536 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 1. 



largely, and put It in our price list. This illus- 

 trates an important point: For three years we 

 have had unfavorable springs for all extra- 

 early berries; and this present season has been 

 the first to let it show what it could do. All 

 extra-early strawberries should be thinned out, 

 or planted out far enough apart so the sun can 

 have free access to color up the berries early, 

 letting them grow without a mulch. This 

 year we sold berries fully a week before our 

 nearest competitor had picked a bushel. He 

 has none of the very early kinds, and his ber- 

 ries are mostly in grass and weeds. These 

 latter sav« to some extent the expense of 

 mulching, but they make the berries late. For 

 our extra early we want the ground free from 

 mulch or any thing else that would shade or 

 cover the surface. Then they should have 

 good cultivation, with plenty of room between 

 the plants, as I have explained. This latter is 

 some trouble, but we get almost double the 

 price for our extra-early berries, and have no 

 trouble in finding customers. Just now very 

 fine berries are retailing on our streets for 8 

 cts. , Our Timbrell strawberry has linaily got 

 under way, and is growing with wonderful vig- 

 or—that is. two phmts are. Two more are 

 going to make a livt- of it, and that is all we 

 have to show for our doziMi. The last half- 

 dozen sent us were remarkably large, strong, 

 healthy plants. By some bad management, 

 however, they were kept out of the ground 

 until the plants had begun to send ont while 

 shoots, like a potato in the dark. We have 

 bought quite a quantity of nursery stuff this 

 season in this same predicament. It looks as 

 though it had been weeks or months in a cellar 

 or cold storage, or something of that sort. Very 

 likely it is less bother to ke^p plants ready for 

 shipment in this way, but they do not compare 

 with plants dug right out of the ground the 

 day they are to be shipped; at least, that has 

 been my experience. 



NO BEES NO STRAWBERRIES. 



Berries are about all gone, and I think that, 

 on an average, we have had about a good half- 

 crop. I am more convinced than ever that, if 

 cross-fertilization is not performed by the in- 

 sects, there will be no perfect crop of strawber- 

 ries. Half of the present crop was not fertil- 

 ized, and did not develop. R. Stehle. 



Marietta, O., June 1.5. 



TAKING SOME OF OUK OWN " MEDICINE.'' 



The following is just the kind of letter that 

 we like to get — that is. when things we send out 

 do not come up to what they should do: 



Mj-. a. I. Ro(it:—ln locikiiig (wer .Tune Glbanings, 

 page 453, 1 saw a note from Henry Martin, followed 

 by your advice what to do. Now, friend Root, we 

 have been taking your journal almost from its in- 

 fancy, and have lieen dealing- with you more or less 

 every season, and have no reason to complain; but 

 as you were advising dealers to ship their goods 

 properly, I thought I would advise you to take some 

 of your own medicine. We ordered fifty Haver- 

 land strawberry -plants, ten raspberry-plants, and 

 half a pint of Burpee's bush lima beans. When the 

 plants came to hand they were heated. We opened 

 them out that niglit. and hi.id them in tlie cellar 

 until the next morning. Seven of the strawberries 

 are all that I got out of tlie fifty, to make even a 

 start, and one or two raspberry; and tlie beans, I 

 should likf^ to know what is the matter with them 

 They seem to have no vil allty at all. I planted about 

 two-tliirds of them wlien I planted my first beans, 

 and not one ever sprouted; the rest I planted later, 

 when I planted my pole limas. My own are up nice, 

 while there are riot half a dozen "of tlie bush limas 

 up, and they seem withered. I can not account for 

 for it unless they were some that never matured. 



Owaneco, 111., June 6. Molue O. Large. 



I am surprised to know that the strawberries 



were heated. We have claimed that our moss 

 packing was of suph a nature that it would not 

 heat. Your report, however, seems to indicate 

 otherwise. I presume it was this heating that 

 made all the trouble in strawberries andrasp- 

 beiTies. We will credit you with the value of 

 the plants you lost, in somethingelse, or replace 

 them, as you may choose. In regard to Burpee's 

 bush lima, we have seen a report in one of the 

 agricultural papers, quite similar to yours, in 

 regard to their vitality. You may remember, 

 as you have taken Gleanings so long, how 

 much money I .squandered on bush limas when 

 they first came out. I gave 17.5.00 in gold for a 

 single handful of bush limas; and I abandoned 

 them almost solely because we could not get 

 them to mature in our locality. My experience 

 indicates, too, that both the Burpee and the Ku- 

 merle bush limas arc^ very slow of germination. 

 Unless the weather is just to their notion they 

 will rot in the ground or grow very imperfectly. 

 This statement will be referred to Burpee him- 

 self; and if he does not make the matter satis- 

 factory, we will. Other friends who have had 

 like experience will please report and let us 

 know what will make the matter satisfactory. 

 And now. my good friend Mollie. I want you to 

 bear in mind thai we folks here at the Home of 

 the Honey-bees do not propose to offer '• medi- 

 cine '■ to anyhody that we would not take our- 

 selves. 



HEATING HOT-BEDS BY STEAM ; ALSO SOME- 

 THING MOKE ABOUT THE BUBACH 

 STRAWBERRIES. 



Mr. Roof.-— How many feet of hot-bed, linear 

 measure, will a ten -horse-power boiler heat, 

 beds (5 feet wide? Have you any second-hand 

 boilers to sell, or any new ten-horse-power up- 

 right boilers. 



You spoke of the big Bubachs. I have been 

 selling them off the wagon for nearly three 

 weeks. Some of them measure ,5% inches 

 around. \"ou see, I got my plants of you. We 

 have sold about S300 worth in three weeks. The 

 people are pretty well worked up over the 

 beiTy- business here. My daughter, 14 years, 

 and my son. 13 years, run the wagon every day. 

 We are having a big trade. J. W. Nicodemus. 

 [■' Newcomerstown, 0. 



[Friend N., I am sorry that I can not answer 

 your question ; but a ten-horse-power boiler 

 would warm a tremendous amount of beds— I 

 should think a quarter of an acre, without any 

 trouble. We have no second-hand boilers at 

 present, but we could sell you a ten-horse-pow- 

 6r boiler for ^175. All who have been using 

 steam through drain tile, for warming hot- 

 beds, have expressed surprise that so little 

 steam went so far. If any of our readers can 

 give us any facts from experience, in this mat- 

 ter, we should be glad to get them.] 



THAT FLAT PEACH. 



Mr. Root: — The flat peach spoken of on page 

 491, Gleanings, is " Peento " or one of its seed- 

 lings. It was imported from China many years 

 ago. but was in some way lost, and was again 

 introduced into the country from Australia in 

 186H. It is sub-tropical, and succeeds only 

 where the orange can be grown. The moss in 

 which it was packed is the Spanish moss, com- 

 mon in Florida, Louisiana, etc. 



W. W. Irwin. 



Dept. of Ag., Washington, D. C. June 24. 



THE MUSHKOO.M SPAWN WE HAVE BEEN SELL- 

 ING. 



I>ear5llr;— The mushroom spawn I purchased 

 of you some time since proved entirely worth- 

 less, not producing one plant, although I fol- 



