1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



153 



but the development of a new variety, that 

 may possibly be of benefit to the human family, 

 never makes a man it'orsc, even if it does not 

 amount to much. By the way, friend Gault 

 worked quite a while in getting a potato that 

 would keep very late in the season without 

 sprouting or wilting, and was rewarded by be- 

 ing able to exhibit at the county fair some po- 

 tatoes in very good condition that were tivo 

 years old. For prices and further particulars 

 concerning Manum's new potato, the "Enor- 

 mous." write to A. E. Miinum. Bristol, Addison 

 Co., Vt. 



One thing strikes me right here that seems a 

 little funny: Manum's potato, under /lis care, 

 resisted the blight better than any other (Craig 

 included) of many kinds tried. The new Craig, 

 under ?»y care, resisted the blight better than 

 any other, incluilinq Manum's; and quite a 

 few other potato growers have reported the 

 same experience, theirs being ahead. Here is 

 where our experiment stations should come in 

 and straighten us all up. 



In regard to quality, Manum thinks his 

 "Enormous" almost equal to the Freeman. 

 Mrs. Root has been cooking so many new and 

 wonderful potatoes that she has become pretty 

 nearly tired out in the business: and she and I 

 have never yet found any of the large-yielding 

 potatoes, especially the late ones, that would 

 come up to the Freeman and New (^ueen in 

 quality. Many have been sent me, with the 

 claim that I would find them so: but with our 

 method of cooking they are quite a good way 

 behind. The Craig, with us. averages about as 

 well as any of the other large late potatoes: 

 but when the Freeman and (^)neen are placed 

 on the table, the rest are aw;iv behind, unless 

 it is the old Snowflake. Mrs. Root complains 

 quite a little that many of the good yielders 

 cook all to pieces in spite of precaution. 



GARDENING FOR FEBRUARY 1.5. 



Now is the time to plant a great variety of 

 stuff in the greenhouse or in cold-frames. It is 

 a little early to start wax beans unless you have 

 a greenhouse or hot-bed that can he well pro- 

 tected in case of zero weather. Hut it is just 

 the time to start heets, Waketidd and Early 

 Summer cabbage, early forcing carrots. Snow- 

 ball cauliflower. White Plume and Self blanch- 

 ing celery, water cress, pepper gra^s, lettuce, 

 onion seed for plants, parsley. American Won- 

 der peas, if you have room; Scarier Globe and 

 Early Frame radishes, spinach, and last, but 

 not least, tomatoes. If you want to raise extra 

 early tomatoes, a good lot of seed want's to go 

 in right now; and if you can not do any better, 

 sow the seed in flats or old tin pans set in the 

 kitchen window. Under your beds in the green- 

 house—that is. if there is a place under them — 

 start asparagus, and pie-plant for forcing. Sort 

 over your onions, and pick out all the sprouted 

 and soft ones. Pack them in close together 

 with rich dirt for early hunch onions Of cnur'^e, 

 these will not make bulbs managed in this 

 way, but they will make long green shoots that 

 will sell in any grocery or meat-market for a 

 nickel for a quarter or a third of a pound. 



Watch for a time when the fro«t is out of the 

 ground, and dig horseradish roots. We are 

 having quite a good trade on horseradish by 

 leaving it at, the meat-markets. When people 

 come to buy meat they will see the horseradish 

 freshly put in neat clean bottles, and want it. 

 Wc put it up in 1-lb. honey-bottles, retailing at 

 1.") cts. If the bottle is returned, a nickel is re- 

 funded for that. With a grinder run by steam 

 we can grind up the radish, put it into bottles, 

 furnish the vinegar, horseradish, and all, at a 

 cost of only about 3 or 4 cts. a bottle. In the 



middle of the winter we pay from 3 to (i cts. per 

 lb. for roots, washed and scraped ready for the 

 grinder. 



During the last of the month you can sow 

 your peas in the open air if the frost gets out 

 and the weather is suitable. We have never 

 failed in getting a crop from peas planted out- 

 doors in February; the same way with onion- 

 sets, but it is a little more risky. The very first 

 onions are the Egyptian; but they are not first- 

 class, and do not make a handsome bulb. The 

 first to make a nice bulb is the American Pearl, 

 from sets planted last fall. If you neglected to 

 do this, the next, best thing is to plant the sets 

 now. Plant them outdoors as soon as you can 

 get the ground in order; but for extra eariy, to 

 be sold at good prices, put them in a given- 

 house or hot-bed. If you have no hot-bed or 

 greenhouse, put them in a cold-frame — that is, 

 a bed made up of nice rich fine soil to be covered 

 with glass sashes whenever it freezes. This will 

 get them along quite a bit ahead of those out- 

 doors. 



Now, if you are going to raise plants for sale 

 among your neighbors (and if you handle glass 

 this is the great specialty), be sure to put in 

 plenty of seed for tomatoes, cabbage, and cele- 

 ry. If you have too many plants in the seed- 

 bed, there is not very much loss; but if you 

 have only a few, there may be a tremendous 

 loss. Please remember the time last spring 

 when people were ready to give 2.5 cts. a dozen 

 for tomato-plants, when none of us had any. 

 We are going to plant, for extra early. Ford- 

 hook, Beauty, and Dwarf Champion. 



THE EARLIEST POTATO. 



In our last issue we were persuaded to put 

 the White Bliss Triumph ahead of the Early 

 Ohio in point of earliness. On our own grounds 

 we nevir found any thing any earlier than the 

 Early Ohio, not even the Ohio Junior. But 

 almost every seedsman has something to otter 

 that he claims to be earlier than the Early 

 Ohio. As quite a number seemed to agree in 

 regard to the iUiss Triumph, I placed it as I 

 did. Knowing that one of our prominent 

 potato-growers had grown the Jiliss Triumph. 

 I asked him to give me briefly his experience 

 with it. Here it is: 



Ml . R<iot:~-li\ point of earliuese, Bliss Triumph 

 matures with Early Ohio. It is no earlier. The 

 yield for an extra-early sort is g-ood, also ijuality: 

 but T And that the Early Ohi» will grow more mai- 

 ketahle size per acre. For an ejitra-early gaiden 

 variety, the Ohio and Ohio Junior are hard to oeat; 

 but they do not yield with Irish Cobbler. 



Fishers, N. V., Feb. 1. Artbur G. Aldridge. 



Special Notices in the Line of Gardening, Etc. 



By A. I. Root. 



EUGENE DAVIS' NEW KIDNEY W.\X BEAN. 



At the time I wrote him. he was all sold out but 

 about three pecks 1 secured that many, and ofter 

 them for sale while they last. ai the following- 

 prices: Sample packet, 5 cts.; '■: pint. 20 cts. ; pint, 

 ;?5cts.; quart, 60 cts.; Vi peck, ^'2.00; peck. fS.T.'). 



AMERICAN PEARL AND PUl/.ETAKER ONION-SETS. 



We have a splendid stock of An)erican Pearl 

 onion-sets tor spring planting, which we oti'er for 

 immediate i)i(iers as follows: Quart. 20 cts. ; peck, 

 $1.25; bushel. $+.00. If wanted by mail, add 10c per 

 quart extra for postage. 



We can furnish the Prizctaker onion-sets at the 

 same price as the American Pearl mentioned above. 

 At present we are not prepared to say which will be 

 better— putting out Prizctaker onion-sets or trans- 

 planting Prizetaker plants. The sets have this ad- 

 \autage: They can be planted out in the open 

 ground as soiin as the frost is out and the land i^ 



