642 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 



iny xipon a flat tin on the bottom of tho hive. 

 hangs in an ordinary wooden rabbet by means 

 of a projecting headless wire nail jutting out 

 from the top-bar. In other words, it is a hang- 

 ing frame with closed-end bars. In connection 

 he uses a wooden thumb-screw to reduce pro- 

 polis accuTuulations. M)-. Tunicliff was very 

 enthusiastic over this arrangement. He de- 

 clared it the best frame extant. As to the 

 thumb-screw, he owed Mr. Heddon nothing for 

 it. for he borrowed it of Mr. Manum, who had 

 used it for many years before Heddon. He did 

 not consider Mr. H. the first one to use closed- 

 end fram(»s in a tight-titting box. for he had 

 used them both in combination since 1878. 



He had 4(X) colonies on these frames; and to 

 show me how nicely they worked he handled 

 several hives. They certainly did work nice, 

 and. as Mr. T. said, "he adopted them to save 

 time in handling. The swinging frame took 

 too much time in spacing and too much time all 

 ai'ound. He was veiy enthusiastic over his 

 hive. I took a Kodak view, and will perhaps 

 give you a pictuic of it later. 



SPECIAL DEPARTMENT FOR A. I. ROOT, AND HIS 

 FRIENDS WHO LOVE TO RAISE CROPS. 



That art on which a thousand inillionK of men are dependent 

 for their sustenance, and two hundred minions 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. 



THE VAIATK OF STRAWBERRY -PL.^NTS TURNED 

 UNDER. 



On the 1.5th day of July we plowed under a 

 bed of Sharpless strawberries that had borne an 

 excellent crop of fruit, and had made a prodig- 

 ious growth of foliage, runn rs, etc. Before 

 turning them under, however, the ground was 

 covered with a heavy coat of stable manure. 

 With the manure and vines together, the plow- 

 man had considerable trouble in getting them 

 all turned under nicely. In fact, a man had to 

 follow (with a hoe or similar tool) to push 

 the tangled vines from under the plow-beam. 

 When it was all turned under, however, it was 

 harrowed and rolled until tine and compact. 

 Then a heavy coat of ashes from our steam- 

 boilers was put on. These ashes were mostly 

 from coal. Considerable basswood and pine, 

 however, goes in with the coal. In order to get 

 out the coarser portions we run it through a 

 sieve, or riddle, such as is used for sifting sand 

 or gravel. These ashes were put over the sur- 

 face, from one to two inches deep, and harrowed 

 lightly into the mellow surface soil. In this we 

 sowed, the same day, radishes, lettuce, and tur- 

 nips. Well, on the 1.5th day of August, just 

 thirty days from the day the seeds were put in, 

 beautiful radishes were ready for the market — 

 in fact, the finest I ever saw. A nice shower 

 fell soon after the seeds \\''ere sown, and the 

 ashes had sufficient strength to destroy all iu- 

 sect enemies. Not even a flea beetle punctured 

 the first leaves of the young radishes. They 

 grew with a rich dark green, and a rapidity I 

 never saw them grow with befoF(\ Neither 

 have I ever had rjoochstzed radishes fit for mar- 

 ket in just thirty days, before. The varieties 

 were Early Frame, Chartier, and Chinese Rose. 

 The root's were beautiful, glossy, scarlet, 

 straight, and true. In fact, we could easily 

 liave made a bunch of Chartiers equal to the 

 colored plates sent out by the originator. The 

 Early Frame may have been a little ahead of 

 the Chartier; but three days later, the Chartiers 



were much the larger and finer. In three days 

 more (thirty-three in all) we had Early Blooms- 

 dale turnips fit for the table. They, too, were 

 wonderfully handsome, both radishes and tur- 

 nips being crisp and sweet, far beyond the ordi- 

 nary. The (xrand Rapi<ls lettuce was also fit to 

 put on the market-wagon in thirty days. Of 

 course, it did not make large lieads in that time, 

 but the leaves were as large as one's hand, and 

 the plants made very fine bask(>t lettuce. How 

 much of this is due to the strawberry-plants 

 and how much to the manure and how much to 

 the ashes, we can not tell; but I think just 

 about the combination was needed for the 

 results noted. Mr. E. C. Green, of the Ohio Ex- 

 periment Station, looked them over yesterday, 

 and he said he had never seen any thing to 

 excel it in the way of a crop, in only thirty days. 

 It should be remembered, that the ground was 

 our best creek-bottom ground that had been 

 enriched and worked over for the past four or 

 five years. 



Adjoining the above jjatch are .some of our 

 rows of strawberries which were also put out 

 with the transplanting-tubes on the 15th of 

 July. We did not think best, however, to put 

 strawberries where strawberries had been the 

 season before. These strawberry-plants, in 30 

 days have sent out runners and made little 

 plants so that some of tli<>m are well enough 

 rooted to bear removing from the j:)arent plants: 

 that is, by the aid of the tubes. Now, these few 

 results give one a glimpse of what is possible in 

 market-gardening, as well as in strawberry- 

 raising. In forty days the radishes can easily 

 be cleaned off, aiid another crop of something 

 else can be turned off before winter. I am 

 planning to transplant scmie of the Grand Rap- 

 ids lettuce where the radishes are taken off, 

 and thus get large heads before wint(>r. With 

 this high-pressure treatment, manuring, and 

 tilth, there are quite a few crojjs that can be 

 taken off the ground in forty or lifty days. TJie 

 energetic, go-ahe<ul gardener, sJioidd licivc them 

 right off promptly the very day the crops have 

 arrived, at their best, and more seeds or plants 

 should take their place within one hour. I 

 know from experience that it is a very hard 

 matter to push things like this; but I tell you, 

 my friends, it pays. 



On another piece of ground, when I saw the 

 crop had almost reached maturity I allowed 

 the weeds and purslain to grow for a while. It 

 did not take the weeds more than a week or ten 

 days to cover the ground with a wondt'rful 

 growth while the crop was ripening; and just 

 as soon as the crop was removed, w.eeds, toi^s, 

 and all refuse matter were plowed under. In 

 doing this, you want to be very careful that no 

 .seeds of purslain or of any thing els(> have be- 

 come matured enough to grow; for if you do 

 not, you will seed the ground with weeds. Keep 

 your eye carefully on the weeds, and a good 

 many times you can have a heavy growth to 

 turn under, almost as well as not. Be careful, 

 also, that this heavy growth does not take anj^ 

 thing from the maturing croiJ. A great many 

 times it is better to wait a little until the crop 

 is mature enough to be gathered, rather than 

 to undertake to clean out the patch from weeds, 

 etc., .just before inutiiiity. In fact, the nicest 

 way in the world to make sure with purslain is 

 to turn it under out of sight. Keep the cultiva- 

 tor going, however, so that no chance sprig 

 stiick up through the dirt shall get on top of 

 the ground and grow again. At this season of 

 the year (Aug. 21). if any piece of ground, en- 

 riched as we have ours, is left idle for a week or 

 ten days, the weeds will make their appearance. 

 I would rather have the Acme cultivator go 

 over the ground, say once in five or six days, if 

 we can jnanage to have it. 



