1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



819 



weigh, but considerably over a pound, I should 

 judge. And this great yield was without any 

 particular show of tops. In fact, the tops were 

 not as large as those of the Freemans right be- 

 side. 



I was satisfied with my visit, and started 

 back on my wheel with more enthusiasm than 

 when I came. By pretty hard riding I manag- 

 ed to reach the power-house just as the conduct- 

 or was calling out "all aboard." Next morn- 

 ing I wrote Maule a letter; but 34 hours after, 

 considering the matter, I wrote another, beg- 

 ging for a few of those potatoes at some price. 

 I told him I must have them atonce. The first 

 letter did not bring more than a promise that, 

 when his new catalog was out, I could have 

 some at catalog prices. My second one. how- 

 ever touched the spot, and the result is. I have 

 actually purchased five barrels of this new po- 

 tato. They are to be called Maule's Early 

 Thoroughbred potato. The price for the coming 

 season will certainlv be a dollar a pound, or 

 perhaps $1..50. I paid so much for these five bar- 

 rels I should hardly dare tell anybody about it. 



So you seel got the coveted potato I wanted 

 so bad. What shall I do with them? Well, a 

 few will be cut up and started in the green- 

 house at once. I am going to see if I can not 

 have some new potatoes ready to plant by 

 planting-time next spring. The rest of them 

 are not for sale, but are to be given to subscrib- 

 ers to Gi>EANiNGS. And this is the way we will 

 do it: Every one of our readers who is now a 

 subscriber to Gleanings, who will send us ?!1.00 

 for Gleanings one year, not asking for any 

 other premium, shall have one pound, nostpaid 

 bv mail, of Maule's Early Thoroughbred potato. 

 The potatoes themselves are ivorth. say. a dol- 

 lar a pound, but they are not for sale at any 

 price. If you do not want to take the trouble 

 to get a subscriber to Gleanings, make some of 

 your friends, who you think would be interested 

 in it. a present of it for one year, and we will 

 send you the pound of potatoes. 



Columbia Co. Here 1 met with a very cordial 

 reception from Prof. Clute, formerly connected 

 with the Michigan Agricultural College, at 

 Lansing. They have a fine school here, and 

 beautiful grounds; and quite a good deal has 

 been done in the way of testing not only fruits 

 and vegetables, but the various grains that can 

 be profitably grown in the northern limits of 

 the State of Floiida. Prof. Clute was enthusi- 

 astic about the flat pea. or Lathyrus silvestris, 

 which has made such a wonderful growth on 

 their grounds at Lansing, Mich. I believe it 

 was he who first introduced and tried on an ex- 

 tensive scale this plant. The sacaline had also 

 been making a growth of one year on the ex- 

 periment grounds ; but the frost had cut it 

 down; but when I was there it had started out 

 making rank shoots not unlike asparagus. 

 These shoots were several inches in length. 

 Quite a plantation of the flat pea was just up, 

 and was growing enough to show the nitrogen- 

 nodules. I had quite a pleasant visit with 

 Prof. Kolfs. the Slate Chemist. The diflerent 

 professors showed great willingness to drop 

 every thing and show me their work and their 

 plans. This institution is so new in Florida 

 that they havn not as yet made a success of 

 many of the experiments, as we have here fur- 

 ther north, where experiment stations are an 

 older idea. My stay was so brief that I did not 

 have time to go about much in the country. 



Around Lake City, as in other parts of Flori- 

 da, we find many of those strange sink-holes 

 that have interested me so much from time to 

 time. Gear's Sink, near by, is filled with beau- 

 tiful clear water, indicating that these artesian 

 wells and lakes have at least some connection 

 with this sinking-down of the ground. Nata- 

 rally, Florida has not very much to offer in the 

 way of waterfalls; ^ut Falling Creek, in the 

 vicinity, is certainly as handsome and pictur- 

 esque as some of the falls further north. A 

 beautiful clear pure water that characterizes 



^ , )otatoes. ,^^artflTost every part of Florida is one of the pleas- 



Perhaps you do not realize how much of a fin^r^nt things about it. In fact, I can not remem- 



ihis new potato is. It is very earlv — perhstpS ^gj. ^f having seen any muddy water anywhere; 



as early as any thing we have. None of our 

 other exceedingly early potatoes are good yipld- 

 ers. This is a tremendous yielder. and the tops 

 are small, so it will he jnst the thing to grow 

 for early potatoes under elass "^r under beds 

 covered with cotton sheeting. Below is what 

 Manle himself has to say in regard to quality: 



In reKard to t)ie quality of Maule's New Early 

 Thoroughbred potato, it is pxreptionally fine; it is 

 as grood a baker as Brownell's Winner, which here- 

 tofore has lieen considered the V)est of all for tliis 

 purpose; and for every other culinary purpose it is 

 simply perfection. You can not rpcommend it too 

 hiffhlv. Wm. Henry Maule. 



Philadelphia. Pa.. Oct. 19. 



We have at this date, Oct. 19, received 1 lb. by 

 mail, from Maule. One of these potatoes was 

 cooked, together with some of the Freemans. 

 While the Freeman is perhaps a little more dry 

 and floury, the new potato was pronounced by 



and. I might almost say, for that matter, no 

 mud anywhere. Another sink-hole, called Fall- 

 ing Creek Sink, interested me. The ground has 

 gone down, carrying with it trees, logs, brush, 

 etc.. making it look as if the bottom indeed had 

 commenced to drop out of every thing. The 

 turpentine industry flourishes to a greater or 

 less extent all through this region This has 

 been described before. 



A few miles out of Jacksonville, toward the 

 west, one is astonished at seeing a considerable 

 town of verv hastily built cabins, now entirely 

 deserted. What could it mean? My curiosity 

 was finally satisfied by some of the passengers 

 telling me that it was a camp started at the 

 time the yellow fever was raging, people rush- 

 ing for the country, and getting along as best 

 they could until the epidemic had passed by. 

 And now it makes one feel a little sad to see 



all the family to be richer and sweeter than quite a gnod-sized town so still, silent, and des 



even the Freeman. Take it all tosether. I be- 

 lieve that, with all it< other good qualities — 

 earliness and wonderful productiveness — it is 

 the crowning triumph of the present day in 

 potato-growing. 



With this fine early potato, and the Craig 

 Seedling for a late one. we have a pretty nice 

 "span." Don't you think so? 



! ) ■'' ' If 1 ' 



FLORIDA NOTES — CONOLTJDED. 



I have once before mentioned my visit to the 

 branch experiment station at Fort Myers. This 

 was instituted in order to test Florida products 

 away down below the frost-line. The experi- 

 ment station proper, however, Is at Lake City, 



olate. Probably there was nothing in the loca- 

 tion to induce people to stay, other than the 

 fact that it was a safe distance from the conta- 

 gion of the terrible epidemic a few years ago. 



During the middle of March I started back 

 for my northern home. There are many pleas- 

 ant things about Florida: but I confess that, as 

 I got on further north, it seemed exceedingly 

 refreshing to see larqcareaft of cultivated fields. 

 In Florida, farming and gardening of all sorts 

 is mostly done in the favorable places here and 

 there. The greater part of almost every locali- 

 ty is still wild and uncared-for. 



lar, 



Some years ago an old song was quite popu- 

 r, called "The Girl I Left behind Me." I be- 



