1894 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



385 



ish. This would mak(^ tlie dimensions of the 

 'ays about 3 feel liy IS uiehcs. Tlie irans- 

 laiitiiig is (lone by women, inside of tlie green- 

 ouse. Tlicy sit down at a table, or stand up, 

 s they clioose, and set out the plants at so 

 luch per thousand. Yes, and some of them 

 lake over a dollar a day when the price per 

 loiisaud is only t»'o audit Iialf cents. What 



yon think of that? Over 40,000 plants taken 

 •om tlie seed bed. and successfully ti'ansplant- 



1 into the ti'ays, for a day's work! Tiie trays 

 re tilled with beautiful swamp muck mixed 

 itli well-rotted composted stable manure. Af- 

 Tttiey have begun to root they are hardened by 

 itting them in beds coveted with cotton cloth, 

 uring a blizzaid like one we liad the last of 

 larcii. glass is us( d in place of cloth, on very 

 ;nd('r plants; and, besides this, steam-pipts 

 in under all the beds so they can, on an emer- 

 incy, ward off the frost or freeze, by steam 

 iderncath the boxes, as well as glass or cloth 

 erhead. With enough steam heat, it seems 



me that cloth might answer very well in 

 ace of glass. 



The proprietors soon found out that, to run 

 lis quarter of an acre of plant- garden, requir- 

 1 an engineer, or manager, of no ordinary 

 jility— somebody who n-ally liked the job of 

 atching the steam, watcliing the clouds, and 

 atching the rain, and, above all, watching 

 le thermometer, barometer, and Weather Bu- 

 au signals, in oi'der to anticipate any sudden 

 langes. 1 was introduced to tlie man, and 

 ughingly told him he was working out the 

 sry problem I gave in the tomato book; 

 imely. how to support a family on a quarter 

 an acre of ground. Well, this quarter acre 

 ght to support a family in pretty tine style; 

 Id my friend remarked that, when it came to 

 ving one man do all the work on a quarter of 

 1 acre, he guessed he would need a wife to 

 sip, and a goodly lot of children besides; and 

 metimes it would make the whole crew fly 

 ound pretty lively. Well, this plant-garden 

 certainly the finest and handsomest thing of 

 e kind 1 ever came across. Why, there was 

 ithing i< the whole line of horticultural dis- 

 lys at the World's Fair that could compare 

 th it, in my estimation. This was a real live 

 actical hive of busy workers and magniticent 

 ijults. Too much that we saw at the World's 

 lir was only imike believe business. The 

 int-beds inside of that greeniiouse were 

 itered by sub irrigation. The wooden beds 

 ire made water-tight with water-lime cement; 

 en rows of tile laid crosswise of the bed were 

 aced, I should say, about every tive or six 

 i-t. These tiles lie right on the cement bot- 

 n of the bed. In fact, the joints were also 

 aiented around the lower half, leaving the 

 cks open on the upper half; then the end tile 

 each row was brouglit up on an angle so it 

 aed on tiie sideboard of the bed, making 

 convenient to run water into each line of 

 3, with a hose. They were enthusiastic in 

 iise of sub-irrigation. You see, tlie celery- 

 mts need never have their leaves and stems 

 tti;datall; and where they grow as thickly 



I saw them, there would be considerable 

 nger of rotting if every thing W(!re soaked 

 ih water. 



n order to se>^ how their machinery would 

 rk they have grown a few cabbage, tomato, 

 d lettuce plants; and the wife of one of the 

 )prietors had also tried her hand at raising 

 wers. Her trays of little plants with varie- 

 ted foliage made a most beautiful supple- 

 int to the beds of living green I have spoken 

 before. These men have indeed put a pile 

 money into this apparatus for raising plants; 

 t they have not gone into it recklessly. They 

 ve been working and experimenting for sev- 



eral years, and all their plans seem to be the 

 outcome of regular methods, step by step. The 

 boiler that warms the greenhouse and plant- 

 beds also works an injector pump that throws 

 water into a tank; and long lines of pipe were 

 just then being laid away out in the distance, 

 through the mucky fields, in order to give iliein 

 water handily when the plants are moved from 

 their tidy cloth-covered cold-frames to the out- 

 door air of the middle or latter part of April 

 Oh glorious April! glorious and beautiful (ex- 

 panse of soft black soil, as smooth and level as a 

 tioor. A bystander informed me that, four or tive 

 years ago, the scene of this wonderful activity 

 was nothing but a swampy bog where people 

 .'■ometimes went out to gather elderlierries. Of 

 course, these men were laughed at and joked 

 about because they insisted that this black 

 mucky swamp could be made (jood for some- 

 thing. Intelligence and genius have made the 

 change. If it were only possible to get a cam- 

 era that would catch the shades of green, how 

 1 should love to give you a picture of tiiat 

 plant-bed establishment! By the way, when 

 something was said about the expense of the 

 cotton-cloth covering, Mr. Johnson informed 

 me that they got their cloth by the quantity at 

 only .5 cts. per yard. Of course, this is only a 

 yard wide; but when sewed together in the 

 middle it cost only 10 cts. In the tomato-book 

 I believe I mentioned the price as being 20 or 2'> 

 cts. per yard. Well, this latter is stronger, and, 

 besides, it is 2)4 yards wide. This extra width 

 is so that it may allow the pole on which the 

 cloth is rolled up to drop down over the front 

 end of the bed. Well, the beds we saw were 

 all of them planned to take either sash or cot- 

 ton cloth; and by having a strip of board on 

 the top edge thry managed 10 use cloth only two 

 yards wide. The qinv^tion might come up 

 about cloth being cheaper than boaids; but I 

 presume their heads were " level." for they 

 have made this thing their business and study. 

 Yes, they too have experimented a good deal 

 with fertilizers, and they showed me some 

 tomato-plants that were dosed with nitrate of 

 soda. Sure enough, those that had the nitrate 

 of soda were of bei ifr color, and a stronger and 

 more robust giuw ili ihan some other boxes that 

 did not have any. But. wait a bit. They put 

 on so much nitrate that it killed part of the 

 plants, and these boxes were, therefore, not as 

 much crowded as the others. Again, some 

 boxes that had stable manure put under the 

 muck soil made a better show than any of 

 them. I feel pretty sure, however, that nitrate 

 of soda does, on some soils, prove to be a fer- 

 tilizer for tomatoes. 



After I had gone about three miles on my 

 way home I passed a hotel. Jt was after my 

 usual suppertime. I should enjoy my ride very 

 much more with a good supper tlian to get it 

 after I got home. It is a good thing to learn to 

 practice economy; but I think we .■sometimes 

 make a mistake. If I were to eat such a supper 

 as nature called for, just then, after I got home, 

 it might not "' set well." But if I were to take 

 it then, and ride nine miles afterward. I knew 

 from past experience that the supper would be 

 all right, and I could eat just what I pleased, 

 and as much of it. I wonder if there are any 

 dyspeptics among my readers who would give 

 a whole half-dollar to be able to eat a good 

 square meal, and eat just what they like, re- 

 gardless of consequences. 



Another thing, people can not very well keep 

 nice hotels unless they have encouragement by 

 way of patronage. A man may be too lavish 

 with his money, and on tlie other hand he may 

 be too parsimonious. If one never patronized 

 his neighbors who are in business, we shouldn't 

 any of us get along very well. " Every man to 



