474 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 15 



it rather takes the lead — at least, as it is this 

 season; that is, if I could have only one straw- 

 berry, from the present standpoint I am inclin- 

 ed to think tliat one would be the Parker Earle. 

 First, it is a oerfect variety; second, it bears (d- 

 most as many berries as even the Haverland — 

 not auite, perhaps, but it comes pretty near it; 

 third, it is handsome, colors up nicely, is of good 

 color, good size, beautiful shape, and in quality 

 is equal to almost any berry we have. Mrs. 

 Root wanted some extra-fine berries because we 

 were going to have company, and I gave her 

 some Parker Earles. She gave me another 

 point in its favor that I had never thought of. 

 It has a long pear-shaped neck — a beautiful 

 glossy neck, and perhaps it is the easiest berry 

 to pull off the stem of any berry grown. This 

 pear-shaped neck tapers down so that the green 

 sepals oroject out just right to be caught by 

 the fingers. She prepared three quarts for ta- 

 ble use in jnst no time. That same evening a 

 peck of Timbrplls was left by mistake after 

 everybody had gone home, and it was Saturday 

 night, so thev had to be canned. Well, while 

 the Parker Earle is the nicest berry in exist- 

 ence for preparing for cannine. she declared the 

 Timbrell to be the worst. The calyx is tight 

 down to the berry of the Timbrell, and is hard 

 to pull ofT; in fact, you may have to break the 

 stem, and then pull off the green leaves piece by 

 piece. Now, this is quite an item for the house- 

 wife. Right here perhaps I might mention one 

 objection sometimes made to the Parker Earle. 

 It contains a good many seeds, and they are of 

 pretty good size. 



I mention these points in detail that you may 

 get a glimpse of how many needful things there 

 are that go to make up the " best strawberry in 

 the world." It is not always a good thing to 

 have strawberries slip too easily out of the ca- 

 lyx, because they do not keep nearly as well in 

 that way as when picked with the stems on. 

 And, by the way, the Parker Earle and every 

 other strawberry should be picked by the stems 

 — not clawed off, pulling the berries loose like 

 raspberries, instead of picking them. My opin- 

 ion is, the Parker Earle is just as good "to 

 stem" as the Shuckless, and I have examined 

 both. Of course, there is complaint that the 

 Parker Earle does not succeed in every locality. 

 I am inclined to think, however, that, if you 

 give it plenty of manure and an abundance of 

 water, with the ground underdrained and all 

 worked np just right, it will always be a suc- 

 cess; and when used with other varieties it pro- 

 longs the sea.son quite a little. Our folks are 

 now saying they would like to have strawber- 

 ries the year round. Perhaps we can not very 

 well have that in our climate, but we can great- 

 ly prolong the sf^ason bv planting Michel's Ear- 

 ly for first and Parker Earle for last. If anv of 

 our readers know of an earlier berry than Mi- 

 chel's Early or a later one than Parker Earle — 

 that is, a real good later one — I should be glad 

 to have a few sample plants. With the abnn- 

 dant rains we have been having for the past 

 three or four days, the prospect is we shall be 

 able to fill orders for plants — at least small or- 

 ders — by the time this reaches you. This will 

 refer, however, principally to the earlier varie- 

 ties. The Parker Earle is so "busy "jnst now 

 ripening its great luscious berries that it has 

 not really time or strength to send out many 

 runners. 



There, I hope you have all been enjoying 

 strawberries during the past month as we have 

 been doing here in Medina. 



SACALINE. 



In answer to several inquiries, I would say 

 that sacaline, at the present writing, even in 

 our rich plant-beds, is only 4 or .5 feet high. I 



thought if it grew 17 feet, as the catalogs claim, 

 on ordinary ground, possibly it might grow 25 

 or 30, or possibly as tall as the giant bamboo in 

 Florida, if I put it in the rich plant-beds. Of 

 course, it did not do much last season, but I 

 supposed it was getting rooted; but the present 

 indications are that it will not do much-better 

 this year. Perhaps I gave it too good a chance. 

 A plant that I put in hard ground near a slop- 

 drain seems to be of a little healthier color; but 

 none of them so far come anywhere near what 

 the catalogs represent. 



Special Notices in the Line of Gardening, etc. 



By A. I. Root. 



The Cincinnati Surhurhan News, speaking of the 

 book " Domestic Economy," say.s, "It is the most 

 helpful book of the century, and any one getting- 

 and reading it will have more for the money than 

 fan be obtained from any other source." We mail 

 it for 40 cts., aithougli it is a dollar book. 



THE EARLY PEABODY RED YAM. 



Since reducing the price to 25 cts. per 100, there 

 has been a regular stampede for the plants; and we 

 have been behind somewhat in filling orders; but 

 we have just been putting on the glass sashes dur- 

 ing the cool weather, and pushing them to their 

 utmost, and shall probably have plenty of plants by 

 the time this reaches you. As they are an early 

 variety they will succeed in most localities If the 

 plants are put out any time between now and the 

 middle of July. Price '2.5 cts. per 100. If wanted by 

 mail, 50 cts. per 100, postpaid. 



THE WHITTAKER ONION. 



On page 753 of our issue for Oct. 1, 1895, we find the 

 following In regard to these onions: 



Before pulling:-tiuie I noticed from five to seven onions, or a 

 bunch like the one I sent you by mail, apiiarently lying' loose 

 on the bunch of largrer ones, the laige ones yet green, and the 

 small bunch ripe and leady to pick iip, as the.y were loose, and 

 lay unattached. 



Well, this is just the way our Whittakers are be- 

 having now; and as I have never heard of this 

 belonging to any other onion, I think it must he 

 peculiar to these; and we have so many mature 

 ripened small onions or sets that have giown in this 

 way that we offer them for sale at 15 cts. a quart. 

 If wanted by mail, add 10 cts. more for postage and 

 packing. Why, it really reminds one of picking up 

 ripe chestnuts under the trees, to see these dry 

 onions loose and fully ripened up right on top of 

 the ground. It occurs in this way, as nearly as I 

 can discover: When the onion is in rich mellow soil, 

 it divides or breaks up, as it were, in so short a time 

 that some of the divisions get pushed out so that 

 they have no root attachment to the ground; ac- 

 cordingly the onion stops growing, and the top with- 

 ers down and dries up prematui-ely. The growing 

 crowds it out so that it finally lies on top beside the 

 growing stalks; and these onions are just right to 

 plant, for they are exactly the same kind I put in 

 the ground la.st fall. We have now full-sized onicms 

 four inches across, and they are still growing. Just 

 imagine a green patch like this, with the ground 

 lull of onions, and onions that have stood right 

 there all winter long, and yet not a seed-stalk in the 

 whole patch. 



Our White Mullipliers are also doing better than 

 they have done before, and some of them are suffi- 

 ciently mature so that we can furnish mature sets 

 or onions for planting, at the same price as the 

 above. 



HOW TO GROW CELERY ANYWHERE. 



This comes from Kalam>izoo, Mich. It is a book 

 of 112 pages, very coarse print, heavily "leaded," so 

 there is really but a small amount of matter on each 

 page. There are no cuts in the Ijook at all except 

 those loaned the publisher by the manufacturers of 

 agricultural implements. A great part of them 

 come from tlie Planet Jr. people. The book is 

 neatly bound; and, judging from the price of agri- 

 cultural books in general, we might expect the 

 price to be 75 cents, or possibly *1. 00; but the pub- 

 lishers want $3.25 for it. The book contains a good 

 deal that is valuable. I believe it is clear up to the 



