1188 



OUR FLORIDA GARDEN, 



When I first took a look at it, Nov. 17, I 

 felt a good deal discouraged, for my 

 beautiful beds of corn and velvet beans 

 that I left the last of April were a wil- 

 derness of gi-eat tall weeds, sand - burrs, 

 dried - up cornstalks, and velvet beans. 

 I had been told the latter would crowd 

 out everything else, even weeds; but I 

 never before realized what a " pusher " 

 the velvet bean is. Our experiment 

 station advised me to plant corn with beans 

 every third row; but they didn't all come 

 up, altho what did come evidently recog- 

 nized the opportunity. They don't seem 

 to relish bearing beans unless they can 

 climb up on something, so they first mount- 

 ed the tall corn and then proceeded to load 

 down stalks with great clusters of pods 

 until the corn fell flat on the ground, then 

 they went for the poultry-netting fences, 

 festooned them with bunches of pods, but, 

 apparently still unsatisfied, grasped the 

 pine-trees on the other side of the fence, and 

 went up 20 and even 30 feet. 



I said to Wesley, " Why, Wesley, that 

 vine cannot be velvet beans away up there?" 



" Yes, it is, Mr. Root ; don't you see the 

 great bunches of green pods 'stringing 

 along clear away up?" 



And I had to admit it. You see the 

 ground was pretty well fertilized for the 

 potatoes, and I also invested in the " nitro 

 culture " when I planted them ; and, altho 

 the plants looked sickly and discouraged 

 when I left in April, they must have got 

 " down to business " later. 



As we had moved the chickens all 

 away, I told Wesley to plant corn and 

 velvet beans all thru the chicken - yards ; 

 and the result was, when I arrived not a 

 gate could be opened, and even the houses 

 were covered. Bunches of beans were 

 hanging from the eaves and everywhere 

 else. You may recall that I put netting 

 overhead in one yard, to keep out hawks. 

 Well, this yard just took their fancy. They 

 roofed it over and dropped bunches of 

 IDods down thru the netting. In places in 

 the garden the vines are knee-deep, and 

 the ground under them is so mellow with 

 the decaying black mold it looks as if it 

 must grow potatoes or anything else. 

 How about the corn? Well, Wesley had 

 gathered a heaping barrel; but it was so 

 much trouble to find it when the vines had 

 broken the corn down that I gathered a 

 big armful of beautiful ears after I got 

 here. The summer has been so dry the 

 corn was in perfect condition except that 

 rats or some otlier animal had shelled 

 part or all of some of the finest ears. In 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



consequence of the almost unprecedented 

 drouth many of my choice plants and trees 

 have died; but the dry hot weather seems 

 just to suit the velvet bean. like all 

 legTimes, the vines and beans also are fine 

 for feeding stock, and I believe they are 

 used to some extent for human food. We 

 have tried them a little, but do not fancy 

 them much so far. 



Another plant that seems to rejoice in 

 dry hot weather is the roselle I have re- 

 peatedly spoken of. Our plants were, once 

 more, " great trees," and we are supplying 

 fruit to neighbors far and near. Stewed 

 and sweetened with honey from our own 

 hive, I verily believe I enjoy them as 

 much as I did peaches and cream a short 

 time ago in Ohio. If well started in a 

 greenhouse I feel sure they could be made 

 to fruit in the North. We are busy plant- 

 ing potatoes; but there seems to be trouble 

 about getting seed that will sprout prompt- 

 ly. Red Triumph, planted two weeks ago, 

 is not showing yet. Seventy-five cents a 

 peck is the price, and many think they will 

 snon be a dollar a peck. 



With the large amount of rotting bean- 

 vines, cornstalks, and big weeds Wesley is 

 spading under, there seems a good prospect 

 for potatoes if we have rain enough. We 

 have some very fine sweet potatoes, but 

 they bring only a dollar a bushel. 



As usual, while eggs are 50 cts. a dozen 

 our 40 full-grown hens are laying very 

 little; but we are trying everything for 

 feed in order to get them started. 



Peas, beans, Bantam corn, radishes, and 

 lettuce are up and growing finely that 

 were planted about two weeks ago. Spine- 

 less cactus has made a fair growth during 

 the summer in spite of weeds. 



FIRST NEW POTATOES FROM FLORIDA. 



The Jacksonville Times-Union says : 



" What is believed will be the first full carload of 

 new fall-crop potatoes to leave Florida this season 

 was shipped from the celery-farm siding north of 

 Crystal Springs, Wednesday," says the Manatee 

 Record. " Almost all of the potatoes will grade as 

 number one, fancy, and they are bringing a fancy 

 price. The price paid was $2.71 per hamper at 

 the car." The Record says that these potatoes were 

 planted in September, and will pay the growers 

 handsomely. The wonder is that more potatoes 

 are not planted for the fall crop, as the demand 

 is now greater than even in the early spring. From 

 the planting to digging, the time was seventy days. 

 Great is Florida, and her wonderful climate and 

 soill 



SWEET clover; DOES IT EVER BLOSSOM THE 

 FIRST YEAR? 



In my experiments wlith white sweet 

 clover [MeUlotiis alba) during the years 

 past, I think I have several times seen an 



