738 



Gleanings in Bee Culture 



sion is that such a trap costs from 50 to 75 

 cents. See the report below: 



When one proves a good thing, I believe in pass- 

 ing it on to our neighbors— and we are all neigh- 

 bors; therefore I want to tell you that the best 

 "bait '■ for a wire rat-trap that 1 have ever found Is 

 a few good-sized live rats. I caught one in a new 

 trap, concluding to leave it in there a few days, 

 thinking it would probably scare the others away. 

 Imagine ray surprise the next morning to find 

 seven or eight very large ones in the trap. This 

 gave me an idea; and, killing a part of them, I left 

 the others as "bait," putting a good-sized meat bone 

 in with them. 1 made a good catch every night 

 this way until I got all of them. I could not " stand 

 for " rats killing my beautiful Buff Orpington 

 chicks, so set about to get rid of them, and so I did. 



I loaned a neighbor two of my catch for "bait." 

 and the next morning he had sixteen — completely 

 filling one end of a large wire trap_._ He caught 

 over a hundred, using the live rats as " bait " every 

 night. A good many have tried it with good suc- 

 cess. If rats are bothering you, get a new wire trap 

 and put in a fresh bone, and then use the bone and 

 one or two rats, and you will get them. 



Madison, Ga. Dr. A. W. Vickers. 



On page 575 I mentioned an arrangement 

 for catching rats. Well, shortly after, we 

 swept up some corn mixed with dirt and 

 chaff from the barn floor. I put this into a 

 barrel in the poultry-house, intending to 

 look after it later. This barrel had a hole 

 in the bottom, and some of the corn sifted 

 through it. Before I got around to see to it 

 the rats had dug out quite a cavity under 

 the head of the barrel, and were holding 

 high carnival, apparently, in their snug re- 

 treat. I went and got a ten-cent wire trap, 

 and placed it in that cavity, and, without 

 putting any bait in it at all, I caught five 

 large rats, one after another. In their 

 efforts to reach the hole in the barrel of corn 

 they stepped on the trap. I am ashamed 

 to own up that we had as many as five rats 

 on our premises all at one time. 



GROWING CROPS IN THE NORTH IN THE 



SUMMER TIME, AND OTHER CROPS 



IN THE SOUTH IN WINTER. 



We clip the following from the Rural 



New-Yorker: 



As the weather grows colder, northern people be- 

 gin to talk of going south. The following letter 

 from Ohio is like dozens of others : 



I understand your people spent last winter in Putnam Coun- 

 ty, Florida. I have a business which is not very lively in win- 

 ter. Could I buy land in Putnam Co. and g-o there during- 

 winter and raise a profitable crop of vegetables, coming- back 

 to Ohio in late spring ? 



You can buy thousands of acres in Putnam Co., 

 and much of it mighty cheap. As a winter home it 

 is a delightful place. Many of the jjermanent resi- 

 dents there are well satisfied to remain. As for go- 

 ing there for a few winter months to grow a profita- 

 ble crop, my advice is, do not attempt it. Go there 

 first with the full price and spend a winter. Look 

 around, examine soils, watch the growth of crops, 

 and do your own figuring before you invest. We 

 have tried winter cropping, and have been beaten 

 by frost, drouth, flood, and disease. The last few 

 seasons have been so dry in Florida that, unless 

 one had an irrigating-plant. there was little show 

 for a crop except on the low lands. Northern peo- 

 ple somehow will not underst.and that farm condi- 

 tions in Florida are entirely different from those in 

 the North. The theory of "farming both ends of 

 the country" by having a hay-farm or orchard in 

 the North and a truck-farm in Florida is very pret- 

 ty, but will not work well unless you have two fam- 

 ilies, one on the job at each end. Let this man 

 spend a winter in the South, observing and figur- 

 ing, and it is ten to one he will not buy land ex- 

 pecting to work it in winter and abandon it in 

 summer. 



The above refers particularly to Putnam 

 Co., Fla.; and as we own 160 acres near 

 there, we know the editor of the Rural has 

 got his statement about correct. Now, 

 please contrast the above with the boom 

 stories ("BurbankOcala," for instance, near 

 by), that land speculators tell us, about get- 

 ting rich on two or three acres of sweet \)0- 

 tatoes, etc. With every thing favorable, 

 and an experienced man in the locality, 

 there are quite a few who do well. Friend 

 Collingwood speaks of the frosts and the 

 drouths. Our home in Manatee Co. is so 

 far south that a killing frost is a rare thing; 

 and in regard to the drouth, artesian wells 

 are an almost sure remedy for dry seasons. 

 If I am correct, Putnam Co. has a frost 

 more or less every winter, and they do 7iot 

 have artesian wells. 



BLECTROPOISE, OXYDONOR, KINDRED SWIN- 

 DLES AND SUPERSTITIONS. 



While it is true that the world is progress- 

 ing to a point where most people begin to 

 distinguish between sense and science on 

 one hand and superstition on the other, 

 there are some things, or perhaps I should 

 say some follies, that "down" hard. The 

 following clipping from the New York Trib- 

 une hits tlie nail on the head: 



A veteran Philadelphia soldier, apropos of Lin- 

 coln's birthday, said at the LTnion League: 



"Lincoln used to joke me about my supersti- 

 tions. I carried, you know, a rabblfs foot for luck. 



" ' Look at this,' he said one day, and he took 

 from his pocket a potato. 



" ' What's that for ? ' I asked. 



" ' For rheumatism,' he replied. ' I haven't had 

 a twinge of rheumatism since I began carrying it.' 



" ' Wonderful ! ' said I. 



"'Yes,' said Lincoln, with his whimsical smile, 

 ' and still more wonderful is the fact that it's retro- 

 active too; for I never had a twinge before 1 began 

 carrying it either.' " 



After I read it all except the closing sen- 

 tence I said to myself, "Why, is it really 

 possible that Abraham Lincoln, with all his 

 breadth and comprehension of things, 

 should cherish a senseless superstition?" 

 But after I had finished the clipping I 

 thanked God that Lincoln had wisdom 

 enough to give such a sensible reply to his 

 friend who insisted on carrying a rabbit's 

 foot for good luck. "Retroactive?" Sure 

 enough; why not? 



THAT "HUNDRED-STORY" BUILDING IN 

 NEW YORK CITY. 



Mr. F. J. Root, of New York, calls my at- 

 tention to the fact that the enormous struc- 

 ture is to be 55 stories high, and not 100. 

 Of course I am glad to correct any false 

 statements; but I am sure I read in some of 

 the papers that the building was to be 100 

 stories high. I think said statement also 

 added that it w^as to be 100 stories to the top 

 of the tower surmounting it. Mr. Root adds 

 that, while I have got the building a trifle 

 (?) too high, within a stone's throw of the 

 same place, says my estimated cost of rent 

 is very low, and adds, "We pay 535.00 on 

 the fifth floor." Our own rooms were on 

 the third floor, about a minute's walk of 

 the same place. 



