1904 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1075 



no account. He, however, said it would be 

 just the place for peach-trees. Well, here 

 on one of the very highest hills, right close 

 to my northeast corner, there was a crop of 

 potatoes that would go in spots fully 200 

 bushels per acre. They were all nice, large, 

 and clean. The principal crop was Beauty 

 of Hebron; but as they were somewhat 

 mixed we could see all over the field magnif- 

 icent specimens of Empire State. We pick- 

 ed up some fine specimens, sampled them 

 for dinner, and we found the quality superb. 

 This pearly-white potato comes out of the 

 sandy soil on the hilltops as clean and hand- 

 some as it could be washed with water. My 

 neighbor Hilbert has another magnificent 

 crop of Carman No. 3, of about 140ii bush- 

 els. The yield is almost equal to that of 

 last year. You may remember I told you 

 last year they ran almost too large for ta- 

 ble use, and much too large for seed. I 

 recommended at the time that he make 

 them smaller by very close planting. I once 

 succeeded nicely in getting some small Car- 

 mans by using 20 bushels of seed to the 

 acre. Well, friend Hilbert did plant close, 

 but there was one lot of seed pieces cut up 

 and placed in a barrel on Saturday that did 

 not get planted till the following Monday. 

 This seed got hot, and. as a consequence, 

 many of the pieces rotted, leaving in one 

 particular spot only about half a stand. 

 Each hill had such an amount of room be- 

 tween itself and its neighbor that not only 

 the tops, but the potatoes as well, grew to 

 an enormous size. A load of these very 

 large Car mans was objected to in Traverse 

 City because of their size. About Nov. 1st 

 they were offering only kiS to 25 cts. a bush- 

 el in Traverse City. Within a week, how- 

 ever, the price went up to between 25 and 

 30 cts. I told my neighbors I thought even 

 that was a rather small price. But Orville, 

 Mrs. Heimforth's son, a bright young farm- 

 er of about 18, thought he could do very 

 well in raising potatoes on the hilltops if he 

 were sure of getting even 25 cts. a bushel. 



Now, peaches and potatoes are not the 

 only thing these hilltops are good for. An- 

 other neighbor showed me a Baldwin apple- 

 tree close to his house, from which he pick- 

 ed last year 1^7 bushels of apples. I told 

 him I would give that tree a write-up. But 

 he said, " Now, Mr. Root, if you do, I want 

 you to tell the whole story. This spring I 

 found the tree dead, root and branch." Will 

 some apple-man tell me whether it was the 

 great crop or the hard winter, or both, that 

 killed the tree? If the former, could he 

 probably have saved the tree by a severe 

 thinning-out of the fruit? 



Mrs. Root and I enjoyed our walks in the 

 woods wonderfully. She walked with me 

 about five miles visiting neighbors the first 

 day. This pretty nearly used her up; but 

 by resting up one day she was ready for 

 more tramping. It is strange how soon one 

 gets his muscles hardened up so as to climb 

 hills with impunity. Our last day around 

 the cabin was spent in cutting a foot-path 

 through a part of our woods where we had 



never been before. It is through a long 

 crooked ravine that they would call a "can- 

 yon" in California. This ravine was tan- 

 gled up with great trees that had fallen for 

 years past. Some of them were four or five 

 feet in diameter. By the use of a sharp ax, 

 hatchet, brush-hook, and a hoe, we made a 

 crooked path up to the northwest corner. 

 We call it the " Northwest Passage." When 

 we came out on the summit of one of the 

 highest hills we found ourselves in a neigh- 

 bor's apple-orchard. But didn't we enjoy 

 those apples after our work ! Then we went 

 over the big hill and admired his outdoor 

 cellar for storing potatoes and apples. It is 

 cut into the side of a sandy hill, pretty near- 

 ly on a level with the floor of the house, so 

 the good wife does not have to climb up and 

 down stairs. Here is another hint toward 

 saving labor— that is, where you have a 

 sandy hill close to your dwelling. 



While the corn crop has been remarkably 

 poor throughout Ohio and Southern Michi- 

 gan, it is unusually good in the Traverse re- 

 gion. But this does not mean that the ci'op 

 is equal to the corn crops usually grown 

 throughout the great West; for Northern 

 Michigan is not a corn-growing region. Mrs. 

 Root and I both had the experience over 

 again we have had for years past, in finding 

 rest, recreation, buoyant health and spirits, 

 in our northern home. Traverse City is 

 putting up more buildings than any other 

 place I know of, and some of its recent 

 structures are about as fine edifices as you 

 will find in some of our largest cities. It is 

 still a clean city, without any coal smoke. 

 By the way they are crowding the saloons it 

 looks as if they might be clean in other 

 ways than getting rid of the coal smoke. If 

 I remember correctly, the saloons are all 

 not only compelled to shut ud on Sunday, 

 but at 11 o'clock at night. When the beer- 

 men began to grumble at this the temper- 

 ance people informed them that, if any 

 change were to be made in the hours of 

 closing, it would be to 10 o'clock instead of 

 11. 



APPLES— SOMETHING MORE ABOUT THEM. 



A few days ago the foreman of our ma- 

 chine-shop said one of the boys gave him an 

 apple that came from one of the trees in 

 our orchard, and he said it was the best ap- 

 ple he ever tasted in his life. He wanted to 

 know if I had any for sale; and if I did, he 

 said he wanted them, no matter what the price 

 — that is, within the bounds of reason. Now, 

 what apple do you suppose it was? The 

 Gravenstein. It is a beautiful apple in shape, 

 exceedingly handsome in color, and since my 

 attention has been called to it I do not know 

 but I too can call the Gravenstein equal to 

 any apple I ever tasted. It is a fair-sized 



