1893 



GLEANINGS IN KEE CULTURE. 



573 



Aristocrat I have mentlonod is now growing on 

 our own grounds, and lias some very handsome 

 green tomatoes on it, about the size of a hen's 

 egg. The price of the liook is $1.00, and I think 

 it is abundantly woi'th that to any one who is 

 at all enthusiastic in developing new fruits and 

 vegetables. The enthusiasm you will likely 

 get from it ought to help you to sell your crop 

 for a good many dollars more than you would 

 likely get if you had never seen the book. You 

 can get it of the publisher, A. W. Livingston, 

 Columbus. O., or from this office, at the above 

 price. 



"low-pressure" gardening, etc. 



,Friend Root:—Wi\\ you allow me to have a 

 say in that " High- Pressure " gardening, and 

 tell the readers what can be done under a 

 loivcr '■ head of steam " than you carry at the 

 Home of the Honey-bees? First. I wish to tell 

 you that we got the most of the seeds we plant- 

 ed this year of A. I. Root. I will commence 

 with lettuce. The Grand Rapids we have been 

 using almost every day since along in April, 

 the tirst mess or two coming out of the hot-bed. 



lieckert's Chartier and Early Scarlet Globe 

 radi.'hes we have been using for the same 

 length of time. 



Eclipse beets we have been using for some 

 three or four weeks past; have just wcMghed 

 one tiiat draws I lb. 7 oz. 



Purple-top White Globe turnipswe have been 

 using freely for some time past, in spite of hail, 

 frost, and snow that they had to contend with 

 in their infancy. If you think that early tur- 

 nips are not good, just plant a small patch next 

 March and try them. Lulu (that's my better 

 half) says we must never be without e.rly tur- 

 nips in the spring, hereafter. 



I let a few heads of the Grand Rapids lettuce 

 stand for seed; but they seem to have been 

 trained not to go to seed for so many genera- 

 tions past that they have almost forgotten 

 how to make seed. 



All that is claimed for the Select Very Early 

 Jersey Wakefield cabbage has proven true 

 here. In spile of repeated hailstorms, with 

 hailstones an inch and over in diameter, cold 

 north winds to whip them around, and one or 

 two heavy frosts along with cool, rainy, and 

 even cold weather, we have biMMi using nice 

 solid heads for about two weeks past, and have 

 some to sell or give away. We have just 

 weighed one that counts 3 lbs. — not an extra- 

 large head of cabbage, but I think it does very 

 well for early. 



Talk about peas! I always thought one had 

 to plant a big lot of seed to get a few peas; but 

 I have changed my mind tliis year. American 

 Wonder, A. I.'s catalogue says, grow (3 to 8 

 inches tall, so I gave them no bush to climb on, 

 and they just sprawled out all over the ground 

 some 18 to 24 inches; but nevertheless they 

 gave us plenty of nice peas. But, oh my I those 

 Stratagems! Many of the stalks were" thicker 

 than a Icadpencil, and taller than the stakes I 

 gave I hem — some rJ feet. I have just made the 

 third picking; and. sjtch peas! pods 4 inches 

 long and over, with 7 to '.> and sometimes 10 

 large plump peas in a pod. They are equal to 

 any picture you ever saw in a .seed catalogue. 



Prizetaker onions, started from seed in the 

 hot- bed. are now (some o^ ihem) as large as an 

 egff. and iliey are just now Ix'ginning to swell. 



Potato onions, large ones planted in March, 

 have made tine hills, some liills having 7 to 8 

 large and small onions. Wi? have been using 

 them for some time, and are now about ready 

 to harvest. 



New potatoes we have been using for over a 

 week. Early, six w<'eks, planted according to 

 Teriy, have single hills giving 1 lb. 1.'} oz. of 



tubers, single tubers weighing 10 oz., and the 

 stocks are still quite green, and show no signs 

 of ripening. 



Beans, kidney wax, are about half grown; 

 can use them soon. Jersey limas are near the 

 top of the poles; Kumerle bush limas did not 

 come up very regularly, but I have a fair stand, 

 and they promise well. 



Tomatoes, largest, 3 inches in diameter. I 

 expect to have ripe ones July 4. 



I got only a dozen pepper-plants out of a 

 package of seed of the sweet Spanish; but they 

 are doing well, and are now in bloom. 



Of the Excelsior Flat Dutch cabbage seed, I 

 sowed ^bout what I thought was right for our 

 own use, and had plants to sell and give away 

 by the hundred, and have some 300 doing well. 



I could write much more, but am afraid I 

 might crowd A. I. R. out of his garden, and 

 cause him to rideoff on his wheel. This garden 

 is part of a run-down neglected hillside farm 

 that was too poor to grow grain. The garden, 

 however, was lucky in being situated just 

 abov(> an old rail fence that caught much of the 

 good soil washed down from further up the hill. 

 In the spring of 1892 it was sown to oats and 

 alsike clover. Most of the oats in the garden 

 plot lodged, and the chickens wete allowed to 

 clean it up. Some stable manure, henhouse 

 cleanings, ashes, and some old plaster from the 

 house we I'enovaled. along with other similar 

 articles, were applied along in the winter. 

 Some folks wei'e iu doubt about having a good 

 garden on this old hillside; but 1 think 1 can 

 show the finest garden for some miles around. 

 Father (S. Miller) is a professional horticultur- 

 ist and gardener, but I can lay it all over his 

 garden. Asparagus, strawberries, and the like 

 will come in next season, as I got them planted 

 only this spring, having moved to this farm 

 last August. 



My hot-bed consists of k pile of manure, some 

 cornstalks and straw, a frame of son^e old 

 boards set on this, and some good earth sifted 

 or raked fine in this, and- two hot-bed sash 3x6 

 that cost about -55.00 or less delivered. If you 

 wan' a good early garden you must have the 

 hot-bed. 



Now. friends, I have not written this to 

 boast of what I have done, but to give you a 

 hint of what you can do if you will. I should 

 like to say a few words about the Planet Jr. 

 double-wheel hoe, and Its weed-killing capaci- 

 ty; but if A. I. Root finds room for all the 

 "garden sass" I have already given it will 

 surprise me. S. E. Miller. 



Bluff ton. Mo., June 26. 



[Very good, friend M. Some of the rest of us 

 have found that the American Wonder peas, 

 for this year, grow a little more than six or eight 

 inches. I do not know whether it is the extra 

 soil up in ISlichigan where they are raised, or 

 whether they have got tired of being dwarfs, 

 and have gone back to old times, or what is the 

 matte)-. Nobody has complained, that I know 

 of. because they give a very large crop of extra 

 nice peas, even if they do go over more ground 

 than the orthodox ones ought to do.] 



If my sulisciii>tiiin expired, my desii-e for GIjEan- 

 INGS has nut. I drop almost eveiy tiling when it 

 aiTives. for I consider it one of the greatest boons 

 tlie apiai-ist can find, and can not l)e dispensed with 

 convenient h'. 1 foi' one could not do witliout it. 



DeKallj, III. ' A. Y. Baldwin. 



Markley's pii(i<ly on the "Old Oaken Bucket," 

 page •tK4,'is till In si reading: tliat I have found for a 

 very loiiK- tinif. except "Ourselves and our Neig-h- 

 iDor's," on |)a;.'c i:!'-'. Many thanks, my dear sir; and 

 may God bU -- ;iiid prosper .-coii. not only in t)asket 

 and in store, iml in :ill lliatyou wisli. 



Syracu.se. Knu., June ;,'!. .Ja.mes H. Wino. 



