February, ioi7 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



147 



rOTATOES AND STRAWBERRIES. 



If any reader of Gleanings grows the Wall's 

 Orange potato (a variety introduced some 30 years 

 a!?o) I shall be indeed grateful if he will write me. 

 I am very anxious to get a little of the seed. I 

 have long tried to find it, but all in vain — so I 

 appeal to you. By the way, I had a few ripe straw- 

 l.erries today, picked in the open garden (Dec. 8). 

 Wlio can beat that ? There are many green berries 

 on the vines, and considerable bloom. Surely there 

 never was another such strawberry as the Progres- 

 sive Evprhraring. 



On Oct. 15, on a single spring-set plant I picked 

 40 nice ripe berries; counted 69 green ones and lots 

 of bloom. Hundreds more were about as good. All 

 these plants had been bearing abundantly ever since 

 July. 



Success to you and the new Gleanings. 



Hyde Park, N. Y., Dec. 8. A. T. Cook. 



A FLORIDA beekeepers' MEETING HELD SEMI- 

 MONTHLY. 



We clip the following from the Manatee 

 River Journal : 



YANKEE BEEMEN AND CRACKERS MEET AND TALK 



things over. 



The beekeepers of the North, on the approach of 

 cold weather, swarmed out and took a beeline for 

 Bradentown for more congenial climate and lit on 

 the front porch of J. J. Wilder's residence in the 

 western part of Bradentown. 



This swarm from the North met quite a number 

 of local beekeepers ; but as they did not come to rob 

 them of their store of honey no disturbance was 

 made. Some delay was caused by the late arrival 

 of some of the beekeepers ; but Kingbee Daniel John- 

 son finally succeeded in getting them all hived and 

 proceeded with the program. 



The purpose of this meeting was to get the ideas 

 of different beekeepers in this vicinity as to the best 

 methods to be used in conducting an apiary. These 

 meetings will be held once every two weeks, on 

 Friday afternoon, until the Northern beekeepers take 

 their flight at the end of the season. 



Next in order was a paper by Mr. Rees, entitled 

 " Beekeeping in Manatee County, Compared with 

 California and Texas." Mr. Rees held to the view 

 that this section is superior on account of the free- 

 dom from diseases, but admits that the dragon-fly is 

 troublesome near swamps. 



Mr. A. I. Root, the veteran beekeeper of 70 years' 

 experience, gave an excellent talk on his early ex- 

 perience in starting in the business ; how he received 

 nothing but ridicule from his friends when he paid 

 twenty dollars for an Italian queen; but when the 

 colony that she raised produced a barrel of honey in 

 one season (not a barrel of money), the laugh was on 

 the other side. His sons and sons-in-law have built 

 up a business that is the largest in the world in bee 

 supplies, and handles more honey than any other 

 firm. Mr. Root is also an expert gardener, and has 

 in one year raised a barrel of potatoes from one seed 

 potato. His gardening methods might be employed 

 now to a great advantage, potatoes are so high. 



Mr. J. J. Wilder, who did not have to fly so far — - 

 only from Cordele, Ga. — gave his method of market- 

 ing, and preferred to sell to jobbers. His apiaries 

 in Georgia produced 144 tons of honey and sold 

 one nifin six carloads of his product. 



I don't know of another town that has so many 

 heavy-weight beekeepers as Bradentown now has. 

 It must be that it possesses superior attractions. 



Daniel Johnson, of Cazenovia, N. Y., who was 

 chairman of the meeting, is a beekeeper of wide ex- 

 perience — also a very successful queen-raiser and 

 potato-grower. 



Edward Reddout, of Lysander, N. Y., was present, 

 and had a paper on honey production and queen- 

 raising combined, claiming that it could be success- 

 fully done. Ed is like Dan — -raises queens for other 

 people, but has none in his own apiary. Ed is 

 building a hive. 



Your correspondent wax around among them and 

 never got stuns;, but nia.. not fare so well after this 

 article is published. 



Bradentown, Fla. W. N. Reddout. 



The above report is from Mr. Edward 

 Reddout's father; and the father's remark 

 about a queen-breeder who has no " queen " 

 in his own apiary probably refers to the 

 fact that the son is as yet unmarried, altho 

 he is now building a " hive." 



GOATS AND GOATS' MILK, ONCE MORE. 



Dear Brother Root: — Thanks for publishing my 

 communication regarding milch goats, p. 1138, Oct. 

 15. I guess I "have started something" all right. 

 It has brought letters of inquiry about milch goats 

 from all quarters of the United States, and still they 

 come. Every inquirer so far has been thoughtful 

 enough to inclose a stamp. That is a little unusual. 

 I consider I am doing some substantial missionary 

 work in getting any one interested in milch goats, 

 especially where the aged, invalids, or infants are 

 concerned. 



As to the " smell," this comes from the male. He 

 should not be kept with the does giving milk. The 

 does and kids are far cleaner than the cleanest dog 

 or cat, and there is no comparison with a cow. 

 I pet and rub my goats, and the kids climb all 

 over me and nose all my pockets to see if perchance 

 I have a pear concealed about me; and no one 

 could tell I had been about the goats from any odor 

 I carry from them. The " uncouth-looking " ill- 

 smelling goats you refer to were " woolloomooloos," 

 or just goats, and no doubt the males ran with the 

 flock. Even some of those does make fair milkers, 

 and are odorless if kept away from the males. As 

 to their looks, my goats are just grades ; but their 

 wliite coats, clean appearance (no grease as with 

 sheep), deer-like build, and gazelle-like actions 

 attract the attention of all passers. Every one ad- 

 mires them. All I have claimed, and much more, is 

 true of goats and their milk. Cheese? Sure! Some 

 of the best and most expensive cheese are made 

 from goats' milk. It is easily made too. If you 

 encourage a discussion of goats and their products 

 I am sure every aged person, invalid or mother, 

 who is induced to use goats' milk, and especially for 

 infants, will rise up and call you " blessed." It is 

 tlie only real substitute for mothers' milk — the most 

 nourishing and most easily digested food for the 

 aged and for invalids. 



The big goat you saw in Michigan was, no doubt, 

 a Nubian — a large breed, good milkers, but very ex- 

 pensive ; said to be short-lived, and not to stand the 

 cold well. 



Some goats have horns and some have none. 

 Some of mine are hornless. I think they are a 

 Saanen cross on Spanish-Maltese on common goats. 

 Milk goats are not s-o plentiful that they are easily 

 obtained, and pure breeds are prohibitive in price. 

 The practical way is to obtain common goats — 

 the best milkers you can get, and breed up. It is 

 not so hard nor expensive to get pretty good males. 



If you could see a bunch of my kids, about two 

 months old, at play, then see them mob me at feed 

 ing-time, and see bow very smart they are, and 

 how nearly they can talk, you would agree with me 

 that they are the dearest, cleanest, most enjoyable 

 of pets, and anything but uncouth-looking. Then 



