1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



3G3 



green forage to the acre. It grows to a height of 3 

 teet, and covers the surface so densely as to smoth- 

 er out all weeds, and to kill quack and other objec- 

 tionable grasses. It can be sown ail through the 

 season: being perfectly hardy itwitlistancis drouth, 

 aod will produce a (rrop iu any soil by sowing broad- 

 east at the rale of 5 lbs. to the acre, or iu drills or 

 rows 2 feet apart at the rate of 3 lbs. per acre. 

 While unequaled as a pasture for sheep, as a fat- 

 tening food for all kinds of live stock it is without 

 a rival in point of cheapness or effectiveness. 



In addition to it we may mention that it has 

 been tried to a considerable extent iiere in 

 Northern Ohio. The last season a very severe 

 drouth was rather unfavorablt-; but for all 

 that, it gave a very large amount of feed, and 

 held out clear into the winter. One man has 

 even put in ten acres, and we had quite a good 

 many orders for the seed, even before we had 

 advertised it. The great secret of its value lies 

 in the fact that it is a relat've of the winter 

 kales. You know we sometinl(^>•■ see ihem in 

 the gardens with their rich dark-green and 

 purplish-green that last clear into the month of 

 February, and sometimes all winter. Our Ohio 

 Experiment Station has several times called 

 attention to its value. In answer to some in- 

 quiries to Prof. W. J. Green in regard to its 

 blossoms for honey and raising seed he replies: 

 '■ The Dwarf E^sex has never bloomed the same 

 sea-on it was planted, here. We think it re 

 quires two seasons, the same as cabbage. We 

 do not know any thing of the value of its bloom 

 for bees." Now. can some of our reader-* tell us 

 any thing about its value for honey? Where is 

 the seed raised? We judge it is not far away, 

 since it is offered now at quite a low price. 



The following is also from the Ohio Experi- 

 ment Station: 



Regarding the Dwarf Essex rape, I have to say 

 that, if sown early in the season, say previous to 

 the middle of June, I believe It is better to plant in 

 drills about 30 inches apart, and cultivate, surface 

 cultivation. In this case two pounds of seed per 

 acre may be used. If sowing or planting after the 

 middle of June on ground on which the weeds were 

 pretty well cleaned out, it will do as well, if not 

 better, sown broadcast, using five pounds per acre. 

 You will tind that, seeding later, the plant will 

 grow almost twice as fast as if sown as early as the 

 first or the middle of May. I have grown this plant 

 for thi-ee years on the Station farm: nave planted 

 early and late, but have not yet had a single plant 

 to blossom the first year. You will find it very sim- 

 ilar to the cabbage-plant, and will have to contend 

 with the same enemy, the cabbage aphis. Three 

 years ago our entire crop was destroyed by these 

 insects in a very short time. 



I should have said above, that one seed every 

 three to four inches in the row will, if good, make 

 it thick enough, and that the plant will require just 

 enough attention to keep the weeds out, and an 

 earth mulch. The plant will cover the ground 

 much more quickly than the corn-plant, and will, 

 therefore, have a shorter working sea.son. 



Wooster, O., April 13. J. F. Hickman. 



A HOME-MADE AVHEEL HOE: HOW TO .MAKE IT AND 

 HOW TO USE IT AFTER IT IS MADE. 



Friend K(j(»f .•—While your brow is still contracted 

 on account of this inirusion, I will try to soften the 

 lines by adding that this letter is not written for any 

 personal gain; and, no matter whether it Is of any 

 use to you or not, the intention of the writer is, nev- 

 ertheless, honest. Cavil not that T say that I under- 

 stand your motives in life: 1 do know that the 

 aim of your whole life is to do the world all the good 

 you can; and now T have set about it to make some 

 return for the benefits you have been casting upon 

 the water, and part of which have C[)me to me. 



1 hand you herewith a home-made weeder, the 

 plan of which was born of necessity. Having dili- 

 gently tried the several hand-weeders sent out on 

 the market by seed growers I found them all lack- 

 ing. After two years of trial I went at it, and in a 

 few hours made the one which is shown in the ac- 

 companying drawings. 



