1889 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



827 



" My friend," said I,' 1 don't throw your 

 load off. We have four or live powerful 

 jackscrews in the blacksmith-shop, and with 

 thetn you can raise the wheel out of there in 

 a twinkling, load and all." 



Well, he looked happy ; but I think I en- 

 joyed it more than he did. I was exceed- 

 ingly busy that clay, and some of my own 

 work had to be neglected for a few min- 

 utes. At another time a teamster would 

 have broken his wagon on the railroad 

 track had I not stopped to shove a board 

 under the wheel, and extricate it from its 

 dangerous predicament. I then explained 

 to him the matter, and told him I had seen 

 many good wheels broken down by attempt- 

 ing to cross a railroad track at an angle. A 

 mau was rolling a heavy barrel of honey 

 from the depot platform on to his wagon. 

 The wagon-bed was frail, and the great 

 weight would assuredly have smashed it 

 down at once, breaking the wagon, and may 

 be breaking a limb of the driver. I ran rap- 

 idly, and called to him just in time. A bit of 

 board set up endwise under the weak point 

 made it safe. Now, accidents are occurring 

 almost daily because people often learn only 

 by experience about these things. Some 

 days 1 tire myself out, and perhaps neglect 

 my own work, in teaching the younger ones 

 how to avoid accidents— how to get along 

 safely and easily with their work — may be 

 how to prevent catching cold, when a chilly 

 October afternoon comes after these beauti- 

 ful sunshiny days. Sometimes I can get in 

 a word for Christ Jesus ; and if it seems to 

 be well received, such ministering makes me 

 happier than any thing else. When night 

 comes I am very tired, and may be the 

 printers scold because they have not had 

 the copy they needed. But I am happy, 

 nevertheless. And may be if I had written 

 the copy without doing the ministering, I 

 should not have been able to give you some- 

 thing really helpful. And as I close I feel 

 like thanking the dear Savior because he 

 has given me a helpful message to deliver 

 to you to-day. I am sure the message will 

 be helpful, for it is builded on the solid rock 

 of Christ's promises — not to be ministered 

 unto, but to minister. 



SPECIAL DEPARTMENT FOR A. I. ROOT, AND HIS 

 FRIENDS WHO LOVE TO RAISE CROPS. 



WHAT SHALL WE PLANT IN THE MIDDLE 

 OF OCTOBER? 



ELL, friends, we can not plant very 

 much, unless it is rye or spinach, or 

 winter-onion sets, or something of 

 that nature. We can, however, start 

 gardening almost as well as in spring, 

 if we have hot-beds, cold-frames, or green- 

 houses. During October and November, 

 we can grow a great many things without 

 tire heat or even the heat of manure. The 

 simple protection of sash will give results 

 equal to March and April. Lettuce, rad- 

 ishes, and other things may be matured 

 under sash, without any heat. Tomatoes, 

 lima beans, and a host of other things that 

 are not consumed before frost, may be sim- 



ply laid on the ground, attached to the 

 vines under sash, and they will ripen up 

 nicely. Even though we can not plant out- 

 doors, there is lots of work that we can do. 

 We have some beautiful celery that was 

 transplanted in very rich ground Oct. 1. As 

 we have had abundant rains, it is now mak- 

 ing a very beautiful growth. The plants 

 were, however, very strong, and each one 

 was taken up with a ball of earth. It is 

 now, Oct. 10, ready to bank. I merely men- 

 tion this to show you what may be done 

 with vacant ground where it is very rich. 

 Ours was where we dug a lot of very line 

 Rural Blush potatoes. Another thing : 

 Even if it is not advisable to set out straw- 

 berries later, you can fix the ground all ready 

 for them in the spring. That is just 

 what we are doing this beautiful Indian- 

 summer afternoon. The boys are gathering 

 the bush lima beans, and pulling up the 

 tomatoes, while the big team is drawing 

 manure and covering the ground as thick as 

 it can be plowed under nicely. We are go- 

 ing to fit it exactly as I described on page 

 721. Just as soon as the ground thaws in 

 the spring, the plants will be put in with 

 transplanting-tubes. We could put them 

 in this fall without any trouble, provided 

 they were mulched heavily. But it will 

 probably be cheaper to fix the ground now, 

 and then let the plants stand in the mat- 

 ted row where they are, until spring. 



THE IGNOTUM TOMATO. 



We have received testimonials enough in 

 praise of this tomato to make a startling 

 pamphlet. Below is one of them : 



I received from you a packet of Tgnotum tomato 

 seed, containing just 20 seeds. Nineteen seeds ger- 

 minated. One plant was accidentally broken off. 

 They were transplanted in open ground, directly 

 from the greenhouse, May 23d, the same day that I 

 transplanted Dwarf Champions from the cold- 

 frame, and the first ripe tomatoes were picked 

 from Ignotum. One plant of Ignotum turned out 

 to be a tree-tomato, and another set such rough 

 fruit that I pulled it out, so I had left but 16 plants. 

 From these I picked about half a bushel of toma- 

 toes per plant, and from that amount I have saved 

 28 ounces of Feed. Half a bushel of tomatoes to 

 the plant, when planted 6 ft. x 5, is a yield of 660 

 bushel per acre. Pretty large, I think. 



F. S. McCLELliAND. 



New Brighton, Pa., Oct. 7, 1889. 



The above not only gives the good points, 

 but some of the bad ones. It is true, that 

 some of the plants produce bad - shaped 

 fruit ; but by selecting seeds persistently 

 from one of the best, I think we shall cor- 

 rect the tendency. On our grounds but 

 very few plants this season produced any 

 thing different from the regular type. I ad- 

 mit that the tomato is not perfect in every 

 respect. There are other tomatoes of better 

 shape ; but no tomato, so far as I know, has 

 as many desirable points. I have offered 

 our friend $7.00 for his 28 ounces of seed, so 

 you see there was more to my little present 

 of tomato seeds than any of us thought of 

 at the time. The little gift has given quite 

 a number of the friends several dollars— in 

 one case $15.00 or $16.00; and I feel glad 



