1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



437 



security for what you need to-day. It Is warm 

 weather, and you will be very comfortable with- 

 out it; then come to me to-morrow morning 

 and I will give you work enough to pay your 

 bill and get back your coat." 



You ought to have seen the sudden change 

 from mock humility to defiant scorn and con- 

 tempt. Said he: 



*' I would not work for you for ten dollars a 

 day." 



1 replied, " Why, don't do it then; certainly 

 not, if you feel that way about it." 



At this stage of proceedings the still small 

 voice whispered to me. as if often does, " Least 

 said, soonest mended;" and as my temper was 

 rising too, I turned to go away and leave him. 

 But he was not to be shut down in that way. 

 He called after me: 



"Go and hire your Chinamen and niggers. 

 I am too much of an American to be bossed 

 around by such as you." 



I still made no reply, but that seemed to 

 anger him still more. He turned and followed 

 me, and I did not know but he was coming 

 clear into the dining room. Shaking his fist, 

 he said: 



"It is none of your business where I got my 

 clothes;" and with a string of imprecations he 

 started off toward the barn. Mrs. Root sug- 

 gested that perhaps it would be better to feed 

 them rather than to make them angry and 

 cause them to burn our buildings, destroy our 

 property, etc. But I protest. If we as a people 

 and as a nation contiuue to submit to this 

 thing, and feed men who loudly /'ortst that they 

 do not have to work, and ivon't work, and feed 

 them because we are afrnld to do otherwise, 

 we shall very soon receive our just punishment 

 for rewarding and even offering a premium for 

 such behavior. If this is not anarchy, then I 

 do not know what anarchy is. "Too much of 

 an American,'" forsooth ! His speech betrayed 

 his foreigh origin. What sort of idea do these 

 people have of America, anyway ? "' Too much 

 of an American " to earn his daily bread by the 

 sweat of his face! By the way, this man un- 

 consciously paid a compliment to the Chinese 

 and colored people. I never saw or heard of a 

 Chinese tramp: and I do not remember now 

 that I ever saw a full-blooded African who 

 was a tramp. I need not tell you what nation 

 or nations they are that are pouring this sort of 

 humanity on to our shores to intimidate our 

 hard-working women, our railroad companies, 

 our police, and a certain class of sickly senti- 

 mental people who think everybody ought to be 

 fed, even if they refuse to do a stroke of work 

 for their daily bread. 



By the way, what does it mean to be an 

 American? A neighbor of mine suggested that 

 it meant a class of people whose children could 

 not be hired to work on a farm. They would 

 ride bicycles, and go to college, and work at 

 some things, but not at farming. I assured hira 

 that, in that case, there was a good time com- 

 ing for the farmers; for when everybody else 

 deserts the farm, there will be excellent prices 

 for farm products for those who stay by it and 

 " hold the fort." 



bred potato, or whether it was the extra energy 

 and enthusiasm 1 gave to the matter because of 

 the value of the potatoes. To look back over 

 the work it seems to be one of the simplest 

 things in the world to raise large crops right in 

 the winter time. For a good many years back 

 we have not succeeded in getting potatoes much 

 earlier by starting the plants under glass where 

 they were planted right outdoors. One great 

 reason for failure, however, has been that we 

 put them outdoors too soon, and did not give 

 them sufficient covering when the frost came. I 

 notice that quite a few agricultural papers have 

 also suggested that there is not much gained by 

 having potato-plants to set out insteadof plant- 

 ing whole potatoes. We intended to use quite a 

 little cloth for protection; but as it turned out, 

 our cloth sheets were never used at all except 

 when we used them to spread over the glass — 

 glass sashes alone not being sufficient. The 

 season has certainly been very peculiar. 



During the fore part of April the potatoes 

 were considerably injured by frost going through 

 the glass and freezing the potato-tops, especial- 

 ly where they were against the glass. A cloth 

 sheet spread over the sashes at such a time was 

 a very great help. Well, within one week after 

 these severe freezes the weather turned around, 

 and we have not had a frost since, sufficient to 

 require covering the potatoes with cloth, sash, 

 or any thing else. My impression is, that hot- 

 beds or cold-frames are much better for pota- 

 toes than a greenhouse. When the weather is 

 so that the plants will bear it, they seem to do 

 much better bv having the glass stripped right 

 off entirely. We cut the potatoes to one eve, 

 and plant them exactly one foot apart. The 

 marking-out is done with the same machine we 

 use for marking for planting strawberries under 

 glass. See cut below. 



SPACING -TOOL FOR PLANTING POTATOES UN- 

 ^DER GLASS.; i2i:;-'a 



EARLY POTATOES UNDER GLASS. 



We have this year made a splendid success of 

 the matter. I do not know whether to ascribe 

 It to the peculiar adaptability of the Thorough- 



of course, the ground in the plant-beds is 

 made very rich with plenty of old well-rotted 

 stable manure. Then it is put through a sieve, 

 to make it fine, soft, and loose. The potatoes 

 have plenty of water whether it rains or not; 

 and it is just fun to see them "get up and 

 climb" with such treatment. I ao not know 

 how the sub-irrigation is going to answer for 

 potatoes. We have not tried it. My impression 

 is, you would have to be careful about too much 

 moisture. Potatoes will not stand wet feet nor 

 steady soggy wet. They need lots of water 

 when they are growing with a rank growth; 

 but it must not be standing water. Mrs. Root 

 suggested that my largest bed. where the pota- 

 to-tops stood three feet high, with stalks as 

 thick as your thumb, would be all vines and no 

 potatoes. I told her that was not the fashion 

 with the new Thoroughbred. And, oh my ! you 

 ought to see *he beautiful potatoes that are 

 making the ground crack and burst open down 

 near where the stalk started out from the one- 

 eye cutting. The Thoroughbred is adapted to 

 being cut to one eye, without question. Where 

 they stand out in the field by the acre the stand 

 is perfectly regular and even, although some of 

 the pieces near the blossom end of the potato 

 were cut exceedingly small to get one eye on a 

 piece. As friends Swinson and barker intimate, 

 however, the bugs go for them tremendously. I 

 do not think, however, that it is any thing par- 



