1901 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



159 



HOW IT WORKS. 



at all to put the potato in the planter. Just 

 raise the planter with your right hand until 

 the opening (right where the man in the pic- 

 ture is resting his foot) comes so the left hand 

 can take the potato out of the bag and put it 

 in the planter, both hands working together. 



The following additional description is tak- 

 en from our 1901 price list: 



While in the region of Grand Traverse Bay last fall 

 I found the principal crop for miles around was pota- 

 toes, the soil and climate being especially adapted to 

 this crop ; and I was both surprised and pleased to find 

 that the planting was done almost entirely by hand, 

 with an implement invented and manufactured 

 in that locality. A bright boy, 18 years old, 

 with whom I became acquainted, informed 

 me tint he had with this machine planted 

 two acres in one day himself. The ground is 

 tilted in the usual way with ordinary faim- 

 ing-tools ; but after that (see Gleanings. Dec. 

 15. page 975). boih marking 

 and planting are done by 

 hanu. The following, 

 which I take from the man- 

 ufacturer's circular, I think 

 is a fair statement of the 

 merits of the machine. The 

 cut adjoining explains the 

 way in which the machine 

 is made ; but we can fur- 

 nish a larger cut with descriptive circulars, showing 

 just how the planter is to be used, on application. 



"The Acme hand potato-planter makes the holes, 

 and drops and covers at one operation. Once over the 

 field does the work. 



" It makes planting easier. The erect position ; the 

 carrying of the seed on the shoulder ; the ease with 

 which it can be changed from one shoulder to the oth- 

 er, make this part of farmwork much less disagree- 

 able. 'Almost as easy as walking.' 



" Ten pounds of seed will plant thirty rods of row 

 if five bushels of seed is used to the acre. This will 

 average only five pounds if the seed is distributed at 

 intervals of thirty rods. 



" It plants better. It is very important in planting 

 potatoes that they be placed in moist soil, and covered 

 before the soil dries out. Ordinarily the holes are 

 made, or furrows turned in if a horse is used, and the 

 soil exposed to the hot sun for the day. The soil soon 

 dries out. Next the sets are dropped, and perhaps 

 they are left to bli-ter in the sun ; they are then cov- 

 ered at unequal depths. The dry ground abs-orbs the 

 moisture that may be left in the seed, and the result is 

 — no crop. 



" With the Acme hand planter the seed is planted at 

 a uniform depth directly into the moist soil, where it 

 can not dry out or blister, nor is the soil disturbed. 

 The success of the planting is thus assured. 



"The implement is light, weighing but 2^ pounds, 

 but strong and durable. We have a planter in our 

 office that has planted for eleven seasons. It was then 

 brought in to be repaired ! " 



GROWING THE SOJA BEAN (OR AMERICAN 

 COFFEE berry) in northern OHIO. 



Learning that the writer whose communica- 

 tion appears below had grown successfully 

 quite a crop of fully matured soja beans, I 

 wrote him for particulars, and he furnishes 

 the following : 



We plowed the ground May 10th, and harrowed it 

 thoroughly. We had some seed raised from a packet 

 of American coffee-berry purchased of you The 

 strip we planted was so poor we were certain it would 

 not pay to plant it to corn. We applied acid nhos- 

 phate, or South Carolina rock, at the rate of 2.W lbs. 

 per acre. It was drilled in with a grain-drill with fer- 

 tilizer attachment. We then marked it in rows 30 

 inches apart, and drilled the beans in by hand after 

 the fashion of early peas — i. e., about an inch apart in 

 the row. We went over them with a weeder just be- 

 fore they were through the ground. After they were 

 up we cultivated them thoroughly as deep and close 

 to rows as possible, until they were about three inches 

 high. From there on we gave them shallow cultiva- 

 tion, and just kept the ground nice and fine on top as 

 long as we could get between the rows. They grow 

 very rapidly, covering the ground completely. They 



root so deeply that drouth does not seem to affect 

 thtm ; they even grow and produce well when plant- 

 ed in among the corn. We planted the beans May 15, 

 and harvested them -Sept. 5. We drove along each 

 row with a mowing machire, and cut them ; then fol- 

 lowed, put them in bunches, and left them to cure for 

 about a week. We used a common thrashiiig-niachine 

 to thrash them, removing all but one row of concaves, 

 running very slowly, anu always keeping the cylinder 

 nearly full to avoid throwing beans all over the barn. 

