1384 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE, 



Nov. 1 



yield being about 75,000 

 bushels. Ihese large fig- 

 ures seem almost in- 

 credible; but Mr. Wood- 

 ard is a Christian gen- 

 tleman whom I have 

 known from a little boy 

 and 1 have contidence 

 in his word. Think of 

 the amount of sourness 

 Marengo furnishes to the 

 countiy, some of it go- 

 ing across the ocean. 

 What interests me more 

 is the amount of sweet- 

 ness fuinished for the 

 bees. Of course, my 

 bees don't go in all di- 

 rections six miles, but 

 they cover quite a bit of 

 it. It is well known that 

 there are two kinds of 

 blossoms on cucumber- 

 vines at some distance 

 apart, and without the 

 bees to carry the pollen 

 from the "false" to the 

 "true" blossoms there 

 would be little growth 

 of fruit. So I might 

 make out a bill against 

 the factories for furni-ih- 

 ing the hands to fertilize 

 the Howers. But they 

 might charge me for 

 nectar furnished, so we'll 

 call it a stand-off. 

 f When it comes time to 

 pick the pickles — the 

 word "cucumber" is 

 hartlly ever used here; 

 there aretieldsof "pick- 

 les," not "cucumbers" 

 — it means a busy time 

 of back-breaking work, 

 and it is the common 

 thing to see the whole 

 family in the patch. The 

 illustration shows one of the smaller patches, 

 with a correspondingly smaller force of pick- 

 ers. Mr. Freebrandt and his wife are at 

 work, with a young woman helper. The 

 baby is in the baby-carriage; the little girl 

 stands by the improvised tent, while her 

 younger bi other, whom I had coaxed out 

 from under cover, shyly dodged back as I 

 snapped the kodak. Very likely the little 

 girl is in charge of the two younger, else she 

 might be at work too. At any rale. I've seen 

 as young children picking. Ten or more p ck- 

 ers are often seen at work, and at forty or fifty 

 cents a bushel for pickles below a certain 

 size, and 20 cents for the larger ones, the 

 crop would not be as paying as it is if the 

 whole family, children and all, could not 

 take part in it. Yet even adults can make 

 wages at it. 



Now I suppose you will expect me to tell 

 you just what cucumber honey is like. I 

 don't know. The honey we get in the fall 

 varies in color, density, and flavor. Some 



THE M1.W WMil'ii li'Al^lAJS UI^uVliiK. — aHjii, MiiXX FAGK. 



of it has amber color and a rank fall taste 

 that I dislike, although others like it. Some 

 of it is light, almost, as clover, with just 

 enough of the fall taste to be rather pleasant. 

 But 1 don't know what part of all this is to 

 be attributed to the pickles. I wish I did. 

 During pickle season the cappings are likely 

 to be yellowish and a bit varnishy-looking. 

 I've been in the habit of laying this to the 

 pickles. Perhaps I accuse them wrongfully. 

 Marengo, 111. 



[The writer remembers that there was a 

 large amount of sweet clover in the vicinity 

 of Marengo. Indeed, the doctor had taken 

 pains to cultivate its acquaintance on his 

 farm, allowing it to grow ad libitum. But 

 for all this we are inclined to believe the 

 bulk of his fall honey comes from cucumber. 

 We should like to inquire if there is not a 

 time when the sweet clover is practically out 

 of bloom, and the cucumber blossoms in the 

 height of their nectar secretion. By taking 



