554 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 15 



NOTESOF TRAVLI. 



* BY A.I.ROOT . 



THE CABIN IN THE WOODS. 



About the middle of March I felt very 

 anxious to get back to our cabin to see to 

 my peach-trees, and to prepare the ground 

 for planting potatoes, etc. Mrs. Root was 

 not quite ready to go; and I really hope 

 you will excuse me for not telling just w/iy 

 she was not ready to " share my bed and 

 board" at the cabin in the woods. How- 

 ever, I think I may venture to say that, just 

 2j hours after I started off alone, Rootville 

 was rejoicing over the advent of another 

 member of The A. I. Root Co. Mrs. Boy- 

 den (perhaps better known to our older 

 readers as "Blue Eyes") is now the moth- 

 er of two promising boys; so there are now 

 not only five children but five grandchil- 

 dren. When the older members of the firm 

 get worn out, and have to be "turned out to 

 grass" for a while to recuperate (sent up 

 to the cabin in the woods, for instance), 

 you see there is a prospect of young blood 

 coming in to bear the burdens, like young 

 bees hatching out day by day in a well- 

 regulated bee-hive. Under the circumstances 

 it was deemed best that I should try to 

 get along for two weeks in taking care of 

 myself. Now, while there alone on my 

 ranch I met several of my happy surprises. 

 One was to see the crimson clover I sowed 

 the first week in September budded and 

 blossoming gloriously. I sowed it where I 

 dug 45 bushels of New Oueen potatoes. 

 Down here in Ohio I have recommended 

 that crimson clover be sown in July or Au- 

 gust; but up in Northern Michigan you can 

 sow it as late as September. One reason I 

 did so was that frost never heaves clover 

 out, nor any thing else, in that locality; 

 and I was very agreeably pleased to find 

 not a plant, apparently, of the crimson clo- 

 ver missing. It may have been a favorable 

 winter — I do not know. The crimson clo- 

 ver commenced blossoming the fore part of 

 May; and \)y the first of June it was, in 

 spots, the prettiest sight for a clover- field I 

 ever saw anywhere. Perhaps I had better 

 tell you it is the first clover I ever attempt- 

 ed to sow broadcast in my life. Of course, 

 I got it too thick in spots, and too thin in 

 others; and I was so poorly satisfied with 

 my skill in sowing clover that I bought a 

 machine right away afterward. Well, 

 where I got the clover the thickest it seem- 

 ed to do the best. The first day in June 

 the crimson heads were so close there were 

 spots where there were solid beds of crim- 

 son; and the Italian bees were humming 

 over it, as well as bumble-bees, as I never 

 saw them anywhere else. The plants do 

 not branch out nor grow as tall as they do 

 in Ohio; but there was an immense amount 

 of green stuflF for feeding stock or for turn- 

 ing under. It would seem as if the clover 



standing now, on a square yard, would be 

 all a man could carry. If it were not 

 among the peach-trees I would try to plow 

 under a little piece to see what it would do 

 for potatoes. Perhaps I may do so yet. 



Now, friends, here is a wonderful chance 

 to get fertility. Plant your potatoes so 

 that they can be dug and got out of the way 

 by September 1, and you can g-row a mag- 

 nificent crop of clover to be turned under 

 for more potatoes (or any thing else, for 

 that matter), providing you do not plant 

 your potatoes until, say, about the middle 

 of June; and I think most potato-growers 

 in the Grand Traverse region have decided 

 that is the best time to plant. Perhaps the 

 soil does not average as well as that around 

 our cabin. In fact, I am pretty sure of this. 

 The timber on our place is mostly beech and 

 maple, with a sprinkling of hemlock. I 

 have before remarked that it is the fashion 

 in that region, after the woods are cleared 

 off, to grow potatoes year after year for I 

 do not know how long, without turning un- 

 der clover or any green crop at all — at 

 least, this is largely the fashion. They do 

 not want to spare the use of the land; but 

 with this crimson clover you can turn un- 

 der a tremendous lot of clover, and grow 

 potatoes every year right along. Why, if I 

 can do the same thing again (and I do not 

 know why I can not) it just makes me full 

 of enthusiasm to think of it. I know crim- 

 son clover has been pronounced a failure; 

 but I have grown it successfully for six or 

 seven years here in Ohio, without one fail- 

 ure, and I have grown one crop in North- 

 ern Michigan, as I have told you. Why, I 

 would give a lot to have the readers of 

 Gleanings see that growth of crimson 

 clover. 



ANOTHER OF MV HAPPY SURPRISES. 



A year ago I mentioned that our good 

 neighbor Mrs. Cole brought us about a doz- 

 en bunches of pansies. She said they were 

 all different. We had a gorgeous display 

 of pansies all through the summer and fall. 

 Mrs. Root first said the blossoms would 

 have to be picked off so that the plants 

 might not exhaust themselves in growing 

 seed; but when the roots got down to that 

 rich woods dirt it was just out of the ques- 

 tion to pick the blossoms, so they went to 

 seed and grew a lot of it. Now. in sowing 

 my crimson clover, when I got up near the 

 house where the pansies are I did not in- 

 tend to sow any; but the seeds flew over, 

 some of them among the pansj'-plants. 

 Well, this spring little pansy-plants were 

 peeping out for a rod or two in every direc- 

 tion. The wind or something else carried 

 them also clear over among our strawberrj'- 

 plants. Well, just about the time the crim- 

 son clover and strawberries were coming in 

 full bloom those seedling pansies were peep- 

 ing out here and there in ever}' direction. 

 The eflect was wonderful. Every man, 

 woman, and child who came near the cabin 

 uttered exclamations of surprise to see the 

 various-hued pansies, no two alike, glitter- 

 ing and gleaming out from among the clo- 



