244 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Apkil, 1918 



the soil back, level it off and place your one- 

 eye pieces of potato about two or three 

 inches apart. When nicely placed, shovel 

 about two inches of soil over all. (I for- 

 got to say that this bed must be tile-drained, 

 or good drainage secured in some other 

 way.) While the bed should be kept pretty 

 w^et, there must be no standing water during 

 heavy rains. Get all the sunshine on this bed 

 possible; if there is anything in the way 

 that shades, either moi'ning or evening, get 

 it out of the way, if possible. If the nights 

 are at all cool, cover the bed witli empty 

 sacks as soon as the sun is off at night ; but 

 be sui*e they are off as soon as the sun can 

 get on the bed in the morning. 



Will every piece of potato produce a good, 

 strong shoot with this treatment ? Of course, 

 it won't. And it is just here, where my 

 gi'eat invention comes in, that is going to 

 save the world millions. When your po- 

 tato bed is pretty well covered with green 

 leaves, run up a wheelbarrow, with light, 

 wooden trays, and lift out the plants, po- 

 tato and all, with not only a gi'eat bunch of 

 branching roots, but also with a good hand- 

 ful of this rich soil. The bed should have 

 been thoroly wetted an hour or two before 

 you commence lifting the plants. To have 

 them come ujd easily, push a flat-bladed 

 spade down under the roots ; then pry down 

 on the handle and this will loosen the whole 

 " sod " of potatoes and roots, so you can 

 carefully separate them. Before doing all 

 this, your potato ground is to have been 

 well prepared and furrowed out. If you can 

 run a hand-cultivator thru each furroAv just 

 before setting the plants, it is better. 



Now to go back a little to the " great in- 

 vention." Every piece of potato that has 

 not made a good plant, is to be put back in 

 the bed, and taken up at a later date. These 

 " put-back " pieces often make the very best 

 plants. 



Now a word about having the hills just 

 so far apart. We have the furrows 30 inches 

 apart, and aim to have a potato hill every 

 16 inches. Well, my good helper Wesley 

 didn't seem to have the faculty of guessing 

 at 16 inches, so I gave him a 4-foot lath, 

 with notches cut at the 16-in. point. With 

 this near by, he gets them almost exact. 



What do we secure with all this " fuss and 

 bother"? A lot of things. Not only is there 

 a good, strong plant and no missing hills, 

 but also you have a yield of great, beautiful 

 potatoes that command a big price, when 

 there are often no new potatoes on the mar- 

 ket at all. One who has not tried it can 

 scarcely realize the difference. Just now 

 the world is beginning to recognize the gTeat 

 importance of giving the young plant (or 



animal) a good, healthy start during the 

 first jieriod of its existence. Visitors are 

 coming every day and you ought to hear 

 their exclamations of surprise. One lady 

 begged for some potato leaves, as she said 

 she never saw, or heard of, anything like it. 



After showing some friends a beautiful 

 bed of potatoes, that had just been cultivat- 

 ed and hoed, I made the remark that they 

 had been planted just one week. The crowd 

 turned and stared at me just about as people 

 did 40 years ago when I announced I had 

 taken " a barrel of honey " from one bee- 

 hive in one summer. 



Some of you may think I plant potatoes 

 pretty close. Well, I have found it an ad- 

 vantage here to have the vines cover and 

 shade the ground fi'om the hot sun as soon 

 as possible. By the way, I have grown Red 

 Triumph potatoes on this same ground now 

 for six or seven years. Not only that, but 

 my crops get better and better, by planting 

 velvet beans after the potatoes and spading 

 them under every fall. 



A year ago, I sent to our Florida Experi- 

 ment Station, and also to our Ohio Station, 

 an account of my potato work, similar to 

 the above; but neither seemed to think very 

 much of it. Perhaps after a while they will 

 both " sit up and take notice." 



P. S. I use about one-half ton of special 

 potato fertilizer per acre. 



THE "WIND-ELECTRIC APPARATUS DOV^N IN 

 FLORIDA AND ITS PROGRESS UP TO DATE. 



So many are interested in the matter of 

 " harnessing the wind " so as to have it pull 

 our automobiles, do our house -work, etc., 

 that we print below some of A. I. Root's 

 daily reports of progress, as he has jotted 

 them down on his letters written to Medina : 



Feb. 16. — We are still waiting for Maru- 

 koski to boss raising the heavy wooden 

 tower. 



Feb. 20. — Business matters hindered the 

 inventor, Mr. Marukoski from making 

 his trip to Florida- so our machineiy is not 

 yet set up. The wood tower is completed 

 and nicely painted, but not yet raised on its 

 feet. Today is Feb. 20, and Mr. M. is ex- 

 pected on the 25th. 



Feb. 22. — Better send me one more $100. 

 as we are going to set u]3 the wundmill next 

 Aveek. T expect I have been using a lot of 

 money, but I hope a part of it has been 

 " treasures laid up in heaven, where thieves 

 do not break thru and steal." 



Mar. 4. — Our generator is finally at hand 

 and the switch board is to come by express. 

 Our troubles for the present at least mostly 

 over. Marukoski is to be here tomorrow. 

 The generator weighs 400 pounds so I think 



