1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



393 



ing a test. Try some of the various fertil- 

 izers advertised, on little plots of ground, 

 and do not invest in any thing until you 

 find by actual test that it gives good results 

 on your ground. 



In regard to books on gardening, after the 

 two you mention I think I would have Ter- 

 ry's books on potato and strawberry cul- 

 ture; Gregory's little books on cabbages, 

 squashes, and onions are all right. "Talks 

 on Manures " was written a good while 

 ago, but it is still a valuable book. Can 

 you not bu)^ stable manure by the carload 

 in some large city not far away? 



DIFFERENT VARIETIES IN THE MATTER OF 



GARDEN SEEDS; HOW MANY KINDS 



DO WE REALLY NEED? 



A bulletin from the United States De- 

 partment of Agriculture is just at hand, 

 entitled, " A List of American Varieties of 

 Peppers." How many do you suppose 

 there are ? Well, they have enumerated 

 and named 134 ; and this same bulletin 

 gives us the following piece of information 

 in its preface: 



In the Yearbook of the Department of Agriculture 

 for 1901 it is stated that American seedsmen cataloged 

 the preceding year"(i8o real or nominal varieties of 

 cabbage, 320 of" table beets, H40 of sweet corn, 560 of 

 bush beans, 255 of pole beans, 320 of cucumber, 530 of 

 lettuce, and an equally large number of varieties of 

 other vegetables." 



In counting the number of these varieties, names 

 vsrere included which differed from others simply by 

 the addition of a descriptive word, such as "improv- 

 ed," "large," " early," or the names of per-ons, while 

 other varieties, having attached to them unimportant 

 descriptive words, such as "select," "new," and 

 " choice," were not included. 



I am planning this summer, as you know, 

 to test a good many seeds on my trial- 

 grounds in Northern Michigan; but when 

 it comes to 685 kinds of cabbages I shall 

 have to be excused. I do not know exactly 

 what the Department of Agriculture thinks 

 about it; but if these seedsmen do not get a 

 good many kinds of cabbage seed out of the 

 same bag, I think they ought to do so, and 

 a halt should be called in this business. 

 Our experiment stations, when they have 

 made tests, have proved pretty conclusively 

 that several seedsmen are up to the trick of 

 putting a new name on some old well- 

 known variety, and then booming it up to 

 the skies. I have caught one potato-grower 

 in this very trick. When I furnished proof 

 of it so he could not get around it he did 

 not say any thing, for the simple reason 

 that there was nothing to say. Now, our 

 experiment stations in the different States 

 are the ones to rebuke this sort of swindle. 

 Amateur gardeners and hard-working peo- 

 ple are sending to seedsmen four times the 

 actual worth of certain seeds just because 

 they do not know the sarne thing is well 

 known, and on the market (under its real 

 name) at a reasonable price. 



IT LOOKED silly" — OUR HAND POTATO- 

 PLANTER. 

 You ask about the potato-planter. I bought one of 

 you last spring, and liked it very much ; but the 



ground must be well prepared for it to do its best. I 

 could induce no one else to try it; they said it "looked 

 silly," but it wasn't. Mrs. J. Bagley. 



Serena, Illinoi.s, Jan. 8. 



Well done, Mrs. B. If those people who 

 thought the little machine looked "silly" 

 could see the people plant acre after acre, 

 even to the extent of two acres in a single 

 day, by one person, I think they would be 

 the ones who would "look silly" with their 

 methods. I think you make a good point, 

 however, where you say the ground should 

 be well prepared to do its best ; in fact, the 

 ground needs to be well prepared, no mat- 

 ter how you plant potatoes, to have them do 

 their best. 



SOME MORE EVIDENCE OF THE GOOD TIME 

 COMING. 



WHAT DELTA COUNTY, COLORADO, HAS: 



No jail. 



No saloons. 



A first-class creamery. 



Fine schools and churches. 



10,000 acres of land in orchard. 



The finest vegetables ever seen. 



Peach-trees which net $20 each. 



Cherry-trees which net $15 each. 



200,000 acres of land under ditch. 



The largest and best cattle-ranges. 



Pear-trees which run up to $35 each. 



The finest trout-fishing in the State. 



25 carloads of honey to sell this year. 



60U carloads of fruit to sell this year. 



35 bushels of wheat per acre this year. 



The finest hunting-grounds in the West. 



Peaches 12 to 14 inches in circumference. 



Potatoes weighing from 1 to 5 pounds each. 



Apples which weigh from 20 to 24 ounces each. 



Four out of six World's Fair medals for fruits. 



The only canning-factory on the Western slope. 



200,000 acres of the finest timber and grazing lands. 



Coal veins— anthracite and bituminous— 6 to 30 feet thick. 



Apple-trees which net their owners from $20 to $30 a year. 



Meadows which average five tons of alfalfa per acre each 

 season. 



Room for 1000 families who want good health, good 

 schools, good churches, and good homes. 



The most healthful climate in the world for those who 

 have lung or throat troubles, catarrh, or asthma. 



Four-fifths of all the first premiums offered on the various 

 fruits at all fairs where she has been a competitor. 



Write to the Delta County Board of Trade, Delta, Colo., 

 for reduced rates and further particulars. 



Do you want to know what the above has 

 to do with the "good time coming" ? Just 

 this : These people have put at the very top 

 the fact that they have no jail ; and the 

 next item explains the matter. Yes, thej' 

 tell us about other things — 25 carloads of 

 honey to sell, etc. Yes, we have given a 

 free advertisement, but they ought to have 

 it. When the towns and the counties and 

 all the United States shall get into a rival- 

 ry in regard to the inducements they have 

 to get people to go in and live with them, 

 and shall begin to mention, first and fore- 

 most, "no jails" and "no saloons," then 

 we are on the march for the good time com- 

 ing; and I do not know but I might add, 

 also, that we start on the march toward 

 "thy kingdom come, thy will be done on 

 earth as it is in heaven." 



MR. T, B. terry's STAND ON THE TOBACCO 

 QUESTION. 



We take pleasure in giving a place to the 

 folloyring clipping from the Practical Fann- 

 er, of Philadelphia : 



NOT A TOBACCO MAN. 



Good friends, you will have to excuse me from writ- 

 ing about tobacco, because I do not know any thing 



