256 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUllE. 



Apr. 



However, he decides to keep on caging if he 

 can nut do any better. 



SPECIAL DEPARTMENT FOR A. I. ROOT, AND HIS 

 FRIENDS WHO LOVE TO RAISE CROPS. 



That ai't on which a thousand millions of men are dependent 

 for their sustenance, and two hundred millions of men expend 

 their daily toil, niu-tjje the most important of all— the p.irent 

 and precursor of all other .arts. In every coiinti-y. then, and at 

 every period, the investis'ation of the principles on which the 

 rational (iriictice of this art is founded ought to have command- 

 ed the principal attention of the greatest minds. 



James F. W. Johnston. 



RAISING CROPS UNDER GLASS. 



The experience of the past winter lias 

 convinced me more than ever before, that I, 

 at least, must have some arrangement 

 whereby the glass can be over our crops 

 wiien it is needed, and at no other time. 

 During the great abundance of rain that we 

 have had for months past, and with the 

 rain, as a matter of course, a temperature 

 more or less above freezing, I would have 

 the glass off the greater part of the time, 

 especially with sucli hardy plants as beets, 

 lettuce, cabbage, celery, corn salad, onions, 

 etc. I want the direct rain, I want the di- 

 rect sunshine, and I want the free air of 

 heaven, whenever it can be hud without 

 running the temperature too low. By this 

 means we get rid of the green fly and all 

 other insects ; we get rid of mold, fungus, 

 and every thing of the sort ; and we have 

 absolutely nothing to do with the plants atall, 

 except to interpose the glass when the tem- 

 perature gets too low. The great problem is, 

 how to accomplish it with the least expense. 

 I should at once decide on having my plant- 

 beds on wheels, and push the beds all outside 

 by appropriate machinery, were it not for 

 the extra amoimt of ground needed. To avoid 

 this extra space, 1 see no other way than to 

 have the sashes hinged so they can be turn- 

 ed up nearly to a perpendicular, to let in the 

 sun and rain. None of the plants I have 

 mentioned are injured at a temperature of 

 40. or, say, down to ;:!5, although the amount 

 of growth is very small unless the tempera- 

 ture is above 50 ; but 60 is better, and 70 

 still better, where we want them to grow 

 rapidly. Tomato-plants, however, and oth- 

 er forms of tropical vegetation, would want 

 to go 10 or 20 degrees higher. This season, 

 just as the green fly began to threaten to 

 make us trouble, and just as we began to 

 think of buying more tobacco to fumigate, 

 all at once the little chaps began to turn 

 red, and die ; and in a few days prettv much 

 every insect had died off from the effects of 

 this fungus, or parasite, or whatever it may 

 be termed. They stick right on the lettuce 

 leaves, and leave a little spot where they 

 died in their tracks. But this mostly wash- 

 ed off, and now our lettuce is growing un- 

 hindered. 



Carrying dirt, manure, compost, etc., into 

 greenhouses, where the paths are made nar- 

 row for the sake of economy, has been a 

 problem to us. When one of our large glass- 

 es gets broken, I have sometimes suggested 

 to the boys, that, before we mend it, we 

 might shovel in a lot of dirt where it is need- 

 ed. Where a ventilator is over a bed, rais- 

 ng the ventilator affords a ready means of 



getting in soil. Below is a communication 

 from a brother of W. J. Green, of our Ohio 

 Experiment Station : 



A GREENHOtrSE HOD. 



When the greenhouse was built here at the sta- 

 tion, no arranf^ements were made for carrying or 

 wheeling- in the dirt except at the door, and per- 

 haps none were needed, for each opening only 

 makes another place to let in cold air. When we 

 first filled the house last fall, for filling the be nches 

 a commoQ bushel basket, carried on the shoulder, 

 was used to carry all the dirt, the walks being such 

 that a wheelbarrow could not be conveniently used ; 

 but after wearing out the baskets, making our 

 shoulders sore, and not improving our temper?, the 

 idea came to us that a hod, on the plan of a brick- 

 ruason's, would be a good thing, and so we went to 

 work and made two that would hold about three 

 pecks of dirt; and now, after having used them to 

 carry in several loads of dirt, I can say that one 

 maa can do with these hods .iust about the same as 

 two men did with the baskets. The ease with which 

 the hods can be put on the shoulder, and be carried, 

 is surprising to any one who has been using a bas- 

 ket. You might just as well ask a hod-carrier to 

 carry his bricks up in a basket as to ask us to carry 

 our dirt in with a basket now. I have been trying 

 to invent a box-hod, so that, when potatoes and 

 such truck are carried a distance, a box might be 

 set on a hod, and be carried; but I have not suc- 

 ceeded yet, and I will leave it to some genius to 

 find out how far the hod principle is practicable. 

 But I believe, as in our case of filling the benches 

 of the greenhouse with dirt, it may be used in oth- 

 er ways, for things must be carried on men's backs, 

 and there is uo getting around it; so to find the way 

 to do it, the least expenditure of strength is wise. 

 Our hods are 5 inches at the bottom, 13 at the top, 

 13 deep, and 3 feet long, with a good-sized stick in 

 the bottom. This we have found to be a good size, 

 but may not be the best. E.C.Green. 



Columbus, O., Mar. 8. 



Well done, friend G. I have been study- 

 ing on this same matter of an easy method 

 of moving things ; and I do believe that, 

 under many circiimstances, a light, properly 

 made hod would be an excellent thing for 

 the market-gardener. The potato-boxes are 

 largely used for the same purpose, by plac- 

 ing them on the shoulder ; but it is very 

 hard work indeed for me to carry a potato- 

 box full of potatoes ; whereas I could get 

 under a hod and carry the same weight with 

 comparative ease. I know, for I have tried 

 it. When some of our boys complained 

 that hod-carrying was very hard work, I 

 have carried a few hods of brick up the lad- 

 der, just to see how it went to put myself in 

 their place. 



Notwithstanding the exceedingly favora- 

 ble weather for the growth of all kinds of 

 garden stuff, we find ourselves, this 28th 

 day of March, short of almost every tiling 

 in the way of vegetables and plants. Not- 

 withstanding we have a larger area under 

 glass than ever before, the demand is great- 

 er than the supply. Our hot-bed sashes 

 made of strips of glass answer excellently, 

 and at the present time we find only one 

 difficulty. When the Brahma chickens hap- 

 pen to walk over the glass, the strips break ; 

 the same with a dog, and I think likely a 



