158 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



March, 1922 



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THIS article 

 is for the 

 b e n 6 fi t of 

 those beekeepers 

 who have the 

 hardihood to at- 

 tempt to trans- 

 plant those per- 

 ennials common- 

 ly known as 

 wives. It can be done, but the operation is 

 attended with risk. 



In the first place, unless the transplanting 

 is done when the wife is young and not 

 deeply rooted it is well to transplant one 

 who has been frequently moved. Any nur- 

 serj'^man can tell you he moves his stock 

 occasionally to insure a compact ball of 

 roots which will endure transplanting with- 

 out great shock. 



But if for certain reasons you deem it 

 necessary to transplant a wife who is not 

 young, who is very deeply rooted by reason 

 of never having been moved, then be sure 

 to dig around her with exceeding care, take 

 as much soil as possible, and avoid breaking 

 the little tender roots which reach so far 

 into the soil in every direction. Even with 

 the greatest care there is bound to be more 

 or less shock, and for that reason and in 

 order to make her fit her new location some 

 pruning will be necessary. And when you 

 finality plant her in the new location, see 

 that she is properly sheltered for a few days 

 and that her new environment is as much as 

 possible like that from which she has been 

 taken. 



THE reason I can write on this subject 

 with so much assurance is twofold: 

 transplanting is one of the gardening op- 

 erations with which I have been quite suc- 

 cessful, and just now I am writing from the 

 standpoint of the perennial herself instead 

 of from that of the man who did the trans- 

 planting. When you read the ordinary book 

 on gardening, you read what the gardener 

 has written from his observation and expe- 

 rience. Wouldn't it be more to the point if 

 the plants could tell you how they feel 

 about it? 



When my particular gardener (husband) 

 first broached the subject of transplanting 

 me to California this fall — he had talked of 

 it often before in the years gone by until 

 I had come to regard it as "castles in 

 Spain" — I was more or less enthusiastic 

 about it, generally more in the morning and 

 much less at night when I was tired. Also 

 the Staney Puerden part of me regarded it 

 as a glorious new adventure, while Con- 

 stance Boyden thought of the parting with 

 old friends and giving up her old home as 

 nothing less than a tragedy. You know 

 everyone has that dual personality, but he 

 may never discover to what extent unless 

 he contemplates giving up his old home and 

 going to live among strangers in a strange. 



NOTES ON TRANSPLANTING 



CONSTANCE ROOT BOYDEN 



(Staney Puerden) 



3 



TU 



tho fascinating 

 land. Then the 

 struggle between 

 the two person- 

 alities is enough 

 to wear out the 

 unfortunate in- 

 dividual who 

 harbors them 

 both. 



Also it makes it so much harder when all 

 one's friends are ranged on the side of the 

 personality who fights transplanting. We 

 know there are just as fine people in Cali- 

 fornia as in Ohio — we have met some of 

 tliem already and have received welcoming 

 letters from many more — and yet, when you 

 have lived in the same small town all your 

 life, when you have scores of friends who 

 call you by your first name, you feel deep in 

 your heart that no new friends can ever fill 

 their places. 



There is one phase of leaving the old 

 liome town which is both a great pleasure 

 and a pain. It is this: — you never realize 

 how much your friends think of your family 

 and yourself until you contemplate leaving 

 them in this way. It is heartbreaking to 

 have so many call and try to express how 

 much grief they feel at the separation; to 

 meet people who, you supposed, regarded 

 your family as mere pleasant acquaintances 

 and find that they seem to feel the separa- 

 tion as a keen, personal loss; to have people 

 call for the first time in years to express 

 their regret. And it is almost equally hard 

 to have your friends, when they recognize 

 that the step is inevitable, try to talk 

 cheerfully about it, talk of the wonderful 

 business oiiportunity and promise to visit 

 you when their children are all educated. 



But it is a great pleasure to listen to the 

 very kind words which are spoken of your 

 husband, your sons and your daughter. You 

 know we mothers all secretly feel that our 

 families are a little exceptional, but we 

 never realize to Avliat extent our neighbors 

 and friends share this feeling until we plan 

 to leave them permanently. If you don't 

 believe me, just try moving away from your 

 home town and you will hear your family 

 eulogized until you feel sinfully proud. Un- 

 doubtedly it is true "that a prophet hath 

 no honor in his oavu country," but if he an- 

 nounced that he was leaving that country 

 permanently honors would be heaped upon 

 him. 



As to leaving brothers and sisters, those 

 by birth and those acquired by marriage, 

 and nephews and nieces, no words can ex- 

 press the pain of the parting. It is espe- 

 cially hard when one has lived in a neigh- 

 borliood surrounded by a large number of 

 relatives. There is where the roots of the 

 perennials become entwined with the roots 

 of other perennials, with the result that 

 transplanting breaks the tender roots not 

 only of the plants which are moved but of 