I am of the opinion that, if you have any muck or 

 sandy soil, this little weeder will be just the thing 

 that you have been looking for. I say it will, care- 

 fully speaking, do the work of five men behind five 

 hoes. Of course, in making this estimate I suppose 

 that you are nearly as parii(-ular as I am about the 

 condition (5f your ground for gardening. Perhaps 

 you are just as partiijular. I never allow a plow to 

 be put into my garden unless 1 am present to watch 

 the work; for when the plowing is done I want to 

 see nothing on the ground but the black dirt. One 

 single straw or stubble on the surface makes me 

 tired; and when all is planted it must be beaten and 

 rolled till it resembles a well-used road after a nice 

 shower. Then with a hand-harrow made by driv- 

 ing lU-penny nails through an inch board, the board 

 to be of a shape and size to suit the fancy, work of 

 pulverizing and weed killing goes on day after day 

 till the drilled jtlants sufficiently show themselves to 

 permit of follow ing the row with the weeder. True, 

 ] find no one to run the wheel to suit me as well as I 

 do it myself; Ijut if pressed for time others use it. 

 You see the little harrow does the same work as the 

 vibrating harrow wliich you wrote of in your last 

 issue. 



I suppose you will want to know how large the 

 garden is; so I reply that I have just an acre, less 

 the house and a little plat of grass surrounding it. 

 It is almost flat, but possibly the east end is 3 or 4 

 inches lower than the other side. I will reply to 

 your next question, it will take 8 hours to weed the 

 garden (one acre) with the hand-weeder — onions, 

 beets, peas, potatoes, and corn-everj- thing. These 

 with me are all in drills, absolutely straight. 



What I now say you will dispute. This garden is 

 on ground tli;ii has been planted constantly to corn 

 and wheat for ".iT years without any fertilizing. Of 

 course I am attending to that now; yet the first 

 crop was a good one notwithstanding that strain. 



I have so much faith in this plow that I want you 

 to make one and try it yourself. When you have 

 done so you will be pleased with it. Then I wish you 

 would make them for those who can not make 

 them. Remember that the point, or one of the 

 things to keep in mind, is the thinness of the blade, 

 as well as to keep it just as narrow as you can and 

 have it stiff enough not to give bother by bending. 

 It should be quite flexible. Mine is made of the 

 blade of a corn-knife. For most work I set mine so 

 that, when it works, it runs about half an inch un- 

 der, running so smooth that the ground over the 

 blade is scarcely disturbed. I first thought that I 

 must set it so that it would " rattle " the soil; but I 

 soon found that this was not necessary, as. in sunny 

 weather, all weeds are killed when once gone over. 

 When I see the ground over the blade begin to hump 

 up, that is the sign that it is not cleaning, and I at 

 once relieve it. It will have to be cleaned as often 

 as a hoe does in the same soil and weather. You 

 will see at once that the plow is very light, and 

 easily turned down side up to clean, or to go into 

 the field with. Probably it weighs .5 or 6 pounds. 

 When running close, say to a row of onions, of 

 course you slow your gait; and I generally venture 

 within 14 inch of the lUants. 



Now, do try to be consistent and charitable; for 

 you know that, as a rule, people of the East have no 

 great faith in the ability of Westerners. Please do 

 not say that you have tried the same thing made by 

 Ferry, for I tell you the blades set uptjn their plows 

 are not practical, and are too expensive; and it 

 takes, I believe, four times as much strength to 

 push them. The work of running this plow is no 

 liarder than that of drawing ten pounds on a boy's 

 small watron. 



These remarks all appl.y to " flat " culture; and to 

 me it seems very strange that, in our whole town, I 

 am the only one who follows flat cultivation. Years 

 and years I have neighbors near on all sides who 

 spend as much time on one lot as I do on six. They 

 often harvest the crop with a scythe when it gets too 

 unsightly; and with all the proof that I cwn offer, 

 with ;ill compai-ison that 1 show t hem, every year 

 they start out with little beds and little short rows, 

 and keep tearing up the ground to let it dry and 

 bake as deep as they stir it; and on this kind of 

 ground they borrow my plow to use among lumps 

 and bumps and old cornstalks and other debris. 

 How is it ? Is it because you are such an orator 

 that people tumble to what you say? Why, some 

 people will get mad if I speak of flat culture. But 

 my plow is good only for flat culture. Well, try it. 

 It costs you nothing. I should like to make some 

 one as happy as I am when I use this little weeder. 



