228 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 15. 



flower talks ! I read every word of it to Mrs. 1,., and 

 she said when I read last Gleanings, " Oh if we could 

 visit Mr. Root, and see his new pets !" Yes, Erne.'it 

 caught you just right. How thankful we are for that 

 picture ! Do continue your delightful floral talks. I 

 never yet met a family who were lovers of flowers 

 but were good citizens, good neighbor.s, and good 

 friends. When I come into a house where there are 

 plentv of plants and flowers well cared for I feel sure 

 I shall aL^o be cared for and kindly treated, and I 

 never was disappointed thus far. Could you give us 

 some advice on window gardening as so many of us 

 have no greenhouses? I, W. I,ighty. 



East Berlin, Pa , Feb. 23. 



My good friend L , I have been considering 

 this inatler of window gardening, and am 

 making some experiments in that line. Thanks 

 for your kind words. 



Here is a short note from a home in North- 

 western Ohio : 



It beats all how the women-folks take to Gleanings 

 since you have gone into the flower business. My 

 wife, mother, and sister all read it now, and before 

 they would hardly notice it. They want you to send 

 thein some of that jadoo for growing flowers. 



I^iberty Center, O., Feb. 26. S. A. Palmer. 



The next comes from my own sister, just a 

 few years younger than mj'self. She is the 

 mother of eight promising children, away up 

 in the northern part of Michigan. She did 

 not send this for print, and may be I shall get 

 into trouble, but I think I will risk it. If that 

 Michigan State bee-keepers' convention (near 

 Manistee) had not been in the winter time, 

 and just when I had a little touch of the grip 

 besides, I should have paid them a visit then. 



When I opened Gleanings this morning and saw 

 Amos sitting on the edge of a board with his specs at 

 half mast I just shouted. He looked so natural it 

 seemed as though he must hear me and respond as he 

 always does. I should enjoy sitting down among the 

 " posies" with him. My few plants that I have always 

 had by me have seemed almost as dear as my own 

 babies', and I think the poor things feel and show 

 neglect almost alike. I have only one plant in bloom 

 now besides a few hyacinths, and that is a little plant 

 called "Impatiens." How well Amos looks this win- 

 ter ! ;Mrs. C. D. Gardner. 



Manistee, Mich., Feb. 21. 



Now, it is a little funny that quite a number 

 have written me in regard to this little plant 

 "Impatiens." At the same time she was ad- 

 miring her own plant, I had been uttering ex- 

 clamations of delight over my own. I did 

 not know what it was for quite a spell. I 

 bought it at a greenhouse, but the proprietor 

 said he did not know the name of it, but his 

 wife (who was away) did. It is such a shy, 

 diffident, frail little thing you will almost hold 

 your breath while you look at it ; and when 

 the weather becomes warm enough so the shy 

 \\\W^ floivers caxi. break their wax-white cover- 

 ing, and peep forth with such brilliant scarlet 

 tints, no wonder the women-folks fall in love 

 with it. I think it is a relative of the wild 

 touch-me-not, figured and described in the A 

 B C book. The name " Impatiens," I have 

 guessed, came from the fact that the seed-pods 

 could not even be touched when they were 

 dead ripe. Why, somebody told me if you 

 pointed your finger at them, when they were 

 just ready to explode, they would pop and fly 

 all to pieces. Now let me digress a little right 

 here. 



In the American Florist you will find quite 

 a number of persons who make a business of 

 furnishing rooted cuttings — I suppose mostly 

 to greenhouse men. These rooted cuttings 



are from 50 cents per 100 up to $2.00 or %Zm 

 (charges paid by mail or express); and with a 

 forcing-bed like the one I have described I 

 would rather have a rooted cutting than a good 

 many full-grown plants that the catalogs 

 charge 10 to 15 cents apiece for. We grow 

 the rooted cuttings by the hundreds, almost 

 without failuie. They take up but little room, 

 comparatively, and the biggest fun of the 

 whole business is to see them grow under your 

 care and skill. Now, I do not know whether 

 these people who advertise want to sell plants 

 directly to retail customers for two or three 

 cents apiece or not ; but I will tell you my 

 way. I looked over the list, and told them I 

 should like a few of such and such sorts. 

 Then I inclosed 25 cents, and told them to 

 send me as many as they thought proper by 

 mail for the stamps inclosed. So far they 

 have all given me a good many more than I 

 expected, and a good deal 7iicer plants than I 

 expected. And now I come to the whole 

 point of my digression. Some one advertises 

 Impaiiens Sultana, rooted cuttings, for only 

 $2.00 or $3.00 a hundred. I will here give you 

 the names of two advertisers whose plants 

 have pleased me especially : 



C. Humfeld, Clay Center, Kan.; S. T. Dan- 

 ley, Macomb, 111. 



Now I wish to talk a little more about root- 

 ed cuttings, or taking slips from plants and 

 making them root if you choose. One day 

 my coatsleeve caught the top of an otconica 

 primula, and broke it off. There were several 

 blossoms and quite a lot of buds. I put it in 

 the sand in the forcing- bed, thinking it would 

 look ornamental among the colei and other 

 cuttings ; but it not only looked ornamental, 

 but every bud opened and blossomed as well 

 as on the original plant, and finally took root, 

 so I had a plant in full bloom, potted in a 

 thumb pot. Now, this is not all. The same 

 coatsleeve caught on one of my favorite coleus- 

 plants, and snapped the top off. I stuck the 

 top in the sand. It sent out roots in about 

 four days, and made a nicer and more thrifty 

 plant than the rest of them that did not have 

 their tops broken off. I have two or three 

 times cut the top right oflf from a sickly plant 

 that was just dragging along, and it got along 

 better without any roots at all, or without the 

 old roots and old soil that had been bother- 

 ing it. 



Right along in this line let me remark that, 

 some time ago, I paid 15 cents for a mannetia- 

 vine. It was a miserable-looking thing when 

 it came, and, although I tried every way to 

 make it live, it lingered along about two 

 months and then died. In the list of rooted 

 cuttings I sawmannettia-vines listed at 2 cents 

 each. I sent 13 cents for half a dozen. I re- 

 ceived // nice little plants, and 4 of them were 

 in full bloom when they came through the 

 mail. I put them in thumb pots, and carried 

 them around among the women-folks in the 

 factory, as I do every few days when I have 

 something nice. Well, the fun that little bit 

 of plant made with its brilliant blossoms 

 (something like a honeysuckle), was worth 

 ever so much more than it cost. As soon as 

 Mildred, my little granddaughter, saw one it 



