612 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURh:. 



Aug. 1. 



think it was truly a good investment. As there 

 was not very much demand for the barometers, 

 we took them out of our price list; but we can 

 still furnish them at ^2.r^6\ lu cts. extra if sent 

 by mail. And, by the way, I can not under- 

 stand how it is that so few barometers are used 

 by farmers and market-gardeners. Our own 

 saves us several times the cost of it, over and 

 over, in a single day. I told you a year ago 

 about getting my rye harvested without having 

 a drop of rain touch it: and. again, how we put 

 all hands to drawing it in and stacking it so as 

 just to escape a heavy rain. Well, we did the 

 same thing again this year. When the rye was 

 Just right to draw in, the barometer began fall- 

 ing rapidly. By putting all hands at work it 

 was nicely stacked, topped out, and perfectly 

 protected just as the big drops began to fall. A 

 good many would say this is luck. It was not 

 luck at all; it was watching the barometer, and 

 laying our plans accordingly. A few days ago 

 a neighbor ordered a lot of cabbage-plants 

 taken up, just as it began raining. The clouds 

 and the wind certainly looked as if there was 

 going to be a big rain; but the barometer was 

 running up rapidly. I told my neighbor we 

 should be very glad to sell him the plants, but 

 that he certainly would have to carry water to 

 save them if they were set out at such a time. 

 He finally stopped having the boys take them 

 up, and it turned out just as I told him it 

 probably would. When Ernest and I were out 

 riding our wheels we made inquiries in several 

 small towns for a barometer; but nobody knew 

 of such a thing anywhere around. Now, I do 

 not say this because I want to sell these instru- 

 ments. If you propose to buy a barometer, and 

 then pay little or no attention to it, you had 

 better not have one. You must get aajualnted 

 with it if you wish to have it be a real help. 1 

 am glad to hear your good report of the Tim- 

 brel 1 strawberry. 



Id with the experiment. Sowed to oats, and seeded 

 to clover in 188.5. The season being favorable, a 

 g-ood catch of clover was obtained, and about 15 

 bushels of oats per acre. Tiie latter part of June 

 following- 1 plowed the clover under, about 1>^ tons 

 per acre, and sowed to buckwheat, harvesting' 

 about 18 bushels per acre. The following- season I 

 harvested 30 bushels of oats per acre, with a line 

 catch of clover. Season of 18^8 I harvested about 

 2y2 tons of clover per acre. Season of 1889, I har- 

 vested 30 bushels of buckwlieat per acre. Season of 

 1890 I liarvested 40 bushels of oats per acre, iliough 

 a very unfavorable season for oats, many fields be- 

 ing plowed up for buckwheat, the grass-catch this 

 f-easou being a perfect mat. Last season I harvest- 

 ed .50 busliels buckwheat per acre, and the land is 

 now sufficiently fertile to raise any kind of crop. 

 This rotation gives two full crops in one season, and, 

 by giving the soil tlie Ijenelit of tlie first, you im- 

 prove the soil mucli more than the second one ex- 

 hausts it, and still have the most profitalile crop of 

 the three rotations left. I consider it the most 

 profitable grain crop I raise; always ready sale im- 

 mediately after harvest, for casli. at a fair price. 

 For good, rich, dry soil, I tliink tlie Japanese variety 

 does best, but needs to be .sown much tliicker, as it 

 does not brancii so mucli. The later it can be sown 

 and ripened befoie frost, the larger the crop. Next 

 to the Japanese I would sow the American Gray. I 

 never liad any luck with the silverhull. 

 Granville Summit, Pa. M. M. Luther. 



A GOOD WORD FOR COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS, 

 ETC. 



Bees are doing very well, bringing in the fin- 

 est honey I have ever had. I will say, also, 

 that I tried commercial fertilizers this year — 

 the first we ever used. On squashes there is a 

 marked difference in favor of the fertilizers. I 

 have 4.500 celery set the new way, and think the 

 fertilizer is a great help on them. I should be 

 glad at any time to have you visit us. We are 

 near the station, our land running up to it. 



Fairlawn, O., July 18. Chas. W. Frank. 



ANOTHER STRAWBERRY REPORT. 



" My bees are just booming this summer, and 

 are piling in the honey almost faster than we 

 have time to take it out, and must therefore 

 still have more goods in order to keep things 

 going. I am a market-gardener and a bee- 

 keeper, and sell my fruit and vegetables to the 

 consumer, peddling them out from house to 

 house to regular customers over town, and thus 

 dispose of my honey the same way at the same 

 time. Prices for fruit (l)erries), vegetables, and 

 honey have been very satisfactory this summer 

 thus far, being a good demand for almost every 

 thing. I tell you the Bubach No. .5 and the 

 Haverland are regular dandies in the strawber- 

 ry line, and the Lloyd's Favorite among the 

 raspberries. Well, I dare not let myself in any 

 further just now, for I am in too big a hurry. 

 Martin D. Wenger. 

 Elkhart, Ind., July 18. 



EXPERIENCE WITH BUCKWHEAT. 



The followins; is clipped from the Practical 

 Farmer. It may be a little late in many locali- 

 ties; but we have had excellent success here 

 with buckwheat sown even after the first of 

 August. The particular point in the following 

 is, that buckwheat may be used to bring up 

 land, and still give profitable crops. Another 

 thing, it shows how two full crops, even of farm 

 products, may be obtained in a season. 



I have best success witli buckwheat In regular 

 rotation, buckwheat, oats, and clover, three-year ro- 

 tation, mowing only one year. If left longer, the 

 clover kills out, and the gro-wth is not so large to 

 plow under. Eight years ago I liad a ten-acre field 

 that would hardly raise white beans. I tliought 

 that a three-year rotation, as stated above, would 

 brifig it up to a good state of fertility, and started 



For he doth not afflict wiUingly. nor grieve the children of 

 men.— Lam. 3 ; 33. 



The Hon. Eugene Secor, of Forest City, la., 

 we notice by the American Bee Journal, has 

 been appointed judge of the apiarian exhibits 

 at the World's Fair. Mr. S. is a " fair " man, 

 and we feel sure that all the exhibitors will be 

 pleased with his appointment. 



Bro. Alley has found one "stray testimoni- 

 al" favoring the Funics, and desires us to take 

 notice. Having read a very large number that 

 were decidedly unfavorable, we too have been 

 of late watching for a " stray testimonial " that 

 was favorable, but without success. Friend Al- 

 ley is to be congratulated. 



The Colorado Magazine is the name of a 

 new illustraterl periodical that compares, in the 

 character of its articles and its illustrations, 

 very favorably with the Century. Why we 

 speak of it is because a prominent writer for 

 the American Bee Journal, Will M. Barnum, 

 is its assistant editor. 



The Langdon non-swarming arrangement, 

 according to the Bee-keepers'' Review, and a 

 few scattering reports that we have had in our 

 own mails, so far is not proving to be the suc- 

 cess that was expected of it earlier in the sea- 



