1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



371 



in wintering onions under glass than ever be- 

 fore. Only two varieties were tested— the Prize- 

 taker and American Pearl. The seed was 

 sown quite thickly in the beds in September. 

 By the time freezing weather came on we had 

 onion-plants with bulbs about the size of the 

 end of your finger. The sashes were put on 

 and moved very little through the winter. To 

 prevent the beds from becoming too hot when 

 the sun shone out, every third or fourth sash 

 was made of glass slats such as I have describ- 

 ed. Besides, the dogs walked over the glass, 

 here and there smashing out a light. I told 

 the boys to let these occasional lights be for 

 ventilation, even if it did kill the plants right 

 under the opening. These onions are so hardy 

 that a very little protection suffices; and when 

 the severe freezing occurred in March and 

 April, with warm sunshine in the middle of 

 the day, the glass saved these from injury. 

 We usually tilted the sashes, however, in the 

 middle of the day. These onions are now, 

 April 24, some of them, nearly as large as hens' 

 eggs. They will make nice-looking bulbs 

 away in advance of onions raised in any other 

 way; and the ground was made so rich with 

 manure that we can let them grow so close 

 together that they almost push each other out 

 of the ground. This sort of treatment will cer- 

 tainly pay. for you can almost set your own 

 price on beautiful nice onions away ahead of 

 anybody else. Very likely the White Multi- 

 pliers would work nicely under this treatment. 

 I presume that, in a few days, we shall have 

 trouble by many of the large onions sending up 

 seed-stalks, because they made part of their 

 growth last season. To obviate this we can 

 pull on: the seed-stalk, or pull out such onions, 

 and sell them in bunches. Of course, these 

 cold-frame onions would be a splendid thing 

 for onion-plants; and I think it would pay to 

 give twice as much for themas for onion-plants 

 raised in the greenhouse, from seed sown in 

 February or March. To produce plants, they 

 should be sown a great deal thicker than we 

 have them. Another season, I think I shall 

 use a great part of our sashes in producing 

 cold-frame onion-plants for early market In 

 fact, ever since the trade has started in onion- 

 plants we have had orders for them before they 

 were ready; but the cold-frame would afw^ays 

 be ready. In our locality, and with our average 

 freezing weather which we have in March and 

 April. I should say the cheapest and best way 

 to raise spinach is in beds just such as I have 

 described for onion-plants. No heat at all is 

 needed for either onions or spinach, if you 

 plant them so that they get a good start in the 

 fall, before the sashes are put on. The spinach 

 is ever so much nicer than any we ever get 

 wintered in the open ground. All your sashes 

 can be easily utilized at a season of the year 

 when they are hardly needed for any thing 

 else. Late frosts are making trouble with our 

 large twice-transplanted tomato-plants. We 

 have put them in a bed having the sides so high 

 that the sash is quite a distance above the soil; 

 but every night, when it looks like frost, the 

 glass lies on top of the tomatoes, crushing down 

 their leaves and blossoms. This does not do 

 any particular harm unless it is cold enough to 

 freeze through the glass. But they are grow- 

 ing so now that they probably would not stand 

 it very much longer. 



We are still getting 1.5 cts. per lb. for lettuce, 

 or 20 cts. where it is sold in five-cent packages. 

 Our first pie-plant brings 5 cts. a bunch, three 

 bunches weighing a pound. Our first aspara- 

 gus brings 5 cts. a bunch, eight bunches to the 

 pound. Of course, these bunches are very 

 small; but we aim to put all our vegetables up 

 In five-cent bunches. As the season advances 



we make the bunches heavier. For instance, 

 the first onions raised in the greenhouse are put 

 up in bunches of 4 oz. each. As the season 

 advances we give three bunches to the pound, 

 then two, and finally a bunch weighing a whole 

 pound, for a nickel. But in order to induce 

 people to purchase more we sell 3 five-cent 

 bunches of any thing for 10 cts. Of course, it 

 is some trouble to do the bunching up; but our 

 boys use cheap rubber bands, and it greatly 

 facilitates the work of the man on the wagon. 

 He simply says to his customers, " Five cents 

 for a bunch of any thing, or three bunches for 

 a dime." In this way there is no weighing up, 

 no discussion, no bantering. Of course, each 

 customer is to take each bunch as it comes. 

 He is not to pull them over nor sort out the 

 best. But in putting them up, the boys en- 

 deavor to have the bunches average of equal 

 value. 



I wonder how many of the friends are enjoy- 

 ing working with plant-beds and sashes, as 

 described in the latter part of the tomato-book. 

 Oh! by the way, I got hold of a new item iii 

 this matter during my Florida trip. You will 

 notice in my travels how much I said of the 

 protection furnished to garden-stuff by plant- 

 ing under trees. Now, with the plant-beds I 

 have described you do not need to fear the 

 roots of trees robbing your plants — that is, if 

 you have some trees in your garden that pro- 

 duce a valuable crop. Let thi- trees help them- 

 selves. Bring in your manure, and bring in 

 water; and be sure there is enough to go round. 

 Apple-trees trained high, so the limbs would 

 not hit your head, would be just the thing, and 

 in the fall of the year the foliage will protect 

 your tomatoes from frost so that you may have 

 several gatherings after the frost has destroyed 

 those, where there is protection from the trees 

 overhead. The shade of the trees is really a 

 good thing for many kinds of plants and crops 

 during the extreme heat of the summer. And 

 then just think how pleasant for the wife and 

 children to " make garden " in the shade under 

 large leafy trees. But in this business of 7it(/^- 

 pressure gardening the shade-trees ought to be 

 something that bears crops of great value. 

 The mango-tree, of Florida, where the fruit 

 from a single tree brought $1.50, that would be 

 just the thing. Very likely grapevines could 

 be trained high enough to give the right 

 amount of shade, and not interfere with the 

 work. You see. there would be no leaves at all 

 until hot weather comes. In fact, I have seen 

 magnificent crops of grapes grown on vines 

 trained overhead, so one could just reach the 

 clusters. Of course, there are crops that need 

 all of the sun; but there are a good many 

 that do better without all of it. We have 

 raised beautiful cabbage, celery, and tomato 

 plants, where they were shaded a great part of 

 the day by evergreens. 



Now, when some of you have got a nice plant- 

 garden under some tall branching shade-trees, 

 please invite me to come and see you. Just 

 now I am getting greatly in love with straw- 

 berries in our rich plant-beds. With plenty of 

 water and plenty of manure I can make them 

 do just what I want, even through the hottest 

 part of summer; and if you want to raise nice 

 strawberry-plants for sale, the plant-beds are 

 the place to do it. If you have exhaust steam 

 that you can run under some of your plant- 

 beds, all the better. 



The strawberrj'-plants I got of you last fall were 

 so fine that several liave asked me about you, as 

 they wish to deal with so honest a slilpi)er. 



S. S. Fetherolp, p. M. 



Palestine, Ohio, April 15. 



