516 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 15. 



how to support a family ox one- fourth 

 acre; a glimpse of one corner 

 OF that quarter-acre as it 

 appeared may ](J. 



May be you will think, from the picture ad- 

 joining, that it is a pretty good-sized " family." 

 Well, 1 am glad it is; and I am glad, too, that 

 the pro!;pecls are just now that Ihoy are going 

 to be supported quite comfortably. Perhaps I 

 might remark that the greater part of them 

 are the boys of my Sunday-school class. They 

 are at work on the last end of a bed of Prize- 

 taker onion-plants, putting up an order that 

 came all the way from Minnesota, for 100,000 

 plants. The price received was $57.5.00, and, as 

 nearly as I can make out, the 100,000 occupied 

 just about the space of one of those 50-foot beds 

 —beds .50 feet long and feet wide. And this 

 is for a single crop, mind you. The seed was 

 sown March 14. Of course, there was consider- 

 able labor in handling the sashes, and there 

 was the expense of, say, two or three pounds of 

 Prizetaker onion seed at $2.25 per lb., and the 

 cost of taking the plants up. The 10 boys you 

 see in the picture would put up the whole of 

 them in about 10 hours. This would be at the 

 rate of 1000 plants an hour for each boy, or 10 

 bunches of 100 plants each ; (3 minutes for 

 counting out 100 plants, putting a slip of oiled 

 paper around the bunch, and a rubber band 

 over the paper. The boy with a straw hat on, 

 near the center of the group, has a bunch of 100 

 in his hands. You can see the white roots— 

 that is, if the artist gets his half-tone picture 

 clear enough in detail. I should not forget to 

 mention that, before we had so much rain, 

 keeping the plants well watered was quite a 

 little item of expense. The water is furnished 

 by the windmill and tank on the hill; and 

 before going further I want to say that Ernest 

 succeeded in getting about the brightest and 

 sharpest — especially sharpest in detail— photo- 

 graph of garden-plants that I have ever seen. 

 As I look at the picture my lield of rye stands 

 out so sharp and clear that almost every head 

 is visible. Last year I had 40 bushels per acre 

 on that same ground. You may ask what kind 

 of farming I am at, in having rye on the same 

 ground again. Well, there is a crop of clover 

 down under the rye, that you do not see; and 

 the reason why we have rye again is that, in 

 spite of all I could do. enough grain was scat- 

 tered through the clover to make the stand you 

 see in the picture. I wanted the clover to grow 

 another season, so I just let the rye and clover 

 grow together. In a few days the rye will 

 come off and the clover will hold sway. Tlio 

 vacant spot on the right-hand side is where the 

 former owner started to make an alley through 

 the lot by letting the townspeople draw away 

 the dirt. When I got possession I stopped the 

 alley bu.siness. But they took off the top soil 

 to such an extent that I have not got the clover 

 to catch in the hard clay as yet. The beautiful 

 thrifty foliage just below the rye is our Palmer 

 raspberries. They are now bending with their 

 loads of bloom, and the hum of the golden 

 Italians among the blossoms is indeed inspiring. 

 This side of the raspberries are four rows of 

 strawberries; and next to the strawberries are 

 my dozen rows of rhubarb that I told you about, 

 mulched with stable manure. Then comes a 

 row of grapevines; then tomatoes and cucum- 

 bers, and finally we come to the i)lant-beds. If 

 you look sharp you will see a load of stable 



manure adjoining the roadway. During the 

 heavy rains the juice from this heap of stable 

 manure has made the ground dark and rich 

 along the .ditch at the end of the plant-beds. 

 The lirst bed contains cabbage-plants on the 

 right hand, and smaller cabbage-plants, just 

 put out. on the left-hand end. In the picture 

 you get a glimpse of three or four large boxes 

 in different positions. These are slipped over 

 our piles of sash when the sash are piled up at 

 the end of the beds. They protect the sash 

 from the weather, make them secure in case of 

 hail during the sumnu-r time; also secure from 

 small boys who might be throwing stones at 

 such times. The box turned on its side back of 

 the boys is set up in that way to shade the 

 plants while they are being packed. Ernest 

 says it was a big mistake in not having it down 

 flat when the picture was taken, as it shades 

 the boys' faces too much. The next bed con- 

 tains four different kinds of tomato-plants. 

 These different varieties are separated by strips 

 of wood. They are ready to send off. Then 

 comes another bed of cabbage-plants, and then 

 one of VViiite Victoria onions large enough to 

 pull for bunch onions. In fact, some of them 

 are now larger than hens' eggs. 



I have not figured up how much money we 

 get from a bed of bunch onions; but at 5 cts. 

 for a bunch containing 1 lb. of onions, tops and 

 all, it foots up pretty well, especially if you 

 keep pulling out the largest and then waiting a 

 little for the others to grow. In doing this you 

 can plant them quite thickly, say rows 4 inches 

 apart and onions 2 inches apart in the row. 



We now come to the bed where the boys are 

 at work. Of course, with such a crowd there 

 needs to be a boss; and the young boss you will 

 see at the left-hand side. Frank has been with 

 me so long that he has almost grown into the 

 business. He is so industrious that it is hard 

 work for me to explain to him that, when he is 

 looking afternme boys, he should not under- 

 take to do any other work himself. For in- 

 stance, the boss should be sure the plants are 

 kept soaked with water, with the rubber hose 

 and sprinkler; then he should see that the boys 

 put up their bundles neatly, without smashing 

 or wasting the onions; that they should not get 

 crowded together, trampling their tools, etc., 

 under foot. Then he must provide slips of oiled 

 paper, rubber bands, moss for packing, and 

 baskets. I tell you. it would keep 7ne busy to 

 have nine such boys work to the best advan- 

 tage, and save unnecessary motions. The bed 

 in the foreground contains small cabbage-plants 

 at the left end. Next is a cluster of beet-plants 

 that are getting too large for their territory; 

 then some more cabbage-plants, and finally a 

 dozen or more beautiful Dwarf Champion to- 

 mato-plants, in bloom; and just beyond the 

 tomato-plants you get a glimpse of a single hill 

 of potatoes grown in our rich plant-garden soil. 

 1 iliink very likely all this mass of foliage came 

 Irom a single volunteer potato. When a frost 

 threatened night before last, it took one of 

 those big boxes to cover that single hill of po- 

 tatoes. Just think of it— a hill of potatoes so 

 large in the middle of Mav that it takes a box 

 01^x33.2x2 feet high to cover it! On the extreme 

 right of the picture you catch a glimpse of our 

 tile-yard, close by the railroad track; also a 

 corner of the coal office. Y'es, and there is that 

 mud-puddle, full of water, that I have been 

 piling' cobblestones into for two or three years. 

 The traffic of the heavy loads of tile and coal 

 keeps cutting into the mud.* Last, but not 



*The very spot whei'e those boys are now at work, 

 and the p round tliiits i.s now covered witli such valu- 

 al)le crops and luxuriant vt'ficlatioii. was for years 

 an uiisiKhtlv mud-liolc, occupird with all sorts of 

 old rubbisli, weeds, tin boilers, old boots and shoes, 



