1899 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



729 



list, the clairvoyant, the maniac ; but as a rule 

 he knows nothing except what he has heard 

 or seen, and his astounding memory does the 

 wonderful things. I have room here for only 

 one illustration. Perhaps all of my readers 

 have heard of the mathematical prodigies who 

 have appeared here and there in ages past. 

 Zerah Colburn, of Cabut, Vt., has been written 

 up, perhaps, more than any other. He was 

 born in 1804. Without going to school, and, 

 we might say, without instruction, he solved 

 problems in mathematics in a way that star- 

 tled the whole world. There seemed to be al- 

 most no limit to his mental feats in this direc- 

 tion. Somebody asked him how many min- 

 utes there are in 48 years. He answered, be- 

 fore the question could be written down, 25,- 

 228,800 ; and added, on his own responsibility, 

 that the number of seconds is 1,513,728,000. 

 Somebody asked him to give the factors of 

 247,483. He answered instantly 941 and 263. 

 These multiplied together produce the former 

 amount, and they are the only numbers that 

 will produce it. Then he was asked to give 

 the factors of 36,083, and he answered instant- 

 ly there are none. The book I have mention- 

 ed gives quite a history of this remarkable 

 man. He was asked to explain where and 

 how he got the results, but he seemed unable 

 to answer. His father traveled with him in 

 different parts of the world, and they under- 

 took to educate him, thinking it would add 

 still more to his wondrous powers ; but in this 

 they were disappointed. 



Now, this astonishing memory is called in- 

 tuition, or the work of the subjective mind, if 

 you choose. The world contains more or less 

 wonderful phenomena which may be explain- 

 ed by this second self, to which the author of 

 this book offers a very reasonable explanation, 

 and I am satisfied that there is at least much 

 truth in it. His explanation, as I have said, 

 does away with lots of superstition. Now, so 

 far I can give the book a most hearty recom- 

 mend ; but when it comes to telepathy and 

 mind-reading, although I am open to convic- 

 tion I have not a particle of faith in it, and I 

 can not believe the stories that are told, even 

 in the book I am telling about. I believe in 

 wireless telegraphy and X rays, because they 

 are clear plain science ; but I do not believe 

 one man can influence the mind of another — 

 that is, in the way the telepathist is said to do 

 — whether he is one foot away from the per- 

 son, or a hundred miles. The author of the 

 book says he can make certain people dream 

 certain things, even when they are sleeping 

 miles away. Now, this thing can be easily 

 proved or disproved. Let some educated sci- 

 entific men, such as we have at our experi- 

 ment stations, for instance, witness careful 

 experiments in the matter. If they say there 

 is truth in it, then I will humbly beg pardon 

 of Thomas J. Hudson, LL D., Washington, 

 D. C, author of the book I have been talking 

 about. 



Dear friends, at this stage of my talk I dis- 

 cover that the story I had to, tell you, bearing 

 on the two texts at the head of this Home 

 Paper, will have to be deferred till our next 

 issue. 



DIGGING POTATOES. 



Yesterday, Sept. 22, I noticed that our Ma- 

 nual's Enormous, Carman No. 3, Maule's 

 Commercial, Queen of the Valley, and Sir 

 Walter Raleigh potatoes had died down so 

 there was no need of waiting any longer for 

 digging- I soon ascertained that our big team 

 could be spared from the business of the fac- 

 tory the next day; and it being Saturday, and 

 no school, I could have the boys, who have 

 picked up for so many years, to help. The 

 ground was just dry enough after a recent 

 soaking rain. In fact, it was a little wet in 

 the morning; but toward noon it got to be 

 just right. The Dowden digger worked to 

 perfection, leaving the potatoes nicely on top 

 of the ground. The Enormous potatoes, I 

 think, died down with the weather or blight 

 just before they were mature. The crop was 

 not very large, and somewhat scabby; but the 

 Carmans No. 3 were just beauties. Our neigh- 

 bor, Dan White, of New London, O., happen- 

 ed to make us a visit, and he spent a good 

 part of the forenoon in examining the nice, 

 handsome, smooth, shapely Carmans, and de- 

 clared they were the finest show of potatoes, 

 just as they lay on the ground, that he ever 

 saw in his life, and this is an "off year " for 

 potatoes. To my great surprise they yield 

 rather better than Maule's Commercial — the 

 one that cost me §10 for a single tuber. The 

 Commercials are rather larger ; but the pota- 

 toes are too crooked in shape, and the eyes are 

 very deep. But in quality, neither one com- 

 pares with Mills' Prize. But, oh dear me ! 

 Mills' Prize, on our ground, has developed a 

 very sad trait. It made me think of a young 

 man who just begins to think some special 

 girl is an angel, all but the wings. He con- 

 siders her just perfect. In his eyes she is 

 without flaw or blemish. Some time after 

 (maybe after they are married) he sees an 

 imperfection, and is forced to believe that she 

 is human after all. What a sad drop it is to 

 his feelings!* Well, when I found Mills' 

 Prize such a thrifty grower, so wonderfully 

 prolific, and so magnificent in quality, I was 

 going to mark it perfection among late pota- 

 toes. Lo and behold ! right beside the Car- 

 mans that are not scabby a particle Mills' 

 Prize are, many of them, very bad indeed. 

 The Queen of the Valley is a very fine potato, 

 and is very prolific, and we might think it 

 very fair if we had not had a glimpse of the 



*I feel constrained to add in this footnote, that, in 

 the case of the young lady, the trouble is not beyond 

 remedy. Very likely the young husband can not do it, 

 and perhaps he is not the proper one to undertake it; 

 but Christ Jesus who clean^eth from all sin, is both 

 able and willing to cure all our infirmities; and. by 

 the way, I feel sure we are going to succeed in getting 

 rid of this thing that troubles us in growing nice po- 

 tatoes. The Mills' Prize, on other soil, grows free 

 from scab; and I believe that, when we understand 

 the matter properly, it may be grown free from scab 

 in any soil The seed was" not treated before plant- 

 ing, because it did not seem to need it. I am sure I 

 can do better next time. 



