1900 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



499 



were peeping out through the straw, looking 

 as green and happy as could be. It is on the 

 same piece of ground where I had the straw 

 last year to kill out the dandelions. Only a 

 few straggling dandelions are alive this spring; 

 and after working the ground over it is per- 

 fectly clean. If this straw mulching absolute- 

 ly prevents weeds of any kind from going to 

 seed, our ground can give its " whole time and 

 attention," so to speak, to the crop to be 

 grown . Has anybody ever practiced mulching 

 tomatoes with straw? 



We have some beautiful-looking potatoes 

 where we put a double handful of jadoo around 

 each piece of potato when it was planted. 

 They have made about the most rapid growth 

 I ever saw potatoes, make anywhere ; and so 

 far this season we have not seen a potato- bug 

 to amount to any thing. When our first early 

 potatoes came through, the boys found about 

 a dozen bugs, which were promptly " execut- 

 ed." Since then there have been almost none. 

 We do not mind the Colorado chaps so much; 

 but I am actually afraid of the blister-beetles. 

 We beat them out last season, but only after 

 they had stripped the leaves from a good many 

 of our potatoes, and it cost quite a good deal 

 of money to get rid of them. 



SOMETHING ABOUT GERANIUMS. 



Mr. Root : — I notice in the April I5th issue of Glean- 

 ings your praise of the pelargoniums or " L,ady 

 Washington geraniums." I wish to tell you of one 

 that I have at present in bloom that has over 100 flow- 

 ers on now, and about two weeks ago there were over 

 200 flowers and as many buds at one time. It grows 

 in an 8-inch pot, and stands about 30 inches high from 

 the top of the pot, and nearly 24 inches across, nicely 

 branched ; and when at its best it was a perfect mass 

 of blossoms. I traveled 40 miles the first of April to 

 visit a greenhouse and see the flowers, and there was 

 not a plant there that could compare with it for beau- 

 ty. I also have an orange-tree with its fragrant flow- 

 ers and little green fruit : also roses that were far 

 nicer than all the other flowers Princess Bonnie, 

 with its beautiful crimson scarlet blossoms, and, oh so 

 fragrant ! C. E. Kellogg. 



.Spring Bluff, Wis., April 23. 



IVY GERANIUM IN CALIFORNIA. 



Mr. Root: — Like many others I am much pleased that 

 you have taken up flowers. Gleaning.s has followed 

 us to this far-away land, and I notice what you say of 

 ivy geraniums. You may like to know that here 

 there are many fences completely covered and hidden 

 by them, and they are a mass of blossoms. One color 

 is usually used for one fence. If in a corner, one color 

 goes one way and another the other sometimes. We 

 have found no apiary yet, but bees hum in the pepper- 

 trees. I have been told they spoil the honey in some 

 places, making it smarty. What we called L,ove- 

 tangle is here used to cover walls, or in great masses 

 in place of grass. It has a purple blossom instead of 

 yellow, as in Wisconsin. Bees are quite thick wher- 

 ever it is seen. Mrs I,. W. Densmore. 



Santa Barbara, Cal., May 26. 



INDIA RELIEF FUND. 



The following amounts have been received 

 for the starving people of India since our issue 

 for May 1 : 



Friend % 3 00 



Geo. R. Moren, Waverly, Wis 10 00 



C. Harrman, Durango, 111 8 00 



A. C. Williamson, Friendly, W. Va 5 00 



Dr. Nuckols, Banister, Va 50 



F. J. Creasy, New Plymouth, Idaho 1 00 



Oliver Thorn, St. Hvacinth, Canada 1 00 



J. P. Cooper, Pikeviile, Tenn 1 00 



529 50 



KIND WORDS FROM OUR CUSTOMERS. 



starving INDIA, AND SOMETHING ALSO ABOUT 

 starving BEES. 



You seemed much interested in the Indian famine 

 sufferers two months ago. In the Christian Herald of 

 June (), Mr. Klopsch says it is to be feared that the 

 worst is yet to come when the monsoon floods come. 

