42(3 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 15. 



ON THE WHEEL— HIGH PRESSURE GARDENING. 



Oh dear mel what a story I did tell in our 

 last issue about the women-folks dov/ii at Jor- 

 dan & Johnson's setting out 40,000 plants from 

 the seed-bed in a day I It was onlv 4000 instead 

 of 40,000. The price they get is 3>o cts. per 100. 

 or 25 cts. for KXX) plants. Now, if the dear 

 friends who read Gleanings will only "take 

 me as I mean, and not as I say,'' I shall be 

 greatly relieved. Yesterday, May 2. I took 

 another run down there on my wheel to see 

 how the great plant-ranch was prospering. 



About a week ago we had quite a frost here 

 in Medina ; but I found that they had still 

 more of a frost in the low lands at the swamp. 

 It had done quite a little damage, both to onion 

 and celery plants, where they were not suffi- 

 ciently hardened off, or of size enough to have 

 sufficient root to withstand the freeze. Here is 

 a lesson in hardening off. Soft green plants 

 right out of the greenhouse can not stand much 

 sun, frost, or wind. I cautioned the friends 

 who were going to raise the large amount of 

 Prizetakers about being in a hurry to get at it. 

 On inspecting the grounds several things were 

 pretty evident. The plants put out before the 

 frost, where th( y had sufficient time to take 

 root, were probably not hurt — that is, where 

 they were carefully set. Some that were put 

 in by small boys will probably, many of them, 

 die. Those put in after the frost, and that had 

 got a little more root in the hot-beds, are look- 

 ing nicely. 



During my fonner visit I did not find the 

 women-folks at work setting out plants; but 

 this time the wliole establishment was running 

 at full blast. Now, to explain to you what I 

 learned we shall commence with the trans- 

 plnnting. Let us first consider the bo.xes for 

 holding the r lants. 



transplanting-box for seedlings. 



Let the above represent one of the boxes 

 where the women set the plants. I should 

 think they have about 3 inches of swamp muck 

 In the box— perhaps not more than 23^. The 

 muck is sifted so as to get all the lumps and 

 trash out. and then they press it down into the 

 box and smooth off with a stick to the level of 

 the top of the box. A man does this, and the 

 boxes full of soil are piled up ready for the 

 women. They work standing up at a bench- 

 at least, I did not see any of them sitting down. 

 Each box contains just so many plants. Spac- 

 ing is done with a tool similar to the one I 

 illustrated in our book, " What to Do." Below 

 is a cut of it. 



SPACING-TOOL FOR TRANSPLANTING, SOWING 

 SEEDS, ETC. 



Now, instead of going to theexpense of making 

 these tools of metal like the above, they simplv 

 make them of strips of wood. One is used for 



the end of the box; another is to be used along- 

 the side of the box. These spacing-strips are 

 made of pieces of wood, say a little wider and 

 a little thicker than common lath. Take 

 such a strip and cut saw-teeth in it; but before 

 cutting the teeth have it planed down to a sort 

 of knife-edge on one side. The result is, that 

 these blunt saw-teeth will be tapering, some- 

 thing after the fashion of a pyramid, but con- 

 siderably thinner one way than the other. All 

 that is needed is to have them come up clean 

 when they are pressed down into the muck in 

 the box. The long strip is used first, set down 

 at the sides of the box first on one side and then 

 on the other; then the short strip is pushed 

 down, letting each end tooth strike in the 

 prints of the longt^r one. This, you see, spaces- 

 the boxes accurately. At first I was very for- 

 ward in telling ihem of my machine, pictured 

 on page 106 of Gleanings for this year, because 

 we space a whole boxful at one clip; but I soon 

 found out that I was not quite so much ahead 

 of our friends in the swamp, after all. I will 

 try to make it plain without illustrations more 

 than what we have above. Suppose the boxes^ 

 I have described were placed on a bench in 

 front of the workman, one end of the box being- 

 close to him and thf opposite end raised about 

 6 inches higher than the end next to him. The 

 workman, or woman, rather, takes a spacing- 

 tool in her hands and presses it into the soil, 

 say at the end of the box near her. Then she 

 proceeds to put in the seedling celery-plants — 

 one in each cavity made by the tool. As she 

 drops in the lililc plant, with the end of the 

 finger she presses the moist soil against the 

 root. When the row is finished there is a series- 

 of cavities left where she presses her finger, al- 

 most sufficient for setting in the next row. 

 But to make it regular and true she takes the 

 spacing-stick again and pres.ees it down, letting- 

 each tooth of the tool go in to one of the cavities 

 left by the fingers, or pretty near there ; for the 

 prints of the long teeth along each tell exactly 

 where the spacing-tool should be pushed down. 

 You see. this makes the whole operation very 

 simple, and it is not any wonder at all to see 

 each box of plants look exactly like the one be- 

 low, when finished. 



A BOX OF WHITE PLUME CELERY-PLANTS AS 

 IT APPEARS WHEN FIRST TRANSPLANTED. 



As fast as one of the women fills a box like 

 the one shown above, she sets it on a broad 

 plank that extends out of the window, and 

 down an incline to the cloth-covered cold- 

 frames— the cold-frame I described in our last 

 issue; but I think a little further explanation 

 may come in right here. The beds are about 40" 

 feet long, which is a little shorter than our 

 own, which are .50 feet. Now, our beds are fill- 

 ed with soil; but these I am describing are not. 

 In fact, the soil is all shoveled out down to» 

 say, about a foot below the natural surface of 

 the ground, and a great part of it is piled in the 

 paths between the beds. This serves the 

 double purpose of keeping out frost when it is- 

 cold, and keeping the inside damp during very 

 hot weather. Then, about 10 inches from the 

 bottom of the bed, some stringers of scantling: 



