278 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Station it would be worth nine times as 

 much if turned under and rotted the way 

 I described in gi'owing my potatoes. Again, 

 you must have good seed, and you must 

 give it good care. If you can grow pota- 

 toes successfully in your back yard or gar- 

 den up north I think you ought to be able 

 to grow them successfully here in Florida. 

 I suppose 3'Ou are well aware that hundreds 

 of carloads of potatoes and other things 

 are shipped daily from Florida up into the 

 North. Just a little more about good seed. 

 When friend Corwin put his notice in 

 the paper about " seed potatoes ready to 

 plant " he also stated that this seed had 

 been grown expressly for him for this par- 

 ticular season of the year. In order to have 

 potatoes ready to plant, say in November, 

 December, and even in January, they must 

 be gi'own someAvhere at a season of the year 

 so they will begin to sprout and be ready 

 to grow about the time when they are to be 

 planted. There are certain seedsmen in the 

 South who make it a part of their business 

 to be able to supply potatoes ready to plant 

 in the months I have mentioned. You must 

 have the right kind of seed. If you don't 

 you will fail. So far as I know there is 

 nothing better in sight at the present time 

 than the Red Triumph that I have spoken 

 of. It is a most handsome potato ; and 

 when they are thoroughly ripe it is about 

 equal in quality to any early potato we 

 have. The Early Ohio might do as well 

 down here, although I have never been able 

 to try it. Let me mention right here that 

 some years ago I happened to be present at 

 a farmers' institute in a rural district, and 

 a discussion was going around in regard to 

 growing potatoes; and the farmers there 

 in Ohio thought if they could be sure of 40 

 cents a bushel they were having a pretty 

 good thing in potato-growing. As I had 

 published a book on potatoes (or, at least, 

 my good friend Terry and myself had put 

 out the book), somebody inquired for A. I. 

 Root. As I rose to speak I told the good 

 people that I- was afraid I wasn't enough 

 of a farmer to be able to grow potatoes. 

 and make it pay at 40 cents a bushel. ''But," 

 added I, " if you will give me 40 cents a 

 peck I think I could get along right smart." 

 This statement awakened quite a little up- 

 roar. 



Dear friends, almost every one of you 

 whose eyes rest on these pages, no matter 

 where you live, can get 40 cents a peck for 

 your potatoes if you set about it right now 

 to get ready. Spread your seed potatoes 

 out in the sun, at least a few of them, as 

 many as you may want, in some place where 

 they won't freeze, and induce them to put 



out short stubby sprouts as quickly as pos- 

 sible. Then I think it would pay you to 

 have a few cold-frame sash. Along the last 

 of this month j'ou can put the potatoes out 

 pretty close together under glass; and along 

 in March, in many localities, you can get 

 them out under good rich ground prepared 

 as I have outlined in this potato story, and 

 have them ready to grow whenever the 

 weather will permit. Should there come a 

 frost it is an easy matter to give at least 

 a few potatoes a little protection. The 

 grain-sacks that are a drug here in Florida 

 answer every purpose nicely. Rij) up the 

 seams and spread the bags over the pota- 

 toes just coming through the ground, and 

 they will ward off considerable frost. When 

 your potatoes are ready for market they 

 will be quite a little ahead of those shipped 

 from away down here in Florida, or Ber- 

 muda, or other lands. 



About the nicest way to cook new pota- 

 toes, especially those that are only partially 

 matured, is to boil them with gi-een peas. 

 That is just what we are having for dinner 

 almost every day just now. Don't under- 

 take to dig the ivlwle. hill of potatoes when 

 they get so as to be fit for table use. Push 

 3^our hand down throi;gh the liill in that 

 rotted straw and hay that I mentioned, and 

 pull out the potatoes as you happen to 

 need them, and let the vines grow light on. 

 F'otatoes planted very early are very un- 

 likely to be troubled with potato-bugs or 

 flea-beetles, or any thing of that kind. 

 Teach the children the trick of gTOAving 

 stuff' under glass and they will soon not 

 onljf be a great help, but it will be an ex- 

 cellent part of their education. As I write 

 this the "corn-growing" boys are being 

 discussed, especially in regard to their trip 

 to Washington, as provided by the different 

 States; and Florida is just now discussing 

 (he matter of offering lier boys not only a 

 premium but a trip to Washi^igton also, for 

 growing fields of corn that beat any thing 

 (heir "daddies" ever saw or heard of. Now, 

 let us all offer an inducement to get the 

 boys to growing potatoes; and why not let 

 the girls share in this industrial education 

 as well? This has been taken up by agri- 

 cultural papers, and it will be very strange 

 if we don't find some girls who are just as 

 smart as the boys, even in growing corn, 

 potatoes, and other thing's. 



COLORADO APPLES, ETC., BY PARCEL POST; 

 SOJIETHING FROM OUR OLD FRIEND, 

 J. A. GREEN 

 Mr. A. I. Root: — I regret that our personal ac- 

 quaintance has not been as intimate of late years 

 as it was when I lived in Illinois and gave all my 

 time to beekeeping, so that we occasionally met at 