 " Having loved his own which were in the world, he 

 loved them unto the end." It were little use to fee^ 

 the famishing for a while and leave them in the day 

 of calamity to perish. As well feed a hive of bees, and 

 then in tlie ."-pring allow them to .starve for want of 

 five or six pounds after feeding them fifteen or twenty 

 in the fall, as /did, with many of m'ne last fall, and 

 now many of the .strong ones are dead — starved in 

 April ! What a sin and a shame ! 1.50 good strong 

 colonies dead ! Like the Israelites in the desert, after 

 being saved out of Egypt, and in a fair way to enter 

 Canaan, they had not faith to make the final move; so 

 I had not faith to venture to buy five or si.^ barrels of 

 sugar, so as to make sure they had plenty 



Well, their return to the desert life gave them lots 

 of time for study, meditation, recreation, and im- 

 provement, having "angel's food" from heaven to 

 eat, and no garments to make, though with me I be- 

 lieve I would rather place a super on a strong colony 

 than to clean up a dead one, and watch for moths all 

 summer with frequent regrets ; but such is humanity. 



Rev. Jas. Smith, a missionary on furlough from 

 Ahmednagar (a school-mate of mine), in a letter savs, 

 '■ The Canada Methodists have sent less than $20,000 ; 

 the Presbyterians, §100,000; Christian Herald, $300.0)0 

 and a cargo of grain. This is magnificent; but the 

 cargo of grain is but a drop in the bucket. A hundred 

 cargoes are arriving daily; 1,000,000 bushels of grain a 

 day are being sent into the famine districts. Pain and 

 starvation are nothing when they work out spiritual 

 gain, and these latter gains around Ahmednagar are 

 enormous. We are seeing more accomplished in a 

 few months than we hoped to .see done in fifty year^." 



Little Britain, June 9. R. F. Whiteside. 



A very kind criticism, and some kind words 



BESIDES. 



Dear Brother : — Permit me to call your attention to 

 a slight inaccuracy of statement in your last Home 

 Paper, May 1. Three times, I believe, in that paper 

 you mention Mark and Luke as in the company of 

 the apostles. " Matthew, Mark, and Luke, were for 

 some reason left behind;" "Matthew, Mark, and 

 Luke thought they were," p. 3.59 ; " Matthew, Mark, 

 and Luke, did not half try to cast out that demon," p. 

 301. I know that, as soon as I call your attention to it. 

 you will remember that Mark and Luke were not 

 only not in the number of the twelve, but were, in all 

 likelihood not converted until long after Christ had 

 ascended to glory. All that we know of their person- 

 al historv is in connection with the labors of the apos- 

 tle Paul— Col 4:10,14; Acts 16;37, etc. This, however, 

 does not alter the excellent and helpful teaching of 

 your paper. Because the paper is otherwise so good 

 and true, I like to see it free from all inaccuracies. 



Let me take this occasion also to express ray special 

 appreciation of another of the recent Home Papers — 

 the one in which you give your impression of David 

 Harum. I have put that asi^e, and marked it to use 

 as occasion serves. The world, the flesh, and the dev- 

 il can not ask for more ingenious advocacy of their 

 views and purposes than is found in David Harum. 



I might remark on man v others of the Home Papers 

 which I have found helpful to me personally, and use- 

 ful to me in my work as a minister. My prayer is 

 that you may be long spared, and still " bring forth 

 fruit in old age." Yours in the work of our dear 

 Master. R. A. Lapsley. 



Greenville, Va., May 15. 



[Dear brother, you are right, and I humbly beg par- 

 don for my carelessness and thoughtlessness. While 

 dictating that Home Paper I had before me Robinson's 

 Harmony of the Gospels, and I read all together side 

 by side the different accounts of the miracle as given 

 by Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Without thinking, I 

 somehow got it into my mind that when Matthew 

 used the pronoun we in asking why they did not suc- 

 ceed, the ice meant the three who tell the story, each 

 one in his own way. I knew, of course, that Luke 

 was not one of the twelve ; but I hope you will for- 

 give me when I tell you tliat I did not know, until 

 you called my attention to it, that Mark also is not 

 enumerated among the chosen twelve.] 



