640 



(JLEANINGS IN EEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 15 



dying in the combs as soon as gathered — at 

 least, a considerable part of it. 

 Nokesville, Va., July 21. W. T. Allen. 



POOR HONEY YEAR IN NEBRASKA. 



The honey crop with us so far has been a fiat 

 failure, with no indications of a fall flow. 

 White clover, the chief source of honey, was 

 practically all killed out last spring, and, owing 

 to the excessively ^ry weather, other honey- 

 producing plants have not made a, very rapid 

 growth. To add to the drouth, the grasshop- 

 pers are plentiful, and are doing considerable 

 damage. But we have no cause for complaint, 

 for we have had good honey crops the past two 

 seasons, and will prepare for one next season. 



Crete, Neb., July 24. F. M. Trout. 



NOT A GOOD HONEY Y'EAR FOR MISSOURI. 



Friend Root:— In Stray Straws. July 15, Dr. 

 Miller says: '" The ' great clover year ' will be 

 the way 1893 will be referred to in the future." 

 I wish it were true on this side of the Big 

 Muddy. I also see 1(5 encouraging reports, in 

 Gleanings. Would not a very blue report set 

 off those bright ones, and make them look 

 brighter? This is the poorest season since 1887. 

 That year I did not get a spoonful of honey 

 from 12 colonies of bees, spring count. Last 

 year (1892) was very poor, getting only about 

 one pound from a hive, on an average. This 

 year I have tak.^n off six sections, and there are 

 not more than 15 or 20 more that are nearly full. 

 Now the bees are getting almost nothing. 

 There was no nectar in the white clover. 

 What little basswood there is here yielded no 

 honey. The sumac was also about dry. This 

 is what you call "blasted hopes," I suppose. I 

 have never known any surplus honey after this 

 time of the year, gathered here. That Crane 

 smoker is a dandy. R. D. Beck. 



Niangua, Mo., July 28. 



Notes of Travel 



ON THE WHEEL. 



On page 612 of our last issue you will notice 

 an invitation from C. W. Frank to go and see 

 his 4500 celery-plants, etc. It was not very 

 many days after said invitation before I pre- 

 sented myself, as Fairlawn is only about 17 

 miles east of Medina. Friend Frank is a young 

 man only 24 years old. He lives with his father 

 and mother. I found him putting out celery- 

 plants in the garden, for they had just been 

 having a tremendous rain. The garden is a 

 rich sandy loam; and as I kicked into it with 

 my foot I concluded it had been treated most 

 liljerally with manure for, very likely, a good 

 many years back. Just as soon as I told him 

 who I was, he put his plants in a shady place 

 and marched me into the house, and introduced 

 me to his folks. There was a mischievous 

 twinkle in his eye as he made the announce- 

 ment, "Here is Mr. A. I. ' Gleanings ';" and 

 then there was quite a laugh all round. Right 

 in front of tlie door is a huge wooden pump, 

 and it brings up just the kind of soft spring 

 water that Summit Co. is noted for. It was in 

 the middle of a hot day; and, didn't I just 

 enjoy taking drink after drink of that beauti- 

 ful, clear, delicious soft water! In a minute or 

 two my eye caught glimpses of some pails of 

 huckleberries. They were unusually large and 

 fine; and when I found that they grew on their 

 own land, and that the family "had made some 

 attempts at cultivation, I telT you I felt glad. 

 They had been doing just what I had thought 



of — cutting out all other forms of vegetation, 

 and letting the berries have the swamp all by 

 themselves. The first they carried into the 

 Akron market, only three miles from their 

 place, brought, if I remember correctly. IS cents 

 per quart. I wanted to go straight to the 

 huckleberry-swamp, and see them grow: but 

 Mr. Frank laughingly remarked that there were 

 lots of other things I must see first— notably, 

 the 4.500 celery-plants. They were in a rich 

 garden-spot, such as I have described, and 

 partly shaded by trees. A large quantity of 

 manure was put on to the ground and worked 

 in; then the plants were put out just 7 inches 

 apart. They were White Plume and Self- 

 blanching. Sure enough, they stood, some of 

 them, nearly two feet high, and the ground was 

 densely covered. Boards a foot wide were set 

 up along the outside of the bed. Some of the 

 plants were large enough for table use, but they 

 were not sufficiently bleached as yet. In fact, 

 they were rather tall and spindling, and hardly 

 thick enough at the bottom to fill up the space 

 so as to bleach fairly. After he and I had look- 

 ed it over and talked it over, we both concluded 

 he had hardly given sufficient water during the 

 past drouth; and I am afraid the ground was 

 hardly rich enough. To grow celery in this 

 way the ground should be almost half manure; 

 and my opinion is, that it ought to be worked 

 in certainly a foot deep, and may be 18 inches 

 would be better. Commercial fertilizers may 

 be a help, but I am sure we want stable 

 manure down in the ground for them to fall 

 back on. A windmill over their barn furnishes 

 water; but just then somebody had left the 

 valve open, and the tank was empty. Besides, 

 the windmill was out of order, and did not 

 stand very square in the wind, as it ought to do. 

 I want to digress enough to say that I have 

 never yet seen a windmill that would stand 

 before the wind and govern itself under all 

 circumstances as I think a windmill can be 

 made to do. In fact, a great part of them that 

 we vSee throughout the country do only about 

 half the work that they ought to do, and from 

 that down to a quarter and even nothing at all. 

 Before I came away, however, there was an 

 abundance of water, and I saw just how they 

 used it. To give ail the water with a hose and 

 sprinkler is, however, considerable work, and 

 such great quantities are needed for such a 

 method of growing celery that I am inclined to 

 think that sub-irrigation is going to be the 

 thing. This is, simply laying tiles on a dead 

 level right through the bed. They should be 

 from a foot to 18 inches below the surface. An- 

 other celery-grower, of whom I am going to 

 speak later on. said that, if he could have his 

 way, he would have these irrigating tiles only 

 three feet apart. This, however, was for plant- 

 beds for raising celery -plants. 



After the celery, we visited his acre of can- 

 taloupes. Some were already as large as goose- 

 eggs, and the show was very nice indeed. A 

 part of his first planting came up poorly; in 

 fact. I am inclined to think that melons and 

 squashes came up poorly almost everywhere 

 when we had those heavy rains in May. Part 

 of the field was very nicely cleaned out; but 

 our young friend had to apologize a little for 

 the weeds in the remaining part. 



Then we visited a field of Hubbard squashes; 

 and he showed me where he put in the fertilizer. 

 Yes. there was a larger growth of vines on 

 those special rows, but not enough so I should 

 have noticed it had he not told me where tlie 

 fertilizer was put on and where it was not. 

 Another thing, in the city of Akron he says he 

 can get stable manure, great big loads, for 25 

 cents a load; and during the months of July 

 and August, when it accumulates, and nobody 



