189(5 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



737 



with the bunch yam, but the potatoes them- 

 selves were mostly " shoestrings." 



One thing more I want to tell you about: In 

 the greenhouse across the way, a single vine of 

 the red yam came up, where we had raised 

 plants the year before. It is under the glass, 

 and has not had a drop of water during the 

 summer; but notwithstanding the severe heat, 

 it just grew and grew until that one vine pretty 

 nearly tills that part of the greenhouse. I 

 reasoned thus: The home of these yams is in 

 the South, where it is often dry and hot, and I 

 will just give it all the drouth and heat it wants 

 this time. Well. I have got a sweet potato, or, 

 rather, a yam, about the size and shape of a 

 smoked ham, where it comes nearest the sur- 

 face of the ground; and it seems about as solid 

 as a hitching-post. I pushed my fingers down 

 beside it, and it seemed as if it went away 

 down. As it is growing yet with wonderful 

 vigor I concluded to let it grow. One thing I 

 have learned, any way: That you can grow as 

 good sweet potatoes or yams here as I ever saw 

 in Florida, California, or Mexico: and it was 

 done by putting them on ground so poor that 

 nothing else — not even weeds — would do any 

 thing at all. May be this hint may be worth 

 something to the rest of you. Of course, the 

 tops have not made any thing near the growth 

 they would have made on rich deep ground; 

 but the potatoes are of good size, and there are 

 enough of them already to make a profitable 

 crop. They are just as easy to raise as Irish 

 potatoes; in fact, ours have had almost no cul- 

 tivation. The ground was so poor that there 

 are no weeds, and so they have been left pretty 

 much to take care of themselves. The plants 

 were put out about the last of May, if I am 

 correct. The ground was ridged up just a 

 little. It was so hard that we could not work 

 it up deep, so there were not very large ridges. 

 It seems to me that, on such ground as ttiis. 

 they might be planted in rows as near as 30 

 inches. The bunch yam has a leaf that is 

 lobed, or divided, into three parts, while the 

 vineless sweet potato has a round leaf, much 

 like that of a morning-glory — perhaps a little 

 more notched. By keeping this in mind you 

 can tell one from the other when you see them 

 growing. 



COLE'S IMPROVED GARDEN-PLOW WITH GANG 

 ATTACHMENT, ETC. 



I have before referred to a wheel -hoe or 

 garden-plow manufactered by G. VV. Cole, Can- 

 ton. 111. The special thing that pleases me 

 with this tool is the large size of the wheel — 2)^ 

 or 3 feet in diameter. Friend Cole has recently 

 added a sort of gang attachment whereby the 

 plow makes three light furrows instead of one. 

 This does excellent work, but it runs rather 

 hard in our clay soil unless we have a good 

 stout man to push it. With" the aid of a piece 

 of rope, howevpr, and a boy to pull it. we are 

 making it do splendid work. In fact, two boys 

 make about as good a job as can be done with a 

 horse and cultivator. Of course, they do not 

 run the tool as deep, nor do they cover so much 

 ground. There is this advantage, however, in 

 high-pressure gardening we can plant a great 

 deal of stufT much closer together. There is no 

 staThping-down of valuable plants in turning 

 around. Thp two b(fys can pick up the ma- 

 chine and do quite a lot of work at odd spells 

 when they are waitine for something else to be 

 ready, for instance. We find it of great value in 

 our strawberry-beds, when plants get rooted so 

 thickly that we would hardly dare take a horse 

 through it. for the boys can get around or be- 

 tween valuable plants. We also use it in con- 

 nection with the hand weeder I illustrated in 

 the spring. If after a heavy rain the ground 



has become somewhat crusted, by going through 

 with the wheel-hoe first and then letting the 

 boys change off and take the onion-weeder, we 

 can fix the plants in just splendid condition. 

 In fact, we have been doing this very thing 

 with our white multipliers and Whittaker on- 

 ions that are now up and growing beautifully. 

 Friend Cole's gang- plow, with one boy to push 

 and another to pull, makes a very good substi- 

 tute for a horse and cultivator in a small gar- 

 den, say half an acre or less. Two boys, twelve 

 or fourteen years of age, will do lots of work, 

 and make a garden look just handsome with 

 the improved garden-plow with the gang at- 

 tachment. 



BASSWOOD-TREES FROM THE SEED. 



There have been several inquiries in years 

 past in regard to growing basswood-seedlings ; 

 and we have once or twice had a nurseryman 

 reply; but the impression was left, if I am cor- 

 rect, that the matter was too difficult, and could 

 be managed only by an expert. Well, the bass- 

 woods in front of our store, and, in fact, all 

 along the road in front of our dwelling, have 

 been bearing pretty good loads of blossoms and 

 seed for two or three years past. I have sev- 

 eral times noticed young basswood-seedlings 

 among our vegetable-plants: but the boys who 

 do our weeding were sure to " yank " them out 

 sooner or later. This season I succeeded in pro- 

 tecting one strawberry-bed that stands just 

 across the sawed-flagging pavement from the 

 basswood -trees. No attempt was made to sow 

 the seeds, mind you. The plants that came up 

 were only from seeds carried across the walk by 

 the wind. I have just counted 3.5 young bass- 

 wood-trees in a bed only 30 feet long. The tall- 

 est one is about a yard high, and as straight as 

 a whip. These vary from a few inches to three 

 feet. They had no attention and no cultiva- 

 tion, except to let them grow among the straw- 

 berries. We are just now preparing some beds, 

 and we propose sowing thousands of the seeds, 

 which can easily be gathered by the bushel 

 from the loaded trees. My impression is, they 

 can be grown as easily as or easier than cab- 

 bage-plants, for they require no glass and no 

 protection. Of course, it takes a longer time to 

 grow them — that is, if you want them two or 

 three feet high. We shall sow the seeds during 

 the present month and up into October as we 

 have beds cleared off. I believe it will be safe 

 to put them in two or three inches deep, in mel- 

 low soil. It has been a query in my mind, 

 whether forest-tree seedlings will thrive well on 

 ground fertilized with stable manure ; but if I 

 were to judge from those I have mentioned. I 

 think it is just what they want, only that the 

 manure should be old and well rotted. The bed 

 in question has had no manure for something 

 over a year; but previous to that time it was 

 mulched so heavily for strawberries that the 

 soil may be perhaps one-fourth manure, say six 

 inches deep. In regard to distance apart. I 

 would put in the seeds say about four to the 

 inch, in rows five or six inches apart. Should 

 the seed all grow they can be transplanted when 

 they seem to be crowding each other. It rpay 

 be that they would do better without trans- 

 planting until they are several feet high: but I 

 do not see how we can get a perfectly even 

 stand without transplanting. After the first 

 year they had better be put out in the fields, say 

 a foot apart in the row, the rows wide enough 

 to be cultivated with a horse. Where land is 

 cheap I think they can be grown profitably for 

 the lumber, to say nothing about bee-pasturage. 

 In regard to the latter. I still believe the bass- 

 wood-tree furnishes more honey to the world 

 than any other one plant known — that is, where 

 it thrives. 



