544 



GLEANINGS IN liEE CULTURE. 



July 15. 



and yet there has been no weeding or cultivat- 

 ing done on either of them. One half was put 

 on a piece where ail itiuds of weeds went to 

 seed last year. The other half is where clover 

 sod was turned under. Now, this piece of soja 

 beans gave me an object lesson that was worth 

 going miles lo see. You can so manage your 

 ground that many crops can be grown without 

 any cultivating or weed pulling. 



A good many have found fault because the 

 State pays the manager so large a salary com- 

 pared with what ihe average farmers around 

 him get on their farms. I do nut know what 

 the salary is; but 1 do know that young Mohn 

 has a tremendous lot of work to do — especially 

 braiuwork. To keep his plots nicely lUbeled, 

 and to record in proper books the treatment ac- 

 corded lo each one, it seems to me is more than 

 one man can well do. He told me that, besides 

 working hard all day in the fields, he had fre- 

 quently worked at his books until 12 o'clock at 

 night to carry out fully the insiructions given 

 him. What in the world is the reason that 

 farmers should have a hostile spirit lowara the 

 experimentstailons, weather bureaus, etc., when 

 the State is doing so much to get farmers out of 

 old ruts, and to induce them to work intelli- 

 gently? 



I omitted mentioning in the proper place, 

 that, while at Woosier, Ohio, I looked through 

 their very complete cellars for storing potatoes. 

 The first apartment is a room inside of a cellar 

 under the barn. If you want a place where you 

 can keep a cellar from warming up in hot wea- 

 ther, it ought to be a tight inclosure inside of 

 the cellar proper. We found potatoes in this 

 room in such good condition in tlie latter part of 

 June that it seemed to me it was almost all that 

 could be desired; butafter I went into the cold- 

 storage cellar adjoining, and saw potatoes there 

 that looked as if they had just been dug, when 

 they had really been there for nine or ten 

 months, I began to think the cold-storage room 

 would be a splendid thing after all for one who 

 grows and sells seed potatoes. The tempera- 

 ture had been kept between 30 and 40 degrees, if 

 I remember correctly. Now, this cold storage 

 room was a very simple affair. You first make 

 a tight room. It ought to b^^ almost air-tight. 

 Have the ceiling so high that there will be 

 room for a large box or vat, to be supported 

 overhead, to contain the ice. This ice-box is 

 water-tight. One corner is a little lower than 

 the others, and has a drip-pipe to carry off the 

 water from the melted ice. This is all there is 

 to it. Hot air rises to the ceiling of any room; 

 but cold air fails to the floor ; therefore the 

 cooling-material must be placed near the ceil- 

 ing. As long as there is ice in this box over 

 your head, the temppr.iture of the room re- 

 mains but little above the melting point of ice. 

 Prof. Green told me there was no trouble ui 

 keeping apples, potatoes, or almost any thing 

 else; but the great drawback is, when you take 

 things out of this room, and expose thorn to a 

 summer temperature, they decay much quicker 

 than where kept in a cellar where no ice is 

 used. I presume potatoes should be planted 

 pretty soon after being taken from the cold- 

 storage room. 



A GLIMPSE OF THE VEGETABLE-WAGON BELONGING 



TO J. W. NICODEMUS, NEWCOMERSTOWN, OHIO. 



ALSO AN ACCOUNT OF HIS WOKK, WRITTEN 



BY E. E. SMOCK, SUPERINTENDENT OF 



THE NEWCOMERSTOWN HIGH 



SCHOOLS. 



The cut represents the delivery waa"oa for the 

 vegetable farm of Nicodemus and family, Newcom- 

 erstown, O. 



Four years ago Jown W. Nicodemus, phisterer 

 and brick mason, deemed himself happy when be 

 found his surplus earnings for a dozen years 



amounted to one hundred dollars; he is now the 

 |iroud possessor of a magnificent river-bottom gar- 

 den of nearly half a hundred acres, located within 

 the corporation limits, and upon which debt has no 

 incumbrances. From his earliest youth "Nicky," 

 as he is familiaily cail>'d, had known naught but 

 the closest privation anl the severest toil; but he 

 came through thes«- years of disi-ouraging appren- 

 ticeship ligiit lieiirted, sober, industrious, honest. 

