232 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



Mar. 



appendix considei-s cheap potato-digrgers and hig-h- 

 priced potatodio'Kers; having- growing crops such 

 as rye and clover on the gronnd every month in the 

 year; how to raise potatoes witliout either hoe or 

 harrow; the potato-blight of 1SS5; the bes. l<nife for 

 cutting potatoes, after two years of trial; the $^5.00 

 disli harrow; additional thoughts in regard to seed 

 potatoes. It comprises eight pages and three illus- 

 trations. The potato boolt has had a wonderful 

 sale, and seems to please remarkably. Many re- 

 ports are now coming in from those who have 

 made a success by following the teachings of this 

 little book. Hei-e is one j ust at hand : 



Please send the suiJUleinent to Mr. Terra's .\ B C of Potato 

 Culture. With the aid of this hook I raised from one-half 

 bushel of seed. 35 bushels of rino l'(< ilcss potatoes, many 

 weighing two pounds apiece. 1 could jiirU five bushels with 

 no potatoes under one pound. I pre]iaicd tlie soil thus: First, 

 plow; after that I spread manure fiom thr stable; then har- 

 row. The manure mi.xed better with the soil, lieing spread 

 after plowing. After good harrowing, then follow with a 

 plow, and harrow again. I am lis yeais old, and one-legged. 

 If I can do it, anv one else should who is sound in limb, and 

 not crippled in liiind. P. C. Bluhm. 



Smithville, Tenn.. March 7, 18S7. 



Here is one more, that comes from Sweden: 



As for the A B C of Potato Culture of Ml-. Terry, I dare say, 

 all the world has to be thankful to him. It will revolutionize 

 the way of cultivating this ci-op. In the last year several peo- 

 ple in this country have tried it, and received a crop by it 1-7 

 more than the largest told of in the ABC. It is just enor- 

 mous. H. STAHLHAM5IAR. 



Gothenberg, Sweden, Jan. 27, 1887. 



ECONOMY IN DOING EVERY-DAY TRIFLING DUTIES. 



How often we do things by laborious hand-work, 

 when a very little ingenuity would devise a simple 

 machine for doing It in one-fourth of the time, or 

 less! In a large factory this is almost continually 

 coming up. Just now one of our shorthand writers 

 is greatly crowded; and while thinking about econ- 

 omizing her time 1 noticed that it took her quite a 

 spell in the morning to whittle her leadpencils. 

 It is true, there are pencil-sharpeners in the mar- 

 ket, but she says thej^ are not practical. I took two 

 dozen pencil.s in my hand, and in a lew minutes 

 the foreman ol our saw-room had ti.xcd a sand-pa- 

 per wheel so as to whittle them beautifully, about 

 as quickly as you could pick them up and lay them 

 down again. When the two dozen need sharpen- 

 ing, we propose to go over them again, and so on. 

 A great many times I sec quite expensive hands, 

 or sometimes a very valuable boss carpenter, 

 waste his minutes by whittling a pencil. Mj- friend, 

 if you are called upon to employ high-priced work- 

 men, see to it that they are not required to use 

 the time in such like trifling duties. 



BEE-JOURNALS BOOMING THE BEE-BUSINESS— IS IT 

 RIGHT .\ND PROPER ? 



In my opinion, it is not right and proper for any 

 industrial .iournal to present only the bright side, 

 and urg-e everybody to go into said business, in 

 order that they may get subscribers and sell sup- 

 plies. Catalogrues of things that manufacturers or 

 producers have for sale arc expected to present the 

 encouraging features of the industry, or of their 

 special wares; but industrial journals should give 

 all sides of the sub.iect— encouraging and discour- 

 aging. They should meet fairly and squarely 

 every difficulty in the way. Whc^never I have an 

 opportunity it is a pleasure to look over the medi- 

 cal journals of our land. These journals are pub- 

 lished for the express purpose of assisting and 

 enlightening- the medical fraternity; but, do they try 

 to induce everyhody to hang up a shingle, and start 

 out as a doctor? Of course, not. What an idea! 

 Well, I believe our bee-journals should be conduct- 

 ed much in the same way. Of course, more peo- 



ple go into poultry, bees, etc., as a rule, than into 

 medicine; and in view o^ the fact that a great 

 many, when they And themselves properly situat- 

 ed, feel like keeping a few bees or chickens, our 

 poultrj' and bee journals should meet this want; 

 but I am sure that none of us wish to lead people 

 into disappointment, but, on the contrary, we wish 

 to give a fair understanding- of these industries to 

 all who may care to inquire. 



0ai^ 0WN ^nmY. 



CONDUCTED BY EBSEST R. ROOT. 



THE CONDITION OF OUR BEES ; CHAFF 

 CUSHIONS, ETC. 



§OME of our leatleis seem to be anxious 

 to know the exact condition of our col- 

 onies ; to what extent brood-rearing 

 has commenced; whether foul brood 

 has made its appearance for this sea- 

 son. The weather being warm and spring- 

 lilce on the yth and 10th of tliis month, we 

 critically examined all the colonies. In the 

 previous issue, we stated that we pulled up 

 one corner of the burlap, and looked upon 

 the chisters of all the colonies ; but we did 

 not then pull the colonies apart. I did not 

 then, and do not now, think that it would 

 have been any advantage to pull the colo- 

 nies all apart, as they were in such nice, com- 

 pact clusters. Subsequent examination has 

 shown that hardly half the colonies have 

 commenced brood-rearing, so that I think 

 we sliould have found very little brood. By 

 *■■ lief ting " the frames too", we knew that the 

 liees were not running short of stores. Now, 

 after having gone over the apiary the second 

 time, and examined every comb, I doubt not 

 that our readers are waiting to know wheth- 

 er foul brood has reappeared. I wish I 

 could say that no trace of it had developed ; 

 but I am compelled to inform our readers 

 that a very bad case of the disease was 

 found— 1 "tliink, perhaps, as bad as any I 

 have yet seen. I judge they must have com- 

 menced rearing brood aloiig last February. 

 Tlie diseased brood was well advanced, and 

 the characteristic odor from the hive, as 

 soon as we opened it, was unmistakable. 

 An examination showed that the combs 

 were badly diseased. We found this colony 

 among the first that we examined, and this 

 state of affairs certainly was not very en- 

 couraging at the outset. Myself and two of 

 the men then set to work in earnest, deter- 

 mined to discover any more traces of foul 

 brood if there were any. After a vigilant 

 search through the entire apiary on the fol- 

 lowing day, we found that all the rest of the 

 colonies were sound and healthy ; and, as 

 we had confidently hoped and expected, not 

 one of them has died from wintering. Had 

 it not been for this one aggravating case of 

 foul brood, we should have reason to feel 

 greatly rejoiced, although we are well aware 

 that we may lose some yet. 



Now, what did we do with this one case 

 of foul broody We did just what we would 

 advise anybody else to do who feels confi- 

 dent that there is only one diseased colony in 

 the apiary ; that is, we burned the hive and 

 all. 



