596 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 1. 



come that intoxicants have no place on board 

 of a man-of-war, why not let the same ruling 

 be carried out on the land as well ? It seems 

 that, if any man in the world ought not to be 

 allowed to get hold of a "gun" under any 

 circumstances, it is the one who handles in- 

 toxicants. It rejoices my heart to see the 

 stand that our dailies are taking for temper- 

 ance; and if the rest of the world would fol- 

 low them we could soon shout, with the Anti- 

 saloon League, all the world round, "The 

 saloon must go." 



By the help of the barometer and Weather 

 Bureau our wheat was got into the barn with- 

 out getting a particle of wet on it; but the 

 barn was literally crammed full. After the 

 wheat was drawn in we went over the stubble 

 with a mowing-machine, then raked it up 

 with a horse-rake, and had six pretty good- 

 sized loads of loose straw and wheat together. 

 When the thrashing-machine got around to 

 go to work, the barometer indicated rain. We 

 got help from the factory to come out and 

 push things; and by working late at night, 

 and commencing very early in the morning, 

 we just managed to get every thing cleaned 

 up in good condition, and the machinery sent 

 away just before a season of heavy thunder- 

 showers. I tell you, the saving on that wheat 

 crop alone has paid for a good many barome- 

 ters. As we have not measured the ground 

 the wheat grew on, we can not give the pre- 

 cise amount of wheat per acre; but it is some- 

 where between 25 and 30 bushels. But the 

 quantity of straw was immense. There were 

 217 bushels of wheat, and one of the largest 

 strawstacks I ever saw — that is, for a small 

 farmer. As straw commands a very small 

 price at present, and but little demand, I shall 

 have plenty to give my strawberries such a 

 mulching that I won't need to have muddy 

 berries next year. Our thrashing-machine 

 was one of the best up-to date rigs, and there 

 was but little wheat in the straw to bother in 

 the way of weeds. And, by the way, I have 

 long been wanting to try raising some extra 

 nice seed potatoes under straw; so you see 

 now is my chance. 



We finished thrashing Saturday afternoon. 

 The boys and men were pretty tired, and they 

 went home a little early. But just as the last 

 one had got out of sight Huber informed me 

 that the 



BLISTER POT.\TO-BUGS 

 were just getting on the Bovee potatoes in 

 droves. I told him to wait till I could see if 

 I could find a boy over at the factory who had 

 not gone home. They were all gone. By the 

 time I got back to where I left Huber he was 

 gone too. He did not hear my last remarks, 

 and had gone down to the river to take a bath, 

 a mile or two away. I went out among the 

 Bovee potatoes. There they were, hill after 



hill, just like broom-splints. It seemed in- 

 credible, for we had been around there cer- 

 tainly not much more than 24 hours before, 

 and the potatoes were all right. When I saw 

 them there was not a bug in sight, and, for 

 that matter, there was hardly a leaf on the 

 potatoes. I looked all around, but I could not 

 see a bug; but there was a wdde swath of clean 

 potato-tops spreading off toward the south- 

 east. The rascals were moving in an almost 

 straight line. I followed along, feeling sure 

 I should catch up with them. It was about 

 six o'clock Saturday afternoon of an exceed- 

 ingly bus}' week, and the help had all gone 

 home. If that army of bugs was to be routed 

 before Sunday it looked as if I should have 

 to do it. I gave each hill a kick with my 

 foot, not hard enough to hurt the potatoes, 

 but hard enough to dislodge the bugs. Now, 

 my feet are not very large, but they are very 

 nimble when I am deeply interested, Peter 

 Henderson once delivered an address on "gar- 

 dening with the feet." Well, for about two 

 hours I did some of the tallest gardening with 

 my feet that I ever did in my life. The 

 ground was so mellow that stamping on the 

 bugs did not hurt them very much; but I no- 

 ticed that, if I gave my toe a twist so as to 

 grind them into the soil, they were pretty 

 much disabled; and I kept stepping on them 

 and giving them a twist with one foot, and 

 then with the other. Pretty soon I began to 

 get warm, and off went my coat and vest. As 

 it was cloudy after the rain, I pretty soon dis- 

 carded my hat also. It occurred to me once 

 or twice that the neighbors might think I had 

 gone crazy to see me dancing a hornpipe, or 

 something like it, as I waltzed through the 

 potato-vines. Well, I kept on till I got tired 

 out. But there were more bugs ahead, and I 

 could not afford to stop. Preti)' soon I was 

 agreeably surprised to find I was getting a 

 " second wind," just as I do when riding a 

 wheel. By the way, friends, I think one 

 might get a second wind in almost any thing 

 if his sympathies are sufficiently enlisted. 



By the time it began to grow dark I had 

 gone over every hill infested with bugs. Of 

 course, a good many of them escaped me, and 

 congregated on neighboring plants. You 

 know I am talking about the old-fashioned 

 potato-bugs, and not the Colorado beetle. We 

 always call them " blister beetles " for short. 

 I had been " acquainted " with them for over 

 forty years, and knew pretty well how they 

 operate. I expected the live ones that were 

 left, and perhaps some of the cripples, would 

 by morning be gathered m a cluster some- 

 thing like a swarm of bees. I once saw a lot 

 of them on the corner of a corncrib, forming a 

 cluster almost as large as a swarm of bees. 

 They were destroyed by burning straw before 

 a bug could take wing. Huber uses, in his 

 electric work, a gasoline soldering-apparatus 

 that will throw a powerful blaze a foot or 

 more in any direction, up or down. By the 

 time I had finished my "hornpipe in the po- 

 tato-patch " Huber had got back from his 

 swimming, and he got me his torch and 

 showed me how to use it. 



Next morning I was up at four o'clock, but 



