GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



night! and to boost them along I put them 

 near the gas-burner that burns all night to 

 give hot water as well as cold. They had 

 begun to sprout when I left Florida; but 

 they did not seem to take kindly to the ex- 

 isting conditions here in Ohio. When I 

 planted them out in the open ground along 

 ii: J\lay I felt a good deal discouraged. 

 * Only two or three had begun to grow and 

 put out their white rootlets. However, 1 

 stirred the ground around them, and a few 

 of them ventured to peep out through the 

 soil; but I had to cover th''se few to save 

 them from the frost. It wa'^ along the first 

 week in June before I begnn to have any 

 hope of my dasheens. When I saw, how- 

 ever, that about half of the number* had 

 begun to start I dug away the soil around 

 the whole of them clear down so I could 

 see the little white roots. Then I put around 

 in tlus cavity a mulching of old well-rotted 

 manure and covered it with soil. When the 

 warm weather came on the last of June 

 they began to send out rootlets into that 

 rich compost ; and whenever we had a warm 

 spell they began to grow. But the dry spell 

 came on, and that did not suit, because they 

 are what I might call half aquatic in their 

 habits. I got out my garden hose and gave 

 them a thorough soaking. But the fierce 

 hot sun was up to 100 degTes the last of 

 June, and this great heat baked the soil 

 and made the leaves curl up. That did not 

 suit me. I told our teamster to get me a 

 big load of well-rotted manure and haul it 

 up near the dasheens. Then I mellowed up 

 the soil and mulched the whole surface of 

 the ground and around and between the 

 dasheens. Then I gave the whole batch a 

 thorough soaking with the gaMen hose. I 

 made it wet clear down, and kept wetting 

 it every other night just about sundown. 

 Then I began to get my reward. That suited 

 the dasheens to a dot; and, by the way, it 

 also suited the rows of corn and jDotatoes 

 on either side, because I kept stirring up 

 the clay soil with the chunks of manure, 

 The lumps that were left in plowing began 

 to slacken up; and to-day, July 9, I have 

 a nice mellow soil that works about as eas- 

 ily as the Florida sand. Not only are the 



* I am glad to tell you that every single one of 

 the dasheen tubers came up sooner or later; and in 

 some hills where they were so badly dried and wilt- 

 ed that I put in two, thinking that possilily one 

 might live, both came up. Sov. here i;i another 

 matter: In several places I carefully dus out one 

 of the tubers and transplanted it. Of course they 

 had quite a few of these young white roots and root- 

 lets; and every one grew, and I think I may safely 

 say it is a very easy vegetable to transplant. This is 

 a matter of considerable moment, for probably the 

 only way to raise them here in the North^that is, to 

 get a good crop — is to start them in a greenhouse; 

 then after they have some little leaves and a lot of 

 rootlets, put them out as you do cabbai;e, tomatoes, 

 etc. 



dasheens booming, but the rows of corn and 

 IDotatoes on each side of the dasheens have 

 got track of the rich food, and are sending 

 their roots over into that maniu'e compost. 

 To see how fast the corn grew I stretched 

 up a leaf one morning, and found that it 

 reached to my hip pocket, and it kept grow- 

 ing about two inches a day until we had a 

 big thunder-i^hower, or a succession of them; 

 and when I could get out to measure my 

 corn leaf it Avas iiigher than my head; and 

 what a beautiful dark green those hills of 

 sweet corn did put on ! And the rows of 

 potatoes on the other side that had, during 

 drouth, almost given up, just put on " new 

 life." 



Now, if you wish to know what I am 

 driving at, it is this. You can do high- 

 pressure gardening if you are willing to 

 work, in the most forbidding soil, and no 

 matter whether it rains or not, if you have 

 arrangements to furnish good old stable ma- 

 nure and plenty of water. With all the dis- 

 couragements and stumbling-blocks we have 

 had this queer season,- we have about the 

 finest garden — at least where I applied the 

 water — I ever had. As there was some 

 manure left after treating the dasheens I 

 gave some to some cantaloupe melons and 

 Hubbard squashes. The way I did it was 

 to take away the soil clear down until 1 

 exposed the tender white roots. Then I 

 filled this cavity with old black manure and 

 covered it with fine soil, first soaking the 

 manure thoroughly with water, pouring on 

 water several times until the dry thirsty 

 earth was saturated. The Hubbard squashes 

 got over their discouraged look, and " sat 

 up nights " to put out big leaves and send 

 out big runners. A drenching thuAder- 

 shower is rather better with its moist at- 

 mosphere than artificial watering; but the 

 water is very important when we have a 

 long dry spell. 



Some of you may suggest that it does not 

 pay to go to all this fuss for a little garden 

 spot — better buy your green stuff at the 

 grocery. But I tell you, friends, it pays in 

 two ways. First, you have fresh vegetables, 

 better than can be bought anywhere — at 

 least as a rule. Second, and most impor- 

 tant, you have the satisfaction of demon- 

 strating that you are boss of the elements. 

 In other words, you can get a crop in spite 

 of frost, drouth, too much wet, or any of 

 these hindrances. It hurts me mentally, 

 physically, and spiritually to undertake a 

 job and make a failure of it. So far as 

 I know I have the first dasheens planted in 

 Ohio; and if I succeed in demonstrating 

 that these delicious vegetables can be grown 

 here as well as in Florida I shall have ac- 



