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GLEA NLNGS 1& BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 



quality, compared with the big lima beans. 

 And another thing, is it not a little tedious 

 to gather and shell them, compared with shell- 

 ing our great big ones — the " King of the 

 Garden" limas, for instance? Who is there 

 in your State or vicinity who can tell us 

 more about the bush lima bean? 



While I think of it, I want to complain a 

 little of our good friend Peter Henderson. 

 In all the glowing accounts we have had of 

 these new lima beans, there is almost nothing 

 said about their being so exceedingly small. 

 When I opened my first package I was a 

 good deal disgusted, and that is why I took 

 particular paius to tell the readers of 

 Gleanings what they might expect in the 

 way of size before we sent out any of them. 

 I know the temptation is strong to say all 

 the good things we can about novelties, and 

 to skip over the unpleasaut part; but if a 

 seedsman wants to keep the confidence of 

 his patrons he will not only tell nothing but 

 the truth, but he will tell the whole truth. 

 Again, in Henderson's new catalogue quite 

 a glowing account is given of a tomato call- 

 ed the Shah ; but we learn that this is only 

 a Mikado that is yellow instead of red. The 

 first Mikados we ever got of Henderson gave 

 us a few plants producing the yellow toma- 

 toes ; and for three years in succession we 

 have noticed the same thing — occasionally a 

 plant producing Mikados that were yellow ; 

 but as most of our patrons preferred the red 

 tomato to the yellow one, we rejected them 

 in saving tomatoes for seed, as being objec- 

 tionable. Under the circumstances, is it 

 right to biing this out as a variety? Noth- 

 ing is said in the advertisement as to its be- 

 ing any more regular or any smoother than 

 the Mikado. That being the case, I do not 

 see how it can compare with the Golden 

 Queen, which has for some years been be- 

 fore the people as a good-sized beautifully 

 shaped yellow tomato. 



Later. — In Landreth's new catalogue just 

 received, we find a photograph of what he 

 calls " Dwarf Carolina, or small lima 

 beans." The photograph shows a single 

 stalk bearing an immense quantity of pods 

 that look exactly like the pods represented 

 by Henderson ; and a package of the beans 

 placed side by side of a package of Hender- 

 son's bush lima beans looks so exactly like 

 them, that no one can tell the difference. 

 Landreth charges 10 cents for a package of 

 25 beans, while Henderson charges 25 cents 

 for the same. Henderson says his came 

 from the South, and our correspondent 

 from South Carolina says they have had 

 them there for two years, and Landreth 

 calls them Dwarf Carolina; so it seems pret- 



B clear that it is one and the same thing, 

 indreth, however, does not herald them 

 with any spread-eagle advertisement. Of 

 course, we can tell positively that they are 

 the same thing only after raising a crop of 

 each. We can mail Landreth's at lOcts. per 

 packet, or Henderson's at 25 cts. 



HOW TO RAISE SWEET-POTATO PLANTS. 



I wish you would give some directions how to 

 raise sweet-potato plants, as 1 am in the gardening 

 business as well as the bee business. 



Hastings, Neb., Feb. 1, 1889. D. J. Raddick. 



Friend R., we have succeeded in getting 

 a fine lot of sweet-potato-plants only once ; 

 then we cut the potatoes in two and turned 

 them cut side down, and placed them in a 

 warm spot in our greenhouse. They were 

 very slow about starting, but we finally suc- 

 ceeded in getting some very nice plants. 

 When they Decame crowded, and we didn't 

 have customers, we pulled off the sprouts, 

 or plants, and set them out exactly as we 

 do celery and cabbage plants in our plant- 

 garden, and they made strong thrifty plants 

 about the time customers came for them. 

 Such plants that have been transplanted so 

 as to give them a good root, and make them 

 strong and stocky, are certainly worth doub- 

 le the price of ordinary sweet-potato plants. 

 If some of our readers are in the sweet-po- 

 tato-plant business, and will give us a full 

 account of how plants are raised for the 

 garden, on a large scale, we will gladly pay 

 them for the paper. Last season there was 

 a scarcity, and we failed to get plants to till 

 orders, even though we telegraphed to 

 many different points. Saving sweet pota- 

 toes so as to be in good trim by planting 

 time, I believe is one of the most difficult 

 points, especially here in the North ; and if 

 somebody who has nice potatoes suitable 

 for plant-raising will advertise them in 

 Gleanings, I think he would meet with 

 abundant sales. 



HOT-BEDS— HOW TO MAKE, ETC. 



I should like some information on hot-beds, how 

 and when to make them, and whether to use 

 glass or oil cloth for frames. I want to sow my 

 seeds about Feb. 15. H. White. 



Spencer, O., Jan. 14, 1889. 



Directions for making hot-beds have been 

 given so frequently in most of our seed 

 catalogues that it seems a good deal like 

 repetition. The whole matter is very sim- 

 ple : My father-in-law used to make a very 

 nice hot-bed on top of a smoking manure- 

 heap. All he did was to dig down until he 

 found the manure hot enough, then he put 

 on three or four inches of good garden soil, 

 set a box over it, and placed on top of the 

 box a sash, banking the manure up around 

 the box, clear up to the sash. He raised as 

 fine plants as any I ever saw, by this means. 

 Now, a hot-bed is nothing more than put- 

 ting this manure into a square pit dug in 

 the ground. They go into the ground to be 

 more secure from frost, and to save the 

 heat from the manure. The pit must be 

 well drained, so that heavy rains will not 

 drown every thing with ice water. Cloth is 

 not as good as glass. In fact, it would not 

 answer at all at a season of the year when 

 we are liable to have heavy snowstorms. 

 It is true, there is no danger of the plants 

 being scorched by what sun gets through 

 the cloth ; and at a season when you simply 

 wish to protect your plants from an occa- 

 sional frost at night, the cloth answers 

 every purpose. But the cheapest kind of 

 common sheeting that we get at our dry- 

 goods stores is every bit as good as the hot- 

 bed cloth that has been advertised so much ; 

 in fact, we prefer the cheap cotton cloth 

 from the stores. It is not so easily torn in- 

 to shreds. Another trouble with cloth is, 



