1898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



937 



crook, and she has recently walked half a 

 mile and back in one afternoon, as straight as 

 anybody, and she will in a short time, doubt- 

 less, be able to dispense with her "harness," 

 as we call it, entirely. 



Now I am coming to the whole point and 

 summing-up of what you are to do. Other 

 homes have trials, as I know from the letters 

 from many dear friends like those in and 

 around our own home. Most of my readers 

 who are gray -headed have learned b}- sore and 

 sad experience that we must not demand too 

 nmcli of humanity. Troubles will come with 

 machinery in consequence of half-heartedness 

 in humanity; and, sadder still, this same half- 

 heartedness, or lack of thoroughness, is to be 

 found where human life and health are at 

 stake. What shall we do about it ? Shall we 

 go to law and seek to recover damages? Well, 

 if we were never half-hearted ourselves in a like 

 manner, we might give that sort of advice.-' 

 Of course, there are times when criminal care- 

 lessness has to be punished. The man who 

 deliberatel}' sells tobacco or beer to boys needs 

 to be stopped at once by the strong arm of the 

 law ; but if your hired man makes a mistake 

 resulting in a loss of property I would advise 

 you not to be too hard on him ; and if your 

 family physician has too little enthusiasm in 

 caring for sick ones, stand by him, go with 

 him, and try to infuse a little genuine enthu- 

 siasm into him. Enthusiasm is contagious, 

 thank God, and we all need to catch it — that 

 is, we need that kind of enthusiasm that 

 prompts us to love our neighbors more and 

 ourselves less. This world is full of troubles 

 such as I have outlined. Sometimes it does 

 us good, and does the world good, if we can 

 weep over it in sorrow as Jesus wept over Je- 

 rusalem while he prayed for thoughtless hu- 

 manity; and a great many times, when things 

 are going very badly and something has to be 

 done, I think it is well to weave into our 

 prayers the wonderful charity and love ex- 

 pressed in that ol/ier te-K.t, "Father, forgive 

 them, for they know not what they do." 



OUR ROLt OF HONOR, OR THE NAMES OF 



THOSE WHO HAVE TAKEN GLEANINGS 



FOR 25 YEARS OR MORE. 



Every little while somebody, in renewing 

 his subscription, makes the remark that he 

 has " taken Gleanings right along ever 

 since it was printed by windmill power." 

 Perhaps I might remark that the first sheet of 

 this journal was taken off the press 26 years 

 ago the 6th day of this month. There is not 

 much danger of the event being forgotten by 

 either Mrs. Root or myself, for a little blue- 

 eyed girl came into our household just a few 

 hours before the pages of Gleanings were 

 spread out to my gaze. Well, never mind. 

 Blue Kyee has now a very pretty home of her 

 own, within a very moderate stone's throw of 

 her father's and mother's home. And now I 

 want to know how many there are whose eyes 

 meet this who have taken Gleanings for 25 

 years or more. Just send in your names, and 



* Forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors. 



a little more if you feel like writing it, and we 

 will try to give it a place in print. Your old 

 friend A. I. Root has been planning a very 

 modest little Christmas present for all who 

 have stood by our journal through thick and 

 thin during all these years. We will try to 

 have a little symposium of letters from the 

 " veterans," in our next issue. I wish it were 

 possible for us to get together and sit down 

 and tell stories about the olden times. Some 

 of these younger ones do not seem inclined to 

 believe that we have been over and over, years 

 ago, the things they are just now discovering, 

 and which are supposed to be brand-new. But 

 we would not exclude the younger ones from 

 our party, dear friends. Do not imagine we 

 have got the idea that "cvisdoui dies when ive 

 die. We are glad to see the boys outstrip us 

 and leave us behind. Who ever heard of a 

 father and mother who were jealous of their 

 own children ? Now, then, get up and speak 

 your little piece. If you should stand up all 

 at once, and talk all together, it wouldn't mat- 

 ter, for we will put it all in order when it reach- 

 es the Home of the Honey-bees. I am dictat- 

 ing this on my 59th birthday, Dec. 9, 1898. 



digging POTATOES, ETC. 



In all my potato-growing thus far we have 

 dug our potatoes with a sort of shovel-plow 

 digger — a shovel-plow with steel rods sticking 

 out behind. Well, this digger is an immense 

 saving over digging by hand ; in fact, I have 

 dug my potatoes and put them into the cellar 

 several times, where the yield was good, at a 

 cost not exceeding 3 cts. per bushel. Now, if 

 there were not any thing more to add, our 

 friends might well inquire what I wanted of 

 any other kind of digger. Well, there z'^ just 

 one other circumstance that ought to be men- 

 tioned. Three fourths or perhaps more of the 

 potatoes can be put into the cellar at a cost of 

 3 cts. a bushel; but to get the other fourth out 

 of the ground and get them into the cellar 

 will cost anywhere from 10 to 15 or perhaps 

 20 cts. a bushel; and, worse still, there will be 

 a great many nice potatoes that you will 

 never get at all. We usually put in r3'e after 

 our late potatoes ; and to get the ground in 

 good trim we go over it with a two-horse cul- 

 tivator. This collects the vines, and brings a 

 goodly share of the remaining fourth of the 

 potatoes to the top of the ground. The boys 

 follow the cultivator and pick them up ; then 

 we run the Acme harrow over to fine and level 

 the ground, and this brings 'to light another 

 lot that has to be picked up. Then a boy fol- 

 lows the grain-drill and picks up all he can 

 find. After a good .shower there is still quite 

 a lot to be picked up if the weather does not 

 get so cold meanwhile as to freeze them. This 

 season we had a good many spoil in thi- way. 

 Now, I planned to have one of the best high- 

 priced diggers, that would leave all the pota- 



