2.)4 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



Apr. 



riding-, and if I liked to ride rnyseif (and T do), I 

 would get a horse, surely. Rut, on the other hand, 

 it' I ran a newspaper and advertised for a livery 

 stable, and could not g-et my pay in any other 

 way, and had no place to keep a horse, and my wife 

 hated the pesky thing-, and I did not care to ride, 

 I believe I would hire a livery, wouldn't you? I 

 wouldn't place an out-apiary so near as three miles 

 to another; nothing less than four, and six miles 

 preferred. 

 Michigan. S. W. James Heddon. 



The above has been answered so fully 

 that there is little to add, and friend Hed- 

 don gives the final summing-up in his pe- 

 culiar, terse, and quaint manner. For my 

 part, unless my means were exceedingly 

 limited I would have a horse and buggy t»f 

 some sort, and then I would make it a study 

 to find something for the horse to do during 

 the rest of the year, so as to make him pay 

 for his feed. For some time we have been 

 keeping three horses here at the Home of 

 the Honey-bees ; and when the weather will 

 permit [ make it as much a part of the busi- 

 ness to hunt up work for the horses as for 

 the men and boys. In fact, we have a reg- 

 ular table of prices, something like this : 

 One horse, wagon, and driver, 25 cents an 

 hour, for less than 10 hours ; over 10 hours, 

 20 cents ; two horses and driver, including 

 the use of any of our farming tools, 35 

 cents per hour; 10 hours or over, 30 cents 

 per hour. In this way we manage to keep 

 the horses busy about every day if the 

 weather permits. During the present sea- 

 son we shall have four horses, including the 

 pony. The pony, however, belongs to the 

 women-folks, with the understanding that 

 they are to have him whenever they want 

 him, no matter about the business. When 

 they do not want him we can work him as 

 circumstances may require. 



SPECIAL DEPARTMENT FOR A. I. ROOT, AND HIS 

 FRIENDS WHO LOVE TO RAISE CROPS. 



That art on which a thotisand millions of men are dependent 

 for their sustenance, and two hiindred millions of men expend 

 their daily toil, must be the most important of all — the parent 

 and precursor of all other arts. In every country, then, and at 

 every period, the investigation of the principles on which the 

 rational practice of this art is founded ought to have command- 

 ed the principal attention of the greatest minds 



James F. W. Johnston. 



OUTDOOR GARDENING FOR 1890. 



At one time in February we were just 

 about planting our peas, but it rained, and 

 made the ground wet ; and from that time 

 on, through the whole month of March there 

 has not been a time when the soil and 

 weather were suitable for planting. This 

 second day of April it came out quite warm 

 and summery; but as there was a heavy frost 

 last night, we could not find ground in fit 

 condition to receive seed, except the south 

 side of some ridges left where the new Rose 

 celery grew last year. It made such a tre- 

 mendous growth that the ridges were nearly 

 two feet high ; and after the celery was taken 

 out they stood all winter, high enough to be 

 free from the wet. With a wheel-hoe we 

 made a shallow furrow on the south side, 

 near the top of the ridge, and the ground was 

 as mellow and warm under the April sun as 



one could ask— that is, if we did not go down 

 more than two or three inches. We planted 

 both Alaska and American Wonder; and the 

 ground raked up so nice and mellow, when 

 we got through we put in Eclipse beets, 

 Scarlet (Jlobe radish. Silver King and White 

 Victoria onions, so we have got some out- 

 door gardening under way after all. Some 

 American Wonder peas on the south side 

 of our brick buildings are now about two 

 inches high; but they have been frozen and 

 thawed so many times during March that 

 they look rather sorrowful. A good many 

 other plants— spinach, corn salad, etc., that 

 stood the winter with comparatively little 

 injury, have been a good deal injured by 

 frost during the last week of March. I am 

 inclined to think the veiy best way to start 

 early stuff, especially where we have so much 

 wet, is to put it on ridges like those left by 

 the celery. Of course, we can not do very 

 much cultivating among them by horse 

 power ; but the very early can be worked by 

 hand, especially as not very much of any 

 thing is neededfor the very first. The main 

 crops fit to be cultivated" by horse power 

 come along in a very few days after. 



April 3. — To-day we are having a succes- 

 sion of warm April showers. The tempera- 

 ture is 00, and no wind. Our tomato-plants 

 are in pots outdoors in the rain. Sash are 

 all raised to the highest notch ; greenhouses 

 are opened as wide as possible ; transplanted 

 plants in the open air are beginning to smile 

 at the biting frosts that have made them 

 look so sad and sorrowful. I have just asked 

 Mr. Weed how much it would be worth if we 

 could strip every pane of glass from all our 

 greenhouses. He said it would be worth a 

 five-dollar bill anyhow, just for this one day. 

 You may say that plenty of ventilation and 

 plenty of water will do aboutaswell. Now, 

 my experience is that it will not do any such 

 thing. A drizzling April shower for several 

 hours, with an occasional hour of sunshine, 

 is ahead of any watering that man can in- 

 vent. Why not go back to the old time-hon- 

 ored plan of movable sash, to be lifted on 

 and off? Why, it is too much labor. It is 

 true, we may not need the sash again for 

 days ; but it is also true that they may be 

 needed in only a few hours. There is no 

 remedy, so far as I can see, except a realiza- 

 tion of my particular hobby for months past ; 

 namely, having our greenhouses arranged 

 so that the entire covering can be removed 

 in a few minutes, and put back again in 

 a few minutes, all to be done by proper 

 machinery, and under the control of a single 

 individual. Our tomato-plants had com- 

 menced to be infested with the green fiy. I 

 know from experience that this April shower 

 will cure them completely ; that is, where 

 they are in pots so we can set them outdoors. 

 Those in beds that can not be exposed to rain, 

 will have to suffer. Sprinkling them for 

 hours together so as to imitate rain will not 

 answer unless there can be an amount of ven- 

 tilation almost equivalent to the open air, so 

 that they may dry off fast enough to avoid 

 the consequences of too much wet. It is a 

 mystery to me why florists and raisers of 

 vegetable-plants do not see the matter as I 

 do. 



