384 



GLEANINGS IN KEE CULTURE. 



May 1. 



ON THE WHEEL, APRIL 17. 



I paid a visit to the farm of Jordan & John- 

 son, mentioned once or twice last season as 

 having extensive ceh'ry and onion grounds near 

 Creston. Wayne Co., O. Some time during the 

 vs^inter the two members of the firm paid me a 

 visit, and we tall^'ed togetiier concerning the 

 matter of plant-greenhouses, plant-hotbeds, and 

 cold-frames, all to be heated by steam when 

 steam is needed. As they grow early celery 

 largely, it was getting to be quite desirable 

 that they have a convenient arrangement or 

 arrangements for growing the plants. We 

 talked about running steam through tiles, 

 about sub-irrigation in the greenhouse, as rec- 

 ommended by our Ohio Experiment Station, and 

 all these things pertaining to this new industry. 

 I had never given my Victor Flyer a trial on an 

 extended trip, and I was agreeably surprised to 

 see with what ease I made +he first nine miles 

 in just 40 minutes. Some of the roads were 

 quite rough, even then: but the little Victor 

 has a way of bounding over roughness, espe- 

 cially where you have mu.scle to make it " fly;" 

 and i was greatly pleased, too. to find that my 

 second wind came in unusually soon, and that 

 my muscles had lost nothing during the winter's 

 rGSt. 



Before I reached Creston I was pleased to see 

 cloth-covered cold-frames on the south side of 

 quite a few residences. These cloth -coverod 

 frames were on the plan given in the tomato- 

 book. It illustrates the pleasant fact to me. 

 that, when any sort of industry gets a foothold 

 in a locality, the people round about are ready 

 to " catch on " and make use of new and im- 

 proved methods of doing things. 



When near tlie premises mentioned, my eye 

 was attracted by so neat an arrangement that 

 I turned the wheel in at the roadway up near 

 the hot-beds. The beds were four in number, 

 and perhaps .50 feet long. They were on the 

 plan I have given, side by side, with just room 

 enough between them to walk through in 

 handling the sash. But what attracted my 

 attention particularly was, that the sides of the 

 beds were raised up as much as 3 feet high on 

 the back and perhaps 2 feet in front, and they 

 were made of drop siding nailed to stakes. 

 This makes a nice, tight-looking job, secure 

 from the weather. Then these beds were all 

 painted a bright red. Yon see, this is a very 

 durable paint, and it is dark enough to attract 

 the rays of the sun so as to warm up quickly. 

 Of course, I was interested and delighted with 

 the appearance from the outside; but when I 

 peeped over and saw the bright dark-green 

 rows of Prizetaker onions that filled* every bed 

 with a perfi^ctly even, regular, thrifty stand of 

 plants, such as I think 1 had never seen before, 

 I was full of enthusiasm. This neat little plant 

 belongs to Jordan & Son. The "son "is the 

 younger brother of the one I have mentioned 

 before. These four plant-beds are warmed by a 

 little horizontal boiler in a building on the 

 north side of the beds. A single pipe runs the 

 length of each bed and back again. If I re- 

 member correctly it is V4 inch, and is about a 

 foot distant all the way around from the drop 

 siding before mentioned. I soon discovered 

 why the sides of the beds were so well up. It 

 is to make room for the steam-pipes just men- 

 tioned. The beds that hold the plants are an 

 inch or tv/o above the pipes, and there is. I 

 should judge, a two-inch space between the 



sides of the bed that holds the dirt, and th 

 drop siding. This permits the air to circulat 

 all around the bottom and sides of the;plant 

 bed, and the most severe frost would not ge 

 througli the drop siding and extend over to th 

 sides of the bed holding the plants. 



I was soon introduced to the father alsc 

 Neither father nor son had had any experien 

 with Prizetaker onions, with the new methot 

 of transplanting: but the father gave us a rea 

 son for feeling sure they would succeed wit' 

 their enterprise. Last fall he was travelin, 

 through Michigan, and while walking throng 

 one of the towns he saw a quantity ot beautifu 

 large onions, evidently Prizetaker. He stoppe 

 and made inquiry. 



"Will you please tell me, sir, where you gc 

 those beautiful onions? " 



"Why. a boy who lives near hei-e raise 

 them. He started the plants in a hot-bed, an 

 then planted them out in the field." 



"Canyon tell me just how many it takes t 

 make a bushel ?" 



"Well, stranger, that is just exactly what 

 was thinking about. I brougnt a peck measnn 

 and we'll get at it and count them." 



They found that 2S onions made a peck; an 

 without very much selection they could easil 

 find 100 that would make a good plump bushe 

 A few figures soon decided how many bushe 

 of such onions should be raised upon an acri 

 This is theory, I know ; but our good frien 

 Jordan was not long in taking steps to makett 

 theory fact. His beautiful ground made 

 possible to prepare the soil and lay out the bee 

 with mathematical precision. The brighte: 

 thing of all his undertaking was to hunt up tl 

 boy who raised the onions, and bring him dow 

 into Ohio and set him at work ; and it was th 

 boy who bossed the whole apparatus that hf 

 pleased me so much during my whole hal 

 hour's stay. By the way, friends, there is 

 point right here. Notwithstanding the thoi 

 sands who are out of employment, the world 

 clamoring for capable men and capable boy 

 Let any boy go to work and learn how to do a 

 most any thing ,sM/ffi(,/7|y— even raising onions 

 and somebody u'mit.s him. Why, he is want* 

 to boss and direct the hundreds of carpenter 

 farmers, gardeners, and others who can iv 

 live unless they have a boss. Are you one ■ 

 that sort, my friend? 



Before I left I was desired to give figures c 

 several thousand crates to hold the h'andson 

 onions that they were golnn to have. We 

 they counting their chickens before they we 

 hatched ? I think not, to an unreasonable e; 

 tent. Father and son together, with thi 

 Michigan boy, can hardly make a failure. Yc 

 see they are used to raising onions in the ord 

 nary way; and I presume they have seen tl 

 way in which I manage to raise Prizetaker 

 for I am only an hour's ride (on a wheel) awa 

 from their plantation. Well, I was pretty we 

 satisfied with this part of my visit. The mucli 

 roads were almost too soft just then for vc 

 wheel and so I walked along to the large pla 

 tation, and we chatted by the way. Su; 

 enough, there was the greenhouse that ha 

 materialized since I had the talk with the pr 

 prietors some time in February. Oh what bee 

 of "living green" met my eye! and then whi 

 beautiful boxes of thrifty plants! Thei 

 people work on a little different plan from m 

 own. Their greenhouse is 20x100. There is 

 walk in the middle, and a walk clear aroun 

 the outside ; and the great beds, some seven ( 

 eight feet wide, were all occupied in raisin 

 seedling celery-plants. These seedling-plan 

 are then transplanted into movable trays ( 

 boxes. These are of such size that I should sa 

 four of them can be placed under an ordinal 



