610 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 1. 



dous crop." And then I told him my experi- 

 ment with melons and tomatoes, and added, 

 " Now, was not this work you speak of some- 

 thing similar to what I did with my melons'? 

 With suitable tools you made the ground tine 

 and soft clear down around the roots of those 

 little feeble divided potato-eyes?" 



" Yes. Mr. Root, that is just exactly what vve 

 did; and it cost so much because it was hand 

 work. With the new Iron Age and Planet cul- 

 tivators, we aim to do the same thing as nearly 

 as possible by horse power." 



Well, during the present season, with the two 

 cultivators mentioni^d. the dirt has been kept 

 finer and softer on our grounds than ever be- 

 fore. In fact, Mrs. Root objects to going 

 through the lots to see the crops, because the 

 ground is so soft that her feet sink at every 

 step, and it is very hard work walking over the 

 cultivated ground. Our " Palmer " raspberries 

 were given the same treatment as the potatoes, 

 and there we have had the finest yield of black- 

 cap raspbfrries I ever saw in my life. The re- 

 cent drouth seemed to have but little or no ef- 

 fect on the fruit at all. In rows where' this 

 constant cultivation had been omitted, the soil 

 became as hard as a brick, and opened in great 

 fissures. Right through my field of rye adjoin- 

 ing, there are now cracks big enough to drop in 

 a hen's egg. We had a magnificent crop of rye, 

 notwithstanding; btit I mention it to show you 

 what a contrast there is between that and land 

 adjoining the potatoes, that had no cultivation 

 at all. The potatoes stood the drouth grandly, 

 and just now we have had two pretty good 

 showers right on that soft ground. It was just 

 fun to see how that mellow earth took up the 

 water just as a sponge does. Not a drop of it 

 ran away; but on the rye-field the water filled 

 those big cracks, and then ran off into the road. 



So much for fining up the soil for farm crops. 

 Now, we want to do the same thing for plants 

 in our plant-beds. . For many years I have been 

 running the ground on our plant-beds through 

 the sieve that has been pictured in these pages, 

 and is now to be seen in the tomato-book. A 

 good many times I have speculated on a ma- 

 chine that could be operated by simply turning 

 a crank, or. better still, pulled by a team of 

 horses. The machine should be something like 

 the Hoover potato-digger, but it should be so 

 arranged as to put all the stones, rubbish, and 

 lumps of dirt in the bottom, and the fine soil on 

 top. You may take almost any ground — the 

 poorest in the world — and if you will sift it so 

 as to have the tine soft particles on top. and all 

 the rubbish and coarse lumps underneath, you 

 can get a crop providing you have water. If I 

 could have my way I would have the surface 

 just like sifted road dust; have it so that, when 

 you pass your IWigers through it, it will seem al- 

 most like wheat flour or middlings; and I have 

 wondered why greenhouse-men did not have 

 some such arrangement to work up their fine 

 manure, and mingle it most thoroughly all 

 through the soil. For instance, sift your dirt 

 first as I have recommended, and tlien get some 

 old fine manure and sift that. Now pass the 

 manure and dirt togetlier through the sieve, 

 taking first a shovelful of one and then a shov- 

 elful of the other: thus you will get a combina- 

 tion that will do wonders. If you have some 

 old decayed sods, so well decomposed that they 

 can be put through the sifting-machine also, 

 then you have about the best material for rais- 

 ing plants and starting seeds that can well be 

 compounded. Now, I had begun to think that 

 I was th« pioneer in this matter of having a 

 suitable machine for sifting dirt; but our friend 

 E. E. Wolf, of Springfield. O., it seems, has been 

 working right along in this line. He has in- 

 vented a machine, and put it on the market, a 



cut of which we give below. Permit me to say, 

 before I describe it, that we found we could not 

 get manure or rotted turf to go through our 

 sifting-machine without rubbing it through 

 with the back of a rake or something of that 

 sort. The machine shown below anticipates 

 this need. 



wolf's machine for sifting compost for 

 gardeners and florists. 



The machine stands very solid and secure on 

 four feet of stout hard wood. The sieve is 

 made, as you will see, so as to rock or swing; 

 and then there is a series of blunt rake-teeth — 

 see letter B in the picture — and these rake teeth 

 rub back and forth on the sieve A. A series of 

 coiled springs, E, make these blunt teeth rub 

 just hard enough on the heavy galvanized-wire 

 screen. The operator takes hold around the 

 wooden bar at A, and pushes the sieve back 

 and forth, the teeth B being fastened on the 

 stationary part E C. While one man works the 

 screen back and forth, one or even two other 

 men are needed to shovel the compost into the 

 hopper C. The action of the teeth is such that 

 sods, coarse manure, and every thing of that 

 nature, are pulverized and worked through the 

 screen. Where the compost is in proper condi- 

 tion, the inventor says it keeps two men busy to 

 shovel it into the hopper C. To prevent the ac- 

 cumulation from getting in the way under the 

 machine, the apparatus should be set upon a 

 platform, or, better still, over a hole in the 

 floor, so as to let the pulverized potting soil, or 

 whatever you may choose to call it, fall into 

 the cellar beneath. We have had a machine 

 here on trial, and it does excellent work; but it 

 seemed to be rather better adapted to the needs 

 of florists than to the average market-garden- 

 er. For our use, on our quarter-acre of plant- 

 beds, something like the machine shown in the 

 tomato book seems to be handiest. The price of 

 the above machine is, I believe, about $25.00. 



THAT PIECE OF BYE— SEE PAGE H12. 



Yesterday, July 24, we thrashed, and I was 

 considerably disappointed (1) in getting 140 

 bushels of exceedingly nice rye when I had 

 planned to get but about 100. As there were 

 only three acres, and it was here and there in 

 little patches, most of it, you may be sure I felt 

 as if I had done pretty well for a one horse 

 farmer. You see, that is almost 50 bushels per 

 acre; and if I had done the raking- up myself I 

 feel quite sure that I could have made it quite 

 fifty to the acre. We were obliged to borrow 

 a liorse-rake to follow after the harvesters; 

 and before I knew it my man had finished and 

 taken the rake home. Every time I go over 

 the field it makes me feel bad to see the great 

 plump heads of grain scattered right and left, 

 and almost all through the rye stubble. We 

 put in rye the last thing after taking off our 



