824 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 1. 



Beets that were pat in late are just growing 

 famously; and cabbages that we despaired of 

 are heading up as nice as any thing I ever saw. 



The only real nice cauliHower of the season is 

 now being harvested; and, by the way, I am 

 satisfied, from several years' experience, that 

 the very best time in the world to raise cauli- 

 flower is in October — sometimes clear into No- 

 vembei'. Sow the seed in July, and put out 

 your plants in September and October; keep 

 them cultivated; and by having them thus late 

 you will have very little trouble from the cab- 

 bage-worm or blue aphis. 



We are also going to have a nice lot of extra 

 fine celery; in fact, we are now selling about as 

 fine celery as I ever saw. It stood all through 

 the summer without making any growth of any 

 account; but since the fall rains it has started 

 up and is doing beautifully. 



We might have had some cucumbers, and 

 done well with them, if we had only put them 

 in our plant-beds and covered them with sash 

 when we had those frosts. 



Our Grand Rapids lettuce, in those beds 

 spoken of elsewhere (over the exhaust-steam 

 pipes between the house and factory), are just 

 doing grandly. Some of our late onions, that 

 would not grow on account of a lack of rain, 

 have started again; and although they will not 

 ripen bulbs, we are selling them on the wagon 

 for bunch onions pretty fairly. 



Who ever heard of green peas the first of 

 November? Well, we are having real nice ones. 

 The frost made some of the pods look speckled; 

 but since then the peas have made a new 

 growth, and are now full of blossoms and new 

 peas, and we are having quite a good many 

 pickings. They brings cts. per quart readily. 

 It is a little funny that frost hurts peas in the 

 fall, whiie in the spring thoy will stand quite a 

 freeze. 



Everybody is wanting peppers now; but ours 

 were not planted so we could cover them, so we 

 have not any at all. 



You remember I told you about the Rural 

 New-Yorker potatoes. Well, we dug from that 

 piece 04 acre) IIG bushels of the finest potatoes 

 I ever saw in my life. Some old farmers said 

 that, during a dry season, there might be a 

 great growth of vines, but there would not be 

 any potatoes wortli speaking of. Well, all the 

 potatoes of this particular crop are large and 

 smooth. One great smooth nice-shaped potato 

 weighed 1 lb. 11 oz., and there are hundreds of 

 them that weigh over a pound each. The 

 ground was heavily manured last fall, and sow- 

 ed to rye. The rye was turned under just be- 

 fore the sixty-hour rain, and this rye l^ept the 

 ground up comparatively loose. After the rain 

 was over, as soon as the ground was sufficiently 

 dry we worked it up fine, soft, and mellow, and 

 planted our potatoes. It was so late in the sea- 

 son they had long sprouts on, and were a good 

 deal wilted; but we cut them carefully, without 

 breaking many of the sprouts, and covered 

 them nicely, and gave them good cultivation. 

 If it had not been for this crop of Rurals I 

 should have begun to think my ground was not 

 suitable for potatoes, and that I did not know 

 how to raise them, even if the ground uiere 

 suitable. 



We are now having the only real clean smooth 

 radishes we have raised this season. All sum- 

 mer long our radishes, and, later, our turnips, 

 were scraggly. wormy, and bitter; now they 

 are smooth, clean, and crisp. We sold our first 

 crop of turnips at 10 cts. a peck, and could not 

 get rid of them at that price; but before I knew 

 it the boys were getting 25 cts. a peck for the 

 late ones. When I remonstrated for charging 

 so big a price, they said the turnips were so 

 handsome and crisp that folks paid it without 



saying a word, and that seemed to be a conclu- 

 sive argument. If the people only knew how 

 many of our crops had not paid the cost of the 

 labor during the late drouth they might have a 

 little charity for us, even if we do take big 

 prices when we have nice stuff. 



HORSERADISH ; HOW TO FIND A MARKET FOR IT. 



Mr. Root: — Do you handle horseradish in any 

 shape? If so, I could furnish you almost any 

 amount of roots this fall or next spring. Do 

 you know of any machine for grinding or grat- 

 ing the roots, and is there a market for it put 

 up in bottles? Any information in regard to 

 the horseradish business will be thankfully 

 received. 



We had the best run of clover honey this sea- 

 son I have known for many years; but bass- 

 wood and buckwheat was a failure. 



Mexico, N. Y., Oct. 3. Geo. T. Wheeler. 



[Yes, friend W., we do handle horseradish- 

 roots, but I do not believe it would pay you to 

 ship so far as this. We pay from one cent to 

 three cents per lb. for roots washed and scraped, 

 ready to grind up. The price depends upon 

 whether the roots are smooth and clean, or 

 scraggly and not very well cleaned. The 

 machine for grinding them is very simple. 

 A tin tube about the size of a pint cup is 

 fastened to the end of a wooden mandrel. This 

 tube is punched full of holes, like a horseradish 

 grater— the burr, of course, being outward. 

 You can revolve the cylinder by hand, by foot, 

 or by steam power. It should be on an incline, 

 so the grated horseradish will drop out from 

 the open end. The roots are pushed into a 

 suitable hopper, so as to strike against the 

 rough tin cylinder. We put it up in Muth's 

 1-lb. honey-jars, such as are advertised in our 

 price list. We retail it around the town at l.'> 

 cents per bottle, and when the men go round 

 the next time they pay Scents back again for 

 the empty bottle; so the consumer pays only 10 

 cents for the horseradish. The whole expense 

 of the horseradish, grating it up, and the white- 

 wine vinegar, is only about 4 cents per bottle. 

 You can use cider vinegar if you choose, but 

 the product is not so attractive to customers; 

 and, besides, it will not keep nearly as long as 

 where you use the best white-wine pickling 

 vinegar. If put up with the latter at this sea- 

 son of the year, and kept in a cold room, it 

 ought to keep till spring. We think, however, 

 it i-: best to put it up about once in two weeks.] 



WHV SOME OF us HATE CONFLICTS WITH SATAN ; 

 A SUGGESTION. 



I read a story, when a boy, of a learned judge in 

 the South, who was an unbeliever, but who liad a 

 colored servant in whom he bad g-reat confidence, 

 who was an earnest Christian. They talked freely 

 tog'ether on tlieir journeys over the judge's circuit, 

 and the servant often complained of his troubles 

 with "de debl)il." The muster, liowever, was not 

 troubled in that way, and did not believe in tlie ex- 

 istence of Satan. On one occasion, tlie circuit 

 liaving been completed, the judge decided to go 

 liunting ducks. Approaching a pond witli a goodly 

 number of birds on its surface, he crept cautiously 

 witliin shooting distance, and tired both barrels of 

 his gun. Four or five ducks were killed and as 

 many more wounded. Leaving the dead ducks 

 where they were, the judge began running and 

 splashing around in a great hurry after the wound- 

 ed ones, collecting the dead ones at his leisure. 



On returning to the carriage with his game, he 

 was accosted by Sambo with, " I got it now, massa." 



"Got what?" asked the judge. 



" Bout de debbil," replied Sambo; "you pay no 

 'tention to de dertii ducks, but go splashing 'round 

 after dem dat's tryin' to get away. So de debbil sees 

 me tryin' to get away from him, an' he keep at me 

 all de time, but he jes' let you alone, cause he knowfi 

 he got you. shore ! " Burdett Hassett. 



Bonair, la. 



