150 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 15, 



take the trouble we should -be very glad to 

 have It put into our slop-pall near the door of 

 the kitchen, and said pall is emptied every day 

 or oftener. It pays us to carry these scraps to 

 our chickens; and it would pay you, my friend, 

 not only in the way of keeping away mice, but 

 in utilizing the waste product. If you have no 

 chickens, get enough to use up all the scraps 

 and waste of the tables; and then make sure 

 that every thing that a chicken will eat gets to 

 the chickens promptly. Potato-parings and 

 cull beans, etc., should be boiled and made into a 

 mash for the biddies. It will not only pay, but, 

 when you get used to it, it is a great comfort to 

 see every thing slicked up, and neat and tidy, 

 and utilized. " Gather up the fragments, that 

 nothing be lost," as our Savior enjoined in old- 

 en times. 



Now you see, probably, what role the pigs 

 are going to play at the close of my story. 

 They not only take what the chickens can not 

 use, but with the market-gardener he can give 

 them all the refuse from the garden. When it 

 comes "pussly " time, if you are so slack that 

 these or other weeds get big enough for pigs to 

 eat, have all these carried promptly to the pig- 

 pen. You must not say it will be too big a job, 

 for thai might let out the secret that you some- 

 times let the weeds get large enough to en- 

 danger the plants. 



A year or two ago I sold mv two pigs, that 

 were raised and fatted almost euiirely on waste 

 products from the garden, for over $60.00. Last 

 week the butcher paid me .f36.00 for two pigs, 

 although pork was down to only 4K cts. per lb., 

 dressed. Now, a great part of the time these 

 pigs had absolutely nothing whatever but the 

 waste from the kitchen and garden. I once 

 gave a boy a Waterbury watch for two little 

 pigs, and they had absolutely nothing for a 

 good many weeks but the refuse from the gar- 

 dens — mostly the refuse from our Jersey Wake- 

 field cabbage, that we were selling everyday. 

 We just piled the leaves up around the little 

 fellows, and almost covered them up some- 

 times, and they were both feed and drink. Be- 

 fore I knew it, the boys hadn't been carrying 

 them any thing else — said they did not need it. 



Now I have told you what we got for our 

 pork; but I have 7iot told you what we got for 

 the 'ma7iure. At the present time the pigs are 

 in part of our covered tool-shed, where so much 

 trash is given them, especially if there is a sur- 

 plus, that the pen is very apt to become untidy, 

 unless a good deal of strawy manure is con- 

 stanly shoveled into the pen to keep it dry and 

 clean. As they are located just back of the 

 horse-stable, the manure is pitched over for 

 them to root over; and the product is a first- 

 class artcle of manure, rooted over so constant- 

 ly that it does not have anytime to heat and 

 get fire-fanged. Our pen is so large and roomy 

 that we can throw in a dozen loads of stable 

 manure before it is cleaned out. When we get 

 some new pigs we clean the pen out away down 

 a foot or more below the surface of the ground. 

 You see, our ground is thoroughly underdrained. 

 not only around the barn and pigpen, but the 

 tiles run right under said barn and pigpen, so 

 the little pigs in winter time have a very snug 

 bed in stable manure, down below the surface 

 of the ground: and when we want the manure 

 to raise the Hubbard squashes which I have 

 been talking to you about on another page, or 

 for any other purpose where we just want to 

 make the crop " get up and clim,b,''\ we go to the 

 pigpen for our worked-over compost. 



Now then: If there is any waste going on 

 about your home or on your farm, have one or 

 two pigs, or enough to take up the waste, any 

 way. If you live in town, and work in a fac- 

 tory, have some chickens, say two of them, if 



there is not any more waste around your home 

 than two will consume, and see that the chick- 

 ens have every scrap that might go toward 

 baiting rats and mice if you don't have the 

 chickens; and if you really want to enjoy your 

 home, work the thing down to such a tine point 

 that even iha flies will go off thin and hungry, 

 and betake themselves to some neighbor's 

 premises where flies have a better chance. Read 

 this to your wives, and ask them if Uncle Amos 

 is not level on the whole matter. 



A NEAV KIDNEY WAX BEAN. 



In looking over the various seed catologs for 

 1896 I was pleased to notice that the greater 

 part of them had a new wax bean, originated 

 by our old friend Eugene Davis, of Grand 

 Rapids, Mich. I sent for a sample of beans, 

 and found that it is a kidney wax bean, entirely 

 white. When the Wardwell kidney wax first 

 came out it was claimed it would answer for 

 either a snap bean, green shell bean, or for a 

 dry bean for cooking. There is one trouble, 

 however. It is a little bit "speckled," and a 

 good many people don't want a speckled bean 

 for table use. This is just a notion, and I have 

 protested that it is ridiculous that people 

 can not have baked or boiled beans unless said 

 beans are entirely white all over. But we had 

 to give way to public prejudice. Well, friend 

 Davis has got a wax bean that is all white, 

 even when it is mature and dry. It is claimed, 

 also, that it is extra productive, and the beans 

 are extra fine and large, besides. This latter 

 part I have not tested; but I have asked friend 

 Davis to tell all he knows about'the ^bean, *and 

 here is his reply. 



Friend Roof :— Five j^ears ago I noticed one bean- 

 plant in a patch of Golden Wax beans, just begin- 

 ning- to pod. that had a larger vine and the pods 

 were much: longer, and more of them, than the 

 others. I stuck some stakes around tin ■ plant, and 

 cautioned my men not to disturb the phi 1 1, as I was 

 sure it was something different from ^\■hat I had 

 ever seen. When ripe there were thirty beans, pure 

 white In color. The next year the increase was 

 about a peck. Not being posted on the different 

 kihds of beans I began to make inquiries of differ- 

 ent seedsmen to find out whether I had something 

 new or not. One told me that they had a bean like 

 it once, but had lost the seed; that it was something 

 new, and a good thing. The third year I came near 

 losing the seed, when I sold it to the introducers, 

 who grew a thousand bushels last year. 



They should not, be planted as closely as otner 

 beans. One bean in a place, four to six inches apart 

 in the row, is close enoueh. Eugene DAVis. 



Grand Rapids, Mich., Feb. 3. 



There, friends, if any thing else has been 

 wanting to convince us that friend Davis is a 

 careful, conscientious man, we have it in the 

 above. He has been invited to tell in print 

 what he knows about the bean that he originat- 

 ed; and just notice how modest his claims are! 

 I wish the venders of new and untried things 

 might, a great lot of them, copy his example. 



HOT-BEDS HEATED BY LIVE STEAM INSTEAD 

 OF MANURE. 



Most of our friends will remember what I 

 have said about steam-heated hot-beds belong- 

 ing to the Lakeshore Canning Co.. of Con- 

 neaut, O. As there seems to be much inquiry 

 in regard to this matter at the present time, I 

 have asked friend Cummins to tell us how the 

 arrangement is working to date. Below is his 

 reply: 



FHcnd Root:— Your favor of the 20th, inquiring 

 about our steam-heated hot-beds, is at hand. The 

 only change we have made since you were here was 

 to take out the 2-inch tile used at first, and replace 

 with 4-inch, which we find more satisfactory, and 

 we think 4 inches is large enough. We have always 

 used common drain-tile, cementing all joints; per- 



