iSHd 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



671 



under a hot roof; but I do not know that T can fool 

 the potatoes into growing:. Others in the West may 

 like to see your enthusiasm solve the problem of 

 making new potatoes grow. M. S. Benedict. 



Crete, Neb., July 21. 



Friend B., I know of no way to make new 

 potatoes start up and grow like old ones 

 that have been kept back, in a cool cellar, or 

 buried in the ground. I think the latter 

 way will be the best to manage it. I have 

 made new Early Ohios grow by laying 

 them in the sun until they became green, 

 and useless for any purpose except planting. 

 But this consumed valuable time, and the 

 potatoes were much slower in starting than 

 old ones. A neighbor of mine always saves 

 some Early Ohios until the middle or latter 

 part of July ; then he plants them in good 

 ground, and they come up very quickly and 

 grow very fast. His object is to get pota- 

 toes that ripen just before freezing weather, 

 that they may keep for seed over winter 

 without sprouting. One season he had a 

 crop of very fine large potatoes from Early 

 Ohios sown during the last of July. At the 

 prices at which we have been getting for 

 potatoes for over six weeks, they will make 

 a splendid market-garden crop. By the mid- 

 dle of June we could buy nice potatoes, 

 brought from the South, for about a dollar a 

 bushel ; but when the old potatoes gave out 

 they suddenlv ran up from $1.50 to SI. 60, 

 and are in that neighborhood still. Now, 

 this has occurred season after season, or 

 something like it. It would certainly pay 

 exceedingly well, at the latter prices, to 

 start potatoes in the greenhouse, in boxes. 

 Plant them exactly as you do cabbage- 

 plants, putting a good double handful of 

 rich fertilizer, from the greenhouse - bed, 

 around every potato when you plant it. It 

 is hardly possible that it should not prove a 

 good investment for those who have room 

 to snare under glass. The heat of the sun 

 is all that is needed to start potatoes as soon 

 as we want them. I would suggest that we 

 have, for this purpose, an extra-early pota- 

 to that is slow to sprout. At present I 

 know of nothing that fills the bill as well as 

 the Early Ohio. 



PROPAGATING STRAWBERRIES WITHOUT HAVING 

 RECOURSE TO THE RUNNERS. 



I see in your foot-note to J. Johannsen, page 534. 

 July 15, that you note that the other kinds of straw- 

 berries besides the Oregon are flowering in the 

 same manner and under the same treatment. Well. 

 very rich soil has shown the same result, but with 

 berries that rotted badly under some observations 

 that I have made. There is a variety here known 

 as the Gov. Jewell, that, if very early runners are 

 let have a chance, will mature about half a crop of 

 fruit late in the season. You further note that you 

 do not think that it will do to divide the old plants. 

 I tried that as an experiment for four successive 

 seasons, with about 30 varieties, and in no case had 

 a failure. Take the plant up very carefully, clean 

 off all the old leaf-stalks from the root, then sepa- 

 rate every crown carefully; pack them nicely in 

 sphagnum (swamp moss), and keep it just wet, not 

 soaking, and keep them in a warm sheltered place. 

 In four to eight days the small white roots start; 

 i;hen box them off in rich sandy soil, and finer 



plants to send out you can not And ; but don't leave 

 on too much top. H. L. Jeffrey. 



Woodbury, Ct., J uly 30. 



Thanks, friend J. Since you mention it, 

 I do remember having started a strawberry- 

 bed by taking the old plants. With excel- 

 lent care and plenty of manure I made them 

 throw out new roots as you say, and I got a 

 very fair crop ; but it is more labor and ex- 

 pense every way, and I think without as 

 good results as tlie runners gave. In case 

 of a variety, however, like the Oregon Ever- 

 bearing, it may be advisable to increase 

 that way. 



STRAWBERRIES AND STRAWBERRY-PLANTS 

 FOR FALL PLANTING. 



In answer to many inquiries in regard to 

 what plants to recommend, and for a report 

 on the new varieties, including all the latest 

 and most important before the world, I 

 would request all the friends to send for 

 Matthew Crawford's July Report. Address 

 Matthew Crawford, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. 

 Friend C. makes it his business to test with 

 great fidelity and care all strawberries 

 brought prominently before the world, and 

 I have the utmost confidence in his skill, 

 ability, and honesty in regard to faithful 

 statements in the matter. The soil and lo- 

 cality may not give exactly the result that 

 yours do. But he can furnish you plants 

 adapted to any locality. My own experience 

 coincides with his almost exactly in regard 

 to the value of the new varieties. I would 

 earnestly recommend, however, that you 

 raise your own plants, as a general thing. 

 Get a dozen, or even half a dozen, at this 

 season of the year, of such varieties as you 

 choose, then set to work and learn the trade 

 of making plants. It is with strawberries 

 as with bees. The safest way is to com- 

 mence with a little, and learn as you go 

 along. When you can care for half a dozen 

 strawberry-plants properly, enlarge to 100, 

 then to 1000, then to half an acre, and so on. 

 But do not, I beg of you, commence with an 

 acre first. It will surely end in loss and 

 trouble. Friend Crawford has for sale about 

 25 different varieties. As I told you in our 

 last issue, we have decided to offer for sale 

 during the coming fall only the Jessie, Bu- 

 bach, Ilaverland, and Gaudy. The first and 

 last have perfect blossoms ; the other two 

 must be fertilized. 



To show you something what two of our 

 varieties look like, we will give you some 



