1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



253 



variety, judging from the enormous growth of plants, 

 some being 4 feet or more in height. C. O. Snyder. 

 Millersburg, O., March 6. 



Friend S., we have kept for many years 

 two kinds of soja beans — the kind we sent 

 }'ou, which is the staple sort found in the 

 markets, and the smaller or earlier kind 

 called the American coffee-berry, which we 

 have mentioned so frequently. The only 

 objection to this early kind is that it does 

 not furnish nearl}^ the amount of feed or 

 material to plow under that the late one 

 does, and our stock of this seed this year is 

 quite limited. For forag^e purposes I be- 

 lieve it is pretty well settled that the late 

 larg-e kind is the best, even if you have to 

 have 3'our seed grown in the South. It is 

 now offered for sale in the southern cities 

 by the carload, at very low prices. 



THE TONGAN BEAN. 



I have had Tongan vines each summer for several 

 years, but the pa^l summer failed lo mature the seed. 

 It is a rampant grower and makes a fine shade. 

 From the very large nodules on the roots I should 

 think it would" make a g od land-enricher. 



Washington, D. C , Jan. 27. C. A. Johnson. 



I have been considerably disappointed in 

 years past because we did not get more 

 reports from the new things I have recom- 

 mended and offered to our friends for irial. 

 One of these is the Tongan bean ; and here 

 at this late date we have a good report. We 

 can still furnish seed in five-cent packets. 



PURE WATER TO DRINK. 



Mr. Root: — In Gleanings for May I, 1898, you wrote 

 an article on pure water, and mentioned the sanitary 

 still made by the Cuprigraph Co., that you were then 

 using. I wish to know if it still continues to give you 

 the same satisfaction that it did at th it time, and also 

 as to its durability. John R. Colvin, 



Olyphant, Pa.. March 7. 



For three or four years past I have used 

 only distilled water — that is, unless I could 

 g-et nice rain water without much trouble. 

 Sometimes when there is a big- shower we 

 set a lot of tin pans outdoors, and the wa- 

 ter thus caught is just as good as that from 

 the sanitary still — in fact, it is practica ly 

 the same thing. After our slate roof has 

 been well washed from coal smoke by a 

 heavy rain we turn the conductor, and run 

 the water off into stone crocks. This does 

 very well, but it is not equal to the rain 

 water that has not been on the roof at all. 

 While in the Traverse region I drank wa- 

 ter from a rain-barrel, that came from a 

 roof made of new cedar shingles. The ce- 

 dar gave it a resinous flavor that I found 

 rather pleasant, although Mrs. Root could 

 not stand it at all. Well, of late our sani- 

 tary still has been standing idle because I 

 discovered the rain water from the glass 

 roof of the greenhouse was so near like that 

 from the still I could hardly tell one from 



the other. So you see circumstances must 

 govern the matter. In our locality, with 

 the smoke and soot from our factory and 

 from two lines of railway blowing toward 

 our house, it is a hard matter to keep the 

 rain water real nice — that is, where it is 

 drawn from a cistern. Mrs. Root is now 

 petitioning for a second cistern, to be filled 

 with water that falls in the winter, and to 

 be kept for drinking purposes &ud nothing 

 else. With my poor digestion that has 

 troubled me for many years, especially 

 when I am confined to office work, I Hnd it 

 of very great importance to comfort and 

 health to be very careful in regard to the 

 water I drink. When I am at work almost 

 all the time in the open air, 1 can drink al- 

 most any good well or spring water; but 

 almost every well, and, in fact, the greater 

 part of the running springs, contain more 

 or less minerals; and until one becomes ac- 

 customed ^o^, as you might sajs acclimat- 

 ed) to this especial kind of water it is like- 

 ly to give trouble. Of course, distilled wa- 

 ter is absolutely pure; and where there is 

 any suspicion that the water is causing 

 trouble with the digestion I would assured- 

 ly try the effect of drinking only pure soft 

 water. 



Special Notices by A. I. Root. 



PRIZEWINNER BEANS — AN ERROR. 



On page 168 I said these beans would be, quart, 20 

 cts ; by mail, 24. As the postage on a quart of beans 

 is 15 CIS. instead of 4, the price should be, 1 qt., post- 

 paid by mail, So els. 



Yes, and I made another mistake on page 168. I 

 said there were 152 beans on One stalk My young 

 friend Alice Hilbert, who counted them, corrects me 

 as follows : 



Dear Mr. Root ^-There were 36 pods and IM beans on 

 one of the biggest .stalks. ALICE Hilbert. 



Bingham, Mich., March 4. 



ADVANCE IN PRICES OF CLOVERS. GARDEN SEEDS, 

 ETC. 



Instead of catalog prices on white Dutch .clover read 

 bushel, $12 ; ^ bu-hel $o 25 ; peck. $3.25 ; 1 lb., 25 cts. 



Swett clover, 100 lbs at 10 cts. per lb.; 10 lbs. or more 

 at 12c,s.; 1 ib., 15 cts.; if wantea by mail, 10 cts addi- 

 tional. 



The above is for sweet clover with the hulls on. 

 The hulled seed (sometime- called Bokhara) will be 

 just double the above prices I do not expect any de- 

 c.ine m the above uitil the new crop is harvested. 



Orange Danvers carrot, half-long. 1 6z. 5 cts ; lb., 50. 



Bieadstonc turnip. Ounce, 10 cts.; 1 lb., $1.00. 



Add iO cts. per pound on all seeds ordered by mail. 



Our seconds of early potatoes are sold out, and we 

 have only a very few of the .seconds left of the Craigs ; 

 so the Craigs are the only ki. d of potatoes we have 

 for *2.( per barrel for seconds. Of firsts we have all 

 kinds, however, at ii3 50 per barrel. 



HUBBARD SQU.^SH SEED — PRICES ADVANCED, ETC. 



I,ast year we sold about a bushel of Hubbard squash 

 seed that were grown by a bee-keepei who said they 

 were from nice squashc s from seed obtained from us. 

 Now. we have not had one single complaint from 

 abroad in regard to those squashes ; but a neighbor 

 says he planted that seed, and did not get a real Hub- 

 bard squash from the lot, but he had a good many oth- 

 er kinds. The mystery is, why not one complaint has 

 come besides this from our neighbor. On our own 

 grounds we did not raise a squash because the boys 

 said when I was up in Michigan the bugs ate them all 

 up in spite of any thing ihey could do. II I had been 

 there, no doubt we would have had some squashes. 

 The vines were running, and looked well when I left. 

 The seed was very handsome-looking, and germinated 



