480 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 15. 



by far the best place for market-gardening is 

 within, say, a mile of the salt water. The sea- 

 breezes, and the salt sprays that are frequent- 

 ly blown over the ground by the wind, exer- 

 cise a very beneficial effect. So you see there 

 are two reasons for being near the water — the 

 crops grow better, and transportation is easier. 

 Windbreaks are also found to be beneficial, 

 and in some places we saw where a dense 

 growth of underbrush was permitted to grow 

 up along the roadways to keep off the cold 

 winds. 



The potato mostly grown here for the North- 

 ern markets is the Early Rose, although fur- 

 ther south I am told they grow the Triumph 

 more largely. 



Nothing has ever been done in the way of 

 irrigation, even though they have many quite 

 disastrous drouths. As our Ohio Experiment 

 Station has recently stated, they find stirring 

 the ground with cultivators much cheaper 

 than applying water, and it seems to answer 

 very well. 



As an illustration of how a mere trifle will 

 make all the difference between profit and 

 loss, friend Stebbins gave me an item from 

 his own experience. At one time he was con- 

 siderably interested in growing turkeys — so 

 much so that he had quite a quantity of tur- 

 key manure. He and his neighbor were both 

 growing watermelons. The neighbor was an 

 old hand at it, and used Peruvian guano as a 

 fertilizer. Mr. Stebbins asked him if he did 

 not think turkey manure would answer about 

 as well. The neighbor thought it probably 

 would ; and, sure enough, the melon-patch 

 fertilized with turkey manure shot ahead of 

 the other. The vines were of better color, 

 larger, and actually produced more melons. 

 But now just hold your breath a little. The 

 neighbor's melons, fertilized with guano, were 

 ready for market about a week ahead of the 

 other, and the crop sold for eighteen hundred 

 dollars. The rank growth caused by the tur- 

 key manure made this patch later, and how 

 much do you suppose friend Stebbins got for 

 his melons? Why, just eighteen dollars in- 

 stead of one hundred times that amount ! 



Friend Stebbins has some land that is not 

 very valuable ; and some time ago, noticing, 

 as many of us have done, that blackwalnut- 

 trees are commanding tremendous prices, he 

 started to grow walnuts, and has now a 22- 

 acre walnut grove with trees six years old, 

 and almost an even stand. He planted two 

 walnuts in a place, and pretty nearly all of 

 them came up. A single walnut-tree, good 

 size, often brings §100 ; and I think we have 

 accounts in the papers of trees that brought 

 two or three times that amount right where 

 they stood in the woods. We may not all 

 live long enough to see walnut-trees grow to 

 be worth these prices, but how about the chil- 

 dren who are coming after us ? Who will 

 plant walnuts as well as basswoods?j 



As soon as I reached home friend Stebbins 

 kindly gave me some facts in regard to the 

 gardening around Norfolk, which I gladly 

 submit, as they may correct some errors I may 

 otherwise have fallen into. 



TEMPERANCE AMONG THE NORFOLK TRUCKERS, 

 ETC. 



All that section known as the "Western Branch," 

 comprising about one hundred square miles of land, 

 bounded by the Dismal Swamp, the western branch 

 of the Elizabeth River, Hampton Roads, and the Nan- 

 semond River, where the finest truck gardening I 

 ever saw is done, is under a strict unwritten prohibi- 

 tion law, and it is enforced by the best people, with an 

 iron hand. 



Although there are perhaps 50 stores within that ter- 

 ritory, not one of them could run there a week and 

 sell liquor. The good people simply won't have it; 

 and while the t mperance sentiment does not make 

 that salubrious climate, it does put tile-trains in the 

 fields, builds fine houses and barns, buys horses, farm- 

 tools, makes fat bank accounts, and happv people. 

 God grant that it may always remain so. [Amen! — 

 A. I. R.] 



You noticed how straight the rows were in the fields. 

 Now, straight rows are considered an essential to suc- 

 cess in trucking; and a trucker who would allow such 

 crooked rows in his fields as I have seen — yes, sir, seen 

 — in Ohio would be hooted and jeered until he sti aight- 

 ened them or got out of the community. There are 

 four things necessary in making straight rows; in fact, 

 there are five : Even, wel -tilled ground; a light one- 

 horse plow; a tall man; a small intelligent horse or 

 mule (a mule is considered to be better); and last, but 

 not least, a pair of six or eight sided sticks 12 or 14 feet 

 long, perfecly straight, supplied with iron socket and 

 point at one end for sticking in the ground, and paint- 

 ed red and white like a surveyor's pole. First a 

 straight row is made by the use of these two poles, us- 

 ing the space between the mule's ears as a third guide. 

 The rows are first laid off double distance, the row- 

 maker in his return "splitting out" the middle row, 

 otherwise three stakes would be imperative. Every 

 trucker has one or two men who do this work; and 

 great pride is taken, both by trucker and man, in the 

 even widths and straightness of their rows. 



It might be well to mention that the row-maker al- 

 ways sights some object in the distance just before 

 passing the first stick, which he pulls up and again 

 places exactly two rows distant from where it stood, 

 the last one being done in the same way, stopping 

 the mule to do it just before reaching the poles 



And now, friend Root, allow me to add, for the in- 

 formation of all who contemplate coining South to 

 live, that the greatest mistake they can make is to 

 think that the same methods in successful use in the 

 North are what are needed to make a success here; 

 for verily I say unto you, it is a whopper, and will ruin 

 any man who tries it on, as many a man has L.und to 

 his cost. I do not mean to say that the methods the 

 generality of people apply here are the best that can 

 be done — far from it: but I do say of a truth that their 

 methods are better for this region than those in use 

 at the North, if applied here. I know whereof I speak. 

 I have been here eighteen years, and have had experi- 

 ence in many things. We need Northern men and 

 their families here, and we need lots of them. There 

 is a living in this country for many who are willing 

 to work; but kindly tell them to leave their old meth- 

 ods at home. John W. Stebbins. 



Broad Creek, Va., May 26. 



I had just one chance to see strawberry- 

 picking going on in the regular business way. 

 Mr. Trotman had received intelligence from 

 Boston that berries were up to 12 cents, and, 

 in fact, I believe he had kept picking right 

 along. You see w 7 hen the fields are once aban- 

 doned they can not very well start again, be- 

 cause rotten or overripe berries w r ould get 

 among the good ones in spite of the pickers ; 

 therefore the proprietor of a strawberry -field 

 must keep the pickers going till he decides to 

 stop, and then he must stop for good. When 

 I saw the pickers in the field I said to friend 

 Stebbins, "There must be very nearly a hun- 

 dred people who are gathering berries." I 

 have been so much in the habit of estimating 

 the number of hives in an apiary by simply a 

 casual glance that I thought I could guess 

 pretty nearly at the number of people scatter- 

 ed through the patch. Friend Stebbins count- 

 ed them, and reported 104. There were all 



