1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



119 



■er's Bulletin No. 31, Department of Agriculture, 

 Washington, D. C. In the alfalfa bulletin we 

 find nothing in regard to its value as a honey- 

 plant. It seems a little strange that such a 

 complete and exhaustive treatise should omit 

 to mention that the plant produces some of the 

 finest honey in the world, and it has for several 

 years been shipped by the carload from regions 

 where alfalfa is largely grown. In talking 

 with the officer in charge of the government 

 bulletins at Atlanta, he said they would have 

 been very glad indeed to incorporate the facts 

 in regard to its value as a honey-plant had 

 somebody furnished them in time. 



THE BUSH LIMA I5EANS. 



The matter may now said to be settled. Just 

 as good lima beans can be grown on bushes as 

 on poles, and therefore there is nothing to hin- 

 der growing them by the acre, and at present 

 prices it will pay big and no mistake. They 

 are quoted in most of the seed catalogs at from 

 #7 to •'?8 a bushel; but if they bring only .*4 or 

 ^5 it will pay better than almost any other crop 

 I know of. And I am reminded of another 

 kink in the business this 14th day of January, 

 1896. Last fall, before we got through picking 

 and selling them green we had a frost as you 

 know. It killeii the bush limas — that is, 

 enough to stop th^ir growing, but it did not 

 hurt the beans inside of the pods. We gath- 

 ered them all. green and ripe, and took pains 

 to get them dried thoroughly, even the green 

 pods— and thrashed out the beans. After being 

 put through the fanning mill they were sorted 

 overbyhand.it being an easy matter to tell 

 the ripe beans from the others. Of course, the 

 beans that were not ripe and dry when the 

 frost came would be tit only to cook; and I was 

 agreeably surprised to find that, when cooked, 

 they are just about as nice as green beans just 

 gathered. We have been told before that lima 

 beans might be gathered green, and therwdried, 

 and be very nice for winter; but it was a new 

 idea to me that beans caught by the frost 

 might be utilized in this way. They are ever 

 so much nicer than the hard drv matured bean. 

 I think if dried arreen beans could be put on the 

 market, after people once get a taste of them 

 they would be an important food product. You 

 see, they can be kept indefinitely; but when 

 you come to cook them they have almost the 

 flavor of new green lima beans. 



A NEW BEAN THAT YIELDS BUSHELS FHOM ONE 

 SINGLE STALK. 



Friend H. J. Rumsey, of Boronia, New South 

 Wales, sends us eight sample beans, with a let- 

 ter of explanation containing the following: 



I have introduced a new bean— the Tongan— 

 which in Sydnej' and warm climates is about the 

 bipgept acquisition of the times. One plant will 

 yield busiiels of l)eans of delicious tiavor for sever- 

 al months; and being perennial it will stand and 

 grow bigger year by year until it covers hundreds 

 of square feet. I am sending you a packet for you 

 to send to some of your Florida friends to try. It 

 ■should flourish tliere. 



Well. well, well ! We are ahead of the seed 

 ■catalogs this time, and no mi*<take — a single 

 bean-plant yielding bushels of beans, and cov- 

 ering hundreds of square feetl Friend R , it 

 almost makes me feel sorry that I do not live 

 in Florida. But we have a greenhouse right 

 across the way, and two of the beans you sent 

 us will be planted there at once. I will exolain 

 to our readers that the bean is a good deal the 

 same shape as our common ones, and about the 

 size of the York State Marrow. But it is jet 

 black excepting there is a sort of ridge or ex- 

 crescence on the edge, reaching from one end to 

 the middle of one side, and this is snowy white. 

 It looks a little like the snow-white comb on the 

 head of a fowl, providing said fowl were jet 



black; or you might say a sort of topknot. 

 Now, there are only eight of these beans in the 

 United States. I will plant two in the green- 

 house now, and two later on. Two more we 

 will send to friend Hart, in Florida, and the 

 other two to friend Poppleton, who, as you 

 know, is still further down in the tropics. Is it 

 not a good th'ng that Gleanings goes all over 

 not only Uncle Sam's domain, but pretty much 

 all over the whole wide world ? 



