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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 1.5. 



used on the premises are made by their own 

 mechanics ; and many machines that would 

 never be needed anywhere else in the world 

 are made here for their special business. 1 

 omitted to tell you that the machine for sort- 

 ing onion-sets is a combination of cylinders 

 made of wire screen. One cylinder goes in- 

 side of the other, and they are of different 

 lengths. The arrangement is such that, when 

 the sets are poured in from an elevated plat- 

 form, each kind runs out down to the ground 

 into its respective sack, ready to be pulled up 

 into the buildings before mentioned. 



The Landreths, after long experience, select 

 the ground best adapted to growing each 

 vegetable. Not only do they select their 

 fields on the Bloomsdale farm, but they have 

 a branch seed-farm at Norfolk, Va., of more 

 than 1000 acres, for growing seeds than can 

 be raised to better advantage further south. 



Of course, there are lots of boys and girls 

 on the Bloomsdale farm ; and provision is 

 made for these at a very pretty schoolhouse. 

 There are many men who have spent all their 

 lives with their families in the employ of the 

 Landreths. No wonder ; for this institution 

 has now been running for 111 j^ears. I can 

 not imagine a prettier sight than a field of 

 onion-sets with men, women, and children 

 engaged in cultivating the crop and keeping 

 it clean. Very likely they have a church as 

 well as a schoolhouse ; but I forgot to inquire 

 in regard to that ; and possibly a Sunday- 

 school and Endeavor Society. Perhaps some 

 of the Landreths will tell us about it. 



As the older members of the firm were 

 absent, one of the grandchildren (or possibly 

 great-grandchildren) showed us around. If I 

 am correct, it was Mr. Fletcher Landreth, a 

 young man of eighteen. 



The testing-grounds, where all varieties of 

 garden vegetables advertised by the Landreths 

 or anybody else are tested every year, are so 

 extensive as to bewilder one. Why, it would 

 have taken ever so much more time than I 

 had allotted to my visit, to look over the 

 testing-groimds alone. 



Of course, the Landreths have a .side-track 

 of their own for loading up cars. These side 

 tracks run manure in from the great cities, 

 and carry out crops of seeds. Ever so many 

 carloads of onion-sets alone are .shipped north, 

 south, and west every year. In their testing- 

 grounds sometimes .)000 difTerent varieties are 

 tested. One who has undertaken on a small 

 scale to determine which is the best vegetable 

 out of half a dozen sorts can form an idea of 

 the perplexities of this testing business when 

 it runs up into the thousands. 



When you stand over on the railroad track 

 and take a birdseye view of the farms, a very 

 pretty effect is noticed by the inscriptions on 

 the roofs of the buildings. For instance, one 

 great barn will have the word " Landreth's " 

 covering the whole roof. Another building, 

 some distance away, has the word " Garden." 

 Still another barn has the word "Seed," in 

 gigantic letters; and the last one of the group 

 of four will have the word " Farms." All 

 together it reads, "Landreths' Garden Seed 

 Farms." 



I was surprised to learn that their cabbage 

 from which they grow their seed .stands out 

 in the open ground all winter. I was told 

 about their special treatment necessary' to do 

 that, but can not now exactly recall it to 

 mind. In fact, I asked so many questions it 

 is not a little strange that I can not remember 

 the answers to them all. I do not know how 

 many buildings there are on this huge farm, 

 but enoiigh, I assure you, to make a pretty 

 good-sized town. They are mostly in groups. 

 Sometimes the groups are a quarter or even 

 half a mile apart. This is to facilitate getting 

 the crops under cover quickly when rains 

 come up suddenly. Of course, they have 

 steam thrashing-machines and special sepa- 

 rators for working every variety of seed re- 

 quired in the home garden. It would not be 

 at all strange if, with their great facilities for 

 doing the work on a large scale, they could 

 furnish good seed for less prices than it would 

 be possible to do on a small scale. I believe 

 most of the seed-farms in the vicinity of Phil- 

 adelphia purchase their onion-sets of this firm. 



By the time we got around to the depot we 

 were prettj- well tired out, I assure you, as it 

 was a hot August day, and I regretted again 

 that I did not know better than to undertake 

 to go on foot all over the Landreth establish- 

 ment in just two or three hours. 



By the way, the projarietors have a beautiful 

 album of photographic views of the premises 

 I have tried to describe. There are 24 pic- 

 tures in all, and there are some of the finest 

 half-tone views in it I ever .saw in my life. 

 And , b\- the waj', the Landreths were one of 

 the first to adopt the custom of using photo- 

 graphs from life rather than exaggerated 

 paintings of the products and premises. I 

 was pleased to see on the front cover of said 

 album this little motto: 



NO ORDKR is too much trouble. 

 I don't know but this would be a pretty good 

 text for some of us who do business on a com- 

 paratively small scale. 



HOW TO M.\KE YOUR TOWN ORNAMENT.\I, AS 

 WEH AS USEFUL. 



A little place called Blake, just seven miles 

 from Medina, comprising a store, blacksmith 

 shop, and about a dozen houses, has just met 

 a streak of luck. The storekeeper, right on 

 the corner, bought about half an acre of land, 

 and proceeded to erect a dwelling. The first 

 thing was to jjrocure a good well of water. He 

 paid some men .?'24.00 for drilling 48 feet ; and 

 at that depth they struck a vein of water that 

 fills a three-inch pipe, and throws it two feet 

 above the .surface of the ground. It will not 

 go any higher than two feet, even if the three- 

 inch pipe is reduced to half an inch ; btit, of 

 course, the larger the pipe the larger the vol- 

 ume. Although this well was drilled only 

 about four weeks ago, the owner has already 

 piped it over into the road, or cross-roads, 

 rather, right in the center of the town. Here 

 he has a very pretty round pine tank, perhaps 

 ten feet across and four feet high. As the well 

 on his premises is a few feet above this tank, 

 a very nice little fountain sends a stream up 



