1892 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



777 



disappear. Kut a sihkI many ncoplo i-aii (m*^ 

 well raise mif eroi) or speeial crops. Tliey 

 would sjet a irreai lot of perishable produels on 

 their liands. without a faeiilty or fienius for dis- 

 posing of tlicni at a payinir priei-. It is easy to 

 niisc crops— yes. iireat crops- tliat can not lie 

 disposed of for any thinii iil<e a deciMit price. 

 .Inst now I presume I could pick several w a«on- 

 loadsof wax tieans; hut 1 do not know of any 

 place in the world where I could get even :J.5 

 ots. a Vuishel for the crop. A ft>w months ago 

 wo got !.'> cts. <i intttrt. and did not have nearly 

 enough to go around even llu'U. Everybody is 

 now tired of them: the sanu'with tiu-nips. I 

 should be very glad indeeil to get :.'0 cts. a bush- 

 el for my entire crop of turnips that are ready 

 to harvest now; but I do not know where they 

 could be sold. I have not the time nor brains 

 to hunt up a market without having the ellort 

 cost me nu)re than the tui nips are worth. Of 

 course, we retail them around town at a good 

 deal more than that — say l."! cts. a peck, or 40 

 cts. if anybody wants a whole bushel. 1 asked 

 the boys if they could sell any mor(> if they 

 offered them cheai)er. and they said they did 

 not think they could. It is the sam(> way with 

 summer squashes. In order to get them off the 

 vines befoic they got too liaril. we off'ei'ed them 

 at a i)enny api(>c<'. The boys found a customer 

 who wanted a nice squash: but when they told 

 him he could have his ■"choice foi' a cent."' he 

 replied. ■■ No. no. my friend I heic is a nickel, 

 and that surely is cheap enough. If I can't get 

 the worth of a nickel out of it. it will be sur- 

 prising." I mention this to show you some of 

 the diiliculties. Hut. on the other hand, we are 

 getting very good prices indeed for our stuff' as 

 a rule — that is. if we don"t raise too inudi. In 

 fact. I would not ask for better prices, provid- 

 ing our markets w ere large enough so that they 

 would take all that we happen to raise. The 

 wa.\ beans were planted with the hope that they 

 might mature before frost, sufficiently for seed. 

 and a large part of them have done so. We 

 have had one pretty severe frost; but if we do 

 not get any more for a week or ten days, my 

 beans will be a paying crop. Summer squashes 

 may also be utilized for seed to a certain extent. 

 But this depends upon something thai T am 

 now coming to. 



It used to be the fashion for boys to learn 

 trades, but nowadays they don't do it. They 

 just work for whoever offifs them the most pay, 

 first at one thing and then another; and the 

 factories and other industries offer these untu- 

 tored boys so much that I do not see how the 

 farmer and gardener are going to pay such 

 wages for untrained and unskilled help, and 

 make both ends meet. Yes. there is one way in 

 which the farmer or gardener might do it. He 

 could take an untrained and unskilled boy right 

 along ivitli him: and while the boy is />;/ lils 

 .*.idf, and sees all the time just what he is do- 

 ing, if the boy really means well, and promises 

 to be useful, he could earn his pay. But sup- 

 pose you take the average boy. say fifteen or 

 sixteen years old. and undertake to pay him 7") 

 cents a day.Gl do not see how vou could do it. 



If my whole :;;0 acres could be planted to wax 

 beans, and if that were the only croj) we raised. 

 I think I could teach the boy, without very 

 much trouble, so he would know all about it. 

 from getting the ground ready, to gathering 

 the crop. I could teach him not to pick beans 

 that were too thin and green, and also to avoid 

 the other extreme and not let them get so old 

 as to be tough. I could teach him not to set 

 his basketdown where nobody could find it until 

 the contents were so wilted and dried up in the 

 sun as to be worthless; and I could also teach 

 him not to put into his basket a specked or 

 spotted one. and not to get leaves, dirt, and 



ruhbish; and I could make him understand 

 that, to bring the best price, they must be as 

 spotless and perfect as wax. for this is why they 

 are called nvrr beans. But suppose, in order to 

 get the two or three thousaiul dollars a year 

 that our town of .Medina will pay for garden 

 products. I undertake to teach liim just how to 

 grow anti handle civri/ crop, all the way from 

 asparagus, which heads thi' list of vegetabli'S. 

 clear down to turnips, which usually clo.ses the 

 catalogue list. The boy might be taught all 

 the kinks and turns; bui it would be like teach- 

 ing him a trade, or taking him through college; 

 and by the time be is taught so as to be an ex- 

 pert. s-omelKidy else would offer him 10 cents an 

 iiour. or l:i3'o, or possibly 1.") ccMits. Now. this 

 sounds a little like complaining. It strikes me 

 that it iN a littl(! on the other side that com- 

 plaints are usually nuide. Vou may say. and 

 very likely souu^ of my boy readers will say. 

 that wages are a good deal higher in our local- 

 ity. I do not think tlu^y are. my friend. There 

 are plenty wanting to work in our locality all 

 the time. ' In fact, for years past I have been 

 besieged, as I have told you. bv those wanting 

 places. A good many would offer to work in 

 our locality for .50 cents a day: but these are 

 the most (Expensive nien and boys I have ever 

 employed, with perhans some few exceptions. 



A good man or a good boy may sometimes 

 start out to work for a vei'v low jjrice. be|i(n'ing 

 that he will be able to make hims(>lf so appre- 

 ciated that he will very soon rei-eive higher 

 pay. Oh how I do like to meet with such I But 

 they are the exception and not the rule. There 

 is more to be considered yet. This boy that 

 you have, by months and perhaps years of 

 painstaking, taught to be valuable, will, sooner 

 or later, be taken from you suddenly. He may 

 be sick; circumstances may call him away, 

 even if somebody else does not offer him more 

 pay. This is a world full of changes. Whoever 

 goes into gardening or any other occujiation 

 must make up his mind to meet, and he must 

 calculate upon, changes. The man who grows 

 strawberries for a living, or whose strawberries 

 make a part of his living, must be prepared to 

 have his best man stop by sickness or accident 

 in the height of the season. On this account it 

 becomes almost necessary to keep on hand at 

 the busy season a little more help than we 

 really need. This is an (expense, I knosv; but it 

 is a little less expense than to see your crops 

 spoil because you can not get hold of anybody 

 who knows any thing about how to go to work 

 to help you out of your crowd. There are 

 pleasures and delights in raising berries, and in 

 raising garden-stuff and crops. I have tasted 

 them, and I know; but there are also trials and 

 perplexities that must be met and borne. The 

 curse that was pronounced upon Adam, is, in 

 the language of our text, still in force—" In the 

 sweat of thy face shall thou eat bread;"" and 

 he who undertakes to escape or avoid it must 

 pay the penally in some way or other. The 

 woman or man who proposes to eo though this 

 world without earning his bread by the sweat 

 of his face, will, sooner or later, find difficulty 

 and trouble. I have tried a great many kinds 

 of business, and I have succeeded at least toler- 

 ably in several different kinds; but I have 

 found the rule holds good all through. There 

 is no excellence without great labor; and I 

 think I would put especial emphasis on the 

 word great. The class of people who think it 

 is a fine thing or a grand thing to hire people 

 and tell tliem what to do. instead of being 

 obliged to do it himself, or to woik for somebody 

 else, are making a great mistake. 



I thought, when I started out to write this, 

 that I would tell you of some of the special 

 trials that meet intensive agriculture. For in- 



