374 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apk. 1. 



SHIPPING APPLES AND POTATOES IN THE MIDDLE 



OF winter: how to guard AGAINST 



FROST AND DROUTH. 



Mr. Root: — The barrel of potatoes arrived this 

 morning' after being- out 26 days, and throug-h a cold 

 storm, in the best condition I have received pota- 

 toes from any seedsman; and I am fully convinced 

 that the best and safest way to ship either apples or 

 potatoes from the North to the South, in cool 

 weather, is to pack them in a tight barrel, well lined 

 with paper. The reason is in accord with the laws 

 of nature; and that is this: The potatoes or apples 

 coming from a colder climate, hence being cooler, 

 will, on coming to the warmer region, sweat (so 

 called); but it is the warm air entering the package; 

 and, the contents being cooler, it will condense, 

 making the contents wet, hence rapid decay. But 

 when the package is nearly air-tight it enters very 

 slowly, so that the contents of the barrel become of 

 the same temperature as the surrounding atmos- 

 phere, so there is very little moisture condensed, 

 and the apples or potatoes arrive in almost the .same 

 condition as when put up. 



I often receive a few barrels of apples from my 

 Indiana friends; and when the barrels are tight, 

 and well lined with heavy close paper, they arrive 

 in fine condition. I am fully convinced that, if 

 those shipping apples and potatoes south whenever 

 it is cooler north than south, their shipments would 

 arrive in far better condition if in air-tight barrels; 

 and I hope you may give this a thorough test; and 

 if you so desire, let the readers know the truth of 

 this statement, and the natural reasons for it. I do 

 not think such packing during- warm weather would 

 be advisable, although nature's destroying element 

 is the oxygen of the atmosphere: so we can the 

 fruit to preserve it from contact with this destroy- 

 ing element. 



In the fall of 1870, in Indiana, I had my apples put 

 in as tight barrels as I could get, headed up tight in 

 the orchard, and removed to the cellar when danger 

 of freezing came, and I never liad apples keep so 

 late in the spring, so sound. John Cravcraft. 



Astor Park, Pla., Mar. 5. 



SO MANY KINDS OF POTATOES. 



Our Ohio Experiment Station has given us 

 another very valuable bulletin. No. 6.5, on pota- 

 toes, comparison of varieties, fertilizers, etc. 

 At present I shall mention only one of the many 

 good points they make. Among the many new 

 and valuable kinds there are quite a good many 

 strikingly alike. For illustration, the Rural 

 New -Yorker is so much like the Banner. I am 

 afraid I should never be able to distinguish one 

 from the other. And both Carman No. 1 and 

 No. 3 are also a type of the specimens mention- 

 ed. The New Craig is .still another very much 

 like the four just mentioned, in size, shape, and 

 manner of growth, except that the Craig is a 

 little on the red order while the other four are 

 white. Mind you, we do not claim that they 

 are all exactly alike, hut a good deal so. Now, 

 our Experiment Station has made groups of 

 potatoes that are much alike. For instance, 

 group A comprises the Banner. Carman No. 3, 

 Harvest King, Peerless Jr., and Rural New- 

 Yorker No. 3. 



Group C includes Early Ohio. Everitt's Six 

 Weeks, Ohio Jr.. and King of the Earliest. 



Group E is Salzer's Earliest, Stray Beauty, 

 and Bliss Triumph. 



I want to sav a word just here about the 

 Stray Beauty. Last summer, when our farmers 

 just began to bring in a few early potatoes, a 

 man showed me a small lot of Stray Beauty. 

 I had never seen them before: but they were so 

 handsome I bought him out in just no time. I 

 think they were the very first potatoes of the 

 season I had seen, grown in our county: and as 

 I looked at the lot standing on the sidewalk I 

 said to myself. "If I had originated that potato, 

 so early, so nice-looking, with that dark rich 

 ruddy skin. I should be just happy:" and I was 

 thinking about planting the whole creek bot- 

 tom with the new early potato, the Stray Beau- 



ty. I do not know but I lay awake that night 

 thinking about it; but when we had some for 

 breakfast next morning, and found they were 

 watery, and not very rich, I changed my mind. 

 I suppose they were dug before they were ripe. 

 But we have varieties of early potatoes that 

 are mealy and luscious, even if they are only 

 half grown. A few days afterward another 

 man brought in some much larger white po- 

 tatoes that he called Burpee's Extra Early. 

 These were so much nicer for a table potato 

 that the red ones soon got into the background, 

 and would not sell at all. When the same man 

 brought another load of Stray Beauty 1 did not 

 make him any offer for them at all. " Now, the 

 question is. Did these folks at the Experiment 

 Station try the Stray Beauty and Bliss Tri- 

 umph for table use when only half grown? 

 Two potatoes may look exactly alike; but 

 when you put them on the table there may be 

 a big difference in quality. Notwithstanding, 

 the idea of grouping our potatoes so we need 

 not necessarily have so many kinds (a good 

 many of them almost exactly alike), is a most 

 praiseworthy undertaking. We have now five 

 or six kinds almost exactly like the Rural New- 

 Yorker No. 3. Are they really much better? 



CRIMSON CLOVER DURING THE WTNTER OF 



1895-'96. 

 At this date, March 37. our crimson clover 

 has stood the winter, and especially the intense 

 hard freezing and alternate thawing of March, 

 almost without injury. The piece that was put 

 in with buckwheat in July is almost a perfect 

 stand. It is the greenest and prettiest piece of 

 clover I ever saw in my life at this time of the 

 year. That sown among the early corn at the 

 last time of cultivating, about the first of Aug- 

 ust, looks almost as well, but the stand is not as 

 good, and so on clear up to that which was sown 

 up Into September. The earlier it was put into 

 the ground, the better is the stand. All that 

 we sowed during the month of August will prob- 

 ably make a fair crop: but where it was sown 

 as late as September it will hardly be worth 

 bothering with. Of course, our extremely dry 

 weather in the fall may have had something to 

 do with it. We may rejoice in this: Crimson 

 clover will stand the average winter of North- 

 ern Ohio when the seed is sown in July or early 

 in August. When our patch gets to its best we 

 propose to plow it under so as to get a place for 

 our Thoroughbred potatoes. With the present 

 high price of hay, it seems almost wicked to 

 plow under such a crop of green feed. Of 

 course, the great point is that you have a heavy 

 stand of clover on your ground in nine or ten 

 months after the seed was put in. 



Special Notices in the Line of Gardening, Etc. 



By A. I. Root, 



THE WHITTAKER POTATO ONIONS. 



See page 7.52, Oct. 1 issue. These have wintered 

 splendidly in the open air, no protection, and no 

 mulch of any kind. We can furnish the same vari- 

 ety for spring })lantin(j, postpaid by mail, at 30c per 

 quart. 



KAFFIR CORN, OR NON-SACCHARINE SORGHUM. 



We have just received a shipment of seed direct 

 oftliis new fodder-plant, from sections in Kansas 

 where the seed is grown by the carload. Price, 1 lb. 

 by mail, postpaid, 15 cts. : peck, by freight or ex- 

 press, 40 cts.; 1/2 bushel, 60 cts.; bushel (58 lbs.), $1.00. 



BLUE VITRIOL AND PARIS GREEN. 



So many have wished us to purchase these chem- 

 icals for them, in reply to our suggestion in our last 



