352 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 



aged, even then. Let the lumps lie and dry 

 until they can be cut up with the harrow 

 and roller. If they will not work up when 

 dry, wait until a summer shower moistens 

 the surface. Then get as much fine dirt as 

 you can on the surface ; and when there 

 comes another rain, watch for the golden 

 opportunity — that is, when the lumps are 

 just right to pulverize, and go at them 

 again. Pine dirt is the key to success. I 

 copy the following from a very instructive 

 home-made catalogue, coming from our 

 good friend M. S. Benedict, of Crete, Neb. 

 If you haven't his catalogue, send him a 

 postal card. 



Tbe steel rake is a most important factor in gar- 

 den cultivation in prairie countries. With it a lew 

 inches of perfect mulch can be made to cover the 

 surface of the garden or field. The moisture aris- 

 ing- from beneath the surface can not g-et through 

 this covering of finely pulverized soil; neither can 

 the scorching rays of the sun penetrate to the roots 

 of the growing plants. The market gardeners and 

 farmers of the West can not have better advice giv- 

 ■en them than to depend on the steel rake to pre- 

 pare the soil for the crop, and to follow up plant- 

 ing with repeated rakings till the plants are large 

 enough for wheel-hoes and horse-cultivators. 



Perhaps you say your ground can not be 

 made fine enough to be worked in that way. 

 Yes, it can, and I am going to tell you how 

 to do it in the next issue. 



Just as soon as you get a garden started, 

 start a compost-heap. This needs to be 

 close by the wagon-road, and at the same 

 time as near the center of the garden as 

 possible. It should also be near the kitch- 

 en. Draw on four or hve loads of manure. 

 Any thing you can get will do. Make a 

 dish-shaped cavity in the top of the heap, 

 and then beg and borrow all the dish-water 

 and slops you can find. Eelieve the women 

 of a part of their drudgery by taking it 

 right out of their hands before they have 

 time to let it stand around ; then put into 

 this cavity all the rubbish ind trash you 

 can gather up. Teach the chickens to go 

 there and help themselves. They will very 

 soon learn to make daily (and hourly) pil- 

 grimages to this cavity, and will carefully 

 sort it over and scratch it over, taking out 

 what they like. If it should ever get to 

 smelling bad, fork it over. Now, before 

 there comes a bit of rain, be sure you have 

 a shallow trench clear around the outside of 

 this heap, and on the lowest side dig a cavi- 

 ty of sufficient size to hold a good-sized bar- 

 rel of liquid manure. When it rains, watch 

 carefully that this cavity never runs over. 

 Saturday morning ours was full and ready 

 to run over, with dark liquid manure, al- 

 most like dark green ink. While it was 

 raining, one of the boys put on a rubber 

 coat, and with a M'atering-pot gave every 

 plant-bed a good drenching with this black 

 manure juice. It rained a little all day Sun- 

 day ; and this morning, Apr. 28, our cavity 

 was full again ; and, oh ! you ought to see 

 how the plants have just jumped where the 

 manure juice was put. Phosphates and even 

 guano are nowhere compared with it ; and 

 yet this manure juice is allowed to run 

 away on thousands of farms ! Why, the 

 very rubbish that accumulates around the 

 back yards would make the ground rich if 

 composted in a way such as 1 have describ- 

 ed. All the refuse from the kitchen— odds 



and ends from the bench where your plants 

 are packed, rubbish from the wash-bench 

 where the stuif is prepared for the wagon, 

 and every thing ot that sort, are quickly 

 and profitably utilized in this compost-heap. 

 But, mind you, no matter how hard it rains, 

 you must not let the cavity get full and run 

 over. After you see what it will do for 

 your plants you will very likely begin to re- 

 gard it as precious— every drop of it— just 

 as I do. It is better to put it on during a 

 rain or shower, and then it will not make 

 the ground bake, neither will it soil the 

 delicate leaves, because the rain quickly 

 washes it olf . 



Our stenographer was just telling that, 

 after the great cyclone of April 8, which 

 plowed a furrow through this county, he 

 started off on foot across the fields to see 

 the destruction and take some photographic 

 views of it. At one place, about three 

 miles from here, before he got to the dev- 

 astated district, he says he wondered why 

 the water at the side of the road was sud- 

 denly as dark as molasses. Following up 

 the little streams he noticed that they start- 

 ed from a barn about 25 rods from the road, 

 where large heaps of barnyard compost 

 were piled up, and had been piled regularly 

 for years, and there the very life-blood of 

 the farm was oozing' out. So strongly was 

 the ground impregnated with this fertility 

 that nearly all signs of vegetable life were 

 absent. He says he leaned over the fence 

 in mute astonishment, and wondered why 

 some men will allow a thing to go to waste 

 when '' A. I. is paying a decent fortune to 

 buy it." A still more aggravated case was 

 to be seen nearly opposite this, and the 

 streams containing the wasted fertility of 

 the farms were, in fact, mingling as they 

 made their way to the river below. 



A TOMATO TEST OF 1889; TIME OF RIP- 

 ENING; KEEPING QUALITIES AND 

 GENERAL KEMAUKS. 



The following comes on a printed slip 

 from V. U. Hallock & Son, of Queens, N. Y. 

 The above firm has given the Ignotum per- 

 haps more attention than any other seeds- 

 men, and they give a beautiful colored plate 

 of it in the fore part of their catalogue. 

 When I saw it I bad a great desire to give it 

 to the readers of Gleanings; but it could 

 not very well be managed without great ex- 

 pense. The following test agrees very near- 

 ly with our own experience— that is, in all 

 the kinds we have tried : 



RED VARIETIES. 



Ignotum.— Ripe in 118 days from plantiiiK. Fruit kept in 

 Rood condition, after being pioked, 18 days. It is solid, meaty ; 

 cooks thick, not watery; of beautiful carmine red, and very 

 attractive to the e.ye; the largest crop of an.y tested; many 

 weiu'h 17 ounces each ; flavor ot the best — a mild sub-acid, very 

 desi rable for table use. It bears the longest of all— until killed 

 by frost. Oct. 12th the fruit was yet good size. 



Prelude.— Ripe In 122 days from planting. Kept 12 days. 

 Fruit small, prolific; quality good; bears heavy and long. 



Station Tree.— Ripe in 116 days— the earliest. Kept 10 days. 

 Medium size, good flavor, heavy cropper, but does not ripen as 

 fast as some others. 



Volunteer.— Ripe in 12.5 days. Kept 19 days. Large crop- 

 per; firm, bright red, sound fruit of excellent quality; bears a 

 long time. 



New Jersey.- Ripe in 126 days after planting. Kept 6 days. 

 Good size, solid, and good quality; cracks but little in rain. 



M.vTCHLEss— Ripe in 128 days. Kept 19 days. Bright red, sol- 

 id, good (lualitv; large crop, stood rain wefl, 



Livingston's Favorite.— Riije in 128 days. Kept 8 days. Fine, 

 large, smooth; good, continuous bearer." 



LoRRiLLARD.— Ripe in 128 days. Kept 15 days. Medium size, 

 good quality, smooth, solid; bears a long time. 



Paragon.— Ripe in 131 days. Kept 9 days. Good qualit,^, 

 ''eavy crop, and long in bearing. 



