1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



31 



times do during hot weather when fermenta- 

 tion is going on. 



THE CRAIG SEEDLING POTATO. 



I confess that my statement in regard to this po- 

 tato has been received with more favor than I ex- 

 pected. A g-ood many orders are made for pounds 

 by mail, and quite a few for pecks, half-bushels, 

 etc., by express, and some for barrels in the spring. 

 Now permit me to make a suggestion. At the pres- 

 ent value of this potato— $5.00 a bushel— it can be 

 grown under glass at a profit. I have raised pota- 

 toes under sashes more or less for several years 

 back. They are one of the easiest plants to manage 

 I ever had any thing to do with, with this single ex- 

 ception—you must not let them freeze. But even 

 If they do freeze, it does less damage than with any 

 other plant I know of— that is, any other tender 

 plant. If you scorch a tomato it is pretty apt to 

 give up and die; but you may freeze tlie poiato-tops 

 clear down to the ground, and they will, as a rule, 

 get right up and grow almost as well as if you had 

 simply cut the tops otf. Under glass, however, the 

 ground seldom freezes. The principal damage is 

 done to the tops. Well, I have had very good suc- 

 cess in growing potatoes under glass. The only 

 trouble is, they rarely sell for enough in our locali- 

 ty to pay. For instance, we rarely get more than 

 40 cts a peck— sometimes .')(); and if we raise a peck 

 under each 3x6 ft. sash it gives us only 50 cts. for 

 the use of the sash; whereas other crops give us 

 from one to two dollars, and all the way up. Now, 

 If y('U get a peck of potatoes under sash— and I 

 think it can be easily done— this new Craig seedling 

 is worth at present writing $1.75 per peck, and this 

 would pay very well. Furthermore, if you plant 

 them now you could get potatoes ready to plant 

 again in May or June. My impression is, however, 

 that this new Craig potato will keep right on grow- 

 ing from now until next September or October; 

 therefore you need not take the trouble to dig the 

 potatoes and plant them again, but simply divide 

 the hills. You can take a hill of potatoes and tear 

 It to pieces, plant out the pieces like cabbage-plants, 

 and even if some of the pieces have only a little 

 root and top, they will grow just as readily as cab- 

 bage-plants. 



If .you have the ground very rich, and seethatthey 

 do not lack for water, it is the easiest thing in the 

 world to propagate potatoes from cuttings. T. B. 

 Terry has told us what he got from a single barrel 

 of potatoes (Freemans) when they were very valu- 

 able. Now I propose to lell you what I can do with 

 a single barrel of Craigs by commencing some time 

 in January. Of course, a greenhouse is much nicer 

 than hot-beds or cold-frames; but the cold-frames 

 will come in very nicely a little later in the season. 

 If you have not got a greenhouse, nor any sash, you 

 can work with a single pound by putting them into 

 pots or bo.xes in the window. Manage just as you 

 do with house-plants. Potatoes will grow pretty 

 fairly, even if they do not have very much light. 

 You have all s( ea them grow in dark cellars. Well, 

 you can get them started with very little light, and 

 keep on dividing, nnilliplying them until it is time 

 to put them outdoors. The cotton-cloth beds, de- 

 scribed in the tomato-book, will keep off a pietty 

 severe freeze, say al )ng in March and April. 



Now, then, who among our readers will make the 

 most pounds of Craig potatoes from a single pound 

 between now and next October? 



We cliii the following from a recent number of 

 the Rural Ni'tc-York) r, telling what Prof. Massey 

 did a good many years ago: 



In 1869, 1 piopaprated a whole greenhouse full of Early Rose 

 in pots, and planted an acre of land from »5 iiounds of seed 

 which T had raised from a pound purchased from Mr. Bliss. 

 The whole product was solil for seed, and I (.tcw some of them 

 myself. I have never had any Early Rose nt latr years equal 

 to them. The plants I grew in pots, from cutt iut's under glass, 

 made strong, vigorous plants, with a single stem, and rather 

 exceeded in vigor any from cut potatoes, being in four inch 

 pots of rich potting compost. .411 had set little tubers on top 

 of the pots in the rank shade of the foliage, standing closely 

 on the greenhouse t enches. They were set out with unbroken 

 b.alls of earth, and covered a little deeper. The tubers had a 

 decided start, and grew at a more favorable season than if 



they had been planted from sets outside. They were, in fact, 

 mature before hot weather set in. and th(! seed potatoes 

 raised from them in the fall kept solid, and made the finest of 

 seed tor the next season. 



If I wanted to bring a new sort to the highest perfection for 

 seed, I would propagate it in this way: get the tubeis ripe in 

 May, and then grow a good crop of seed from them in the fall. 

 This seed would then give the type in perfection. 



W. F. Massey. 



A pound of the new potatoes to start with will 

 cost you only 25 cts. See advertisement of friend 

 Craig in another column. You can send the money 

 to us or to him, as you choose. 



CEMENT-COATED NAli.S. 



We are now using in almost all our work what 

 are known as cement-coated nails. They are the 

 ordinarj' wire nails with a thin coat of brown .sub- 

 stance. The friction of the nail on the wood in 

 driving softens this coating and makes it adhere to 

 the wood wliile alst) adhering to the nail. This 

 makes the nail hold better than any thing hereto- 

 fore known. If you have ever tried to draw a rusty 

 nail you know .something ht)w these nails hold. If 

 you wish to investigate them we will mall a sample 

 package of various sizes for 5 cents to pay postage. 



We have been using these nails for several years, 

 but have not offered them for sale before because 

 we have not until recently been able to get most of 

 the smaller and special nails used in our work with 

 this coating. We have prevailed on the factory 

 who control this coatin.a- process by patent, to coat 

 our fine nails down to Ji inch, and also casing nails 

 used in nailing hives. The four smallest sizes in 

 the following list will be smooth nails. We still 

 have some stock of other sizes smooth which we 

 will send while they last unless you specify cement- 

 coated nails in your order. These cement nails hold 

 so much better that a smaller nail can be used, and 

 have greater holding power. 



For instance, in.stead of H^-inch smooth nails we 

 now use 2d fine or one-inch nails to nail up brood- 

 frames and section-holders, and the work is strong- 

 er. On account of this gieater holding power the 

 patentees of the coating process adopted the plan 

 of putting the same number of nails in a keg as the 

 ordinary smooth nails will average, and make them 

 a, little scant in length and size so that a keg will be 

 short in weight from 10 to 15 lbs., although having 

 the same number of nails, and selling for the same 

 price per keg. This plan made it difficult to fix a 

 price by the pound, because kegs were not of uni- 

 form weight. Full-weight kegs of cement-coated 

 nails cost more than the ordinary smooth nails. 



PRICE LIST OF FINE FLAT-HEAD WIRE NAILS, CEMENT- 

 COATED, EXCEPT FIRST FOUR. 



PRICE LIST OF STANDARD (D) CEMENT-COATED WIRE 

 NAILS. 



The above table of prices is based on full- 



