1892 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



(523 



fallen in lovowitli the Iloiiit' of tho Honoy-bops. 

 I should like to visit yon some time, and. above 

 all. I shonUi like to g<>t ao(inainti'd with sonic 

 of tlu' bee-wonuMi. (.'i.aua Ci ti.ku. 



Paw Paw, Mich., July .5. 



MII.KWKKDS. 



Mr. Adrian .1. Hesse, Uay Shore, N. Y., sends 

 one of our common milkweeds. ^.sT?c/»i».s' cor- 

 )iuti. He wisiies to know why it kills bees. He 

 finds bees dead on it. and sent some along with 

 the sample that he mailed to me. This is noth- 

 ing new or uncommon. The large sticky polleti 

 masses catch the bees and hold them as pi'ison- 

 ers till they die. I figure the trap in my Man- 

 ual. Even if the bee is strong enough to pull 

 away, it drags the large mass of pollen with it, 

 and often is regarded as an intruder by the 

 other bees, and is dragged forth from the hive 

 as relentlessly as are the drones when they are 

 no longer useful. We have this species abun- 

 dantly on our river-fiats, close by the college; 

 and although I find the bees made prisoners 

 each year. I am of the opinion that the fiowers 

 are more beneficial than harmful to the bees. 



Agricultural College. Miph. A. J. Cook. 



Notes of Travel 



FROM A. I. ROOT. 



Before leaving the Pacific States I wish to 

 say a few words in general in regard to the 

 fruit industry. .Somebody has said that the 

 fruit crop of California is worth more than the 

 gold output. Very likely this is true; but 

 every one should remember — in fact, lie should 

 keep constantly in mind the fact — that people 

 fail in fruit-growing in California as well as 

 here in Ohio and everywhere east. Even in 

 California there is no excellence without great 

 labor: and there are places where great sums 

 of money have been invested, and yet a major- 

 ity of the people say ■■ fruit- farming does not 

 pay," just as they say here in the east that 

 " farming doesn't pay." In the suburbs of Pas- 

 adena, one of the most beautiful fruit-growing 

 regions on the whole Pacific coast, there are 

 individuals who will assure you that nobody 

 around there makes it pay to grow fruit. And 

 now comes another thing that some of you 

 friends will hate to hear me say. It is this: 

 The great achievements in the way of fruit- 

 growing have mostly been accomplished by 

 men or companies of large means. There are 

 certainly great advantages in doing things by 

 the wholesale — that is. if you can get good men 

 to look after them and manage them. While 

 we were at Santa Paula our good friend Rufus 

 Touchton took myself and Mrs. Root around 

 among the fruit-growers quite a good deal. I 

 was especially pleased to be driven through an 

 orchard of a hundred acres set to lemons and 

 oranges. A very fair illustration of the way 

 that hundred-acre orchard looked is given in 

 the picture on next page. 



The picture is not one of my taking. The 

 Kodak is hardly equal to such a view as I 

 wanted, and therefore I purchased a picture 

 there that seemed to tell the story as I wanted 

 it told. Observe the men in the trees, with 

 their sacks strapped about their shoulders; 

 see. also, the heaps of fruit, the arrangement 

 of boxes, etc. To get an orange grove in full 

 bearing like the above, one must labor for years, 

 and it must be no slipshod labor. If the owner 

 becomes discouraged, and loses heart, the whole 

 bottom drops out of his enterprise at once. 

 Unless the trees are watered with immense 



quantities of water they will die in a few 

 months or even weeks. Hut. on the other hand, 

 where a num is full of faith ami (Miergy, and 

 doi'S every thing in the best manncrr at just the 

 right time, the possibilities are wondiirful. I{ut 

 so they are here at lutme where I live and 

 where you live. A man who will work for it, 

 and who selects fruit adapted to the locality 

 where he lives, can produi'e wonderful results, 

 even froiu a single acre of ground. 



To show you what is possible to do with a 

 single orange- tree. I submit a cut that I found 

 in one of the photograph galleries. It is a pic- 

 ture from real life, without question; but very 

 likely the artist .selected the very best specimen 

 he could find. Perhaps this picture is one out 

 of a thousand, but it is reality. 



Before I go further I wish to say a word more 

 in regard to our friend Rufus Touchton. of 

 Santa Paula, Ventura Co. Friend T. does not 

 belong to the same church that I do: but for 

 all that, Mrs. Root says, and I say ainen to it, 

 that he and his good wife are two of the nicest 

 people we found in California or in any other 

 place. Of course. I had to visit their new 

 church, which was then in process of construc- 

 tion; and afterward we had a glimpse for the 

 first time of the Japanese persimmons as they 

 grew on the trees. And, by the way, of all the 

 beautiful and luscious fruits that God in his 

 love and mercy has given us, it seems to me 

 there is nothing much nicer than a real ripe 

 Japanese persimmon. Perhaps three-fourths 

 of the people who undertake to eat them do 

 not like them at all. The trouble is, they are 

 stubborn and contrary. You take a person 

 who lacks charity, and he would not like a per- 

 simmon—funny, isn't it '? Well, let me explain. 

 You step up to any of the fruit-stands in 

 Los Angeles or any other of the beautiful cities, 

 and ask for persimmons, and tlie dealer will 

 give you some mushy, rotten-looking ones. If 

 you are one of those suspicious people who have 

 learned about " tricks in trade," and firmly be- 

 lieve that every one is bent on swindling you, 

 you will say to yourself, if you do not say out 

 loud. " Oh, no, my good friend I you can't come 

 any such game on us as that. No doubt you 

 would 1)6 glad to peddle oft' your stale rotten 

 fruit; and perhaps you think tliat, because we 

 are new comers, you can pull the wool over our 

 eyes by that sort of talk; but it is altogether 

 too thin." 



The experienced merchant, who knows how 

 to serve his customers as he would like to ije 

 served himself, and who knows there is more 

 money in the golden rule than in any thing else, 

 pleasantly replies, '• I know very well, friends, 

 that it looks to you eastern people as if these 

 persimmons that I offer you were unfit to eat; 

 but, in fact, they are the only ones that are so 

 perfectly ripened as to be really i)alatable. But 

 you must overcome your prejudice a little in 

 order to enjoy this really fine fruit. Now, I 

 should be quite giad to sell you these firm, 

 smooth, handsome ones; l)ut before you can 

 eat them you will have to take them home and 

 keep them till they are soft and mellow like 

 this." 



'■ Do you mean to say that these soft things, 

 that will almost flatten down if you touch them, 

 are not spoiled?" 



"Exactly: and if you will overcome your 

 prejudice, and eat one of them, you will agree 

 with me; and. liesides. you will know how to 

 eat persimmons ever afterward." 



Well, I learned the trick, for such you may 

 call it. I picked the softest and most forbid- 

 ding-looking ones on the tray that belonged to 

 tlie fruit-stand, and ate them with avidity; 

 but when as wise a man as our good friend 

 Prof. Cook, and he a college professor too, came 



