1900 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



227 



Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow ; they 

 toil not, neither do they spin ; and yet I say unto you 

 that Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like 

 one of these.— Matt. 6 : 28, 29. 



I have thought best this time, dear friends, 

 to give you a gUmpse of other homes. I was 

 impressed to do so on account of the many 

 exceedingly kind letters I have had since I be- 

 came interested in flowers, and the flowers 

 that grace and brighten the homes where 

 GiyEANiNGS goes on its semi-monthly visits. 

 First we will read a letter from a home in 

 North Carolina : 



Dear Mr. Root: — For some time past I have been 

 reading with pleasure of the interest you are taking 

 with flowers. I am glad you are finding them inter- 

 esting and lovable. I regard them as little mission- 

 aries sent from God to teach us beauty, purity, and in- 

 nocence. Perhaps you have read Mrs. M. Crawford's 

 essay on pansies. I have, and think it beautiful. Sure- 

 ly the flowers have a mission to perform. And have 

 you noticed that lovers of flowers are generally lovers 

 of goodness and purity in other things? I do not re- 

 member knowing any true lover of flowers that was a 

 real mean person. Still, I know some fathersof families 

 who deny their children the use of a wee bit of ground 

 for flowers, when perhaps these same fathers own 

 hundreds of acres, because " they are not fitten to eat 

 or to wear." 



Well, our home is a poor and humble one; but the 

 friend or stranger passing our gate is quite sure to see 

 flowers in sea.son; and our little ones are encouraged 

 to love and care for the flowers. 



Roxobel, N. C, Feb. 26. ,Mrs. Geo H. Barnes. 



^After I had spoken of my forcing-bed, and 

 of how much pleasure it gave me, there were 

 many inquiries in regard to making a forcing- 

 bed to be placed in a window in the average 

 home. In our last issue I tried to tell you 

 how to make something of the kind. In order 

 to confine the air so as to keep the sand and 

 cuttings moist and damp, tops and foliage as 

 well as roots, it occurred to me a little bell-glass 

 or vase inverted over the plant would be just 

 the thing. Then I got to thinking that, for 

 very small cuttings, a glass disk-co\er would 

 do very well ; and if the edges set down into 

 the sand it would make it perfectly tight. In 

 looking around the store I found some cheap 

 glass butter-dishes, and I have already taken 

 one of these, filled the lower part with sand, 

 put in it some cuttings, and it seems to answer 

 the purpose perfectly. While visiting my sis- 

 ter a short time afterward I saw that she had 

 inverted a fruit-jar over a coleus that did not 

 seem to thrive in the dry air of the home as it 

 did in the damp air of my own greenhouse. 

 Then I was reminded by the following letter 

 that I had not really struck on any thing nezf 

 after all ; and so we have something from a 

 home away off in Nebraska : 



Mr. Root : — I am ven,' much interested in house- 

 plants — have a bay-window full, blooming now. I 

 have just started slips, for beds, in tin cans. I put 

 about half a dozen small ones in each can, and cover 

 with a tumbler. They commence growing right away, 

 and I hardly ever lose a slip. We find your Home 

 talks verv interesting. Mrs. Jay Willey. 



Mead, Neb., Feb. 28. 



And now we have something from a home 

 away off in Quebec : 



Your account of the coleus makes me wish to try to 

 raise some from seed. I have one now, but a very 

 dark one; but there is a beautiful one n the house, 

 owned by my sister-in-law, which leminds me of the 

 one you dt scribe; but the colors aie not the same. 

 I only wish I could tell you about it The old leaves 

 change in color, and the young leaves are again 

 very different. All have a golden edge. 



Kingsty, P. Q. Mus. J. C. Evans. 



The jadoo fiber, of which we have been fur- 

 nishing samples, is perhaps the best thing in 

 the world to start seeds of coleus or any simi- 

 lar plant where the seeds are very small. The 

 same forcing-bed or dish I have been talking 

 about is what is needed. I think I would 

 make the jadoo about half sand. Mix it with 

 a sieve, then pack the surface down smooth 

 with a little bit of board. Now sprinkle your 

 seeds very evenly over the surface, taking 

 quite a little time to do it carefully, because if 

 you get too many in one place your plants 

 will be greatly crowded. After the seeds are 

 scattered on the surface, get them into the 

 ground by carefully sprinkling v^ith a fine 

 spray, something as women sprinkle clothes. 

 Do not let any big drops of water fall on the 

 surface, for it would throw the seeds out of 

 place ; but get on water enough to make the 

 jadoo and sand as wet as mud. If you man- 

 age just right, the sprinkling will sink the 

 seeds fully as deep as they need. Then put 

 on your cover(a pane of glass, a glass tumbler, 

 dish-cover, or whatever it is), so as to keep 

 the jadoo moist and damp. Set the dish 

 where it can have as much sun as possible ; 

 and when the sun does not shine, the plant 

 should be kept quite warm, say between 70 

 and 80, or so the dish or soil will always feel 

 quite warm to your hand. In this way we se- 

 cured some 200 or 300 coleus-plants from one 

 paper of seed. The same treatment you give 

 cuttings to make them grow will cause any 

 seed to germinate in very much less time than 

 it would in the ordinary way. After the 

 plants come up give them air gradually, and 

 do not keep the soil quite so wet. A*ter you 

 get the knack of it, it is really astonishing to 

 see how cuttings, seeds, and every thing else 

 will grow and thrive under the influence of 

 air, warmth, and moisture. When the little 

 plants begin to crowd each other, put them in 

 the same jadoo and sand in little pots. I pre- 

 fer the very smallest size of thumb pots to 

 start with ; and when you get every thing to 

 working right, in three or four days these 

 little thumb pots will be packed full of roots ; 

 audit is just fun to give them more room as 

 fast as they demand it. 



Some will say this is too much fuss and 

 bother, and will suggest putting them in a 

 larger pot, so as to save so much shifting. 

 But your plant will grow twice as fast if you 

 commence with a small pot, and shift it grad- 

 ually to larger ones. Besides, these little pots 

 take ever so much less room. We have some 

 little boxes to set them in. See description 

 in our last issue. A whole dozen plants can 

 be watered all at once by simply dipping the 

 box, pots and all, in a pan of water and then 

 lifting them out again. 



And now we get the following excellent sug- 

 gestions from a home in Penns} Ivania : 



My dear Friend: — How delighted we are with your 



