1900 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



819 



"Why, don't you remember, Mr. Root, you 

 told us last year to pick out all the hills that 

 were green when we got ready to dig, and 

 save the seed, and plant it by itself? and we 

 saved out enough of the ' green tops ' to 

 make these two rows." 



There it was, a wonderful object-lesson. 

 The vines of these two rows were very much 

 larger ; and the way the ground is heaving up 

 with big potatoes underneath it, looks as if 

 there might be almost double the crop. Here 

 is an illustration that like produces like, "with 

 a vengeance." It is all the result of careful 

 selection for just one single season. You may 

 remember I spoke of a similar experiment 

 made by Wilbur Fenn a year or two ago. The 

 extremely hot weather of the past season caus- 

 ed blight, or it may be a sort of hot- weather 

 blight, to an unusual degree ; aiid I am satis- 

 fied many vines have died down when they 

 were not much more than half grown. On 

 the other side of the patch from these two 

 rows I have mentioned, there are three rows 

 equally rank and green ; but these are the 

 Craigs, and the Craig has always shown on 

 our grounds this same immunity from blight 

 ever since we have had it. As we were ready 

 to put in wheat, and these two strips I spoke 

 of being so rank and green, we have left thefn 

 to be dug later, for no frost has yet reached us 

 in this locality up to to-day, Oct. 5. 



In connection with this incident, permit me 

 to mention that Ernest says we have worker- 

 bees from a daughter of that honey queen, 

 whose tongues are as long as those of the bees 

 of the mother colony. Unfortunately (or per- 

 haps fortunately for somebody else), this 

 queen was sold before her bees had hatched. 

 Ernest says he would give $25 for her in a 

 minute if he could be sure he had the mother 

 of these bees with long tongues. Do you not 

 see, friends, there is a wonderful field opening 

 out before us, not only in improving our pota- 

 toes and honey-bees, but in almost every de- 

 partment of animated nature? With bees 

 and potatoes it does not take so many years as 

 it does with cattle and horses and some other 

 things ; but there is an outlook for big pay to 

 any patient, faithful, and honest worker along 

 the lines I have pointed out. 



HAVING SOME LAND OK YOUR OWN, 



In a recent number of the Practical Farmer 

 friend T. B. Terry has something so good on 

 this matter that I copy it below : 



Hold on to your land, friends, if you have some. If 

 you haven't any, it will be a good thing to vrork for. 

 It is inspiring to actually own even a small piece of 

 land. Mr. G. tells us how he traded an old watch, not 

 worth a dollar really, for a little piece of poor land 

 when he was d^boy. And then his father .said he paid 

 too much for it. But he said he went out on that land, 

 poor as it was, after it was deeded to him, and it thrill- 

 ed him through and through to think he owned the 

 ground he stood on. away down to the center of the 

 earth, away up to the stars. Birds were .sitting on the 

 branches of the trees, and .singing — his trees and his 

 branches, and their songs never sounded so sweetly to 

 him before. It is a valuable ambition for every young 

 man, every boy, to own a piece of land, if no more 

 than an acre. Save your money, boys, toward buying 

 some land where you can make a little garden of 

 Eden your home when you get older. Perhaps it 

 would be well to put your money in a good savings 

 bank, and let it accumulate until the right time comes 



for investing it. If you loved the country, with its 

 pure air and sunshine, and quiet and independence, 

 as much as the writer does, you would never pay one 

 cent for tobacco or liquor, but would save every thing 

 possible to be used in getting a country home for your 

 best girl and yourself. I hardly ever talk with a busi- 

 ness man in town without finding out that he means 

 to get a farm to live on in his old age. Many men 

 working on a salary have said that, as soon as they 

 could pay for a good farm, they intended to change 

 their business. Most men love the country, in sum- 

 mer at least ; and in many sections now it is easy to 

 live on the farm and get into a large place by electric 

 car readily. Thus one can live in the best place and 

 have many of the advantages of town within his reach. 



I have felt exactly what friend Terry ex- 

 presses so well a great many times in my life. 

 The first piece of land I ever owned was trad- 

 ed to me for an old pistol. The land was a 

 deserted stone quarry. Then I went out and 

 looked it over with just the feelings Mr. Terry 

 describes. I hunted up the few trees that were 

 on it, and made plans for improving the little 

 piece of soil. But a neighbor wanted to get 

 stone out of it, and when he offered me $50 

 for my little piece of real estate I reluctlantly 

 let it go. I have never bought a piece of 

 ground since, or had a piece come into my 

 possession, without something of the same 

 feeling. Nearly ten years ago I looked over 

 the forty acres I have been telling you about 

 in the Traverse region. There was not much 

 improvement going on in that locality at that 

 time ; but when I saw the potato-fields all 

 around it a few weeks ago it gave me a thrill 

 of delight ; and when I found a soft- water 

 spring at the back side of it in the dense woods, 

 it gave me another thrill. It is true, the wa- 

 ter disappeared again after running a few rods 

 in the loamy sandy soil. The elevation is suf- 

 ficient, however, I think, to enable me to car- 

 ry it up to a point near the bay where we are 

 going to locate a summer cottage. Down near 

 one corner of the forty acres is a patch that 

 was cleared off some years ago. . This little 

 portion is covered now with a dense heavy 

 mat of natural grasses. Of course, I can not 

 be sure my land is as good as friend Hilbert's, 

 a mile and a half away ; but there was one 

 object-lesson right there that almost made me 

 shout for joy. Somebody had begun improve- 

 ments on the land adjoining mine. There are 

 no fences in that locality, for they do not 

 need any ; but on this piece adjoining my own, 

 right up to the line, were some of the finest- 

 looking potatoes I ever saw anywhere. I push- 

 ed my hand down into the loamy soil, where 

 the ground was already bursting open, and 

 found great beautiful tubers, smooth, and free 

 from scab, and the tops were not at all touch- 

 ed by blight. This is on new land that has 

 never had stable manure or fertilizer of any 

 sort ; and I am planning to grow some nicer 

 seed potatoes here another season than I have 

 ever grown in Ohio. The greater part of the 

 piece is covered by a dense undergrowth that 

 has sprung up since the native timber was cut 

 off — indicating to me, at least, there is a won- 

 derful fertility there. While opening up the 

 spring, and hearing the birds sing around me, 

 I was obliged to think of friend Terry's re- 

 marks, for I do not think I ever enjoyed any 

 work in my life more than during the few days 

 I spent there on " my farm in the woods." 



