GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



air ?" Why, we do do just that until the 

 frost is severe and must have protection. 

 Why not, then, cover it when the frost is 

 severe, and no other time V Well, it is just 

 the thing we are coming to presently but not 

 just yet. The question now is, " Why does 

 not the green fly flourish in the open air V " 

 Well, I think I have solved that problem. 

 At one time, when a bed was badly infested, 

 some time in March, I think, the weather 

 became warm enough so we could strip off 

 the sash, and in a little while the green fly 

 had disappeared, and the lettuce looked 

 strong and healthy. Was it the circulation 

 of air all around the plants, that they did 

 not have under glass V I thought so once, 

 but I afterward gave it up. A long drench- 

 ing rain was what wound them up ; and I 

 feel sure, my friends, that it is the long 

 drenching rains that stop the enormous 

 multiplication of all aphide families. Per- 

 haps you suggest a remedy— watering the 

 plants profusely in the greenhouse. Well, 1 

 think this would answer, providing you 

 could imitate a gentle shower, and keep it 

 up for three or four hours. Spattering 

 water upon the ground so as to make the 

 ground muddy may perhaps injure the fly, 

 but it also injures the plants. We have just 

 experimented upon a pretty large scale with 

 greenhouses made so the rain could come 

 through all around the lights of glass ; but it 

 came in streams and tk lumps," if I may use 

 the expression. It made the ground muddy 

 and soggy, and spattered soil all over the 

 plants, and would not answer at all. So it 

 is with a great part of the watering. Noth- 

 ing has ever been invented so good as 

 nature ; and I propose that nature shall 

 have her own way. Not only is rain better 

 than any other kind of water, but straight 

 sunshine without any glass intervening is 

 better than any kind of sunshine that comes 

 through glass, cloth, or any thing else. New- 

 ly transplanted plants, that need shading, of 

 course do not come under this rule. In that 

 case we wish to cut off the rays of the sun, 

 and confine the dampness so that the ground 

 shall neither bake nor dry, and so the plants 

 may not wilt. 



Now, then, we know what we want, or at 

 least I think I know what I want. I want 

 my whole garden right in the open air, 

 where it can get the first ray of sunlight, 

 without obstruction from trees or buildings, 

 and where it can get the last ray at night in 

 the same way. I want every thing in the 

 open air the way I have dascribed, until the 

 nights get so cool that the plants will receive 

 injury. Lettuce, strawberries, onions, spin- 

 ach, radishes, and a large class of plants, do 

 not seem to be hurt by nights so cold that 

 the ground freezes so as to make a crust. 

 They will, however, make more rapid growth 

 if protected so that the ground does not 

 freeze at all. If, however, all the crop is 

 ready for the market, and we wish to hold it 

 there in order that it may not shoot up to 

 seed, then leave it out, even though the 

 ground does freeze Give it protection only 

 when the foliage is liable to be injured. I 

 have ascertained by experiment pretty near- 

 ly where this point lies. Even tomato- 

 plants, when hardened by gradual exposure, 



can be made so tough that they will stand 

 a pretty cold snap. In fact, they do not 

 seem to be very much harmed by a little 

 snowstorm, providing the air is above the 

 freezing-point at the time the snow falls. 

 Cold winds do more damage, even though 

 the temperature of the air is considerably 

 above freezing, than does a light fall of 

 snow without wind ; therefore we want to 

 make it a study to know just how much 

 hardening our plants will bear and not 

 sustain positive injury. At the present 

 writing, Oct. 16, our peppers in the open air 

 across the street from where I am writing 

 have sustained no serious injury. Tomato- 

 vines have been killed on the low grounds, 

 and these peppers are scorched a little. But 

 under the infiuence of our Indian summer 

 they have made new growth, and we are 

 having peppers in abundance. They have 

 become gradually hardened, so they would 

 stand a good while, if we could interpose glass 

 or cloth for a few hours during severe weath- 

 er. There is almost always quite a demand 

 for all these things just after frost has killed 

 them all. Many of our customers complain 

 bitterly almost every year because they were 

 a little too late in getting something they 

 intended to get. Well, how shall we inter- 

 pose this cloth or glass when it is wanted, 

 and get rid of it quickly and easily as soon 

 as it is wanted no longer? Another thing, 

 I want to have the establishment look tidy. 

 Sunshiny mornings, after the frost has melt- 

 ed away, the sash, cloth frames, sheets, bas- 

 kets, boxes, newspapers, etc., scattered all 

 about the garden are a nuisance. Besides, 

 the wind gets hold of them, and blows them 

 around in an unsightly way, to say nothing 

 of the damage they do. I know how mar- 

 ket-gardeners manage it. I have carefully 

 hunted up all such establishments in the vi- 

 cinity of many of our great cities. The only 

 plan I have discovered is by means of the 

 usual hot-bed sash. The bed is a little less 

 than 6 feet wide. The sash are mostly more 

 than 6 feet long, therefore a man is needed 

 at each end of the sash to remove or put it 

 back. It is true, a good strong man can 

 handle sash alone to a certain extent ; but it 

 is very hard work. When the sash are re- 

 moved, of course they must be put some- 

 where ; and the customary way is to have 

 beds of such length that the sash may be put 

 in piles at certain intervals. These piles 

 should not rise more than five or six feet, for 

 convenience. Probably not more than 50 

 sash would be put in a pile ; therefore if the 

 sash are three feet wide, the piles would be 

 150 feet apart ; and the men who handle 

 them are obliged to carry the last sash re- 

 moved, a distance of 75 feet to reach the 

 piles. This makes it so big a job to cover and 

 uncover the plants that the sash are on a 

 good deal of the time when it would be much 

 better to have them off; and, vice versa, they 

 are off a good many times when they really 

 should be on. My experience with handling 

 sash has been that the plants are either get- 

 ting scorched by frost or scorched by heat a 

 great part of the time. 



A year ago I procured three sets of 

 Hitchings 1 apparatus for raising and lower- 

 ing sash. These operate so easily that I oft- 



