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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



119 



to give as even a temperature as possible." Can 

 you inform me how his fdrnace and flue is con- 

 structed, in order that it may give this even tem- 

 perature all over the whole length of the house, 

 the houses being 16 feet wide and 50 feet long ? 

 Aldersholt, Ont., Can. Roy M. Blessingeb. 



We at once forwarded the above inquiry 

 to friend Davis, who replies below : 



Mr. Root:— The furnace and flue that gives the 

 most even temperature in my greenhouses is made 

 as follows: A pit is dug, 4 ft. deep and 4 ft. wide and 

 9 feet long. Tbe furnace is 5 ft. long, 22 inches 

 wide and 30 inches high to the top of the arch, in- 

 side measure; the walls are 8 inches thick and 24 

 inches high, arched over with two tiers of brick. 

 This leaves the top of the furnace about 15 inches 

 below the surface; 18 inches of furnace should be 

 built in the shed, for the chimney to rest on. The 

 furnace-door is 16 by 20 inches, with draft in the 

 door. The flues are four brick high, laid flat, and 

 seven inches wide inside, with double tier of brick 

 on top, 20 feet from the furnace. The brick is laid 

 flat, 40 ft. from the furnace; then with 9-inch sewer- 

 tile to chimney, or brick set edgewise, 3 brick high. 

 There should be a gradual rise in the flue trom the 

 furnace to the chimney. When firing with green 

 wood, never close the drafts, as the gas from the 

 wood will kill the plants. 



The chimney is on top of the furnace. The rea- 

 son for it is this: As soon as a fire is started in the 

 furnace, tbe air is heated in the chimney, and gives 

 a direct draft. There are no grates in the furnace. 

 In the first one I built I used them; but I saw the 

 draft was good enough without. Any one handy 

 with a trowel can build the flues, furnace, and plas 

 ter the cistern. 



I am afraid these directions are not very plain; 

 but my hand is more used to a shovel or hoe than 

 to a pen. Eugene Davis. 



Grand Kapids, Mich., Jan. 25, 1889. 



The article from the American Garden, it 

 will be noticed, has also considerable to say 

 about the construction of greenhouses for 

 lettuce. Friend Davis sends us, also, some 

 diagrams, but I think they will not be need- 

 ed with the full explanation which has just 

 been given. 



boxes fob pbotecting melons from fbost, 



ETC. 



I wish to use, the coming season, quite a number 

 of the boxes over my melons in the early spring, 

 such as you wrote about having made for the pur- 

 pose of protecting squash and cucumbers from 

 frost, etc. My object is to protect my melons from 

 frost, so that I can force them very early. We had 

 a killing frost last spring after melons had been up 

 three weeks. This is what I wish to avoid in future. 

 Please answer the following questions; and if you 

 can not give answers from experience, then give 

 me your opinion about the matter. 



1. Would not a box smaller than the one 8 by 10 do 

 as well (say one taking a glass 6x6 inches), where 

 one or two plants are in a hill? 



2. Would it be good economy to use half as many 

 boxes as hills, transplanting to the other or open 

 hills from the boxes? One plant is all that is desir- 

 ed in each hill after thinning out the last time. We 

 plant cantaloupes 7 to 8 ft. apart, and watermelons 

 9 to 10 ft. each way. Albebt Wittenmyeb. 



Emison, Ind., Dec. 27, 1888. 



Friend W., the only trouble with your 

 small boxes would be that the frost would, 

 as you will readily perceive, be more likely to 

 freeze the ground solid clear through under 

 them. This could be avoided, however, by 

 banking up the earth on the outside, when 

 the freezing is severe. With our tin trans- 

 planting-tubes, you can transplant melon- 

 vines without the least risk, and rarely with 

 any check in their growth. Another trouble 

 with your small boxes would be that the 

 vine would be very soon too large to be pro- 

 tected by it. This, however, does not as 

 often happen with boxes as with the wire- 

 cloth baskets for protecting them from the 

 bugs. See what we said in regard to the 

 matter on page 544, in Gleanings for 1888. 

 My experience last season was not very fa- 

 vorable with the boxes for protecting plants 

 from the frost. The protection is complete, 

 and I saved my vines ; but the discouraging 

 feature about it was this : Seeds planted 

 several weeks later, side by side with those 

 that had been protected with so much pains, 

 give melons and cucumbers almost as soon 

 as the ones that had been started so early. 

 1 am inclined to think, however, that sea- 

 sons as they usually come would give a dif- 

 ferent result. The same is true with toma- 

 toes protected by the plant-boxes from the 

 frost. We had so much wet weather, how- 

 ever, last season, that all kinds of vines 

 kept growing, and did not commence to 

 fruit as early as they do when we have more 

 dry weather; that is, careful protection 

 from frost resulted only in giving me im- 

 mense plants ; but they did not bear fruit 

 any sooner than the small plants that had 

 grown a much shorter time. We are going 

 to get early tomatoes this year by planting 

 them on poor soil; and I think if we could 

 have kept off some of the extra amount of 

 rain we had last year, from our melon-vines, 

 we should have had earlier melons. 



HENDERSON'S BUSH LIMA BEANS IN THEIB NA- 

 TIVE STATE. 



I see you have the bush lima bean illustrated, and 

 I have read what you and others have said about it. 

 We have had this bean with us two years, and per- 

 haps longer. I planted a very few the past year, 

 and gave them but little attention. Had I only 

 known they would have been in such demand, I 

 might have planted a quantity, and now been able 

 to supply you and others. J. W. Hudson. 



Maysville, S. C, Feb. 5, 1888. 



Well done, friend H. I had a dim idea 

 that perhaps Gleanings might be able to 

 find out where these bush lima beans came 

 from, for it makes its way into more nooks 

 and corners than one might imagine, with a 

 circulation of less than 9000. A great deal 

 is due to the fact that it has a keen and en- 

 terprising set of readers, and a thing must 

 be pretty difficult indeed if there is not one 

 of them somewhere who gets hold of it. 

 Now, don't you think that, if you " flax 

 around lively," you can get hold of some of 

 those beans somewhere in your vicinity? 

 You need not tell anybody, but I will just 

 whisper in your ear, they are worth about a 

 cent apiece, even if they are small. And 

 now, friend H., we want your private opin- 

 ion publicly expressed, in regard to the 



