512 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Juxy 1. 



never be worth picking. In fact, if rain had 

 come the very day I was there it is very doubt- 

 ful whether many of them would have been 

 saved. Perhaps one of the finest large berries 

 that were fine and large in spite of the drouth 

 was our old friend Sharpless. Of course, it 

 did not bear as many quarts of fruit as some 

 of the newer ones. I find in my notebook 

 that I have the Howell marked as being a 

 variety that held its own remarkably when all 

 the rest were giving up to the dry weather. 



One little plot of flowers near the house, 

 that attracted my attention especially, was a 

 bed of mixed sweet-williams. 1 am told they 

 are very easily raised ; and if so much bewil- 

 dering beauty can be produced by a bed of 

 late improved sweet-williams, I do not see 

 why every family does not have one. 



This little industry, made so attractive on a 

 public road, was turning out just as I should 

 expect it would. Vehicles were stopping 

 every little while to purchase flowers. Their 

 attention was first called to the beauty of the 

 display down in the little valley just below 

 the road, and then the sign I have spoken 

 about informed the passers-by that, further- 

 more, all these things were for sale. People 

 stopped to buy flowers, stopped to buy berries, 

 and stopped for vegetable-plants. In fact, 

 there was something somebody wanted almost 

 every day. Mr. M. T. Thompson, the father, 

 has been almost all his life testing new vari- 

 eties of strawberries as they are brought out, 

 and giving the world many of his own origi- 

 nating. Perhaps I might say that he intro- 

 duced the Haverland ; also the Carrie, a seed- 

 ling of the Haverland : also the Rio, named 

 after the locality, Rio Vista, and quite a good 

 many others that are pretty well disseminated. 



In order to reach home before Sunday I was 

 obliged to make my stay quite short ; but I 

 got a lot of pointers in regard to strawberries 

 and strawberry-growing that I expect to give 

 to our friends all along as they come to mind. 



Permit me to say a word about agriculture 

 generally, north, south, east, and west. In 

 Florida we have many wonderful illustrations 

 of the amount of stuff that can grow on a small 

 piece of ground ; for instance, orange or other 

 fruit-trees One wonders where the tree could 

 gather fertility for its enormous load of fruit. 

 But these great growths in Florida and Cali- 

 fornia are exceptions. Only very small tracts, 

 comparatively, are under successful cultivation. 

 I have heard it stated that not one acre in ten, 

 either in California or Florida, is of any use at 

 all to anybody ; and in some localities there 

 does not seem to be one acre in a hundred that 

 is devoted to growing crops. In a recent trip 

 through Virginia it made me feel lonesome to 

 see so much waste land or wild land — thou- 

 sands of acres with not even a fence around 

 them. In localities where the ground is 

 brought up to a high state of fertility, as it is 

 around Norfolk, this fertility is mostly main- 

 tained by the use of commercial fertilizers. 

 They do not plow green crops under as we do 

 here in the North. By the way, I am always 

 looking out for clover-fields, no matter where 

 I travel ; and I have always succeeded in find- 

 ing clover — at least a field or two — wherever I 



go ; and you can rest assured, friends, that 

 when a field once produces a heavy growth of 

 red clover, it can be kept right on producing 

 valuable crops year after year. 



It always does me good to see a country 

 where the laud is all occupied. On my way 

 home I could not but notice the contrast along 

 the valley of the Susquehanna River. The 

 Pennsylvania Railroad runs for miles and 

 miles through some of the most fertile valleys 

 I have ever seen anywhere ; and for long dis- 

 tances these valleys slope gradually down to 

 the river, so the passengers on the train can 

 have a full view of miles of the richest agri- 

 cultural country I have ever seen. Every bit 

 of the land is fenced in — sometimes away up 

 the mountain-sides, and ever}? acre is produc- 

 ing a luxuriant crop of something. The land 

 has been so well farmed that bare ground is 

 seen for only a very short space of time. 

 Something green and growing seems to be 

 everywhere. I never before had passed over 

 this route in May, and it was especially de- 

 lightful to me. From that beautiful observa- 

 tion-car (see another column) I had a magni- 

 ficent view of the farming country on both 

 sides of the track ; and along in the vicinity 

 of Horseshoe Bend it seemed to me I had 

 never seen any thing so beautiful. Riding in 

 a common car, and looking out of the small- 

 sized windows, one can hardly take in the 

 whole wonderful feat of engineering performed 

 in getting up the mountain-side by these 

 graceful curves that almost bewilder one as he 

 takes a sweep around to almost where he was 

 a mile or two back, only a little higher up. 

 The observation-car has a rear platform with 

 seats. Here the view is unobstructed. Then 

 there are arrangements to protect the passen- 

 gers from dust so far as possible. Perhaps I 

 may add that, inside of the car, a stenographer 

 and typewriter are at the service of all the 

 passengers, free of charge; and when it gets to 

 be dark, the latest and most improved system 

 of electric lighting makes it easy to see to read 

 or write, or do whatever you choose. Besides 

 this, the car runs so still that one can write 

 without a bit of trouble. I tell you, it is 

 worth paying a little extra to see what is pos- 

 sible in the way of modern conveniences and 

 inventions to make travel easy and delightful. 



OUR 



HOMES, 



BY A: I. ROOT. 



We that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of 

 the weak, and not to please ourselves. — Rom. 15 :1. 



While I was in California several years ago, 

 in company with several bee-keepers, we found 

 it necessary to stop over night at a country ho- 

 tel. Somebody said there was a revival meet- 

 ing going on at the church a little way off, and 

 I rather urged the crowd to go with me to 

 church. I did not know what denomination 

 the church was, and, for that matter, I did not 

 care, or I thought I didn't. The text was 



