1S90 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUIJE. 



G4H 



(iAi!i)Kxix(; von .ski'tesidki:. 

 During this month is the time to i)ut oiil 

 cabbage - S(H'd for cold - franips. Tiic .Jersey 

 Waketiekl is tlie only kind we use for tills pur- 

 pose. Sow the seed in good rich soil, rather 

 thinly, so as to get nice plants. WIhmi the 

 leaves ai'c as larg<'. say. as a half-dollai'. they 

 are ready to transplant to cold-frames. I al- 

 ways enjoy this kind of gardening in the fall of 

 the year. It looks nice to see these plants, so 

 fruitful and bright and fresh, just when frost 

 is I'uining so many other things. If you have 

 not put out youi' sijinach y(>t foi" over \\int(M'. 

 now is a good tiiiu' to sow it. I'orn salad can 

 b<' jiut in at the same time, and ixith nuiy lie 

 transplanted to cold-frames for use during win- 

 ter. Now is a good time to sow (Jraud Rapids 

 lettuce seed in view of having lettuce foi' 

 Thanksgiving. In cities, nice cris]) lettuce at 

 Thanksgiving has gf)t to be (luitc the fashion. 

 Now. we nro (juite willing that people should 

 follow the fashions just as far as they like, pro- 

 viding it runs into juce garden v(>getahles. 

 Winter onions can be put out now tiptop. It is 

 too late to sow turni|)s: but if you have gi'ound 

 in nice order, and tui'nii)s that need thinning 

 out. you can get very nice ones by transplant- 

 ing. One season we raised nearly a hundred 

 bushels of turnips by ti-ansplanting them into 

 cucumber ground aftei' the frost had killed the 

 cucumbers. 



cole's XKW A<;UIf tl/ri'IiK AT Tl'lK I'liESKNT 

 TIMK. 



In excavating for our new building, it be- 

 came necessary to go I'ight down through the 

 reservoirs of the new agriculture. Now, as you 

 may know, 1 have been somewhat disap])ointed 

 in the working of the reservoirs that cost so 

 much money. A good many plants do not seem 

 to do very much better over- these resei'voiis 

 than anywhere else. Hut I have every year no- 

 ticed this: Aftei' we get through with them, 

 and they are abandoned on account of th(> late- 

 ness of the season, squash and melon vines are 

 sure to sjtriug up and grow with unusual luxu- 

 riance. This year a single sciuash-vine was 

 growing with d rapidity, right under the glass. 

 subject to the intense heat of the sun. tliat I 

 rarely if ever have seen eqiuiled. Although it 

 had no water at all. and the top of the ground 

 was intensely hot and dry. this vine scarc<dy 

 wilted under the midday sun. Well, \\heii w(» 

 came to dig down through, although it was a 

 very dry spell, we found the reservoir full of 

 water, and the roots of the squash were do\\'n 

 and spread out in the water. They had gon<> 

 through at least 4 feet of earth, and then be- 

 tween the loose stones, to find wat<'r. This 

 vine has now 1.1 great Hoston Marrow sijuashes. 

 and is still growing at a tivmeudous rate. A 

 single banana muskmelon-vine ueai' by has 

 now covei'ed perhaps an area of KJ fvo\ sciuare, 

 and 7 great melons lie almost touching each 

 other. When Fathei- Cole spoke about having 

 the reservoirs (> feet deep, I thought he was 

 down altogether too low: hut I now discover it 

 is not a bit too low for certain kinds of vegeta- 

 tion: and, furthermore, that at this depth th(> 

 reservoirs in the clay soil will keep constantly 

 tilled with water: that is, if inad<' with the 

 overllow so as to k'eep just two feet of water in 

 the bottom. It looks funny to see such i"ink 

 vegetation growing up thi'ongh a soil parched 

 with intense heat, and as dry as dust. 



ago I cut a lot of runners anil put them in a 4- 

 inch soap-box near the well, aiul they ari' doing 

 lucely. \Vhy would not tliis be better for some 

 of us than taking up the plant, as you sugg(>st- 

 ed in Aug. 1 issue? S. T'. \Vai,ki-:i!. 



Forest Crove. ()i-., Aug. 11. 



Frieiul W.. your plan is ali'eady in use. ]>y 

 shading tin' ground and keeping it constantly 

 wet. you can make the buds start before they 

 show any root at all. This, however, requires 

 consid(>rable care and skill. After very small 

 roots have formed, they may be put out in beds. 

 Hy keeping them watered and shaded you will 

 very soon get nice plants. You do not say that 

 you watennl them often, but we infer this from 

 your <'xpression of putting them n(>ar the well. 

 The advanta.ge o\-er setting at once in the tield 

 is. you can put a good many |)lants in a snuill 

 bed of very rich groiuid. After they get strong 

 roots they can then be put out in the field. 



STI!AW15EI!i:V-l'EAXTS FOR THE (tAKDEX: HoW 

 fEOSE TAX TIIEV HE ITT? 



I want to plant a small strawberry-patch for 

 fainily us(>. about .It) by 40. How close can I 

 plant them? I will fertilize them well. How 

 will it do to mulch them with tine straw so 

 deeply that not a weed can show its head? 



L. A. I)r(;oAX. 



Cnthbei't, (4a., Aug. 21. WM. 



Terry, in liis strawberry book, directs to thin 

 the |)lants out in the fall, so that none of them 

 shall be nearer to each other than 6 inches. 

 From this I gather that, where ground is val- 

 uable, plants may be .set in the fall as near as (> 

 inches, leaving a path one foot wide between 

 beds ."5 feet wide. When put so close, howevei-. 

 you would need to keep oflf every runner; then 

 mulch the beds with cut straw, and the paths 

 with long straw, and you will have pretty n<'ar- 

 Iv the Terrv system. 



OETrix<; sTi:Awrw;i:itiEs kkom lifxXEUs ke- 



FOHK TIIEV AKE HOOTED. 



One suggestion in respect to strawbei'ry- 

 plants. It is almost always so dry liere that we 

 can not get any plants, and I have wished there 

 might be some wav to do so. About two weeks 



WIXDMIEES AXI> TANKS: SOME SI(iGESTIOXS. 



I am thinking of having a windmill and tank. 

 I see from (iEEAXTX(is that you have one of 

 each, and I desire, if you please, to have your 

 opinion as to the kind that is best: and is there 

 any solution of the difticulty with wooden 

 tanks, that, if they get even partly emi)ty, in a 

 slutrt time the upper poition of the staves 

 shriidvs, and they leak when the water is 

 pumped in again? Do you find that to be a 

 drawback? E. C'Ai.VEirr. 



Nashville. Teiin.. Aug. 1:.'. 



Friend C. ahnost an>^ of the windmills adver- 

 tised in our agricultural papers, made by re- 

 sponsible nuMi of good standing, will ausw(>r 

 your purpose. The first one we bought was th« 

 Eureka, nuide by .Smith it >\'oodward, Kala- 

 mazoo, Mich. Our large)' one is the Eclipse. 

 mad(> by Fairbank.s, Mor.se it Co.. Cleveland, 

 O. During a very dry spell this summer, when 

 there were several days that no wind blew, out- 

 big tank did get a little dry around the top: 

 and when a brisk wind came up suddenly I no- 

 ticed the water coming thnjugh the cracks so 

 as to run a small sti'eam in several places. 

 This was on the south side, where the sinr 

 struck the staves. As soon as the sun went 

 down, howexci'. the leaking was n diiced to 



