1890 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



257 



large heavy cat would break through. This 

 can be obviated, however, by having the 

 strips shorter, and may be a little wider. In 

 other respects they are a success. Beauti- 

 ful lettuce, cabbages, caulillower, beets, and 

 other plants, are growiug uuder sashes that 

 have never been tDoved, and the tempera- 

 ture lias been at different times down to 

 five above zero. 



PEA BUGS, OR WEEVILS, INFESTING OUR 

 WHITE HEANS ; HOAV SHALL WE GET 

 RID OF THEM V 



I do not remember just how mauy years 

 ago it was, perhaps not more than three or 

 four, when some of the boys and girls told 

 me that our beans were '' buggy."' Of course, 

 everybody knows about peas; but buggy 

 beans were something new at the time. 

 Well, of late our beans have been getting 

 buggier and bugeier, until during the pres- 

 ent season we have several bushels that 

 it would have been better to have boiled up 

 and given to the chickens in the outset. 

 Wheu v.e first began to find a few of them 

 buggy they were carefully hand-picked, and 

 the buggy ones were boiled for the chickens. 

 Pretty soon the same lot were buggy again, 

 and now they have been picked over three 

 times; but we have little assurance that 

 they will not continue to get buggy as long 

 as they last. One of the women lemarkfd, 

 when picking them over, that some one said 

 at a meeting of the Summit County Ilorti- 

 cultnral Society, that all beans planted after 

 a certain date, she thought it was some 

 time in June, would be in no danger of 

 bugs ; and then I remembered that we had. 

 during the past season, planted a lot of 

 white beans so late that a good many told 

 me thev would not ripen so as to become 

 dry. They did, however (the greater part 

 of them), and we had several bushels that 

 were not buggy a bit. There has never been 

 a bug among "them. This is one point that 

 I wish friends Cook and Green, of their sep- 

 arate agricultural colleges to enlighten us 

 on. Another thing, can the live bugs, or 

 weevil, do any harm to dry beans or peas? 

 I suppose they can not, of course ; but some 

 of our friends in the seed-room are inclined 

 to insist thev can. I confess that I do not 

 like to see the bugs flying around the room, 

 neither do I like to see a lot of them in our 

 bags ; but so far as I am acquainted with 

 their natural history, I should say they can 

 do no harm unless they are allowed to fly 

 when the beans are in blossom. Very like- 

 ly, should we plant buggy peas or beans, 

 the crop would be buggy. Now, friend 

 Cook, you know every thing about bugs — 

 just tell us a little ab(uit this b^an-weevil, 

 so that we may know how to light him ef- 

 fectively. Ever since they pestered us we 

 have been putting a little pyrethrum pow- 

 der in tlie bags, and shaking them up. This 

 kills the bugs — that is. all that are hatched 

 out. Some of you may ask. "Why, Mr. 

 Eoot, are you sending us buggy beans and 

 peas to plant':"' No, my friend, we are not. 

 Our seed peas are raised in localities where 

 they do not have bugs ; and our beans will 

 hereafter be raised so la'e in the season that 

 the bugs will not trouble them — that is, if 

 planting late will fix the matter. 



TRAKSPLANTING-TUBES. 



Last summer 1 had occasion to transplant some 

 small evergreen-trees, raised from the Feed in a 

 box. I made a transplantiiig-tube similar to those 

 you have described in Gleanings, and tried water, 

 as you recommend, to let the tube slip. It did not 

 suit me, perhaps because the foil here is different 

 from yours. At least, I thought that, for occasion- 

 al use, with only one tube, it took too long time, 

 and, in remo%'icg the tube, the soil— being loose and 

 sandy— crumbled away from the roots of the plant. 



1 then made another tube, which would fit easily 

 inside the transplanting-tube. This inside tube has 

 a flange, one-fourth inch wide, at each end, the 

 flanges turning in toward the center. The outside 

 tube (regular transplanting-tulie) may have a wire 

 In the upper rim to stiffen it; or a narrow flange 

 turning outward will answer the same purpose, and 

 will, besides, serve as a handhold by which to lift 

 the tube. Instead of either wire or flange, I simply 

 put on a couple of ears near the upper end of the 

 tube, and opposite each other. To use the tubes, I 

 take up the plant, as usual, with the transplanting- 

 tube (having the ears); set it in the hole previously 

 made to receive the plant; replace the soil and 

 pack it firmly around the tube. I now push the in- 

 side tube over the plant and down into the trans- 

 planting-tube until the lower flange rests on the 

 surface of the soil surrounding the plant. Bearing 

 down on the inside tube, I at the same time, with a 

 finger in each ear of the transplanting-tube, lift the 

 latter up. A few pats with the hand firm the sur- 

 lace of the soil, and the job is done. I set the plant 

 a little lower than the surrounding surface, so that 

 a cavity the size of a wash-basin is left round the 

 plant, into which cavity water is poured immedi- 

 ately, and later when required. I keep the tubes in 

 the pail of water, which I carry with me, to keep 

 them clear of sand and grit. I used the same tubes 

 with great satisfaction for transplanting tomato- 

 plants. 



Where a number of transplanting-tubes of the 

 same size are used, one inside tube will, of course, 

 be sufficient for each operator. The idea is not new. 

 I heard about it years ago in Los Angeles, where 

 the implement was recommended for transplanting 

 young fruit-trees from nursery-rows. I never saw 

 the tubes there, but they were described to me as 

 being made of sheet-iron, the size of a stovepipe or 

 larger, and strong enough for a man to put his foot 

 on the flange of ihe transplanting-tube, and, by his 

 own weight, push it into the ground. 1 understood 

 there was a patent on the apparatus; but if so it 

 has probably expired before this time. 



In very mellow, firm soil, not liable to crumble or 

 cave, a third tube, a trifle larger than the trans- 

 planting-tube, might be used for making the hole to 

 receive the plant. This would be desirable where 

 plants stand close together, and where a dead plant 

 has to be replaced by a live one, in order not to dis- 

 turb the soil more than necessary. 



I made my tubes out of cans which I had on hand, 

 and which happened to fit each other. The can for 

 the inside tube had a hole cut in the top and bot- 

 tom with a circular caii-opener, leaving the flanges 

 one-fourth inch wide. The larger can, which was 

 made with a loose cover, simply had the bottom 

 melted off and the ears put on. This is o inches in 

 diameter and 6 inches deep; but the size may be 

 varied to suit circumstances and convenience. 



Wm. MUTH-RA8MU88KN. 



Independence, Cal., Feb. 1.5. 



