324 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 15. 



we should very soon come back to old prices — 

 ,50 or 75 cts. a peck; but it does not seem to 

 come. The Landreths raise them by the car- 

 load, and quote prices by the carload; but they 

 are now "sold out." I presume I have bought 

 onion-sets from almost all large dealers who 

 advertise them; but yet, with the exceedingly 

 high prices, the quality has not been what it 

 ought to be. The matter has been discussed in 

 these pages already. Peter Henderson says 

 they put theirs through a sieve or screen that 

 takes out all more than ^ inch in diameter. 

 Other seedsmen, evidently, do not do this. You 

 see, if we pay for onion-sets, and get them an 

 inch in diameter, or more, even though we buy 

 a bushel of sets we do not get a great number 

 of onions. Another thing, so many have onion- 

 sets that send up a seedstalk, I had about be- 

 come disgusted, and was thinking of using 

 onion-plants instead. In a recent number of 

 the American Onrden, they asked a great 

 many leading gardeners about the new onion 

 culture; and one or more of them say they can 

 get earlier onions by planting sets. Well, if he 

 had just the right kind of sets, perhaps he 

 could. I think, however, it would depend on 

 how large and strong his on\on-plants were. 



Well, why don't more people raise sets? And, 

 by the way, there is considerable inquiry as to 

 how to do it. Landreth says it wants a par- 

 ticular kind of seed; and they advertise seed 

 specially grown for raising sets. Now, with all 

 this preamble I have something pleasant to tell 

 you. 



When spring opened, and we had not any 

 sets at all, and I didn't know where we could 

 buy any, one of the boys who works for me said 

 he had about a bushel. 



" Why. Fred, where did you get a bushel of 

 onion-sets?" 

 " I growed "em." 



" You grew them ? Who told you how?"' 

 '• Why. nobody told me. I just planted the 

 seed in the garden, and they grew." 



Now, Fred had seen me fry to raise onion-sets 

 year after year; and during the past wet seasons 

 he had seen me make more failures than suc- 

 cesses; therefore, when he brought me a peck 

 basket full as a sample I was a good deal as- 

 tonished. They were the nicest onion-sets I 

 ever saw in my life. They were from the size 

 of a bean to half an inch in diameter — some, 

 perhaps, a little more. They were firm, solid, 

 well -ripened onions. There were not any thick 

 necks nor any sprouts. They looked as if they 

 ■expected to stay just as they were until some- 

 body planted them in the ground. As we have 

 had trouble in making onion-sets keep, you can 

 imagine how pleased I looked when I saw his 

 product. 



" Fred, I will give you $5.00 a bushel for all 

 the onion-sets you have got just like these, if 

 you will tell me all about how you raised them." 

 He laughingly replied that there was not any 

 thing to tell. You see, .^o.Ou is just exactly 

 what we advertise them for in our catalogue; 

 but I wanted some nice sets to send out to our 

 customers who ordered a single quart by mail, 

 and I think that all who receive a pint or a 

 quart of these will feel they have got the worth 

 of their money. At 30 cts. a quart there was 

 not much margin left for me; but I got my pay 

 in having the fun of sending good ones. Freds 

 plan was simply this: 



Some time in May they made up beds in the 

 garden 3 feet wide. The ground was not rich, 

 because they had not much manure to make it 

 rich. The onion seeds were sown broadcast, 

 and raked in. It was sown so evenly and thickly 

 that the onions could not grow big, even if they 

 tried. The bushel was on a bed ^^ x is feet. 

 " But, Fred, if you sowed them broadcast on 



your garden soil, it must have been a tremen- 

 dous task to do the weeding; for if you waited 

 till May, the weeds must have been up a little 

 ahead of the onions." 



"Oh! it was something of a job to pull the 

 weeds out; but then, you see my sister— she did 

 the weeding." 



" Good for you, Fred. Such a sister as that is 

 worth having. Of course, you gave her a part 

 of the money?" 



He nodded his head. 



" Now, Fred, where did you get Yellow Dan- 

 vers onion seed that produced such nice onion- 

 sets as these? Was it some of the seed I sold 

 you ? " 



He hung down his head a little, and replied, 

 " No, I did not get the seed of you. I bought it 

 of H. W. Buckbee, Rockford, 111." 



" But, Fred, why did you send away off to 

 Rockford when we were selling onion seed right 

 here— piles of it every day ? " 



A shade of embarrassment came over his 

 honest face; but when I encouraged him to go 

 on he replied, " Why. Mr. Root,jMr. Buckbee 

 sent it postpaid by m'ail for ftO cts. per lb., when 

 your price was $L75." 



I was astounded — that nice onion seed for 

 growinu sets, at 90 cts. per lb. ! I asked him to 

 bring the catalogue, and he did. In it I noticed 

 that Mr. Buckbee says all his onion seed is 

 grown by himself. This season he charges $1.75 

 per lb., because the crop is short; and if he 

 blames me for putting him in the papers, I re- 

 ply that it is just what he deserves. If he is 

 going to raise onion seed that will produce such 

 sets as that, and then sell it at 'JO cts. per lb., 

 not only should he be in the papers, but people 

 should know all aboutit. Don't you think so? 



A CORRECTION— $4.30 INSTEAD OF $43.00. 



On page 183, where you quote from my letter, 

 there is a little mistake. Instead of being $43.00 

 it should be $4.30. Of course, it is my mistake. 

 I wrote hastily. P. O. Thompson. 



Sidney, O., Mar. 7. 



[Friend T., we are very sorry to have the 

 wind taken out of our astounding story; but 

 notwithstanding, we want to be right. Henry 

 Clay once said he would rather be right than 

 to be president of the United States; and we 

 hope the readers of Gleanings, especially 

 those who make garden, are as loyal to the 

 truth as was " the sage of Ashland."] 



OURSELVES AND OUR NEIGHBORS. 



Why taeholdest thou tlie mote that is in thy broth- 

 er's eye. but considerest not tlie beam that is In 

 thine own eye V— Matt. 7:3. 



k few days ago our daughter Constance 

 (" Blue Eyes ") sent me a particular invitation 

 to come out to Oberlin, where she is attending 

 school, in time to attend a musical rehearsal to 

 be held in one of the large churches in that col- 

 lege town, so particularly famed far and wide 

 for churches, schools, and learning. I believe 

 the Roots are fond of music. Most of them 

 play on some instrument, and I believe they all 

 sing, or try to sing; at least, they sing in [)ray- 

 er-meeting and Sunday-school, and are suppos- 

 ed to have at least an average ear for music. 

 Carrie, our n»>xt younger daughter, accompan- 

 ied me. The church was tilled to overflowing. 

 Constance remarked that, as the program was 

 all classical music, she was afraid it might not 

 interest me— at least, a good deal of it. 



The first piece wa« a solo by a gentleman. 

 He was German, and sang in the German Ian- 



