1899 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



511 



SL^' % 



NOTES OF TRAVEL 



I BY A. I. ROOT . 





After bidding good-by to my good friends 

 at Norfolk, Va., I started "on to Richmond," 

 and I greatly enjoyed the trip along the bor- 

 ders or through the edge of the Dismal 

 Swamp. Some of the friends may remember 

 how often Harriet Beecher Stowe referred to 

 this locality. After getting away from Nor- 

 folk the truck-gardening gradually began to 

 give way, and then we had miles and miles of 

 unbroken forest and dense swamps, the under- 

 growth so thick that a man could scarcely 

 squeeze his way through ; and along the sides 

 of the railroad were some of the most beauti- 

 ful wild flowers, or perhaps I should say the 

 most beautiful floivers I have ever seen any- 

 where, in cultivation or out of it. I was es- 

 pecially attracted by a bush growing five or 

 len feet high, covered with purple flowers, 

 some of them almost as large as roses. These 

 seemed to grow in the greatest profusion. No 

 effort seems to have been made to reclaim 

 this swamp, so far as I could see along the 

 railroad. Perhaps there is a difficulty in get- 

 ting the water out of the way. Occasionally 

 we saw little patches indicating an attempt at 

 gardening around the stations ; but we passed 

 through many miles of country where no 

 attempt seemed to have been made in the 

 direction of agriculture. Of course, when we 

 reached a large town we found nice gardens 

 in the suburbs for a mile or two out. Espe- 

 cially was this the case as we neared Richmond. 



I visited Richmond solely for the purpose 

 of going over the strawberry-farm of Thomp- 

 son's Sons, of Rio Vista, which is located 

 only a few miles out of Richmond. In fact, 

 the street-car line is extended within two 

 miles of the place. When I wrote that part of 

 the tomato-book entitled " How to Support a 

 Family on a Quarter of an Acre," I directed 

 that the land be located at a four corners, if 

 practicable, so as to have a wagon-road on at 

 least two sides. Then I said that a neat and 

 pretty sign or bulletin-board should advertise 

 the plants, etc., that were for sale, and finally 

 that the plants themselves should be clear up 

 to the roadway, and that those fronting the 

 roadw r ay should be so choice that they would 

 be a standing advertisement of the business. 

 Therefore I was greatly pleased to find that 

 the Thompsons had such a location, and one 

 of the handsomest bulletin-boards one often 

 sees in a country place, reading as follows : 



C. H. THOMPSON. 



I can sell you trees for half what you pay when you 

 send "away off." Apple, peach, pear, plum; orna- 

 mental hedge-plants ; roses for yards, cemeteries, etc. 

 Strawberry-plants; raspberry, blackberry, gooseberry, 

 currant, asparagus roots ; rhubarb, cabbage, tomato, 

 egg-plants, lettuce, sweet potatoes, etc. I plant or- 

 chards, vineyards, lay out lawns, pleasure-grounds, 

 parks ; furnish trees, etc. Parties who wish their 

 yards and lawns cared for apply to me. All kinds of 

 cut flowers in their season. 



Then right up by the road, and down in the 

 valley below the road, there are beautiful 



flowers. Some of the finest sweet peas I ever 

 saw anywhere were there; and although flow- 

 ers do not enter very much into the business 

 of Thompson's Sons they have enough of 

 them scattered around to make the place very 

 attractive. 



Another thing that brought joy to my heart 

 was the sight of a great lot of men, women, 

 and children scattered around near the build- 

 ings, for it was just a little past dinner-time. 

 The younger ones were flitting around, evi- 

 dently playing games much as they do around 

 a country schoolhouse. These were his straw- 

 berry-pickers and the people employed in 

 various avocations over the grounds. By the 

 way, they were remarkably well dressed and 

 well behaved for colored people engaged in 

 such work. I do not know whether friend 

 Thompson has any thing to do with this or 

 not. One thing spoiled the beauty of the 

 place — at least the grounds away off over the 

 hills — and that was a long-continued drouth 

 that was just then prevalent around Rio Vista. 

 It gave us an opportunity, however, of seeing 

 what varieties of berries were best able to 

 stand drouth. And, by the way, the Thomp- 

 sons have over 100 varieties of strawberries on 

 their test-grounds. I think they have almost 

 every thing that has been written or talked 

 about, and a good many others. I tell vou it 

 is a task to look over and study the desirable 

 as well as the undesirable peculiarities of 100 

 different kinds of strawberries. I was more 

 or less familiar with a good many of them. 

 To give you an idea of the magnitude of their 

 business in plants, let me tell you that I saw 

 a letter from the railroad company concern- 

 ing a single shipment which seemed to be lost, 

 valued at $120. 



The price of berries at Rio Vista was very 

 low, just as it was at Norfolk ; but in order to 

 meet these low prices, the Thompsons were 

 paying the pickers only a cent a quart instead 

 of two cents. The pickers did not seem to 

 feel very badly about it, so far as I could see, 

 and there was no indication of a strike ; on 

 the contrary, they all seemed to be very glad 

 of the privilege of picking whenever more 

 berries were wanted. I think some of the 

 fruit was actually sold as low as three cents a 

 quart by the bushel. 



I was especially anxious to see the Darling 

 and Earliest on the grounds of the originator ; 

 and I was pleased to see quite a good quantity 

 of fruit still remaining on the Darling, not- 

 withstanding the drouth. When almost every 

 other berry had succumbed more or less, the 

 Darling seemed to be holding its own, both in 

 size of fruit and quantity of berries ; and they 

 told me they had picked more from the Dar- 

 ling and Earliest than from almost any thing 

 else. Of course, the berries are not as large 

 as some of the later varieties, neither are they 

 as firm for shipment ; but, all things consid- 

 ered, they fill a place among the very earliest, 

 to an extent that it seems every strawberry- 

 grower should give them at least a trial. By 

 the way, I think I never saw such great heaps 

 of berries around a single plant before as I 

 saw at friend Thompson's; but the drouth 

 was such that just acres of them will probably 