 His first good fortune was in his marriage; his sec- 

 ond, his children, of which he has two, both of 

 whom appear in the picture. 



Anna, aged twenty, stands at the rear of the wag- 

 on, in the act of handing to a customer a basket of 

 lettuce. Too much can not be said in favor of this 

 splendid little lady. Slie has beauty of form and 

 manner; she is richly endowed intellectually; she 

 cultivates a high taste for music; she apparently 

 gives uo thought to the lighter amusements of 

 youth, l)ut, with the unconsciousness of a cliild, she 

 goes about her work; the eml)odimont of the kind- 

 ly spiiit of home, the encouraging genius of father, 

 mother, and hroiher, and, al)ove all, in a business 

 sense, the confidential adviser of a large circle of 

 friendli' patrons on matters pertaining to garden 

 products. Her lather never tires of telling what 

 '•Annie iias done for all of us " 



Oscar, a promising youth of sixteen, is standing 

 near the front end of the wagon, handing to anoth- 

 er customer a bunch of radishes. Oscar is not yet 

 through school, where he holds an honorable place; 

 however, he is developing a deep interest in the 

 heavier work about the farm, and manages the 

 tasks assigned to him with a discretion far above 

 his years. He will soon have charge of an addition- 

 al delivery wagon, whioh the growing business of a 

 growing town and a growing gaiden demands. His 

 natural endowments are equal to those of his sister. 

 Quick to learn, anxious to do, frank and honest, he 

 controls the destinies of a bright and noble future. 



Mrs. Nicodemus is the peer of her husband and 

 children, a master in the management of her home, 

 and her poultry is sought after by all who can ap- 

 preciate the merits of a good table. She is entitled 

 to a full sliare of credit in the remarkable prosper- 

 ity of her family. 



The personals of this account would be incom- 

 plete if no mention were made of Grandma Nicode- 

 mus, now in her eighty-eighth year. She is not an 

 invalid. She possesses the true will power of Ger- 

 many. Three years ago she paid no respect to the 

 wishes of her son, but went out into the field, and In 

 one day picked one hundred and four quarts of 

 strawberries, while this year she has not been per- 

 mitted to work in 1 he field ; j et she persists in doing 

 full service in the kitchen. 



The Nicodemus gardens are located on the north 

 bank of the Tuscarawas River. The bottoms are 

 elevated, sandy, slightly rolling, naturally fertile, 

 and hiive been continually renewed with stable 

 manure and by clover culture. They cover in all 

 nearly sixty acres. This year there are nearly sev- 

 enteen acres in berries and vegetables. On the 

 north the garden is bounded by one of the principal 

 streets of Newcomer stown. Here are greenhouses 

 and hotbed-s with e.ictensive contrivances for steam 

 heating. Nearih.' tioiler-room stands a 130-barrel 

 water-tank which is kept filled by a 13-foot aermoter. 

 This machine also grinds corn, chops feed, and cuts 

 straw and fodder. East of the buildings are the 

 vegetable-lots where are growing in almost tropical 

 prof n^ion peas, beats, beans, calibages, cauliflowers, 

 cucumbeis, radishes, onions, rhubarb, celery, sweet 

 jjotatoes, asparagus, and other garden plants. 

 Even the daily dt^liveries do not seem to reduce the 

 quantity. To the south, stretching away to the 

 river, are fields of melons, potatoes, tomatoes, and 

 corn. Interspered among these, and in places 

 deemed the most favorable, are growing IX acres of 

 raspberries and 2'2 acres of strawberries. 



The proprietor was quite hopeful, when he set 

 out the raspberries; but. through some cause un- 

 known to him, they grew healthy in vine but with- 

 out fruit; however, this yi'ar they have yielded him 

 103 bushels, which were placed on the market at 

 $1.93 per bushel. This was the last year of their 

 probation, and the scythe had been sharpened for 

 their destruction. They will remain. The three 

 chief varieties are the Gregg, the Hillbonn, and the 

 Souhegan. 



It may be that the backwardness of the raspber- 

 ries is due to the fact that chief attention has been 

 paid to the strawberry. Here it is that the money- 

 has been made. This year 250 bushels have been 