There is one thing more about this bean; 

 Friend Rumsey says the seeds will come up 

 quicker if soaked in boiling water before plant- 

 ing, and he has made the word " boiling" em- 

 phatic. Truly it must be a tropical jiant. 

 Now you see I shall have a bean story to write 

 up once a month or oftener. 



By the way. my Thoroughbred potatoes had 

 a backset when we had that freeze away down 

 below zero. They were not killed, but they 

 still look sick and discouraged from the effects 

 of the blizzard. 



SUB-IRRIGATION FOR GRAND RAPIDS LETTUCE. 



The following, from our friend Eugene Davis, 

 who gave the world the Grand IJapids lettuce, 

 will probably be read with much interest by all 

 the gardening friends: 



Friend Rtiiit:—! began to think you were losing 

 interest in greenhouses, growing lettuce, etc. ; but 

 when the last number of Gleanings arrived I saw 

 vou were as enthusiastic as ever in gardening. I 

 have just read Bulletin 61 of tlie Ohio Experiment 

 Station, and I agree with you that it is tlie best 

 thing on lettuce-growing I have ever read. Tlie di- 

 rections are so plain that any beginner can easily 

 follow them. 



1 tried sub-irrigation on part of a bench last win- 

 ter, but it flld not prove very successful, owing to 

 the benches being old. and the cross-pieces were 

 too far apart, causing the boards to sag, and crack- 

 ing tli(^ cement. 1 am trying it again this winter in 

 a small w;iy. wishing to give the method a fair test 

 before trying it on a large scale. I have raised and 

 sold one crop, and it is a week or ten days earlier than 

 the surface-watered. As to the weight I can not 

 say, not having cut the rest of the bench. 



i made the bench water-tight by using two rolls 

 of water-proof rubberoid roofing.* which will cover 

 a space 10x20 feet. There are nails and paint for 

 painting the seams. I use 2-inch tile. 2 feet apart 

 crosswise of bench. The cost of the tile and paper 

 was $5.00. I can't say how long it will last, but it is 

 all right for this season. Eugene D.wis. 



Grand Rapids, Mich., Jan. 18. 



GETTING A POOK FAR.VI INTO GOOD CONDITION. 



Fiioiil Roof:— I am about to take hold of a farm 

 which has been abandoned for some years except 

 as a pasture. It is poor and worn out, with little or 

 no grass, and is neatly all in daisy. The soil is 6 or 

 8 inches deep, and a light sandy loam, with some 

 loose rock. I want to get it into clover; but it is too 

 poor to get a good catch, and I intend to plow and 

 give it a heavy coat of lime, which will put it in 

 better condition to take the clover and oats. 



Now, I want to get some paying crop on part of 

 the land (10 acres), such as potatoes; and lime is 

 bad for them. Do you think I can safely plant 

 them, using 1500 lbs. of No. 1 chemical fertilizers per 

 Acre, and giving them good culture, such a« recom- 

 mended by Mr Terry and others? Mr. Terry. I 

 know, does not think much of chemicals on his 

 land. What do you know of its uses by others in 

 bringing up poor lands in the way I propose, with 

 potatoes ? 



The subsoil of the land is a tolerably heavy clay; 

 and whiit grass is on the land is principally wire 

 grass and redtop, with a little wild grass mixed 

 through it; but very little grass of any kind, and 

 nearly all in a thick stand of daisy. The land lies 

 facing the east, with a nice slope, enough not to 

 need ditchinsr. H. Z. Shriveh. 



Terra Alta,~W. Va., Jan. 15. 



Perhaps the above letter is a little out of 

 place under the head of high-pressure garden- 



* This material seems as if it must an.swer a jrood purpose tor 

 lettuce-beds. It costs »2.«.5 for 1(X) square feet.— A. I. R. 



