476 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 1. 



are opening, making' four applications; and after 

 the grapes are half grown, substitute No. 3 for No. 

 1, and apply two or tliree times until the grapes are 

 nearly ripe. 



For currants and gooseberries, use No. 3 to pre- 

 vent mildew of the foliage, and No. 6 to destroy the 

 "worms. 



For cabbage- worms, use No. 6. 



For potato-bliglit and the Colorado beetle, use No. 

 1 and No. 4 combined, making tlie first application 

 "when the plants are not more than six inclies liigh, 

 :and continuing at intervals of ten days or two 

 weeks, until the tops are nearly full grown. Not 

 less than five sprayings should be made during the 

 season. 



To prevent the potato-scab, soak the seed one hour 

 in No. 7. 



For plant-lice use No. 8, beginning before the lice 

 become very numerous. 



For rose mildew, use No. 1 or No. 3, and for slugs 

 No. 5. 



Numbers 1 and 4 together are used, perhaps, 

 more than any other. Instead of measuring 

 out 40 gallons of water we simply take a kero- 

 sene-oil barrel which holds between 40 and 50 

 gallons. Of course, 50 gallons would answer as 

 well, practically, as 40. The Paris green or 

 London purple is dissolved in a little water, in 

 the usual way, and then added to the barrelful 

 of Bordeaux mixture. For cabbage-worms, for 

 the currant and gooseberry worm, and even for 

 the Colorado beetle, in gardens, I think I would 

 use No. (5; and when you are in a hurry, or only 

 a little is needed, a little of the dry pyrethrum 

 powder, put on with any small powder-bellows, 

 seems to go a good deal further in killing these 

 <lestroyers than any thing else I ever got hold 

 of. The pyrethrum. however, should be fresh, 

 and kept in an air-tight can or bottle. Either 

 the hellebore powder we have been getting was 

 not of full strength, or else the pyrethrum goes 

 a great way further than hellebore. 



"WOODEN SASHES TO TAKE THE PLACE OF 

 SHUTTERS. 



I saw in a late Gleanings your quandary 

 about not having sashes enough to protect your 

 hardy cabbage-plants from which you had 

 taken the sash. Here our truckers carry their 

 cabbage-plants in frames, and in place of sash 

 use battened boards the siz'- of sash. In very 

 cold weather they are down; but in any kind 

 of ordinary weather they are raisi^d and propped 

 up quite high during the day. (3f course, they 

 face the south. They get the full benefit of the 

 sun while the battened boards protect from the 

 north. How this would do in your latitude for 

 all winter, experiment alone could tell. I think 

 the risk would be loo great. My object in tell- 

 ing you of this is to suggest the idea of provid- 

 ing a lot of battens to supply the place of sash 

 AvheTi removed to other frames. They are 

 cheaper than sash, no glass to break, and read- 

 ily stored away when not in use. 



Pawling, Pa.. May 8. Rev. J. Janeway. 



[Friend J., we have used shutters in p^ace of 

 sashes quite a good deal; and for temporary 

 protection they answer just as well. They are 

 a good deal lighter, and sustain no damage from 

 breakage, as you say. For raising sweet-potato 

 plants, I think shutters answer every purpose. 

 Where we have long spells of cold weather, 

 however, in our locality, the plants are liable to 

 be damaged unless great pains are taken to give 

 them air by raising the shutters. In fact, I 

 have had plants killed under shutters where 

 they were all right in the same bed covered 

 with glass, both shutters and glass receiving 

 the same handling. Notwithstanding this, 

 however, we find 40 or .50 shutters very conven- 

 ient indeed; but they need to be absolutely 

 tight and complete, or else they do not protect 

 from frost properly. It has been quite a study 



for me at different times to decide how best to 

 have them made, and I have finally decided on 

 K-inch matched pine lumber, having three 

 battens — one near each end and one in the mid- 

 dle, the battens also being 3^ inch, and these 

 should be very securely fastened, either by 

 screws or clinch-nails. In transplanting dur- 

 ing hot dry weather, they serve an excellent 

 purpose for covering the plants until they have 

 formed sufficient root to bear the direct rays of 

 the sun.— Ed. J 



water-cress and artesian wells. 



Water-cress grows in the ditch running from 

 my artesian well. I could get a mess of it at 

 any time during the winter; and I suppose if 

 it had been covered with sash there would have 

 been plenty of it. So far I have found no sale 

 for it at the stores. J. A. Green. 



Ottawa, 111., May 5. 



[Very good, friend Green; and this is an- 

 other valuable feature connected with artesian 

 wells. By the way, I have an artesian well 

 down on the creek bottom, but it rises only 

 about a foot and a half above the normal 

 water-level of the creek; that is, it overflows 

 an iron pipe about that height. If I put on 

 more pipe and raise it very much higher, it 

 stops running. The trouble with my artesian 

 well for water-cress is, when we have a big 

 rain the creek rises away above the iron pipe, 

 and washes away the water-cress and my other 

 improvements. I think that, if your cress were 

 properly introduced in the large towns, there 

 would be a steady and profitable demand for it. 

 — Ed.J 



what variety of strawberries shall we 

 USE for a fertilizer? 



In addition to what comes from our Experi- 

 ment Station, on page 404, we have the follow- 

 ing: 



We have long since discarded the Jessie on 

 account of its shy bearing. I would advise the 

 Cumberland as far better, in my experience. 

 Of the new sorts, I am trying the Lovett, which 

 promises to be even more fruitful than the 

 Cumberland. E. M. Buechly. 



Greenville, O., May 11. 



The Governor Hoard is, in my opinion, far 

 superioi". The stamens in it are better developed 

 than in the Jessie. The growth of it is not sur- 

 passed by any other kind, it being of much 

 morei vigorous growth than the Jessie. The 

 latter is always of irregular growth; too many 

 dwarfed plants in the best of land and with 

 perfect attention. The Gov. Hoard is one of 

 the earliest to commence blooming, and one of 

 the last to stop. I have today a dozen or more 

 kinds, with ripe fruit, and have a fine selection 

 of strawberries, and have but one kind with 

 more bloom than the (Jov. Hoard; viz., E. P. 

 Roe. I have just looked through the whole of 

 them (several acres). It has more blossoms 

 than any other that I have ever fruited, and 

 comes nearer being a perfect fertilizer. Here- 

 tofore I have generally planted 2 rows of stami- 

 nate and 4 of pistillate. In future I will try 

 one Gov. Hoard and 4 pistillate. I am satisfied 

 that all pistillates will be well fertilized thus. 

 Please do not recommend Michel's Early for 

 any purpose, as it is fit only to make fine largo 

 crowns and runners. The Gov. Hoard will 

 fruit the earliest and latest pistillates. 



Design, Va., May 5. R. J. Jones. 



strawberries by the carload. 

 Tell A. I. that this town, Dighton, produces 

 enough strawberries to have a special train, 

 every night, in the picking season, and some- 



