1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



469 



Thou sbiilt not take the name of the Lord thy God 

 in vain — Exodus 30: 7. 



Within ten miles of our place are the great 

 celery and onion gardens of Wean, Horr, War- 

 ner it Co. Thej' occupy what was known for 

 years as the " Harrisville Swamp." This swamp 

 one way is about two miles in length. For the 

 past few years it has been reclaimed, and is now 

 one great garden. On the 2d day of June I got 

 away from the office about two o'clock, for a 

 half-holiday. In about an hour I was on the 

 celery-ground. These celery-fields, although 

 but a few miles away from the Creston farm de- 

 scribed in this issue, are worked on quite a dif- 

 ferent plan. The extent of their grounds is so 

 great that the cost would be tremendous for an 

 irrigating-plant, with engine, tank, and pipes, 

 such as the Jordan Brothers use. They have 

 worked for years on the plan of open ditches. 

 These ditches drain the swamp, and during a 

 dry time they carry the water to be used on the 

 beds. I did not notice the width of the beds, or, 

 if you choose, the distance from one irrigating- 

 ditch to another, but I should think the width 

 was about four rods. At this season of the year 

 water is brought in from Killbuck Creek so as 

 to fill the ditches up to within 18 inches or a 

 foot of the surface of the muck. By means of 

 lifting-gates the water can be raised to any 

 heieht desired. 



When I first came on to the ground I noticed 

 with pleasure the groups of men, women, and 

 children scattered here and there. Some of 

 these groups were perhaps a mile away — away 

 off over the level celery- fields — about as level. 

 In fact, as the surface of a lake. While I was 

 deciding which gang to make for first. I noticed 

 a solitary man ofT in a field by himself, working 

 with a hoe. He was almost a quarter of a mile 

 from anybody else. It seemed a little strange to 

 me that one man should be thus working alone 

 when the whole system of the great farm seem- 

 ed to be to work in gangs, with an appropriate 

 foreman in charge of each gang. I supposed, 

 however, there was some good reason for so do- 

 ing, although it stirred somewhat my Yankee 

 curiosity. As I looked at him again 1 thought, 

 too, he seemed to have a sort of half hearted 

 manner by the way he used his hoe. He didn't 

 act like the people who worked together in 

 companies. I was going to ask him where I 

 should most likely find the general foreman, 

 with whom I was well acquainted, but he was 

 almost too far away. Finally I caught sight of 

 the man I wanted, driving a gray horse. The 

 horse whisked around at such a rate, however, 

 here and there, that I despaired somewhat of 

 catching him. especially as I had to follow, at 

 least for the greater part, the clay roadways. A 

 year ago it was pretty hard work on a hot day 

 to run a wheel over this soft peat: but I was 

 rejoiced to find on this trip that good hard clay 

 roads had been made — miles of them — to facili- 

 tate the moving of their heavy crops. Clay 

 enough is put on top of the peat so that the 

 heaviest-loaded wagon rarely breaks through. 

 In only a few places did I see holes where the 

 wagon-wheels had gone down and stirred up the 

 black muck. Let me say, before I forget it, 

 that this plantation is so extensive that the 

 government bulletin on onion culture, mention- 

 ed elsewhere, has several times referred to the 

 great Ohio onion-farm. A year ago some sin- 

 gle acres produced more than 1000 bushels of the 

 Yellow Danvers onion. 



Before I found my man I got into a group of 

 perhaps 20 or 25 celery -transplanters. Each 

 man had a row on one of the beds I have de- 

 scribed. The ground is first thoroughly worked 

 up by horses; then it is rolled smooth, hard, and 

 level. Next a marker goes over, making a per- 

 fectly straight furrow where the plants are to 

 be set. Now the men all commence and tramp 

 a row by standing with their feet right across 

 the furrow, and move sidewise from one foot to 

 the other. This packs the soil where the plants 

 are to stand, and raises a little ridge of soil 

 where the toe and heel come. When the ground 

 is all tramped, then each man takes a large 

 stout galvanized iron pail, with a lip to it, and 

 dips water out of the ditches, and pours it into 

 the hard bottom of the little channel where he 

 had just been tramping.* As soon as the water 

 soaks away, the celery-plants are put in. Each 

 man carries his plants in an oblong wooden box 

 made of inch lumber. 



Now, I did not say any thing out loud, but I 

 began at once a mental criticism. First, it 

 seemed tome that this tramping could be much 

 more cheaply done by horses and a machine. 

 Then I thought the tin- pail program was a 

 good deal more hard work than the iron pipes 

 and rubber hose used by the Jordan Brothers. 

 Then, again, how much lighter some cheap tin 

 pans or tin basins would be than the great 

 heavy wooden boxes I But just then I caught 

 sight of the gray horse, and put after him with 

 my wheel. Before I caught up with said horse, 

 however, I saw a man coming in a buggy. As 

 the road was a little narrow I prepared to turn 

 out on the muck when I noticed the occupant 

 was Mr. Wean himself — the member of the 

 firm, and the one who has the great Lodi gar- 

 dens personally in his charge. He told me to 

 run my wheel out among a patch of Early Ohio 

 potatoes, where it would not be run on to by 

 teams, and leave it. 



Now you will have to wait, dear reader, until 

 I tell you a little about these Early Ohio pota- 

 toes. There was a beautiful stand about knee- 

 high, and Mr. Wean told me they sent clear to 

 Chicago to get a special strain of Early Ohios 

 that were true to name. He said they could 

 not afford to fuss with any thing but the very 

 best; for the Early Ohios scattered here and 

 there among our farmers are any thing but 

 pure and of the best strain. Last season they 

 secured almost 400 bushels to the acre of Early 

 Ohio potatoes; and they were all sold at 40 cts. 

 before digging. Mr. Wean told me this while 

 we were sitting in the buggy; then he told me 

 almost enough about their work to make a 

 book, but I can not give you all of it now. 

 When I suggested that machinery might be 

 made that would do the "stomping" he said 

 they had had some expensive machines made, 

 but they did not seem to answer the purpose. 

 Besides, the machine would not always be 

 right where it was wanted A man has his 

 feet right along with him — that is. generally 

 speaking— and there is no fuss or tinkering for 

 him to get them ready for use. A gang of men 

 do not have to stand and wait for a man to get 

 his feet in working order. Now I tell you, 

 friends, this is a big item. Why, I have some- 

 times threatened to take all my wheel-hoes 

 and new-fangled cultivators, and put them out 

 of sight somewhere because a man would fuss 

 more in getting one adjusted and fixed to suit 

 him — that is. he would take more time with the 

 thing than to take a common hoe and clean out 

 the crop, especially if it was only a small patch 



* On this very soft porous muck, unless the frround 

 were flirnied by tramping-, the trench would not hold 

 water long- enougrh to prive the plants a start. Firm- 

 inff the soil makes it hold moisture. 



