1889 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



45 



made a tine crop^ The point is, Has a customer 



any security at ail, that celery plants grown from 



seed sown as early as January, will not go to seed? 



Kingston, Pa. Dec. 12, 1888. M.Garrahan. 



Friend G., there is something about this 

 business of going to seed that I do not quite 

 understand. We have had some trouble in 

 our own grounds, but not very much ; but 

 as extra-early plants are much more likely 

 to run up to seed, we go over the held as 

 soon as the plants begin to grow, and pull 

 out every one that has started to send up a 

 seed-staik, as if it were a weed. The whole 

 number of such in our early celery has nev 

 er amounted to more than ten per cent. A 

 few who have purchased plants of us have 

 complained that the greater part of them ran 

 up to seed. Last season we had one lot of 

 Golden Dwarf celery of which a great part 

 sent up seed-stalks in the plant-bed before 

 it had been planted out at all. We burned 

 up all the seed we had on hand, and pulled 

 out all the plants that showed seed-stalks, 

 and threw them away. As no more started 

 to shoot up, we put the rest out in the held, 

 and they gave us splendid celery. I wrote 

 to the seed-grower who furnished us the 

 seed, and he said the same lot of seed had 

 given excellent results in the hands of oth- 

 ers. From this and other similar reports I 

 am inclined to think it is something in the 

 treatment of the plants rather than the 

 fault of the seed ; but just what treatment 

 makes celery send up seed-stalks, I can not 

 tell. 



If one were to save his seed from these 

 plants that shoot up so prematurely, the 

 seed would, without question, be worthless; 

 but any seedsman who has auy regard at all 

 for his reputation would be careful that 

 none of his seed come from this source. 

 When I was visiting at Peter Henderson's 

 two years ago. one of his neighbors told me 

 they found the White Plume celery entirely 

 worthless, because so much of it shot up to 

 seed instead of making celery. He said his 

 seed came from Peter Henderson. I think 

 few if any of Henderson's other customers 

 have experienced a like trouble. 



Cress, or pepper-grass, can be sold in lim- 

 ited quantities along with lettuce and rad- 

 ishes, so as to pay a good price. It is also 

 quite hardy. 



Cucumbers and tomatoes can be raised in 

 greenhouses, but it is something like straw- 

 berries, I opine. Few of us have a green- 

 house that will give just the temperature 

 and other conditions to make a success of it. 

 Lettuce will do nicely in cold-frames, with- 

 out heat, especially if you start in the last 

 part of January or later. I suppose most of 

 you will start your Grand Rapids lettuce 

 during this month. The Grand Rapids and 

 Boston Market lettuce are the only two 

 kinds we have succeeded well with when 

 grown under glass. One special quality of 

 the Grand Hapids lettuce is its silvery white- 

 ness ; but this is better secured by the as- 

 sistance of heat of some kind; for to have it 

 white it must be grown rapidly, If you 

 make a greenhouse llxoO feet on the plan I 

 have suggested, I would have a shed, with a 

 permanent roof at one end. You will re- 

 member that our friend Eugene Davis, the 



originator of the Grand Rapids lettuce, di- 

 rects that the house be placed so as to run 

 from the northwest to the southeast ; then 

 put your shed on the northwest end, and it 

 will never shade the other part. Well, if 

 you do not propose using fire heat, you can 

 have some heaps of manure in this shed, for 

 making hot- beds, and the fermenting ma- 

 nure will help keep up the temperature. By 

 making your shed a little longer you can 

 keep celery beautifully on the extreme north 

 end. During warm weather, when there is 

 no danger of frost, you can remove the straw 

 that covers it; and by allowing it to grow 

 slowly it will be fit for use clear into March. 

 Opening and closing the ventilators of your 

 cold greenhouses will give the celery the 

 proper amount of air, and you are not likely 

 to let the celery freeze if you watch your 

 plants in the greenhouses. I presume a hot- 

 bed would give finer Grand Rapids lettuce 

 than you would get by any other means. 



If you have any onions that trouble you by 

 sprouting, plant them out close together in 

 your cold greenhouse, and they will sell 

 nicely for bunch onions in January and Feb- 

 ruary. At this season of the year we get 

 five cents for one-third of a pound of bunch 

 onions ; that is, we divide a pound into three 

 bunches. A few clumps of parsley put into 

 your greenhouse will give you small bunches 

 for flavoring soups all winter long. 



SUB-EARTH VENTILATOES. 



DR. C. C. MILLER RECONSIDERS THE QUESTION 

 AS DISCUSSED ON PAGE 26. 



ip T the close of the Question Box for Jan. 1, 

 S, the editor remarks, " Surely our veterans 

 ¥ can get very much nearer the truth than 

 *" the average beginner, who proposes to win- 

 ter bees in the cellar, can guess at it." I 

 think that applies to Questions 97 and 99. The be- 

 ginner would be a little bewildered over the ans- 

 wers to 98. Of the twelve whi reply, only five say 

 they have tried sub-ventilators, and four of these 

 five think them advantageous, while the fifth 

 thinks them useless. Two of the 12 have never 

 tried them, and give no opinion as to their merits; 

 indeed, I suppose three may be counted in this list, 

 if Dadant & Son be counted there. Of the remain- 

 ing four who do not claim any experience with 

 them, one thinks them not worth their cost; one 

 thinks all the ventilation needed can be had other- 

 wise; one thinks them objectionable if other con- 

 ditions be right ; and one is quite certain they are 

 worse than useless. The editors say, "We hardly 

 know how to account for the difference in testimo- 

 ny in regard to the value of these ventilators, un- 

 less," etc. Good friends, there is more difference 

 in opinions than in testimony; for, if I mistake not, 

 Doolittle is the only one who gives any testimony 

 against them. It is only fair, however, to say that 

 Prof. Cook, if I mistake not, places no value on 

 sub-ventilators as a means of ventilation, only as a 

 cheap means of regulating temperature. 



The beginner, however, who reads over the re- 

 plies will be likely to get the impression that it is of 

 no great importance to pay any attention to the 

 matter of ventilation; and friend Hutchinson, in a 

 late number of the Review, specially devoted to 



