438 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 1. 



ticularly against the potato that bugs are so 

 fond of them. The bugs will pick out the Hub- 

 bard squash every time, in preference to a 

 pumpkin, summer squash, or any thing inferior 

 to the genuine Hubbards. 



PACKING OR COMPACTING THE SOIL IN THE 

 POTATO-FIELD. 



Terry says on page 13 of the A B C of Potato 

 Culture, in regard to fitting the ground, "I 

 wish 1 could harrow it with a balloon so horses 

 need not tramp it." He says again, on page 15, 

 in speaking of the spil, "It must not be packed 

 as wheat likes to have it." Now, I have been 

 more and mure coming lo the same conclusion 

 myself. I want tbe ground just as soft and 

 mellow as it can be before the potatoes are 

 planted, and then I want just as little tramp- 

 ing over it as possible after planting. I pre- 

 sume my boys think me notional because I tell 

 them to go aro U7if7, the potato-fields instead of 

 tramping through them; and especially do 1 

 wish to avoid useless tramping. A boy who is 

 wanting some excuse to run here and there all 

 through the fields and garden I do not want on 

 the premises at all. 



A good deal has been said about cultivating 

 potatoes often; but I have sometimes thought 

 that the tramping of a heavy horse between 

 the rows did almost as much harm as the culti- 

 vating did good, especially when it is the least 

 bit damp. And here is where the Breed's weed- 

 er comes in. The horse does not need to go in 

 every row: and neither does the man who fol- 

 lows it. The great point is to choose your time 

 just after a rain, when the lumps on the sur- 

 face will easily pulverize and mash up, and 

 then put off all your other work and get the 

 Breed's weeder through all your stuff as soon 

 as possible. 



A few days ago they said they had their 

 work all done, and were just about loading the 

 weeder on the wagon to put it back into the 

 barn. I stopped them, and told them to try it 

 among some peas that were a foot high. The 

 man declared that it would tear them all to 

 pieces, and pull them out by the roots. We 

 started in; and although it did not pull them 

 up it tumbled them about so much, and knock- 

 ed them down flat at such a rate, that I stopped 

 when half way through the field, telling him 

 we would wait a couple of days and see how 

 much damage it did. This morning the peas 

 that were torn up so bad look just as well as 

 the others. I did not find a dead or dying vine 

 in the patch, and the ground was all beautiful- 

 ly pulverized all in through and between the 

 stalks. Our new ten-cent potato-book empha- 

 sizes this point particularly, of growing the 

 tubers in soft, fine, rich soil. 



MAY 35, 1896.'! 



Along the fore part of April we thought the 

 season was going to be more backward than 

 usual; and this illustrates how little anybody 

 can tell about the weather, even two weeks 

 ahead. The month of May has been more for- 

 ward than any other May I now remember. 

 We had our first ripe strawberries abouta we<»k 

 ago; and to-day. May 35, we are almost in the 

 height of the season. We received 20 cts. a 

 quart for them till last Saturday, when they 

 came down to 16, and we are selling this morn- 

 ing at 16. Other strawberries, mind you. were 

 selling at 14 and 16. while at the same time we 

 were getting 30; but ours were placed before our 

 customers only an hour or two after they were 

 picked. We give heaping pint baskets for a 

 dime. Most people preferred these to the more 

 or less mashed-up berries that had been kept 

 a day or two, besides being shipped long dis- 

 tances. Our berries ripened here in Medina so 



soon after those in Marietta, a little further 

 south, that we had only one shipment this 

 season. One might think selling so many ber- 

 ries grown under glaj'S would have a tendency 

 to bring prices down; bur it was quite the con- 

 trary. After having quite a trade in berries 

 grown under glass, at 10 cts. a pint, we kept 

 right on for several days selling those from the 

 fields at the same price. 



We made our first picking of Alaska peas 

 to-day. May 35, and it involves a little lesson. 

 During the latter part of March I was uneasy 

 because no peas had been planted; but it was 

 freezing so hard nights that it did not hardly 

 seem worth while. Another thing, the ground 

 was too wet— even that so thoroughly under- 

 drained. We finally found apiece on the edge 

 of a steep bank that was dry enough to plow, 

 and the peas were put in, even though it was 

 almost too wet to take a horse on to it. I felt 

 at the time that perhaps I should have got 

 along faster had I waited until the ground was 

 dryer. Well, we got the piece in, and now for 

 the result: 



After that it remained rainy so that it was at 

 least two weeks before we could find a bit of 

 ground anywhere that could be plowed As 

 soon as we could we got in some more peas. 

 Those put in in March are the ones we are 

 picking to-dav, and there is a very fine crop of 

 them — much better than those put in two weeks 

 later. These will bring 10 cts. a quart readily 

 bfecause nobody else has a pea anywhere near 

 maturity. Why, ours were up and in full 

 bloom before the greater part of the gardeners 

 around here had any planted. 



Now, by making special provision in the fall 

 I might have gotten in a very much larger 

 patch — say half an acre, and sold peas two 

 weeks before anybody else had a pea fit for 

 picking. The difference between 5 cts. a quart 

 and 10 cts. a quart will pay well for ridging the 

 ground up in the fall so that the top of the 

 ridge will be dry enough to get your peas in 

 along in March, or in many seasons even in 

 February. And. by the way, the severe freez- 

 ing nights and thawing days during the fore 

 part of April did not hurt these peas a particle. 

 They just did nicely; and they were so early 

 that they were so much ahead of the weeds they 

 covered the ground almost before a weed had 

 started. By fixing a piece of ground in the fall, 

 expressly for early peas in the spring, I think 

 it is a comparatively easy matter to have plenty 

 of them during the first of strawhery-picking. 

 Those who raise crops, and have them mature 

 just at the time when everybody else piles 

 their stuff into market, will have to sell at a 

 very low price; but the one who is a week or 

 ten days ahead can set his own figures. I tell 

 you, it is pleasant to have a nice crop of some- 

 thing of this kind when there is no competition 

 whatever. 



Mrs. Root suggests that it is wicked to 7ndke 

 people pay 40 cts. a quart for strawberries, and 

 other things at like prices. The same thing 

 has been suggested to me by others; but look 

 here a minute. It is the wealthiest people in 

 our town who pay these high prices. Mr. S. 

 told me that a great part of our strawberries 

 grown under glass were taken by one family in 

 our town. They took them every morning, 

 often taking all we picked. When I told Mrs. 

 Root who the purchasers were she said, "Oh! 

 yes. that is all right; they can well afford it." 

 Well, now. these people who are well-to-do are 

 really paying our small boys for growing plants 

 under gla«s. for handling sashes when the 

 weather changes, etc. The small boys — or 

 many of them — have widowed mothers. Both 

 the boys and their mothers are greatly pleased 