 The quarter acre yielded about 8 bushels. The soil 

 was a mixture of clay and sand. J. McQueen 



Baltic, O. 



Now, this is interesting, for the soja bean 

 has met with favor everywhere. It not only 

 niakes excellent hay and feed, but for plow- 

 ing under to enrich the ground there is proba- 

 bly no plant known that is its superior. Our 

 experiment station goes further, and informs 

 us that where the crop is taken off the ground 

 completely, for hay or seed, the soil on which 

 it grew has been benefited for almost any oth- 

 er crop. We can furnish a leaflet on applica- 

 tion, telling more about this new forage plant. 



GRAPE FRUIT IN FLORIDA; HOW MUCH MAY THE 

 CROP BE WORTH ON A SINGLE TREE? 



I noticed your call for a report about grape fruit, 

 and was surprised not to see a good item or two. in 

 your last issue, on the subject. l,et me say 12 boxes 

 is nowhere. There are trees in DeSoto Co. here in 

 South Florida that have on them this vear very near- 

 ly 100 boxes to a tree— standard orange-boxes. There 

 have been 60,0 fruit picked from one tree. The 100- 

 box trees are about 60yearsol t. The trunks are about 

 2"4 feet in diameter, and the trees are nearly 50 feet 

 high. Now, don't get excited, or want to come here 

 to find a Klondike, for we Floridians have enough 

 young grape-fruit groves set out to reduce prices in a 

 few years so everyliody can eat the fruit. 



If no one else .vends in a full detailed account of 

 this fruit, I will do so on request, or will answer in- 

 quiries by mail. Florida will soon rival Michigan in 

 celery-growing. If you happen ah iig this winter, 

 drop off at Sanford and see successful celery-growers. 



I,akeniont, Fla., Dec. 14. C. W. Brown. 



GRAPE FRUIT AT 812.00 A BOX. 



On page 92.3, M. W. .Shepherd savs a gentleman liv- 

 ing near Sarasota, Fla , sold 12 boxes of grape fruit 

 from one tree, and received S12 00 per hox. This may 

 be possible, and we will not question the gentleman's 

 veracity; but at the same time we don't want the 

 whole country flocking down on us torai!-e$I2 00 grape 

 fruit. They might be di«apvointed. True, it is a prof- 

 itable crop for Florida where it is not too cold. The 

 usual price is about S7.00 per box for best sizes, and 

 Ihey will sometimes bear a box at fiveyearsold bud. 

 They are nature's own tonic besides being most de- 

 licious eating. N. O. Penny. 



Nathan, Fla., Dec. 8. 



I confess it occurred to me. when I first saw 

 the above Ftatement, that .|12 00 was a big 

 price, for we used to buy grape fruit for less 

 than half that amount ; but I supposed it had 

 probably increased in popularity, and that the 

 price had gone up. Very likely friend Shep- 

 herd can explain. Very large and fine fruit 

 brings better prices, of course, than the kind 

 that is often sent north. 



HOW TO GROW COLD-FRAME LETTUCE IN NEW JER- 

 SEY ; STARTING OUR PLANTS IN THE SEED BED. 



About the 10th of August we prepare our ground by 

 taking a small piece of sandy loam or soil, and plow 

 it about three inches deep, and then take an iron rake 

 and pulverize the soil until the lumps and trash are 

 removed and the .soil is nice and tine, and then we 

 broadcast, and then rake them in lightly and sprinkle 

 with water, and then take boards and cover the beds 

 so they will be about six inches from the ground, for 

 we can not get the seed to sprout without covering. 

 l,eave the boards on until the seed is up, and then re- 

 move the covering just before sunset ; and if the 



