GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



many years, conducted by the Weather Bu- 

 reau, declared again and again that careful 

 observation gives no ground for such be- 

 liefs, I was greatly pleased. Some of our 

 older readers will recall that when Hicks 

 came out in his journal with elaborate pic- 

 tures of the heavenly bodies to explain his 

 weather predictions I denounced him as a 

 fraud. I do not know whether Hicks is still 

 trying to delude people with his diagrams 

 and unscientific talk again or not. I have 

 neither seen nor heard any thing of him of 

 late. Below I clip from the Cleveland Plain 

 Dealer: 



BRANDS ASTROLOGY A MYTH. 



Washington, June 18. — Astrology is branded as 

 a superstition by the Department of Agriculture in 

 its current weekly news letter. 



The department declared: "The belief, still to be 

 found in all countries, that planets and the moon 

 affect the weatlier never had any scientific basis. "We 

 believe neither the planets nor the moon can have 

 any effect, because they furnish so little heat, upon 

 which all weather changes ultimately depend." 



The next day after, they gave us the fol- 

 lowing piece of pleasantry : 



The Department of Agriculture comes out with the 

 heterodox statement that the moon has nothing to do 

 witli the weather or the success of crops. It's an 

 iconoclastic age we live in. The next thing you 

 know, the Department will be saying that rheuma- 

 tism can't be cured by carrying a buckeye in one's 

 pocket. 



Some of you may suggest that the Weath- 

 er Bureau may be mistaken; but I think no 

 one (who is at all reasonable), after looking 

 over their carefully kept records for years, 

 will refuse to admit that they are quite 

 right. Perhaps we shall have to wait until 

 some of the popular notions of years ago 

 have entirely died out. Curing rheumatism 

 by carrying something in the pocket, or a 

 cheap iron ring worn on the hand, warding 

 off disease with a horseshoe nailed over the 

 door, etc., are exactly in line with the vend- 

 ers of Eleetropoise, Oxydonor, and a whole 

 family of similar swindles, working on 

 people's credulity and imagination, until 

 they are induced to pay $25 for a mere toy 

 that costs only 25 cents, and cures the ailing 

 exactly as a horseshoe cures by being nailed 

 over the door. 



HEGH=PKE§§UME GARDENING 



DASHEENS UP TO DATE, ETC. 



I have been wondering that so little is 

 said just now, especially in our Florida 

 papers, in regard to dasheens. I clip the 

 following from the Fruit Trade Journal: 

 has dasheens to sell. 



Chuluota, Fla. — The acreage of dasheens in this 

 section of Orange County is larger than usual, and 

 farmers are much interested in the outcome of the 

 deal. Lawrence Swanson, a leading grower, is anx- 

 ious to make arrangements with some merchants in 

 New York and other seaboard markets, to handle his 

 crop. 



A little later I shall expect to get postal- 

 card reports from a good many of the 

 friends to whom we have sent tubers. Our 

 dasheens here in Ohio are now growing rap- 

 idly; but the weather was so unfavorable 

 that we did not get them planted very early. 

 We are to-day, July 18, mulching them with 

 old well-rotted stable manure. Some of them 

 are now two feet high, and growing rapidly. 



DASHEENS, ETC, IN OUR FLORIDA GARDEN. 



While we are talking about dasheens, you 

 may be interested in the report below, just 

 received from our colored friend Wesley 

 Welch, who has charge of the place in my 

 absence : 



Mr. Root: — The dasheens by the mulberry are 

 five feet high. The millet is ten feet high. The 

 cassava on the ditch bank is from four to five feet 

 high. I have just worked the place out. It is very 

 nice. The cassava by the alligator's cave, some of 

 it is five feet high. It is certainly a fine patch. 



The chickens are not laying very much. The ducks 

 are not laying at all, and have not for two weeks. 

 The chickens are looking fine. They are in good 

 shape. We are not having very much rain so far. 



I gave Mr. Harrison three African potatoes to 

 send you. That tree that you spoke about has a 

 few fruits on it. 



Manatee, Fla., July 14. Wesley. 



Perhaps if I were on hand I could get the 

 chickens to laying better during the month 

 of July; but perhaps not, as they are now 

 nearing the moulting season in the South. 

 Notwitlistanding all that has been said in 

 favor of the Indian Runner ducks, I think 

 they have spells of laying little or none at 

 all, even with the best of management. 



The new millet he speaks of as being ten 

 feet high is the same as some that I saw 

 that was eighteen feet high at the experi- 

 ment station in Brooksville, Florida. His 

 closing sentence is with regard to the " Fei 

 joa " sent me by the Government several 

 years ago. It is a new fruit said to be half 

 way between the mango and the guava. 

 It is grown successfully in California, and 

 is said to be liked by everybody, even when 

 first tasted, which is not true of the guava. 

 If I am correctly informed, the tree on my 

 place bearing fruit is one of the first, if not 

 the very first to produce fruit in Florida; 

 and on this account it promises to be almost 

 a curiosity. 



The African sweet potatoes mentioned 

 above were from the seed sent us by the 



