GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Skptember, 1920 



on bee culture was just then getting' a rous- 

 ing reception. He kept track of liis time on 

 the book, and I think he sent in a bill of 

 something like 40 dollars. I said, "Here 

 is fifty. And now I will show you what a 

 lot of good that book is going to do." It 

 had a big reception, and in a litftle time it 

 was printed in foi'eign languages and made 

 a revolution in potato-growing more or less 

 all over the world. This happened about 

 the time "1 ran away from my own funeral 

 by riding' a bicycle." His great forte in 

 agriculture was to get a tremendous stand 

 of clover and tlien plow it under. He did 

 this not only to grow potatoes but other 

 farm ci'ops; and as he had some boys and 

 girls who wanted something to do he 

 started them growing strawberi'ies ; and to 

 prepare the ground for strawberries after 

 it was well underdrained he turned under 

 a great growth of clover, knee-high or 

 ]nore; and this started the strawberry book, 

 which has had about the same reception as 

 did the potato book. 



Somewhere about 1890 at one of these 

 same farmers' institutes I heard Prof. W. 

 I. Cliamberlain, also of Hudson, 0., give 

 a talk on underdraining, and L persuaded 

 him to give the world a little book on tile 

 drainage. By the way, 1 might mention 

 here that my good friend Chamberlain de- 

 parted this life just a few days ago at the 

 good old age of 83 or 84. 1 can not begin 

 to tell you in this brief paper what Profes- 

 sor Chamberlain accomplished for the 

 world as well as for Ohio during his long 

 and busy life. While he was a college pro- 

 fessor at Hudson, T. B. Terry was one of 

 his pupils; and while thus engaged Mr. 

 Chamberlain's health failed. He did not 

 start out riding a bicycle as 1 did, but he 

 went out on to a farm a good deal as Terry 

 did and commenced to show the world what 

 a college professor could do in the way of 

 digging ditches; and I think T have heard 

 him say that he dug ditches and laid tile for 

 15 miles on that one farm. At my solicita- 

 tion he gave the world a little book on tile 

 drainage that has gone tliru several edi- 

 tions and has proved to be a blessing to the 

 world. Let me give you one illustration. 



I'ntil Mr. Chamberlain put out his book, 

 the orthodox way of digging ditches was 

 to dig them so wide that the digger could 

 stand in the bottom. But our college pro- 

 fessor had some special tools made for his 

 ditching. He had a long nan-ow spade that 

 would reach down 18 inches. Well, to push 

 this spade down into hard clay or gravelly 

 ground would be a pretty big feat, espe- 

 cially for a run-down college professor who 

 had been kept indoors and had lost his 

 health. Professor Chamberlain discovered 



that by setting the S]iade down diagonally, 

 with one edge always out in the open air, 

 it did not require very much power to take 

 out a three-cornered slice; and this slice 

 would stick to the spade so it could be 

 quickly lifted out and laid on the bank ; and 

 by the use of his tools he showed how a 

 ditch could be dug 30 inches deep without 

 getting down into it at all, and the tiles also 

 could be laid more accurately and in better 

 shape than could possibly be done in the 

 old-fashioned way.* Just as soon as 1 

 heard his talk 1 procured suitable tools and 

 went to laying tiles on our Medina liard 

 clay soil; and I discovered to my gieat de- 

 light that I too could dig better ditches, 

 and dig' them faster, than a great stout 

 "Dutchman" who absolutely refused to fol- 

 low the teaching's of the book on tile di-ain- 

 age. Let me tell you bi-iefiy what 1 did. 



Whenever I have j)ublislied a book on 

 any subject I have proposed first to "prac- 

 tice what 1 preach." Just north of our 

 factory there is a clay sidehill of about four 

 acres. We purchased it more to keep away 

 undesirable neighbors than because we had 

 any use for it. When I had the new tiles 

 spread over the ground, the farmers who 

 passed by said, "Why, Mr. Root, the tiles 

 you are planning to put into that gi'ound 

 have probably cost you more than tlie land 

 is worth." But I went ahead. Then 1 

 bought manure, which was a drug around 

 our livery stables, and had it piled on the 

 ground until the same farmers said that the 

 manure was worth more than any crop 1 

 could raise. But I got it all under and 

 grew a field of clover. Nobody around here 

 ever saw anything like it. Then I proceed- 

 ed to plow it under so as to plant potatoes 

 as Terry did. Then the said farmers be- 

 gan to remonstrate, saying, "Why, Mr. 

 Root, that clover you are plowing under is 

 worth just now during the scarcity of hay 

 more than any crop you can possibly raise 

 on that land." 



It was a big task to get it all under out 

 of sight; but we did so and then planted 

 potatoes. When digging-time came, one of 

 the boys came down to the office and said : 

 "Mr. Root, we have picked up 375 bushels 



*It did not take our big college professor (big 

 in a good many ways) very long to discover that 

 where ditches are dug a foot or more wide, or 

 something like that, at the bottom, ton.s of earth 

 were laboriously shoveled out on the bunk need- 

 lessly. With tools made specially for the work he 

 dug a finished ditch just wide enough at the bottom 

 to admit the tiles without ever going down into 

 the ditch at all; and with these special tools he 

 would dig in ground so hard that an ordinary 

 laborer would think he would have to use a pick and 

 shovel. With so little dirt to be removed, compared 

 with the old way, our ditching professor found he 

 could make a much better ,iob and do it quicker; and 

 when the tile.s were laid they retained a straight 

 and level line, and could not well be crowded out 

 of line by filling in. 



