800 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 1. 



made that the screens can be changed in an 

 instant. The manufacturers claim the capaci- 

 ty is over 1000 bushels in a day. The weight of 

 the machine is about 100 pounds. 



MAULE S THOROUGH BREB POTATOES CON- 

 TRASTED WITH THE EARLY OHIO. 



I have before this mentioned the nice Thor- 

 oughbred potatoes grown for us by W. J. Man- 

 ley, Sanilac Center, Mich. Well, among the 

 lot of Thoroughbreds was a barrel of Early 

 Ohios as sample. They look so much like the 

 Thoroughbreds, and were so much larger than 

 the Early Ohios we have around heie, we wrote 

 for an explanation. He replied as follows: 



Friend Boot;— The barrel markea " E. O. was the 

 Ohios all rig-ht. I knew you would not he alleto 

 distinguish them by appearance; hut had you been 

 present when I dug them you would have had no 

 trouble, as the decidedly " red noses" in many of 

 the Thoroughbreds were sufficient to identify them. 

 However, tliey resemble each other very much; and 

 were it not for the mucli greater yield according to 

 seed used of the Thoroughbreds I would tind it a 

 hard matter to decide which potato was the better. 



In point of earliness, there was very little differ- 

 ence between them. The Thoroughbreds were 

 planted but one day ahead of the Ohios, and they 

 were botli ready to dig at the same time. As to the 

 oblong shape of the latter, I can only attribute It to 

 the fertility of the soil. I bought the seed for pure, 

 and I believe it is. The soil certainly is very rich as 

 you may know wnen I say that from IV^ acres I dug 

 711 bushels of such potatoes as I am sending you, 

 and not a particle of fertilizer of any sort was used. 

 But, lioldon! I did use my brains, as Mr. Terry says, 

 in the cultivation of them throughout. My success 

 with the Thoroughbred has " leaked out " in spite 

 of myself, and created, not only a little sensation, 

 but quite a local demand for them. 



Sanilac Center, Midi., Oct. 16. W. J. Manlev. 



Seven hundred and eleven bushels of Thor- 

 oughbreds on an acre and a half would be 474 

 bushels to the acre. I am sorry our friend did 

 not also give us the yield per acre of the Early 

 Ohios. I wish he would tell us further if the 

 ground on which these were grown had not 

 been heavily manured the year before. Such a 

 yield without " a particle of fertilizer of any 

 sort" is indeed wonderful. Terry will indeed 

 have to look out for his laurels; but from what 

 I know of him 1 am sure he will not feel bad to 

 see some of the boy farmers beat their teacher. 

 There must be some wonderful potato land up 

 in Michigan, and I am planning to take a look 

 at friend Manley's potatoes if he continues to 

 grown them another year. 



I am very much gratified to learn that with 

 you the Thoroughbred is as early as the Errly 

 Ohio. With us it is not quite as Early as the 

 White Bliss; but the Early Ohios did so poorly 

 with us on our soil, that we did not grow any 

 the past year. In other places, however, I am 

 told that the Early Ohio is a good yielder. It 

 is strange what a difference there is in soil and 

 locality on account of a distance of only a few 

 miles. 



ALL ABOUT SWEET CLOVER. 

 For two years past I have gathered and sent to 

 you the seed of sweet clover, without knowing 

 whether itwasof any value to farmers, having taken 

 it mostly from the gravel-pits where the soil was re- 

 moved to a depth of several feet. But noticing 

 some peculiarities about the plant, I have become 

 interested in it. I particularly want to knovv when 

 and how it should be sown, and how much per acre. 

 How should the crop be managed ? I have seen it 

 growing on very poor and hard clay land, and where 

 the soil had been removed— places where red clo- 

 ver would not grow — and the question arises with 

 me now, " Would not sweet clover be the proper 

 crop on such lands for fodder, and to restore fertil- 

 ity?" I also noticed that in places where I cut a 

 heavy crop last year it was very small this year; 

 and where I got none last year I cut a heavy crop 

 this year. Why was this ? Will it succeed If sown 



in fall or spring with wheat, like red clover, or 

 should it be sown separate ? Henry Peck. 



