384 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



May 



uct of a square yard of your beds in /our or 

 six weeks' time may bring you a dollar bill. 

 But even if it brings you only 2.5 cts., just 

 figure up what a quarter of an acre will 

 amount to. This ground, worked on the 

 high-pressure principle, using guano and 

 liquid fertilizers, should be bearing crops of 

 some kind from the first of Api'il to the first 

 of October; and with the aid of glass to 

 keep off the frost, it can be growing a crop 

 every month in the year. You may take 

 exception to some of these statements ; but 

 if you do, I shall tell you that you never saw 

 a square yard of ground doing what it is ca- 

 pable of doing ; in other words, you have no 

 comprehension of GocVs gifts to the diligent 

 lover and searcher in this direction. 



A 3IACHINB FOR SORTING rOTATOES. 



For two or three years past, we have been 

 sorting our potatoes with a sieve covered 

 with poultry-netting of the right size of 



through the Itural New-Yorker. That in- 

 quiry brings to light the machine we illus- 

 trate below. 



You see, these friends have gone ahead of 

 me in making it in the form of a revolving 

 cylinder. Here is what they say about it : 



You will notice at once that it's "just the thing;" 

 " wonder some one hasn't thoug-ht of it before." 

 Well, here it is now, and at a price within the reach 

 of all. With this machine, which weighs less than 

 101) lbs., two men and a be yean sort and put into 

 the wagon from ?{} to lOU oushels an hour. It can 

 be operated by one person, if necessary. As you 

 see, the potatoes pass from the hopper into the cyl- 

 inder, which should be turned very slowly, by a lazy 

 boy; and if he has got the " spring fever," so much 

 the better. Have him pick out the decayed or scab- 

 by potatoes as they pass through the hopper, other- 

 wise he will want to go to sleep. If tue potatoes 

 need sprouting, raise the lower end of the machine, 

 or turn the cylinder half way over and then back, 

 or both. The small potatoes, dirt, straw, etc., will 

 fall under the sorter into the basket, while the mer- 

 chantable ones will be delivered into baskets as 

 shown, or they may be run on an incline into the 



THE HOOVER POTATO-SORTER, MADE BY HOOVER & PROUT, AVERY, ERIE CO., O. 



mesh. The way we used this sieve was to 

 place four bushel boxes tight up together. 

 The sieve was laid on top of these boxes, 

 and about a bushel of potatoes poured in. 

 Then a boy at each side would shake them 

 until the small ones had passed through. 

 The large ones were then poured into two 

 more potato-boxes, placed side by side. 

 This was a good deal faster than sorting 

 them by hand, and there was not any guess- 

 work about it. All that went through the 

 meshes were sold at a low price. I soon 

 made up my mind that a machine was need- 

 ed to do it faster and with less labor. But 

 the more I thought of it, the better I be- 

 came satisfied that some competent person 

 should take the matter in hand, and, by 

 means of a series of experiments, work out 

 just what was needed. I then had in mind 

 a sieve suspended so as to oscillate, letting 

 the potatoes roll off the lower end. With a 

 view of finding out whether any such ma- 

 chine had been made, I made inquiry 



cellar. To sort seed potatoes from the small ones, 

 just wind the cylinder with binder twine the proper 

 mesh, and the result will surprise you. 



We have been using one of the above 

 machines for two or three months past. I 

 had not thought of having a sprouting-ma- 

 chine to take the sprouts off ; but this ma- 

 chine actually does it pretty fairly. To 

 keep the potatoes from flying around the 

 room we have tacked on a couple of side- 

 boards, reaching up about as high as the 

 top of the reel ; but we greatly prefer to 

 have the bushel boxes instead of the bas- 

 kets, as shown in the cut. The boxes can 

 be placed under the machine, pushed up so 

 tight together that no potatoes, dirt, or rub- 

 bish of any kind, can get out on the floor. 

 The price of the machine is $15.00. 



SOME HINTS ON RAISING ASPARAGUS. 



Friend Root:— As you are very fond of gardening 

 I thought I would write you a treatise on aspara- 

 gus, as it is but little cultivated, and one o f the best 

 of vegetables, coming in early when there is but 



