654 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 1 



mous is going to make a tremendous yield, I 

 can see by the way it is heaving up the ground; 

 but the vines are more or less affected by the 

 dry weather we are having now after the tre- 

 mendous rains that settled our clay ground 

 down so hard and solid. You may remember 

 I used a barrel of sulphur to counteract the 

 scab, and the scab is a little the worst where 

 the sulphur was used— at least, it looks so at 

 present. We need not reason from this that 

 the sulphur made the scab worse; but the piece 

 of ground where the sulphur is put on was prob- 

 ably more liable to produce scab. 



OUE POTATO-DIGGER. 



Our potatoes have all been dug thus far with 

 a cheap digger — one costing us about §10.00— a 

 sort of shovel plow with prongs sticking out 

 behind. With this we can dig potatoes almost 

 as fast as Terry can with his expensive digger. 



except " Except" means that it does not get 



all of the potatoes on top of the ground. If po- 

 tatoes are worth only 25 cts. a bushel, it does 

 not matter so much if you do not get them all; 

 and if you are going to fix the ground for some 

 other crop after the potatoes are off, it does not 

 matter so much; only every time you work the 

 ground, a boy must go over with a basket and 

 pick up the potatoes that get thrown up to the 

 surface. With a yield of 400 bushels to the 

 acre, perhaps from ten to twenty bushels would 

 be left; and the only way you could get these 

 would be by working the ground over and over, 

 and having a boy spend his time in following 

 the tools, and picking the potatoes up. The 

 main crop can be dug and put into the cellar 

 for four or five cents per bushel; but it may 

 cost you ten or fifteen cents a bushel to get the 

 last fifteen or twenty. I should really like one 

 of the diggers that elevate the potatoes, sift 

 out the dirt, and leave ihem spread out on top 

 of the ground; but will it pay to buy such a 

 machine where one raises, say, eight or ten 

 acres of potatoes a year? If he gets 400 bush- 

 els per acre, right straight through, it might 

 pay. especially if he could get forty or fifty 

 cents a bushel for his product. But a ten dol- 

 lar digger does pretty good service, after all, 

 especially where you can get good boys for five 

 or six cents an hour. 



Burpee's Extra Early and Six Weeks did tol- 

 erably; but neither of them is as early, as pro- 

 ductive, nor of as good quality as the White 

 Bliss. 



PICKING UP POTATOES. 



We have perhaps half a dozen boys and men, 

 more or less, to pick up potatoes. Now, there 

 is a great difference in people. All pickers will 

 leave some potatoes on the ground, or partly 

 under the ground. I frequently go after them 

 to see how well they get hold of every one that 

 is at all visible. Some very good men at other 

 kinds of work will pass by a good many pota- 

 toes. If they are partly covered with earth, or 

 behind a lump of dirt, they may not see them 

 at all. Naturally, small boys are most likely 

 to skip, saying they did not see them. But 

 this is not always true. When we were digging 

 the White Bliss they were so valuable that I 

 went over the ground after the pickers, to see 

 how many they missed. The ground was 

 lumpy after the heavy packing rains 1 have 

 spoken of, and a good many times the only 

 glimpse one might get of a nice large potato 

 would be between the lumps of dirt. Now, I 

 can see a potato, or I can guess where one will 

 be found under the dirt, for it amounts to pret- 

 ty nearly the latter, better than any one of my 

 helpers. Perhaps it is because I am intensely 

 interested, and that I feel as happy with a nice 

 potato as I would in catching a big fish. An- 



other thing, I have had years of drill in this 

 very thing. Most of my bee-keeping friends 

 have learned how to find a queen among thou- 

 sands of moving bees. Well, this same drill 

 has taught me to see potatoes when you might 

 say they were practically out of sight. And it 

 is not only potatoes but it is a thousand other 

 things that 1 see around among the work when 

 nobody else sees it. Almost every morning 

 there is a tool of some kind missing. If 1 am 

 not around, much time will be spent in looking 

 for it. When I remind the boys where they 

 had it, they have forgotten all about it. As I 

 go over the ground, my eye takes in tools that 

 are left where last used, and crops that are 

 ready to gather, and all sorts of things that 

 need doing. Well, that is right and proper. If 

 the boss of the ranch does not keep his eye on 

 things of that sort, he is not fit to be boss. And 

 this thing makes a man valuable and high- 

 priced. There are men who notice every thing, 

 and who remember every thing, and who think 

 to remind the employer of things that need at- 

 tention; of tools that ought to be repaired; of 

 crops that are suffering for a little care; and 

 where we find a man who is keen and sharp, 

 and on the alert in this way, and is constantly 

 saving steps and waste and loss because of his 

 intense interest in what is going on. he is the 

 man who gets big pay, and very soon is promot- 

 ed to the position of foreman. Now, so simple 

 a matter as picking up potatoes takes a man's 

 measure, or money value, in the way I have 

 been speaking of. My friend, can you pick up 

 the potatoes after they are thrown out by a 

 machine, so that I can not find any nice fine 

 large ones if I follow after vou? 



CPICKING nice APPLES INJYOUR OWNSdOOR-'J 



Cj yard. 

 Do you know what it is to nave an apple- 

 tree of your own, and watch the apples day by 

 day from the time thev emerge from the blos- 

 som until they are great luscious beauties? 

 Have you seen the beautiful colors of Nature's 

 pencilings as they come forth under the influ- 

 ence of the autumn sun to tell of the luscious 

 ripeness that comes with maturity? Then 

 have you enjoyed handling the great fair fruit 

 day by day until it has approached just the 

 right stage of mellowness? If not, then you 

 have missed one of the rare joys of having a 

 home of your own. Our apple-trees have all 

 been sprayed four times this season, and we 

 have the finest and most beautiful fruit it was 

 ever my fortune to find anywhere. First we 

 were delighted with the tree of Early Harvest 

 I have told you about. Now we have Maiden's 

 Blush and Queen Ann, and our Gravenstines 

 and fall pippins are just beginning to ripen. 

 All these are close by the door, so it is an easy 

 matter to watch eyery stage of Nature's work. 

 By the way, when at our experiment station 

 Prof. Green asked me to notice the smooth 

 clean trunks and limbs of the apple-trees 

 through the orchard where they had been 

 sprayed regularly year after year. "Now," 

 said he, "just look at the trunks and limbs in 

 this one row right down through the orchard 

 where there has been no spraying done at all." 

 I did not know before that spraying affected 

 the trunk and limbs, and, in fact, the whole 

 tree as well as the fruit, for that particular 

 season. 



MONEY I-OST IN THE MAILS— WHO SHALL 

 STAND IT? 



Although Stamps and even bills, when in- 

 closed in a letter, usually reach their destina- 

 tion, especially here in the North, there are, 

 notwithstanding, every little while, cases of 



