828 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



High-pressure Gardening 



DASHEENS IN OHIO; HARVESTING THE CROP. 



On page 782 of our last issue I mentioned 

 how the dasheens recovered from the frost. 

 Well, they kept on growing — that is, when 

 it was not too cold — until Oct. 20, when we 

 had a cold rain that turned to snow with 

 I^iercing southwest winds; but the dasheens 

 did not seem to mind it at all. They seemed 

 to be even hardier than tomatoes, lima 

 beans, etc. Finally, on the night of the 21st 

 the weather cleared off and we had not only 

 a frost but a freeze* But, thanks to the 

 tliermometer and barometer, I knew what 

 was coming, and on the afternoon of the 

 21st I harvested my dasheens. It was a 

 rather cold and muddy job. If grown in 

 sandy soil there would not be much trouble 

 in shaking off the dirt; but in a clay soil, 

 especially during a wet and muddy time, it 

 is quite a task. I did not find out the best 

 way until I had experimented a little. As 

 the central corm has a cluster of tubers all 

 around it, the great mass of hairlike roots 

 holds the soil quite tenaciously. You will 

 need a good stout spade — a curv^ed ditching- 

 spade, for instance, with a long blade. Get 

 this under the whole trunk, then raise it up 

 (if you are strong enough), and let it drop 

 en the hard ground, if it is not too muddy 

 10 find such a place. Now take your sharp 

 spade and trim off the roots as close as you 

 can to the tubers without cutting them. Tip 

 the clump over and trim off the bottom in 

 the same way. Now take each tuber by the 

 stalk and snap it off from the central corm. 

 Strike it lightly against your spade, and 

 then most of the dirt will rattle off. Throw 

 them into empty potato-crates, and carry 

 them in, especially if frost threatens. 



Now, as it was somewhat of a question 

 how much of these green tops are fit to 

 cook, I trimmed off one lot, picking off the 

 larger leaves, leaving the most of the center 

 leaf stalk. Then I cut off the top clear 

 down to the tuber. I told Mrs. Root that, 

 for an experiment, I had included some 

 pretty large leaf-stalks that might prove to 

 be too old; but, to my happy surprise, the 

 " stew " was delicious — every bit of it. The 

 directions in the bulletin from the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture are to wash the shoots 

 — in fact, the whole plant — in water to 

 which a teaspoonful of sal-soda has been 

 added to every quart. Pour this off, and 



boil the shoots for ten or fifteen minutes in 

 clear water. Pour off this water also, then 

 stew about five minutes, add butter and 

 milk, and serve as you would oysters, but 

 Ernest and Huber think they resemble more 

 nearly real nice mushrooms. The tubers 

 surrounding the central corm can be cooked 

 in the same way, or they may be dried and 

 baked, and the same with the big central 

 coi'm. But so far we have not found them 

 — that is, the greater part of them — equal 

 to the tubers, say about the size of a hen's 

 egg, that grow around the big ones. I have, 

 I think, demonstrated that the tender shoots 

 above ground are worth the care and culti- 

 vation, to say nothing about the tubers; 

 and I am hoping that, when the tubers are 

 tJioroughly dry, they will be as rich and 

 luscious as those that grow further south. 

 This remains to be proven, of course. For 

 experiment I left one of the largest plants 

 out in the freeze. The frost killed it down 

 to the ground ; but I hardly think it did any 

 damage to the tubers where they were pret- 

 ty well under the surface. 



Later. — ^To-day is October 25, and we 

 have been having a dasheen stew made of 

 the shoots or tops, as described above, at 

 almost every meal, and I think I shall like 

 them the year round as well as Irish pota- 

 toes. We have passed them around the 

 neighborhood, and they all seemed to be 

 pleased with them. The little plants men- 

 tioned on page 697 were, at the time of the 

 frost, out of the ground perhaps tAvo inches. 

 They were protected simply with burlap 

 grain-sacks which were taken off as soon as 

 the ground was well thawed out, and seem 

 to be unharmed. They are, in fact, to-day 

 making a new growth since the frost. From 

 tins I gather that it is a very simple matter 

 to protect them with gi-ain-sacks or some- 

 thing similar while the plants are quite 

 small. 



* Most of our readers are aware that a severe 

 blizzard on the 21st did much damage all over the 

 North : and I notice by the papers that they pot a 

 touch of it clear down as far as Northern Florida. 

 This blizzard, accompanied with unusual frost and 

 fieezing, as early as Oct. 21, is unusual. Some of 

 the papers stated that no such severe weather had 

 been known on that day for 25 years past. 



THE NEW APPLE, THE OLMSTED SWEET. 



Friend Root : — I suppose you will not object to my 

 addressing you as " friend," for I am a beekeeper, 

 and you can't deny being a friend to beekeepers. I 

 am also taking the liberty of sending you a parcel- 

 post sample of a variety of apple that I think may 

 i)e new to you, knowing that you are usually in- 

 terested in new things. They were originated by my 

 grandfather several years ago, and I do not know 

 whether they have ever been handled by any nursery 

 company or not. They are known hereabouts as 

 " Olmsted Sweets." I am curious to know whether 

 they are new to you, and your opinion as to their 

 possibilities as a marketable apple. They do not 

 make good sauce, but are used considerably for pre- 

 serves, and are a favorite baking apple with a good 

 many people here. The trees are heavy and regular 

 bearers, and there are a great many of them scatter- 



