368 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 



THE " BUSH LIMA BEAN"" BUSINESS. 



At the present writing I have not been 

 able to secure even a single paper of the 

 Kumerle bush lima bean. Very likely some- 

 body has forestalled me. I am going to 

 have a few, however— see if I don't— even if 

 they do cost " awful." The yellow bush 

 lima bean, mentioned in our last issue, page 

 279, as coming from Minnesota, proves to be, 

 when cooked— that is, in a dry state— just 

 like common bush beans — no lima taste 

 about them. It is simply a yellow bean, a 

 little flattened in shape. Perhaps when 

 green, however, they will taste much differ- 

 ent—we hope so. We are going to plant 

 largely of Henderson's bush lima bean. 

 This, it seems to me, is certainly an acquisi- 

 tion ; and until we can get a big one we had 

 better make the most of this. Very likely 

 it is earlier because of being so small, and 

 quite likely more productive — that is, it will 

 yield more bushels to the acre. A 25-cent 

 package of these beans will be mailed to ev- 

 ery subscriber of Gleanings who pays up 

 all past dues to the present time, and sends 

 us a dollar for a year ahead. Please make 

 arrangements during the present month, if 

 you want them, for we expect to plant every 

 bean left in the 1000 papers, by July 1. 



WHAT IS THE BEST LAND FOR ONIONS V 



What is the best kind of land for raising- onions? 

 Will salt, sowu on land before sowing onion seed, be 

 useful? If so, how much would you advise me to 

 sow to the acre? I. Jackson. 



Eau Clair, Wis., Feb. 19, 1889. 



Friend J., almost any land will raise on- 

 ions, providing it is made fine enough and 

 rich enough. On some soils, salt seems to 

 be o* some benefit ; but I would by no 

 means think of investing heavily in salt un- 

 til you have tried it on small patches, 

 enough to be sure that it does good. 1 

 think you had better invest in our book on 

 onion-raising. 



THE KEROSENE EMULSION FOR APPLE-TREE 

 BARK-LICE. 



In regard to the bark-louse, I tie bits of soap on 

 the limbs, and the water and snow wash the soap 

 down over the insects gradually. Dr. Martin. 



Mercersburg, Pa., Jan. 29, 1889. 



Friend M., tying pieces of soap in the 

 trees would be a comparatively easy matter ; 

 and it seems to me quite likely it might 

 answer the purpose. I presume all you 

 need to do is to put some soap on the limbs 

 you find visited by the bark-lice, taking 

 pains to have the soap higher up than the 

 insects have yet made their way. 



SQUASH-BOXES ; TKANSPLANT1NG-TUBES, ETC. 



I am a farmer and apiarist, and pride myself on 

 having a good garden. We need in this climate an 

 extra-early tomato and watermelon. I succeeded 

 last year, when my neighbors failed, by using the 

 squash-boxes which you described in your seed-cata- 

 logue. They also saved my pie-plant and aspara- 

 gus from a late freeze. The way I get early toma- 

 toes and cabbage in the last transplanting, I put 

 them into an old tomato-can; and when ready to set 

 out I out the bottom out and set can and plant in 

 the ground. This also protects the plant from cut- 

 worms. N. P. ASPINWALL, 



JiarrjBon. Minn., Mar. §4, 1889. 



0a^ H©mes. 



By this shall all men know that ye are my disci- 

 ples, if ye have love one to another.— John 13: 35. 



ITp FTEP dinner it occurred to me that I 

 3|I| had better go and have my boot 

 j^K mended. You may be a little sur- 

 *^~ prised to think that I had been off 

 all that forenoon, wearing a boot 

 with that great gash. Well, to tell the 

 truth, I was in such a hurry to get off into 

 the fields and mountains that morning, I 

 did not think much about my boot. It did 

 not gape open quite so wide on Monday 

 morning as it did on Sunday afternoon. 

 The fact is, I rather forgot about it. When 

 Satan suggested that it looked awful, and 

 that I really must go and get a shoemaker, 

 and insist on his doing so much work on 

 Sunday as a case of necessity, it looked very 

 bad— in fact, exceedingly bad. But when I 

 turned squarely around and shook my fist 

 at him (not the shoemaker, but Satan) and 

 said with energy, " Get thee behind me, Sa- 

 tan," he went away and did not trouble me 

 any more. But I did think, before I started 

 to travel on the cars again, the boot must be 

 mended. I found a very pleasant-faced, el- 

 derly man, surrounded by his lasts and awls, 

 right across the coiner from that little stone 

 Congregational church. I thought at first I 

 would sit down and talk with him while he 

 mended the boot. Then I began to think I 

 wanted one more drink from those effer- 

 vescing springs. The shoemaker kindly 

 loaned me his shoes, which were a great 

 deal too large, and I started for the spring I 

 first drank from the day before. The water 

 was very much improved — at least it seemed 

 so, and I liked the people and the surround- 

 ings better too. When I got back, my boot 

 was ueatly finished. When I remarked that 

 I had been up to the Ute iron spring, the 

 people at the shop thought it incredible. 



" Why, mister," said the man of the lasts, 

 " it's almost a mile, and you have not been 

 gone over fifteen or twenty minutes." 



I then told him of my tramp of the fore- 

 noon ; but I did not tell him how awkward 

 and inconvenient his great big shoes were 

 on that last tramp. A bystander remarked, 

 tl Why, he is almost a match for Jim ." 



" What feat did Jim do, pray, in the 



way of walking?" said I. 



I don't remember exactly what it was, 

 but the landlord told me of a young man 

 who one summer went to the top of Pike's 

 Peak on foot in one day, and came back 

 down in the same evening, 26 miles in all. 

 My boot was mended very neatly, and the 

 charge was only 15 cents. 



" Why, look here, my good friend, you 

 must be a Christian to do as nice a piece of 

 work as that, and charge only 15 cents," 

 said I. 



" You are mistaken, stranger. I try to do 

 my work well, and to charge just about 

 what I should like to pay if somebody else 

 did the same work for me. But I have not 

 been inside of any church for more than 

 twenty years." 



He said it, I thought, a little sadly, and 



