906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 1. 



have often complained of "too many and too small 

 potatoes in the hill," as a characteristic of the vari- 

 ety. Such complaints are not heard this j'ear. The 

 Freemans have turned out well all over. I had 

 planted mine in my usual way of seeding— about a 

 half medium-sized tuber in a hill. Yet the potatoes 

 when dug- were just about the right size for use or 

 market, few extra large, and almost no small ones. 

 They appear well in tlie bin. The yield was at the 

 rate of about 35C bushels per acre. What tliey 

 would have done, if not checked by the long dry 

 spell, is hard to tell. 



With the same measure that ye meet withal, it 

 shall be measured to you again.— Luke 6:38. 



The above has been repeated over and over 

 again so much that some of the friends may be 

 tempted to say, '"Oh dear mel 1 have heard 

 that over and over again so many times that it 

 really makes me feel tired to hear it." Yes, 

 this is indeed true; but notwithstanding the 

 sermons and admonitions and grand texts we 

 have in such profusion all about us, through 

 our periodicals, from the pulpit and the prayer- 

 meetings, and in the Endeavor Societies — not- 

 withstanding all this, we are selfish and greedy 

 still. Evidently, we do not believe it. We 

 preach one thing and practice another. This 

 matter has been brought vividly to my mind 

 since I have been in the potato business by the 

 subject of barrels. How much is a barrel? 

 The word " barrel " has come to mean so much 

 or so little that several times 1 have been 

 tempted to think we had better abandon barrels 

 and use bushel boxes — the Terry bushel box, 

 for instance. 



There are several reasons, however, why 

 boxes can not well take the place of barrels. 

 First, one man alone can handle a heavy barrel 

 easier and quicker than he can handle a box of 

 the same weight. He can roll it along the 

 platform or he can roll it up a plank into a 

 wagon. Transportation companies, I believe, 

 make a distinction in rates of freight on goods 

 in barrels over those in boxes. Again, a barrel 

 properly hooped will stand more hard usage 

 than a box of about the same capacity, weigh- 

 ing the same number of pounds. That is, a 

 barrel weighing 20 lbs. will hold more goods, 

 and keep them in better shape, than any box 

 that has ever been made, of similar weight. 

 Apples and potatoes, to ship without being 

 bruised and mashed up, should be pressed in 

 solid, so they can not shuck about in transit; 

 and this can be done with a barrel better than 

 with any sort of box. Finally, my impression 

 is that a barrel can be made for less money 

 than a box of the same capacity. For some 

 time to come, probably, barrels will be used for 

 shipping all sorts of produce and a great vari- 

 ety of goods. 



Years ago we used to call a barrel three 

 bushels; and we used to have good fat plump- 

 looking barrels. They did not look starved, 

 and straight up on their sides, like a stovepipe. 

 When I was a juvenile, right across the street 

 from the old schoolhouse, under the limbs of a 

 speadlng oak, was a cooper-shop; and that 

 cooper of olden time made good honest barrels. 

 How patiently he explained to each juvenile 

 mind the whole operation from beginning to 

 end, from bringing staves and heading from 

 the piles out in the yard, and making them 

 into nice honest smooth barrels, and all by 



skillful handwork, from first to last! Those 

 barrels would hold flour, without having it sift 

 out; or they would hold Vinegar — especially 

 when the purchaser said he wanted a good 

 vinegar-barrel; and they held a good plump 

 three bushels. I do not remember that our 

 good friend Mr. Coe ever made a small, scanty, 

 scrimped, straight-sided barrel, such as we 

 have nowadays. Well, I can remember later 

 along when there was a discussion in regard ta 

 the size of barrels. Somebody complained, who 

 bought a barrel of apples, that there were not 

 three bushels. 



"Oh! yes, there is," said the dealer. "Look 

 here; we will measure them up." 



" But," says the purchaser, "you don't heap 

 up your half-bushel enough. A barrel of apples 

 and p otatoes must be piled clear up." 



And here again came disoqssion. The deal- 

 ers were not always to blame, because, when a 

 farmer took a load of potatoes around town 

 somebody would say, " Yes, I will take three 

 bushels of potatoes providing you give good 

 measure." 



'• Well, how good measure do you want?" 



And then the buyer piles them on the half- 

 bushel just as long as he can make the potatoes 

 stay on top. This is manifestly unfair — as un- 

 fair as the other way; and I have seen grocers 

 bantered; and where ihey happened to be meek 

 and inoffensive sort of people, some customers 

 would impose upon them by demanding all 

 that would lie upon the measure. Can you 

 blame the grocer for tvanting some measures 

 that might be heaped up to suit, and not con- 

 tain over a real peck even then? 



Well, by and by it transpired that there was 

 an agreement, in order to settle all these 

 jangles, that a bushel of potatoes should weigh 

 so much, say 60 lbs. My impression is, that 

 the laws of the State of Ohio have fixed a bush- 

 el of potatoes at the above weight; and we 

 have also tables giving the weight of grains as 

 well as vegetables that shall constitute a bush- 

 el. One unfortunate phase of this matter is, 

 however, that different States fix the bushel at 

 different weights; and on buckwheat the 

 weight of a bushel varies as much as three or 

 four pounds. It seems to me as though this 

 thing need not be, for somebody has to be the 

 loser when grains have to be shipped from one 

 State to another. It has been urged that, when 

 potatoes are just dug— especially if they are a 

 little damp, and some of the soil is sticking to 

 them, weighing is not fair either; for 60 lbs. of 

 potatoes, just as they come from the field, will 

 weigh only .57 or 58 lbs., or perhaps less, after 

 they have been kept over winter. This may 

 be true; but selling by weight is very much 

 better than letting every one who is of a greedy 

 turn of mind give half a bushel even full or 

 rounded up according as he happens to be buyer 

 or seller. 



For many years we have been in the habit of 

 purchasing second-hand barrels at the grocer- 

 ies and stores; and we find barrels that will 

 hold as little as two bushels and some that will 

 hold as much as four, and even more. Since 

 we have got into the potato business we have 

 found that, in order to do business in a square 

 honest way, we must define in our price lists 

 that a barrel of potatoes is supposed to be 11 

 pecks; and then we usually put in parenthesis, 

 by way of safeguard. •' (165 lbs.)." But even if 

 our barrels are made at a barrel -factory, they 

 do not seem to be uniform in capacity. A lot 

 of 1000 may average about 11 pecks; but some 

 of them will be likely to lack half a peck while 

 others will go half a peck over. May be there 

 are barrel-factories that do better than this. 

 I hope so. Sweet potatoes, as they come from 



