The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-12-30
Kindred Industries

Kindred Industries.
Every farmer should be poultry keeper.
Every farmer should be a bee keeper, and
every farmer should raise fruit, says H. B.
Geer. in the Southern CHltiuator. These
are kindred industries. Poultry, bees and
fruit harmonizs to perfection. They work
in-and-in, and are quite as good as a cash
deposit in bank. The produce of the
orchard, the produce of the hen house and
the produce of the beehive is ever In de-
mand and can be turned into cash most any
time.
That poultry is benefit to an orchards
generally admitted. and that an orchard is
beneficial to fowls we know from expert
ence. The range of an orchard is the best
place in the world for chickens to forage.
The presence of the fowls in the grass of
crops about the fruit trees reduces the raw
ages of damaging insects to minimum,
and as these pests have a tendency to har-
Dor and multiply about orchard sites, they
afford an abundance of insect food for the
flock.
In the fall of the year the windfalls, and
damaged fruit that drops to the ground is
source of green food to the fowls, SO neces-
sary to egg production. In starting and
maintaining young orchard and in re-
juvenating an old one, the droppings from
the hen roost are of great value. Here the
hen says to the tree: "You helped me and
now benefit vou." Hardwood ashes, do
nestle poultry guano and virgin forest soil
or leaf-mold mixed in proportion of about
hsv.1 oh 1taI
mixing it with the Ioossned surface soil with
a mulch of leaves or straw, causes rapid
growth and dark foliage in young trees,
and makes the older ones bear more abund-
antly.
The most productive orchards are those
close by large apiaries. That bees assist in
the fertilization of fruit bloom is unques-
toned. That the presence of countless
bees among the blossoms in the spring time
insures fruit il season, we fully believe. In
deed, it is our observation and experience,
and that others can offer similar testimony
we do not doubt. Thus the bees benefit the
trees; but this is not all. Think of the
ocean of sweets" that would go to waste
but for that wonderfully intelligent and
tireless little insect that is ever on the alert
to add to its store of delicious nectar! Only
a tiny insectl One, two, three, dozen, a
hundred, a thousand-yes, twenty to forty
thousand of them in one well-sUocked
colony.
Associate ten, twenty or fifty colonies of
these small but earnest workers on our
premises. and I'VE have millions of we'll
trained laborers who clothe and feed them
selves and ask of us no compensation for
their work. Yet they work, and work
with vim. They are the very essence of
energy and activity. They are never so
happy or so peaceful as when the harvest of
bloom is ripe and the honey flow at It's
highest tide. Then it is that they will part
with portion of their stores in peace, and
offer but little resistance to our high handed
robbery of their storehouses. But beware
of them when the harvest is over and the
Iaborers are forced to idle away the sunny
hours about the hearthstone. Then there is
O viciousness and vigor ABOUT them in the
defense of their home and its contents that
warns all intruders to beware Every one of
them is a solGier-a genuine home guard
armed to the teeth, and in the twinkling of
an eye all Of them are in the face of the
enemy at the first sound of his approach.
Some fruit growers entertain the idea
that bees work injury to ripe grapes, and
that for this reason bees should never be
allowed in the vicinity of vineyards. This
opinion is not muoted idea merely, but
has been the cause of lawsuits. Especially
is this true of California, whore there has
been much conflict between bee keepers and
fruit growers. During the blooming period
the bees are certainly beneficial TO grapes !;
but as to whether they puacture the skin
of ripening grapes and thus induce rot or
evaporation or not, we cannot say posi-
lively, but from our observation in this re-
spect we are led TO believe that in the ma
jority of instances, where the ordinary
honey bee is seen on grape clusters, the
fruit has besn previously punctured by
larger insects. such as yellow-Jackets,
wasps, etc, or has been damaged by the
action of the wiad in tossing the vines
about. thus cracking the skin and attract
ing the vigilant bee. But allowing that bees
do sometimes work little injury to the
fruit of a vineyard, may not this small
damage be more than offset by the in-
CT6dSSQ pEOllllSuooS u Uno fAlASo, OSN1SAOAON
by the presence of the bees in working on
the bloom, thus insuring superior fertiliza-
tions The grape injury aside, bees are such
incaIculable value to orchards in general,
and such source of profit to the intelligent
keeper, that they should have place among
the kindred industries.
The Fruits of Florida.