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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 1. 



I told the boys, when they gathered these roots, 

 to take the outside row every time; but some- 

 body did not understand, and gouged into an- 

 other row. The consequence is, when we come 

 to plow, a great lot of ground is wasted nnless 

 we take up the broken pieces of rows and 

 plant the stuff solidly together. Disorder and 

 disorderly practices constitute one of the banes 

 of my life. Somebody wanted some cabbage- 

 plants ; and before I knew it one of the boys 

 commenced this spring, after the same old 

 fashion of pulling a hundred or two out of the 

 middle of a nice bed. Now, this ground is very 

 valuable; but how could it be used in that ir- 

 regular fashion? Had they commenced at the 

 end of the bed, and taken the plants out clear 

 across, a nice little square strip of ground would 

 have been ready for lettuce seed, cabbage seed, 

 and ever so many other things that should be 

 put in at this season of the year. The objection 

 was made, that the customer said he would not 

 take any unless he could have the biggest plants, 

 picked out here and there. Well, there may be 

 some reason in this if the plants were not all of 

 them good enough. Had I been present I 

 should have said this: "My friend, we will 

 pick out the best there is in the bed, for ,/u.5t 

 double price. If you will take such goods, how- 

 ever, as we use ourselves, and send off to cus- 

 tomers, you can have them at the regular 

 printed list prices." But a good many times, 

 when there is no difference in plants at all, 

 somebody, without thinking, will tear up a 

 beautiful bed. and leave it looking as if the hogs 

 or chickens had got into it. Of course, it is the 

 younger ones who are more likely to do such 

 things t'. oughtlessly. But, just think of it. 

 If you are going to make a success of a plant- 

 garden— if you are going to have your grounds 

 look neat and tidy, it behooves you to keep con- 

 stantly in mind that you must endeavor to 

 keep the ground cleared up clean, as far as we 

 go; and then our grounds can be kept looking 

 trim and neat and inviting in appearance. 



Another thing, if a cold wave comes, how are 

 you going to manage with plants scattered here 

 and there, requiring a dozen sash to cover them, 

 when, if they were in one compact bed, two 

 sashes or even o^ie might make them safe? 

 Please do not understand that I mean you 

 should push off culls and plants too small to be 

 of any value. After the good ones are taken 

 out, these culls should be put in without charge, 

 or taken up and put in a straight row by them- 

 selves. By the time your bed is finished, these 

 smaller ones will be nice handsome plants. If 

 you push ahead in a slipshod, haphazard sort 

 of a way. without any planning or looking 

 ahead, you will find out where you are, and you 

 will realize the truth of what I have been say- 

 ing. There may be such a thing as overdoing 

 this matter of taking too much time to keep 

 things in order; but it pays, and pays big, to be 

 systematic, and neat and tidy, even in a plant- 

 garden. 



ABOUT TOMATOES — HOW TO GET THE SEED TO 

 COME UP QUICK. 



iVfr. Root:— I have just read about your get- 

 ting tomato seed up in 8 days. Now, I never 

 fail to get my tomato seed nicely \ix)— straight 

 up — in four and one-half days, and you can do 

 it just" as easily. Take a cigar-box, pry the 

 bottom loose a little to let out water; fill with 

 nice soft dirt; place the seed just where you 

 want them; cover }4 inch. I generally push 

 them into the dirt with a match. Now listen. 

 " Soak 'em " with Jtot water— not hot enough to 

 scald the seed, but hot enough to warm up dirt. 

 box, and all. Now, to keep them warm and re- 

 tain the moisture at the surface, fold a news- 

 paper, and tie it over the top of the box. Place 



the box in a warm place on an iron mantelshelf 

 in the family room, kitchen, or some place to 

 keep the heat up pretty regular, and be sure to 

 put the date on the box, and don't forget to 

 take a look at them the fourth day after plant- 

 ing. If you wait many hours longer you will 

 likely find your plants hunting for daylight, 

 and two or three inches long, and leggy. I have 

 always had at least 90 per cent of the seed up 

 nicely in 41.2 days or a little less. I think I 

 wrote you several years ago that I cut off all 

 suckers from my tomato-vines, allowing only 

 one stem, which is kept tied up to a single 

 stake, fruit ripening in clusters toward the last 

 of the season, near the top of the stake, five to 

 seven feet from the ground. My tomato-patch 

 is always the wonder and admiration of all. 



Now about transplanting to the garden or 

 permanent patch. My observation has shown 

 me that, if the plant can be taken from the 

 nursery, as it were, to the garden, without 

 losing the adhering dirt and very small fibrous 

 roots, the plant will grow right along, and pro- 

 duce fruit from the first fruit-stem, that has 

 generally begun to foim by planting-out time, 

 although it is very often not noticed, and the 

 first fruit will form and ripen very near the 

 ground. Now, if the plants have been roughly 

 handled, and put in the ground minus these 

 filorous or very small roots, this first fruit-stem 

 will Tnost certainly wither and drop off. unno- 

 ticed, usually; and it will put back the fruil 

 bearing and ripening at least two weeks. 1 

 have several limes ordered small plants by 

 mail from you early in the season, two or thref 

 weeks before setting-out time, and put then 

 into a cold-frame, giving each plant about ; 

 inches of space, when I could transplant then 

 nicely when the time came. 



Winchester, Ky.. April 17. Jno. S. Reese. 



WATER-CRESS PLANTS. 



It seems that these plants are already in th' 

 market; at least, I judge so from the followinj 

 letter from an old friend of Gleanings: 



Mr. Root: — I send you some water-cres 

 grown by spring water. I have lOOO plants. 



Amity, N. Y., Apr. 5. J. W. Uttfr. 



[The plants were very strong and vigorous 

 but they were a little yellow when rcceivei 

 from the mails. However, they seem to b 

 starting out all right to grow.] 



WATER-CRESS, AND SOME SUGGESTIONS IN RE 

 GARD TO ITS USE. 



I used to live near brooks abounding in watei 

 cress, and am often hungry for the sight an 

 taste of it again. I have a packet of the " vil 

 weed"— upland cress— from Maule, but sha 

 test it sparingly. Water-cress was prescribe 

 by physicians in Wisconsin, where I formerl 

 resided, as a remedy for kidney disease. It is 

 pleasant medicine to lake. 



Now, Mr. Root, about how we shall eat i 

 A celery glass with water, and a bouquet of th 

 long well-wash(!d cress hanging over, to t 

 taken out and broken off as one requires, or 

 rose-bowl with a handful of the long stem 

 loosely coiled and the ends brought up an 

 over the sides, or a platter or large plate crowr 

 ed with a mass of the luxuriant greens, are a 

 fit dishes for the king (crowned or otherwise). 



If one wants the delicate cress flavor, just 

 bit of salt is all the seasoning; but tastes d 

 differ, and all must suit themselves with th 

 most healthful and delicious of salad garnishe 



You mentioned, not long since, the use ( 

 nasturtium as a salad. Yes, it is a hardy, d( 

 sirable foreign salad, and can be grown mos 

 satisfactorily in the house window in dee 

 boxes, and the leaves used all winter. I ha\ 



