been doing what I had 

 thought of for years — that is. employing girls 

 and women outdoors to raise plants. 



It rained all the time. ])retty much, while I 

 was tliere. They said if I would wait until the 

 sun came out I could not only see the thing at 

 work, but I might take views of the workwomen 

 as well as of the beds, with my Kodak. Of 

 course, I shall have to give the views a little 

 later on. Before they used cloth in their hot- 

 beds, they had a plan of using boards that I 

 think may be useful to many of ihe readers. 

 Boards about one foot wide are cut into lengths 

 of a little more than five feet. By the use of these 

 one man alone can cover and uncover the beds 

 without assistance. As the boards are stripped off 



