1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



251 



PARIS GREEN — HAS ANY THING BEEN DIS- 

 COVERED OK INVENTED THAT IS BETTER 

 AS A FUNGICIDE? 



The Department of Agriculture, in Farm- 

 ers' Bulletin No. 146, discusses the matter 

 of insecticides and fungicides. They have 

 made a series of exhaustive experiments, 

 and it has turned out just as I expected it 

 would. All these new things that are ad- 

 vertised and puffed depend on Paris green 

 or some other preparation of arsenic. Not 

 one of them will do the work as cheaply as 

 Paris green; and a good many of them, 

 while costing ever so much more, are not 

 nearly as efficient. A great number of 

 them that claim to fertilize the soil while 

 they kill the bugs have no fertility about 

 them whatever. These experiments have 

 been made with "green arsenoid," "para- 

 green," London purple, "lead arsenate," 

 "pink arsenoid," "white arsenoid," "bug 

 death," "slug shot," " Smith's vermin ex- 

 terminator, " "veltha, " " fibro-ferro feed- 

 er," etc. Of all these mentioned, London 

 purple comes nearest to Paris green in fur- 

 nishing value received. Slug shot is main- 

 ly crude gypsum. It gives satisfaction be- 

 cause the gypsum is ground and mixed ac- 

 curately by machinery. But the Depart- 

 ment decides, as I decided years ago, that 

 it is an extravagant way of purchasing the 

 Paris green you need to kill the bugs. Lots 

 of these things are sold and used just be- 

 cause of being so extensively advertised. 

 This bulletin is prepared under the direc- 

 tion of United States Chemist Wiley, and 

 is authority on the subject. I am exceed- 

 ingly glad that Prof. Wiley has taken this 

 matter in hand, and made some experi- 

 ments, at the expense of the general gov- 

 ernment, that can be depended on. 



GRAND RAPIDS LETTUCE SEED — A GILT- 

 EDGED STRAIN. 



Mr. Root: — I have ordered a sample of your Cal- 

 ifornia Grand Rapids lettuce seed, to compare with 

 my greenhouse-grown. I told you last year that I 

 had pulled (iOO feet of lettuce without a single cull or 

 sport but did not ever expect to do it again ; hut I 

 am glad to say 1 hav.- had 10,000 feet this winter, with 

 only three sports in the whole of it. I am surprised 

 how three years' care in growing seed has brought it 

 so near perfection — that is, if the feature is a perma- 

 nent thing, which it is too soon yet to be sure of. 



Waterloo. P. Q., Feb. 13. Thos. Slack. 



Friend Slack, I rather think your im- 

 provement in seed is a permanent thing, or 

 pretty nearly so. It agrees with my expe- 

 rience. The Grand Rapids lettuce is not 

 only the easiest and prettiest plant to grow 

 under glass, but it seems to be wonderful- 

 ly docile, if I may use the expression, when 

 you give it to understand what is wanted. 

 Prof. W. J. Green, of our experiment sta- 

 tion, has just been through our greenhouse, 

 and he says they have succeeded in getting 



a beautiful strain of the Grand Rapids let- 

 tuce, starting with seed furnished by you. 

 No doubt your strain is much ahead of our 

 California grown; but in our greenhouse 

 we hardly find one bad plant in a thou- 

 sand from our own seed. In contrast with 

 this I may mention that I sent to a firm 

 that advertises lettuce and other vegetable- 

 plants all the year round, in tnany peri- 

 odicals. As they do so large a business I 

 supposed they would, of course, have the 

 best strains. They offered plants by mail 

 at 15 cts. per 100. I sent for samples, par- 

 ticularly to see if they sold transplanted 

 plants at that low price. Well, they were 

 not transplanted, and the whole hundred is 

 now ready to cut. At least a quarter of 

 them are sports of all shapes and shades. 

 Some of the plants are enormously rank 

 and luxuriant, but they are not up to our 

 Grand Rapids. Now, when good seed can 

 be bought at the low price of 40 cts. per lb. 

 it does seem to be too bad to grow plants for 

 sale of this sort. I shall be glad to receive 

 your report in regard to the California- 

 grown seed. 



COLOSSAL LADING, OR MAMMOTH WHITE 

 CLOVER. 



Our friends will find something in regard 

 to this on pages 135 and 137. Since then 

 Dr. Miller has sent the following: 



Thanks to the unwearied efforts of my good friend 

 Mr. Kd. Bertrand, editor of Revue Internationale, I 

 h-i ve finally received a sample of seed of the new giant 

 white clover, Trifnlium repens giganteunt. var Colossal 

 I.adino. Now let's give it a fair chance at Medina and 

 Marengo. I would send M. Bertrand's letter, but as it 

 is short it will be more convenient if I setid a transla- 

 tion. He says: "I inform you that I have at last 

 found seed of the white clover. Colossal Ladtno; that 

 is to say, that the person whom I had charged to con- 

 tinue the search has di.scovered a house at Lyons 

 which sells it. This new variety was obtained in 

 Lombardy. It is, in Italian, Trifoglio Ladtno bianco 

 vera lodigiano, or Trifolium repens giganteum , var. 

 Colossal Ladino I send the .sample received. Let me 

 know if you want any quantitv The price is 10 

 francs per kilogram, or So francs for 10 kilo." That 

 makes the price in English |1.14 a pound; 22 pounds 

 for 117.00. Please let me know at once what to say to 

 him about wanting any, or else write direct to M. Ed. 

 Bertrand. Geneva, \, rue du Mont de Sion. Suisse 

 (Switzerland). C. C. Miller. 



Marengo, 111., March It. 



I at once took the small packet of seed 

 and sowed it in the greenhouse in our reg- 

 ular seed-pans for choice and valtiable 

 flower seeds. In four da5's the clover was 

 coming up, which speaks well for its vigor 

 and vitality. I am going to have these lit- 

 tle clover-plants potted, and "push" them, 

 as I have been telling you about, in that 

 little greenhouse. These plants, with the 

 early start thej' have (the seed was sown 

 about the middle of February), will, I ex- 

 pect, blossom and furnish seed this year. 

 Any one who can not make a r/oz't'r-plant 

 grow in his garden must be a bungler in- 

 deed. The greatest trouble we have in otir 

 greenhouse is to "yank it out" when it 

 threatens to outstrip and smother other 

 plants. We have not thought best to send 

 for the seed, for there would not be time to 

 get it this year so as to produce blossoms 



