GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



HIGIBI=PEE§§UEE (CAMDEMNG 



EARLY OHIO POTATOES DOWN IN FLORIDA, ETC. 



Up here in the North my favorite potato 

 for years past has been the Early Ohio. A 

 year ago I had trouble about getting seed. 

 1 finally got some for a big price, but it was 

 poor seed at that. They were planted in 

 our garden right under the irrigation-pipe, 

 and made a magnificent growth ; but pota- 

 toes had been grown in this garden for 

 years past. Besides, it has been heavily 

 manured with stable manure. We had a 

 good yield ; but they were the scabbiest lot 

 of potatoes I think I ever saw. The garden 

 was plowed before I returned from Florida, 

 and was i^lowed when it was wet. The po- 

 tatoes squeezed themselves into all sorts of 

 shapes and among the lumps and clods ; and 

 after I got our overhead irrigation, as you 

 may remember, the potatoes took a second 

 growth. Mrs. Root suggested we should 

 give them all to the pigs and chickens; but 

 when we found the quality was so much 

 better than any nice smooth jDotatoes we 

 could buy, we finally decided to use them for 

 the table, paring off the scab and the knobs 

 that had started out with a second growth. 

 Well, these Ohio potatoes, notwithstanding 

 their forbidding looks outside, cooked up so 

 dry and floury that we decided to take a 

 peck with us to Florida. I think they were 

 dug just before leaving, about Nov. 1. As 

 we had other new potatoes, some of the 

 Early Ohio, brought from Ohio, did not get 

 used till January 1; and to our surprise 

 some little sprouts had started; and Mrs. 

 Root suggested that we plant them and see 

 what the Florida crop would be. I cut 

 them to one eye so as to make them go as 

 far as possible. They came up very 

 promptly: and from their gi'eat luxuriance 

 they attracted the attention of \Tsitors all 

 winter, and along in April they were ready 

 to dig. They made a slow growth because 

 of the frequent cold rains; but it was one 

 of my happy surprises to find the cleanest, 

 smoothest, handsomest Early Ohio potatoes 

 I ever got hold of. 



Let me repeat what I have said several 

 times. In Florida, at least in Manatee 

 County, there is no such thing as potato 

 bugs. They have not been "invented" there 

 yet ; and there is also no such thing as the 

 flea-beetle that disfigures and eats holes 

 through the potato leaves all over the North. 

 And there is also no such thing as the 

 potato scab — at least not the same kind of 

 scab we have here in the North. I took a 

 basketful of the potatoes up to our Braden- 

 town gi'oceries, and everybody who caught 



a sight of them wanted them. The quality 

 was quite equal to the looks. But there was 

 one drawback. The largest ones were more 

 or less hollow. I suppose this was owing to 

 the rapid growth. I think that this can, 

 perhaps, be corrected by planting tliem so 

 close that they will not grow very large. 



Now just one thing more and I am 

 through with my potato story, for the time 

 being. These Early Ohio potatoes were 

 dug about the middle of April. We brought 

 some of them with us; and just now, May 

 18, some of them show evidences that they 

 are going to sprout ; and I think I am war- 

 ranted in saying we can dig potatoes here 

 in the fall, carry them doAvn to Florida, and 

 by the first of January they will be ready 

 to plant. Perhaps I should explain that 

 they stood on a north porch — the coolest 

 place we could find, through November and 

 December. Well, the potatoes gi'own in 

 Florida may also be brought north, and, if 

 exposed to light and warmth, they will be 

 ready to plant again in thirty daj-s or more, 

 thus getting two good crops in one year by 

 moving them from the North to the South. 



One thing more: The poor scabby pota- 

 toes gi-own here in the North, if planted in 

 the loose soil in Florida, will give a nice 

 clean crop. There may be some danger, it 

 is true, of introducing the scab in the Flor- 

 ida soil ; but if necessary the treatment with 

 formalin would correct this. 



Now just one thing more : A neighbor of 

 mine said he had planted potatoes in Flor- 

 ida in September, and had a nice yield, 

 Well, I have planted them from November 

 1 to along in February, and had a satisfac- 

 toi'y yield; and I am told that potatoes 

 planted in April often give good yields in 

 Florida ; and I think it quite likely, when 

 we learn how, we can plant Irish potatoes 

 in Florida every day in the year, and har- 

 vest them every day in the year, as we do 

 with the dasheens. 



MAKING TWO TREES GROW WHERE NONE 



GREW BEFORE; SOME GOOD NEWS IN RE- 

 GARD TO JAPANESE CHESTNUTS. 



Dasheens, no doubt, are all right; Ijut don't you 

 think a iew words on trees and arbor culture occa- 

 sionally would help a worthy cause? To taake two 

 trees e;row where none grew before is a part of my 

 mission in life. 



If tlie old adage be true, that " he is a benefactor 

 of his kind who causes two blades of grass to grow 

 where but one grew before," what shall we say of 

 him who causes two trees to grow where none grew 

 before ? 



Some one has said it would pay any state to hire 

 a forceful man to go up and down the same, and 

 simply say to every man he meets, " Don't plant soft 