East Bethany, N. Y., Sept. 29. 



Sweet clover can be sown at almost any 

 season of the year, even late in the fall. We 

 are sure this late sowing is all right; for where 

 the railroad runs through our grounds the 

 clover comes up every spring from self-sown 

 seed dropped from plants where it grew. It is 

 peculiar, and unlike any other plant in its 

 wonderful habit of growing rank and strong on 

 hard subsoil, barren hillsides, such as railroad 

 embankments, gravel - pits along the high- 

 ways, etc. In regard to its value for reclaim- 

 ing barren soils, the Ohio Experiment Station 

 made a test by plowing under a heavy growth 

 of it before putting in wheat. Where no sweet 

 clover was turned under, the yield was about 18 

 bushels per acre; but on the ground fertilized 

 by turning under the sweet clover, the yield 

 was over 26 bushels per acre, and a correspond- 

 ing increase in the amount of straw. One rea- 

 son why it prepares the land for other crops is 

 because the great roots going down to such a 

 depth act somewhat as underdrains. Its value 

 for cattle, horses, and other stock, has now been 

 fully settled; but it must be cut or pastured 

 when the plants are small, say a foot or two 

 high. Of course, stock will eat it after they 

 have become accustomed to it, when it is sever- 

 al feet high and in bloom. But its great value 

 is to cut it before the blossom- buds show. The 

 reason it is found in certain places one year 

 and not the next is that it takes two years to 

 perfect blossoms and seed. The old stalks will 

 die, root and branch, after having produced 

 seed. This seed, dropped on the ground, pro- 

 duces small plants that must grow one year be- 

 fore they in turn produce seed and blossoms. 



Some years ago D. A. Jones, of Canada, sug- 

 gested sowing it in strips ten or fifteen feet 

 wide, seeding alternate strips alternate years. 

 In this way the tall plants will reach over the" 

 vacant strip and almost meet together over- 

 head. Then after they die down, the young 

 plants in the other strips will in like manner 

 reach over, getting honey on the same ground 

 every year. Its value for stock is easily shown 

 by the fact that it is never found where horses 

 or cattle are pastured. It makes its prodigious 

 growth only along railroad grounds and high- 

 ways where stock is never turned out. I be- 

 lieve it does not succeed very well sown on 

 wheat in the spring. In fact, I have never seen 

 a real success with it on rich cultivated ground. 

 If others have, I wish they would report. 



MORE ABOUT THE BUSH CRANBERRY. 



Dear Friend Root:— J notice in Gleanings wuat 

 you say regarding the tree cranberry. I suppose 

 this to be the same shrub which we have in this 

 State, usually called liigh bush cranberry. It is na- 

 tive in Iowa. It grows six to eight feet high, and 

 bears clusters of red berries whicli are very sour. I 

 presume these two traits have given it the common 

 name. One of my brotliers has had them growing 

 in his yard for fifteen years or more. They are cul- 

 tivated mostly for ornament, having a beautiful, 

 white, umbelliferous flower, and, later, clusters of 

 red berries resembling somewhat the European 

 mountain ash. The only culinary use made of 

 them, so far as I know, is for jelly. It is a beautiful 

 color, good body, and has a peculiar "musky" 

 flavor not found in any other fruit with which I am 

 acquainted. And it is not bad to take eitlier. I 

 would not recommend the cranberry-tree for fruit 

 alone, but as an ornamental shrub it is worthy of 

 cultivation. The jelly made from it may not be 

 relished by every one, but we enjoy a gla.-s of it oc- 

 casionally. The bush resembles the snowball, to 

 which family it belongs. I believe, and the blossom 

 is like the common black haw. Eugene Secor. 



Forest City la. Oct. 19. 



Friend S., "I" am very giad indeed to have 

 even a suggestion in regard tothe value of these 



