1889 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



117 



when forming nuclei by the " caged bees " plan, 

 which I have given in Gleanings during years 

 past, when, if the doors are kept closed for two or 

 three days, the temperature goes down to rbout 60° 

 in July and August. As winter draws near (with 

 the doors wide open), the ground cools off till I have 

 the temperature inside, after the bees are put in, 

 as spoken of in my last. Friend Root seems to be 

 bound to compare these bee-caves with deep cav- 

 erns in Kentucky and elsewhere, that go hundreds, 

 if not thousands of feet, into the earth. While we 

 call our winter repositories caves, yet if any one 

 Will turn to the description which T gave last year 

 of mine, it will be seen that the surface of the roof, 

 together with the sides above the surface of the 

 earth around it, is nearly as great as the sides and 

 bottom which are under ground, properly speak- 

 ing, thus causing the mean temperature between 

 the warm earth beneath and the cold air above to 

 range from 43° to 46% as I gave in my last. 

 Borodino, N. Y., Jan. 25, 1889. G. M. Doolittle. 



Prof. Cook experimented quite fully in 

 the matter of giving bees water when kept 

 in cellars, and I believe his decision was 

 that, although bees will take water, and it 

 seems to quiet them for the time, under cer- 

 tain circumstances, the result in the. spring 

 shows that colonies supplied with water are 

 not only no better off. but, as a general 

 thing, not as well off. They are more likely 

 to die from dysentery than those that do 

 not have water.— All right, old friend. No 

 doubt I have got natural caves on the brain 

 a little ; but I have succeeded in bringing 

 out the point I wanted ; namely, that you 

 managed to have your bee-cave quite a little 

 colder than the average temperature of the 

 earth below the frost-line; and this low 

 temperature was secured by letting the se- 

 vere weather outside affect the cellar to a 

 certain extent in the manner you explain. 



SPECIAL DEPARTMENT FOR A. I. ROOT. AND HIS 

 FRIENDS WHO LOVE TO RAISE CROPS. 



GARDENING IN FEBRUARY, ETC.; HOW MUCH OF IT 

 CAN WE DO PROFITABLY ? 



'ELL, we can do a good deal. The 

 sun is a good deal higher up, and 

 consequently comes down with 

 much more heat when it shines. If 

 you want to see how rapidly the sun 

 travels northward, just make a mark on the 

 floor (that is, if you have got a south win- 

 dow that the sun shines through so as to 

 strike the floor) where the shade of the top of 

 the window falls. On this mark, write the 

 date. Next day the sun shines, look again 

 and see where the shadow comes. You will 

 be surprised to find that the sun makes a 

 different path every day ; and at noontime 

 the marks will be from one to two inches 

 apart, where only a single day intervenes. 

 This is a good study for the children, for it 

 shows them plainly the motion of the earth 

 and of the heavenly bodies. 



Your cold-frames, greenhouses, or hot- 

 beds, will now need attention at noon, or 

 the plants may be scorched before you are 

 aware of it. If possible I would have all 

 these structures so you can go inside and 

 consult your thermometer, or, when you get 

 a little used to it, you can tell^what tem- 



perature the plants need, without a ther- 

 mometer. 



If you are going to raise plants for sale, 

 now is the time to put your Early Jersey 

 Wakefield cabbages into the seed-bed. The 

 cabbage seed and celery seed sown in Jan- 

 uary should give plants now with the sec- 

 ond leaves coming out, and this indicates 

 that they are ready to be transplanted and 

 need more room. During the latter part of 

 February is also the proper time to sow the 

 seed for your early tomato-plants. Every 

 season we have a call for extra-large strong 

 tomato-plants. When we are short, and do 

 not want to spare them all, customers fre- 

 quently offer a nickel apiece for them, es- 

 pecially when they are set in pots, so the 

 plant can be turned out to show the mat of 

 roots around the ball of earth. Such toma- 

 to-plants, at a nickel apiece, will pay tiptop 

 for your time and trouble. Now, if, in ad- 

 dition to this, they are choice expensive 

 varieties, you will probably have a great 

 many customers who will willingly pay a 

 dime apiece for the plants. If the foliage 

 of the tomato itself indicates that it differs 

 from the common kind, this will help call 

 attention to it, and encourage people in 

 wanting just one or two of the " new-fan- 

 gled kind." Two years ago we sold a good 

 many of the Mikado plants at 10 cents 

 apiece— that is, extra-early and extra-strong 

 plants. A year ago the Dwarf Champion 

 brought a dime each — all we wanted to 

 spare of them, on account of the beautiful 

 dark-green foliage, and the thick stubby 

 appearance of the plant itself. Good strong 

 Ignotum plants will also probably bring 10 

 cents apiece at retail next May. We have 

 a lot of them planted, and our first planting 

 of Dwarf Champions are already transplant- 

 ed into little pots. Everybody who sees 

 them says, " Why ! aren't they just as cute 

 as can be V " As these little bits of pots 

 now cost only about I of a cent apiece, we 

 can readily afford to sell plant and all for a 

 nickel. In addition to offering single plants 

 at high prices, you will need a lot of the 

 plant-boxes described in our book, " What 

 to Do.'' A little later on, these will sell 

 readily for from 20 to 25 cents, box and all, 

 each box containing one dozen plants. Ex- 

 tra-strong celery-plants will readily bring 

 twice as much as ordinary plants ; and it is 

 a good plan to have some beautiful White 

 Plume plants on hand to show fto'custom- 

 ers. Somebody will want them about as 

 soon as they can be put outdoors, and it will 

 pay very well to raise them, even if you do 

 not get more than a cent apiece for them. 



DANDELIONS UNDER GLASS. 



For some years past, in the East, early 

 dandelions for greens have commanded 

 good prices. Here is something in regard 

 to the matter from our'friend who originat- 

 ed the Grand Rapids lettuce : 



In your article on " Raising Winter Vegetables," 

 I see you do not mention forced dandelions' for 

 greens. As my experience with them may be of 

 some use to you, I give it. Early last spring I sow- 

 ed 54 lb. of the broad-leaved dandelion in rows one 

 foot apart. They were cultivated, and thinned the 

 same as salsify; were taken up in November, and 



