1893 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



897 



ed some in February, when we planted onion- 

 sets, garden-seed. etc. They froze and rotted. 

 As the ni^w culture takes so little seed, it will 

 pay nv to have pure seed at $20 per lb. 

 Malvern, Ark., Nov. 8. P. C. Shocky. 



[Friend S.. we have some old seed left that 

 we expect to sow in the greenhouse; but I can 

 not recommend it as being extra first-class. It 

 is. howevei-, probably as good as any in the 

 market. I agree with you. that you can afford 

 to pay -S20.()0 a pound for seed that would pro- 

 duce a good nice-shaped onion every time, all 

 uniform. I fear the Prizetaker and other 

 onions of that class will rot with you, anyway: 

 and may be even our Globe Danvers and Sil- 

 verskin. noted especially for their good keeping 

 <iualities, would do the same. I?nt I have had 

 no experience in your locality. We have given 

 through Gr.EANiNGS our experience in growing 

 seed from the Spanish King onions. We have 

 had no trouble at all. and have quite a lot of 

 very large tine onions that we are keeping for 

 planting for growing seed next spring. I think 

 you will have to put out the big onions after all 

 danger of freezing is past, if you want to raise 

 seed. Perhaps some of the readers of Glean- 

 ings can help you more than we can.] 



OTHEK USES FOK POTATO-BOXES. 



Not only do we use these for storing all kinds 

 of roots, potatoes, apples, etc.. but while I am 

 writing, Nov. 22. our hands have been packing 

 our celery, as fast as it is dug. right into the 

 potato-boxes. We lay the boxes on one end, 

 then take up the celery, with a little earth ad- 

 hering, and pack it tight and close in a box, till 

 the box is full. After being filled, the boxes are 

 turned over right side up. The celery can now 

 be loaded into a wagon or other vehicle, with- 

 out any extra handling, and without breaking 

 and mashing the tops; and it is but a short job 

 to lift it out and set the boxes tight up together, 

 in a dark cool cellar or other repository. If the 

 •cellar seems to be too dry. and inclined to wilt, 

 the whole floor of it may be flooded with water, 

 letting it go through the bottom so as to damp- 

 en the roots, but without wetting the tops in 

 the least. So far as I know, this is the first 

 time celery was ever handled in this way. But 

 please notice: While we were loading it up 

 near the roadside, a man stopped his team and 

 wanted to know why he could not take one of 

 those boxes right along, put it into his cellar, 

 and use the celery as they wanted it. I assured 

 him it was exactly in the shape he wanted it 

 for that purpose. Selecting one of the best 

 boxes, when he found he could get box and all 

 for a dollar he handed over the money, and the 

 boxful of celery was in his wagon in a minute. 

 You will notice this fixes it in nice shape to 

 retail, so that people in the country or any- 

 where else can use it all along through the 

 winter, just as they want it. 



POTATO-BOXES FOR PURf'HASEKS OF POTATOES. 



I have mentioned in the previous pages of 

 purchasing a carload of Monroe Seedlings, just 

 as they lay on the ground. The farm where 

 they were grown is about 2.5 to 30 miles from 

 our place. Four hundred and fifty empty pota- 

 to-boxes were stored in the car, which was then 

 sent to the nearest station to the grower. Al- 

 though in the latter part of November, the 

 grower loaded the boxes on to his wagon, took 

 them to his cellar, filled them, and set them 

 back on the wagon, then made a trip to the car, 

 bringing another load of boxes. On Wednesday, 

 the 22d of November, the Weather Bureau no- 

 tified us by telegram that a cold wave and a 

 "blizzard would reach us Thursday night. The 

 :notice was given us about 3(j hours ahead. The 



railroad companies were notified that several 

 hundred dollars were at stake: and the man- 

 agers of our own railroad, the Pittsburg, Akron 

 it Western, were considerate enough to hold 

 the train half an hour so they could get the 

 potatoes through and enable us to save them 

 from the frost. The car was planted on our 

 side-track at just 5 o'clock. We had notice of 

 its coming, and eight of our men and boys were 

 invited to go into the lunch-room and have a 

 good supper, so that they might be ready to 

 handle the potatoes before Jack Frost could 

 nip them. The thermometer showed only 1.') 

 degrees above zero, and there was a brisk west 

 wind. The boys, hovvever, handled the pota- 

 toes so quickly that, within two hours, the 

 whole carload was safely deposited in the cel- 

 lar, and the doors and windows closed. You 

 may be sure I drew a long breath of relief when 

 the last box went away. I guess the boys drew 

 some long breaths too. It was worth some- 

 thing to see the way those boxes full of pota- 

 toes moved into the place assigned them. Now. 

 here is a little to the credit of our Weather 

 Bureau. They have been criticised during our 

 recent drouth because rains did not always 

 come wlien they told us conditions were favor- 

 able; but as to the matter of temperature they 

 made hardly a mistake; and I am glad to be 

 able to say. also, that at least one railroad com- 

 pany in the United States was willing to hold a 

 train half an hour for the sake of saving a car- 

 load of potatoes. 



Suppose these potatoes had been picked up or 

 shoveled up, poured into the car. picked up or 

 shoveled up again, and poured into our cellar. 

 Think of the bruising and injury, aside from 

 the convenience and neatness in doing the 

 work. Another thing, as a great part of these 

 potatoes are to be sold at retail, many customers 

 will pay 1.5 cents extra for the privilege of tak- 

 ing the nice new clean bushel boxfs home with 

 their potatoes, for almost every fanu'ly will find 

 these boxes, that hold an exact bushel when 

 level full, exceedingly handy to have in the 

 cellar, barn, or other out-buildings. 



OUR HOMES. 

 SOMETHING ABOUT WARMING THEM. 



You may think my experience with hot water 

 and exhaust steam has little to do with you 

 unl ss you also have exhaust steam near you 

 that can be utilized. But. wait a bit. After 

 we had carried the exhaust steam from our large 

 engine through drain tile over to the house, we 

 turned it into an iron pipe going up above the 

 roof. This was to give it draft, and to make 

 the steam pull through quickly. To my sur- 

 prise, there was steam enough, and a surplus 

 pufhng out above the roof, almost every hour 

 when the engine was running. Said I. " Look 

 here, Mr. Exhaust Steam, we will cure you of 

 that trick." So I went to work and carried a 

 three-inch iron pipe under our floors, clear 

 around the wall of our large cellar. The cellar 

 goes under the whole house, and it takes 140 

 feet of piping to go clear around. Then we 

 carried it over to one of the tallest chimneys, 

 and 30 feet more of piping was used to go out of 

 the top of the chimney. The steam crawled 

 along through the pipe, seeming a little uncer- 

 tain as to what it ought to do; and it was noon 

 before it got quite around to the chimney. 

 About 2 o'clock, however, enough heated vapor 

 got into the upright pipe to make a draft, and 

 then it pulled through beautifully. This long 

 pipe, however, with its many turns and elbows, 

 so effectually takes up the latent heat of the 

 steam that it is about all gone when it comes 



