838 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 15. 



frames. The cold-frame in the picture is cov- 

 ered by 28 sashes. This would make a bed in- 

 side about 11 feet wide by 25 feet long. Those 

 used by the Miller brothers are perhaps a little 

 wider because the sash is laid down so much 

 flatter; and the length of each frame was per- 

 haps 20 feet. The four frames together hold 

 about 28,000 cabbage-plants. Said I: 

 r," Why, friend Miller, is it possible that you 

 people make use in your own market-garden of 

 all these plants?" 

 "Pretty nearly all of them, Mr. Root." 

 "And you are fully satisfied, then, that cold- 

 frame cabbage-plants are enough better than 

 those grown under glass in the spring, to pay 

 for all this expense of beds and sashes over 

 winter, are you ?" 



L "Yes, we are fully satisfied Our very early 

 cabbage grown from cold-frame plants always 

 bring us good prices. A little later, when prices 

 go down, there is not much money in it." 



I did not wonder so much when I realized 

 that, with these extra nice beds, they would 

 have a lot of cabbage-plants that are far ahead 

 of those ordinarily found. Jde said further: 



"Oh! if folks insist on having them, we let 

 them go at 10 cents per dozen; but we do not 

 care to let them go any cheaper, for they are 

 worth that to us." 



Please note here one feature of the cold-frame 

 I have described. The glass in the sashes is 2 

 or 2}^ feet above the plants. This gives a bet- 

 ter protection from frost, and it is all rieht for 

 cold-frame cabbage-plants, because we do not 

 want them to grow, but just to stand still 

 through the winter. 



Great quantities of Grand Rapids lettuce- 

 plants are wintered over in the same way; but 

 for the lettuce-plants a much cheaper bed with 

 board sides answers. In fact, the great long 

 bed that I saw from my wheel had nothing but 

 12-inch barn-boards for the sides. The bed was 

 125 feet long, if I am correct, and It was built 

 very much like the one shown in the cut. I 

 was surprised again that they should invest so 

 heavily in lettuce-plants, but was informed 

 that they were entirely for their own use, and 

 that the demand for Grand Rapids lettuce is 

 increasing so rapidly that they had never yet 

 had enough good plants. In connection with 

 all these cold-frames they have a small green- 

 house warmed by flues. A windmill pumps the 

 water, and stores it in a little tank adjoining 

 the greenhouse. 



I wanted to stay longer, but it was only 15 

 minutps to train-time, and I was a mile and a 

 half from the depot: but where one is really 

 hungering and thirsting for information, how 

 much he can learn in iiist25 m'nutes — that is, 

 when he gets among progressive people I Now, 

 friends, how many of you would think you 

 could afford a cold-frame walled round with 

 hard bricks and cement? And the question 

 comes in here: How long do you expect to con- 

 tinue in the gardening business? Are you 

 going to switch off and try something else as 

 soon as there are great crops and every thing is 

 down low? If so, you can not afford to build a 

 cold-frame like the one I have described to you. 

 Gardeners have had a hard time getting any 

 thing like cost for a great part of their stuff in 

 our locality this past season; but these boys 

 are pushing ahead, making nice and perfect 

 arrangements for their work, just as if they 

 knew nothing about hard times at all, and they 

 will surely get their reward. This lack of en- 

 thusiasm, and getting tired of your own legiti- 

 mate business, is, in my opinion, the greatest 

 hindrance to successful bee-keeping, successful 

 gardening, or successful farming, that meets us 

 as a people. It is worse than drouth and flood, 

 grasshoppers, blight, or even a scarcity of 



money. The man who keeps right on in his 

 own line of business year after year, keeping 

 posted in regard to all improvements and short 

 cuts, is he who is going to win. 



Just now, this 6th day of November, people 

 are wanting Grand Rapids lettuce. In fact, 

 one lady begged us \.o let her have some leaves 

 from some stalks that had gone to seed, for we 

 had not a plant large enough to cut. Celery is 

 also bringing good prices, as it has been doing 

 for years past. Hubbard squashes are becom- 

 ing scarce, and the market price is running up. 

 Now, shake off this lethargy. Go to work dur- 

 ing these bright cool days; fix up your green- 

 houses and cold-frames, and make things per- 

 manent and substantial. It does not pay to 

 invest time and money in a crop, and then lose 

 it by some unusually severe storm and freeze, 

 just because your greenhouse and frames were 

 so rickety your stuff did not have adequate 

 protection. I told you last season about put- 

 ting building-paper over the board sides of our 

 cold-frames, and covering the paper with com- 

 mon shingles, letting the shingles run up and 

 down. Beds thus fixed have suffered but very 

 little from severe freezes, especially from hav- 

 ing the plants killed around next to the outside 

 of the bed. 



Special Notices in the Line of Gardening, etc. 



By A. I. Root. 



The government bulletin alluded to on page 833, 

 " Household Insects," can be had by sending 10 cts. 

 for Bulletin No. 4, New Series, U. S. Department of 

 Agriculture, Division of Entomology, V\fashlngton. 



A BARGAIN. 



"We have made arrangements to furnish the Ohio 

 Farmer and Gleanings for only $1.50. The Ohio 

 Farmer is well known as one of the very best, larg- 

 est, and among the leading agricultural papers of 

 America. A 20-page, 80-column paper every week 

 in the year; employs the very best writers that 

 money can procure; a strong, fearless defender of 

 the agricultural Interests of this country, and clean 

 In both reading and advertising columns. It helps 

 make the farm pay. 



SEED POTATOES, NOVEMBER 15. 



On page 802 of our last issue I spoke of having 

 sold practically all of our No. 1 Thoroughbred pota- 

 toes. In arranging some of the details of the sale, 

 however, we could not exactly agree, and so the 

 sale was not made: therefore our Thoroughbreds, 

 first quality, will remain as in the talle below: 



Namb. 



Varieties are in order as 

 regards time of matur- 

 ing:; earliest flrst, next 

 earliest second.and so on. 



n 



White Bliss Triumph 



E Thoro'bred-, Maule's . 60 75 60 1 00 1 75 3 OOl 7 09 



Early Ohio 15 35 25 40 75 2 00 



EarlV Norther 12 20 :f5 60 150 



Burpee's Extra Early.... 15 35 25 40 75 2 00 



Freeman 15 35 25 40 75! 2 00 



New Queen 



Monroe Seedling 12 20 30 50 1 25 



RuralNew-YorlcerNo. 2.. 12 20 30 50 1 25 



Sir William 15 35 25 40 75 2 00 



Carman No.l 12 20 35 60 1 5« 



Carman No. 3 15 35 20 35 60 1 00 2 50 



Koshkonong- 



Manum's Enormous 

 New Craig 



We guarantee agaivst damage hy frost nil potatoes 

 ordered and shipped during this month of November. 



THOROUGHBREDS FOR PREMIUMS. 



Remember, 1 lb. of Thoroughbreds will be given 

 for eveiy^ubscrlption to Gleanings provided you 

 do not ask for any other premium; and this will 

 apply to paying up old dues or subscribing for the 

 future— that is, a pound of Thoroughbreds for every 

 dollar sent. But you must pay 9 cts. for postage 



