1899 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



731 



man who gave the world the Concord grape, I 

 decided to contribute !?10.00; but, like many 

 other things, it was neglected, and then for- 

 gotten until our old friend was dead and gone. 

 He died a poor man, almost in need of the 

 comforts of life. It seems to me that few per- 

 sons have conferred a greater boon on human- 

 ity than did Mr. Bull in giving the world this 

 wonderful grape that now furnishes cheap 

 fruit for men, women, and children, not only 

 in the cities, but in almost every little town in 

 the United States. May God help us to re- 

 member better such benefactors of the human 

 race, and to remember them, too, while they 

 are living, without waiting till they are gone. 

 My friend, with very little effort you can have 

 a grapevine. If you haven't any, get right at 

 it this fall, and plant one. Train it up on 

 your barn, chicken-coop, fence, or house. It 

 will grow anywhere, and does not need even 

 a square foot of ground. Then go to work 

 and train it, and study its habits, and see how 

 easily it vields to training just where you want 

 it. 



Concord grapevines can now be had of al- 

 most any nurseryman for five or ten cents 

 apiece; and I have had them offered to me by 

 the thousand for the insignificant price of one 

 cent each. These low prices for the vines are 

 possible because it is such a strong-growing 

 thrifty variety. It requires scarcely any effort 

 to grow the little vines from cuttings, just as 

 it is little or no effort to grow the fruit ; and 

 the vines will commence bearing, usually, at 

 the second year. 



THE BUCKWHEAT CROP, AND THE LOCALITIES 

 WHERE IT IS MOSTLY GROWN. 

 We clip the following from the Government 

 Crop report for September : 



Buckwheat: Condition. — The average condition of 

 buckwheat on Sept. 1 was 75.2, as compared with 93.2 

 last month, 88.8 on September 1, 1898, 95.1 at the cor- 

 responding date in 1897, and 88, the mean of the 

 September averages for the last ten years. In New 

 York and Pennsylvania, which together produce 

 about five-sevenths of the entire crop, there was a de- 

 cline of 27 and 15 points, respectively, during the 

 month. In Maine. Michigan, and Wisconsin, the only 

 States having 20,000 acres or upward in buckwheat, 

 the condition declined 6 points 20 points, and 4 points, 

 respectively. 



It would seem from the above that the price 

 of buckwheat is likely to keep up. I do not 

 know how accurate these statistics are ; but 

 now I can understand why York State and 

 Pennsylvania have so much to say about buck- 

 wheat honey. It is raised considerably in 

 Ohio, but mostly in little patches. I notice 

 most of our buckwheat flour comes from Penn- 

 sylvania. I wonder if Michigan and Wiscon- 

 sin people get as much honey from it as they 

 do in York State and Pennsylvania. 



GOVERNMENT STATISTICS IN REGARD TO PO- 

 TATOES. 

 Potatoes : Condition. — The average condition of 

 potatoes on Sept 1 was 86.3. This shows a decline of 

 6.7 points during August, but the condition is still 8 6 

 points higher than on September 1, 1898, 19.6 points 

 higher than at the corresponding date in 1897, and 9.3 

 points above the mean of the September averages for 

 the last ten years. The decline during August extend- 

 ed to all the principal potato-growing States, being 10 

 points in New York and Ohio, Sin Pennsylvania, 20 

 in Michigan, 5 in Illinois, 3 in Iowa, 9 in Wisconsin, 



and 4 in Minnesota and Nebraska, these being the 

 States having 100,000 acres or upward in potatoes. 



It would seem from the above that the Au- 

 gust drouth was almost universal the United 

 States over ; and had it not been for this, po- 

 tatoes would have been a larger crop than last 

 season. I notice that within the last few days 

 the daily papers quote the best white table po- 

 tatoes at 55 to 60 cents, which is certainly a 

 very fair price if the growers realize that much. 



GOOD ROADS. 



At present writing, Sept. 30, there is a tre- 

 mendous activity all around Medina, on the 

 good-roads movement. Carloads of slag and 

 broken limestone are on the sidings right near 

 our factory, and farmers with teams are taking 

 the material on every main road leading out of 

 Medina. Our own big team is just at present 

 grading the street in iront of our factory, on 

 the north ; and masons are at work putting in 

 curbstones ; piles of vitrified brick for the 

 gutters lie on the sidewalk, and we expect to 

 have a different order of things before the 

 muddy season comes. The pleasant thing 

 about it is, that it is voluntary work. Every- 

 body is helping, and everybody is working 

 hard, for everybody is doing a work that will 

 be abundantly appreciated, not only by him- 

 self, but by all his neighbors, when the mud- 

 dy season is on us again. We first grade the 

 roads, making ditches two or three feet deep 

 along the sides. These ditches will give am- 

 ple drainage. Then the top of the road is 

 nicely rounded over. Then we put on, first, 

 on the clay, five or six inches of slag ; then 

 enough broken limestone to make a good 

 plump foot. The roadway is wide enough so 

 that we have ample room for a dirt road and a 

 stone road. In summer everybody prefers to 

 travel on the dirt road, as it is easier for the 

 horses' feet ; but whenever it rains, then all 

 take to the stone road until the dirt road is 

 dry enough to travel on without cutting it up. 

 When you get into town, or very near it, 

 where teams are passing so frequently that a 

 12-foot stone road would not accommodate, 

 then we make it 24 feet wide. 



ROBBING SICK PEOPLE ; CURING PfcOPLE HUN- 

 DREDS OF MILES AWAY, WITHOUT GIVING 



THEM MEDICINE OR ANY THING 

 WHATEVER. 



One of the latest fads seems to be what is 

 styled in the advertisements " Modern Mira- 

 cles," or "absent method" of treatment. 

 Some great professor has a wonderful magnet- 

 ic power. I hope somebody knows what this 

 means. Iron and steel have magnetic proper- 

 ties, but not human beings. Well, never 

 mind. These magnetic healers send out most 

 astonishing testimonials. Jesus, at least once 

 in his ministry, healed a nobleman's son when 

 he was quite a distance from the patient. 



