714 



liLbJANlNl.S IN KEE CULTURE 



Sept. 15. 



Notes of Travel 



ox THE WHEEL. 



Ever sincp our Ohio Experiment Station lias 

 been moved from Columbus, O.. into our neigh- 

 boring Wayne Co., bordering us on the south, I 

 have proposed paying them a visit; but I never 

 got around to it till Thursday, Aug. 31. I 

 started about (i o'clock in the morning, and 

 reached Creston, Wayne Co., between seven and 

 eight, where I stopped to visit the celery and 

 onion farm of Johnson A Jordan. They work 

 for the early market on celery, and succeed in 

 getting three crops on the same ground in a 

 single season. They use boards for bleaching 

 the first and second crops. These are one-foot 

 boards, set on edge each side of the plants, and 

 held by bits of wire bent like this [. the wire 

 being long enough to draw the boards up 

 close against the celery. The White Plume 

 and Self-blanching are the kinds generally 

 bleached between boards. About the time the 

 boards are put up to the first crop (which 

 comes ofT about the first of July), another crop 

 of celery is put between the rows, the rows be- 

 ing set in the first place three feet apart. When 

 the first celery is taken from the ground, the 

 boards are moved away, and the place where 

 the first crop stood is thoroughly cultivated, 

 and the sjround stirred clear up to the new 

 plants. Of course, the hands have to be care- 

 fully trained in order to avoid stepping on the 

 new plants while they are working with them, 

 and taking up the old. In fact, the boss him- 

 self will tramp on the new crop if he does not 

 mind where he puts his feet. Of course, in get- 

 ting three crops off the same ground in one 

 season there has to be heavy and constant 

 feeding of the soil, and water applied whenever 

 it is dry. As they can not get stable manure 

 for their many acres of c(!lery, they were using, 

 when I was there, finely ground bone and 

 phosphate mixed together. To apply this to 

 the growing plants, the ground was pulled 

 away by hand cultivators, or otherwise, until 

 the roots of the plants were visible. Then the 

 bone and phosphate were sprinkled in this 

 trench. Lastly, a stream of water from a hose 

 was turned on so as to fill up the In-nch com- 

 pletely; and then, the dirt was thrown back, 

 some tine dry soil being pui over tlie wet sur- 

 face so as to prevent baking. 1 told them my 

 impression was, that bone would hardly act so 

 soon as to do the crop that it was applied to 

 much good; but they assured me that, where it 

 was applied, the celery was much larger, and 

 they could see a difference in eight or ten days. 

 Now, mind you, during our recent drouth they 

 had been putting on the water quite liberally; 

 and this very thing which faces us right here 

 troubles me exceedingly. I asked them if they 

 had tried the phosphate and bone without 

 water, or the water without the fertilizer. 

 They said they had not. All together it did 

 the celery good; but it was not clear to me 

 whether the phosphate and bone had any thing 

 to do with it. Water alone would certainly 

 have produced a marked i-esult; and even 

 plowing away the dirt so as to expose the roots, 

 and putting it back again, would of itself pro- 

 duce a considerable I'esult. You see, we are 

 doing a great amount of labor, and we are put- 

 ting on different fertilizers; and yet who can 

 tell us whethei' it is stirring the soil, putting on 

 the fertilizer, or adding the water, that pro- 

 duces the result? I submitted the matter to 

 E. C. Green, of the Ohio Experiment Station, 

 in the afternoon of that same day, and he told 

 me this was just what our whole country 

 greatly needed— decisive experiments in lines 

 like this. No\V a word about the water: 



Their swamp has ordinarily been too wet; 

 and, in fact, for crops where the roots get clear 

 down, like corn and cabbage, it has been just 

 about right during this dry season. But for 

 celery, especially when the plants are first put 

 out, water is an absolute necessity. They pump 

 it up into a big tank by means of windmills; 

 and then, by means of iron pipe and hose, they 

 carried it all over their grounds, running 

 it in a little furrow close to the row of plants. 

 But during the past drouth the windmills were 

 inadequate. They were only ten-foot mills, 

 however: and to back up the mills they were 

 using a little steam-injector run by a ten-horse 

 boiler borrowed from a thrashing - engine. 

 This injector would raise, perhaps, ten feet 

 high into a tank .30 or 40 barrels an hour, and 

 they thought it was cheaper than any sort of 

 pump. With a pump there is machinery to get 

 out of order, and wear. The injector, however, 

 had no machinery about it, the steam acting 

 directly on the water. Of course, it warmed 

 the water a little, but this was all the better 

 for watering the plants. 



1 found them selling their refuse stalks, or 

 trimmings, for 50 cts. a bushel, for pickles. The 

 latter price was where the trimmers pack it up 

 in bushel boxes. If people come and pick it up 

 from the refuse heap, the company gets 35 cts. 

 a bushel; and people were there all the while, 

 and took away the trimmings just about as 

 fast as they were thrown down by the packers. 

 They get 20 cts. a dozen for their celery packed 

 in cases, ready for shipment; and it retails two 

 stalks for a nickel. 



All around the city of Wooster there are im- 

 mense hills. By 11 o'clock I began to feel tired, 

 hungry, and considerably longing for my ac- 

 customed nap. I had already ridden 20 miles 

 since breakfast, and I thought I would keep on 

 just five miles more; but I began to meditate, 

 that, if I did, I should get there pretty well ex- 

 hausted; and I believe we ought to avoid such 

 exhaustion all we can — especially where we 

 have been invalids. On the top of tlie hill I 

 came to Madisonburg, a cosy little town of half a 

 dozen dwellings, with one which seemed to be 

 a postottice, grocery, and general store com- 

 bined. I asked a boy if there was a hotel in the 

 place. He shook his head. Said I, " Is there 

 not a place somewhere in the town where I can 

 get dinner? '" 



He put his head into the store, and finally re- 

 plied, " I guess you can if you will eai a cold 

 dinner. We don't have no cooked dinm-rs now- 

 days." 



Then I petitioned first for a place to lie down 

 fifteen or twenty minutes. This was granted 

 at once, and I was shown into a rather pretty 

 sleeping-room; but the furniture was mostly of 

 a masculine character, notvvitlistanding the bed 

 was nice and clean, and in a few minutes I was 

 lost to hills difficult to climb, and every thing 

 else. At the end of the appointed twenty 

 minutes I opened my eyes and began to specu- 

 late, as I often do under such circumstances: 



"Well, old fellow, where are you this time, 

 and what are you doing }iere, any way ? " 



I rubbed mv eyes, and gathered up the broken 

 threads where I left off. Pretty soon I opened 

 the door, and announced myself ready for din- 

 ner. The proprietor of the store looked a little 

 troubled, and said he did not know what he 

 had for dinn-^r, after all. unless it was what 

 they had on the shelves. 



'■ Well, give me some crackers and cheese, if 

 you can't do any better." 



"Well, to t( 11 tiie truth, stranger, the cheese 

 is just out." 



'•Then let's have the crackers," said I. 



He rubbed his head with his hand, and then 

 replied. " Well, the fact is, the crackers are just 



