GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



man-car management ought to have some 

 better system in order to avoid such mis- 

 haps; and still more important — yes, vastly 

 more important — we ought to have the apos- 

 tles of the Lord Jesus Christ scattered like 

 the salt in the parable all thru business and 

 thru the great traveling thorofares, to urge 

 all mankind, little and great, to be ready to 

 turn the other cheek also before getting into 

 quarrels over the merest trifles like the one 

 I have described. What an easy thing it 

 would be in such cases to show forth a 

 Christian spirit to all about us and say, 

 " My good friend, stay where you are. Do 



not be worried a bit. No doubt the man- 

 agement will give me another section or 

 berth just as good" ! 



Now, friends, to come right down to the 

 practical point, how many of you whose 

 eyes rest on these pages will hold yourselves 

 in readine.=s to show forth a Christlike spirit 

 just as soon as an opportunity occurs, espe- 

 cially when it occurs where there are crowds 

 of lookers-on ready to take sides? Are we 

 who profess to be followers of the lowly 

 Nazarine ready to show forth to the world 

 the grander beauties of " war on Christian 

 principles"? 



HIGH-PRESSURE GARDENING 



OUR GARDENING AND FARM PERIODICALS. 



I have already expressed the thought that 

 it eheei-s my heart to run over hastily the 

 beautiful farm periodicals from the differ- 

 ent states — not only for their intelligent 

 teachings in the line of agriculture, but 

 their high moral tone. I have yet to find a 

 genuine farm paper on the wet side. Of 

 course there occasionally comes out a 

 " make-believe," put out by the wets. 



Now just a word about tilling the soil. 

 Here is something from the Kansas Farmer 

 for May 27, on the outside cover ; ana it is 

 such good sound sense I think it will pay 

 you to read it over and over. 



Tillage is plowing, harrowing, dragging, disking — 

 anj'thing done to stir the soil, either before or after 

 the planting of the crop. 



The principles of good tillage are practically the 

 same for all conditions : 



1. Stirring the soil breaks it up. The smaller the 

 particles of soil the greater the area the root hairs 

 or "mouths" of the plant have to "graze" on. 

 Good tillage gives the crop more soil surface on 

 which to feed without increasing your taxes. 



'2. When fresh vegetable matter is present, stirring 

 the soil tends to make more plant food available. 

 The organic matter is brought into closer touch with 

 the mineral particles of the soil, and plant food is 

 set free by chemical action as the vegetable matter 

 rots down. 



3. Air is as necessary for the roots of plants as 

 for the leaves. Plants die if there is no air in the 

 soil. Tillage aerates the soil, supplying oxygen, 

 which is used directly by the soil organisms, and 

 nitrogen, which is used by legumes by means of the 

 nitrogen-gathering bacteria which live on their roots. 



4. Tillage tends to regulate the water supply in 

 the soil. Well-tilled soil absorbs rain more rapidly 

 than does a hard soil, and permits a freer circula- 

 tion of moisture brought up from below by capillary 

 action, such as occurs in a lamp-wick. Like a 

 sponge, it takes water more quickly and stays moist 

 longer than does soil that is packed hard. 



5. Tillage kills weeds. 



Briefly summed up, then, we till to make a home 

 for the growing plant, to set free plant food, to 

 aerate the soil, to get and use moisture, and to kill 

 weeds. — Carl Veooman. 



And here is a new periodical from away 

 off in San Francisco. On the beautiful 

 bright illuminated cover we read : "Little 

 Lands in America." Our older readers will 

 remember, perhaps, that years ago I had a 

 series of articles headed " How to support 

 a family on one-fourth of an acre." Of 

 course the quarter-acre was to be mostly 

 covered with glass. The same thing is now 

 incorporated in a chapter or two in our to- 

 mato-book. Well, just below the heading 

 of this little magazine we read: "A national 

 magazine edited by William E. Smythe. 

 Devoted to the most valuable of all arts as 

 revealed in the prophetic vision of Abraham 

 Lincoln — ' the art of deriving a comfort- 

 able subsistence from the smallest area of 

 soil.'" 



The above is a revelation to me. If Abra- 

 ham Lincoln did give us that beautiful 

 thought about getting a living on a little 

 plot of ground, say out in the back yard, 

 I shall have still more reverence and respect 

 for his memory than ever before. 



Just below the above there is a picture of 

 a honeybee, and under it the legend " The 

 honeybee earns $400 a year in your back 

 yard." The first article in the journal for 

 April is headed " What do you know about 

 bees ? " It is quite well illustrated. The 

 price of the magazine is $1.00. The ad- 

 dress is 504 Sharon Building, San Fran- 

 cisco. 



By the way, " A little land and a com- 

 fortable living " is now receiving additional 

 emphasis from the boys' and girls' clubs. 

 The girls especially, of the whole United 

 States (or at least nearly so), are now 

 striving to see who can make the most 

 money on one-fourth or even one-sixth of an 

 acre. I need not copy the reports here, 

 because our various periodicals are full of 

 them. Not only have wonderful I'esults 



