633 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 1. 



even the nitrate of soda, seems to be very much 

 needed on our Ohio clay soils. Prof. Green, or 

 somebody else, told me there was potash 

 enough on our clay farms to meet all demands, 

 even with constant cropping, for years to come; 

 and this I have pretty well demonstrated on 

 ray own ground. Even hard-wood ashes do not 

 seem to be of much account. On ihelowmucli 

 lands of Ohio, however, where there is a great 

 surplus of vegetable humus, the whole thing 

 seems to be changed, and ashes may be applied 

 in almost any quantity, with beneficial re- 

 sults. 



I was greatly interested in looking at differ- 

 ent kindsof newsmall fruits— gooseberries, cur- 

 rants, raspberries, etc. P'or the first time I saw 

 some bushes of the Crandall currant loaded 

 with fruit; but on our ground a clump of bush- 

 es now higher than my head, and perhaps six 

 feet across, have never given a handful of 

 fruit all together in the past five years. Some 

 of the Crandall currants bear fruit and others 

 do not. The Success Juneberry was also loaded 

 with green berries; and we agreed that it was 

 a " success " indeed. The birds are so fond of 

 the fruit, when they discover it, that you will 

 have to tight for your berries. We got just one 

 picking from our bushes at home before the 

 birds had a taste of them. They are large and 

 luscious, and even more beautiful than hucl\ie- 

 berries; and if we can fence oil' the birds, or 

 have a plantation large enough so the birds 

 can not consume all of them, they can surely 

 be raised as cheaply as currants. There were 

 many other new fruits that are advertised in 

 the catalogs; but none that I remember of 

 that our station is as yet ready to recom- 

 mend. 



Of course, they are testing the Gault rasp- 

 berry. A dozen plants there looked much like 

 mine at home, except that mine have made a 

 much better growth. The Experiment Farm, 

 you see. does not propose to manure things to 

 the extent we do on our rich creek-bottom 

 ground. Since that visit, friend (Ireen and my- 

 self have paid Mr. Gault a visit. His first crop 

 of Gault raspberries was wonderfully large and 

 fine. Prof. Green suggests, however, that the 

 late crop will probably depend a good deal on 

 the thorough cultivation and care given by Mr. 

 Oanlt; and, again, even though one succeeds in 

 producing a big crop of superior raspberries all 

 along through the fall, will people care so very 

 much about them when they have peaches, 

 pears, grapes, and fruits of all kinds in such 

 abundance '.' This remains to ha seen. 



At this last visit at friend Gault's, when it 

 was time for the train to leave I was not ready 

 logo; so I look my chance of riding home on 

 the wheel. When I was ready to start, it was 

 ;.'() minutes after 4; l)ut I made the 32 miles be- 

 fore dark, and greatly enjoyed it. Hy the way, 

 these long trips on the wheel have given me an 

 excellent opportunity of testing the sustaining 

 power of different articles of diet; arid I take 

 pleasure in saying that I still find there is 

 nothing equal to milk. Much has been saidin 

 regard to beefsteak. As a test, I paid 35 cts. 

 for a good-sized porterhouse steak, and man- 

 aged to consume it all before I started on my 

 30-mile trip. My strength gave out when only 

 half way home; and I reinforced it with some 

 crackers and cheese. At another time I made 

 30 miles easily with nothing but crackers and 

 milk, with some nice apple-sauce made from Red 

 Astrakhan apples. The apple-sauce helped to 

 make up a '" balanced ration." The crackers I 

 prefer are what are termed " flakes." (xive me 

 plenty of these with sauce made of nice apples, 

 rather tart, and a good-siz^d pitcher of milk, 

 and I am good for .30 miles or more, whether it 

 be morning, noon, or night. 



KASPBERRIES — A T.ETTER FKOM PKOF. GKANNIS. 



Being invited by my friend A. I. Root to give 

 some of my experience in raspberry culture I 

 send the following: 



About eight years ago I bought 3000 Gregg 

 plants, and set them on low, black, rich bot- 

 tom land. The plants grew with great vigor, 

 but bore no berries. After three years, vainly 

 hoping and working, the piece was plowed up, 

 and a humiliating failure recorded; but enough 

 plants were saved to set a side-hill of poor soil 

 — clay and gravel mixed — about an acre. When 

 these were one year old they gave us a crop of 

 about 1.5 bushels of large, beautiful berries. 

 We had no trouble to sell them at 8 cts. per 

 quart. The next year we sold about $U0 worth, 

 and the third year $130 worth from the one 

 acre. By this time the neighbors had found 

 that Gregg raspberries at 8 cts. per quart were 

 about the cheapest fruit they could buy, and 

 the demand kept ahead of the supply. In fact, 

 the greatest trouble we had was to keep the 

 peace, as there were four times as many buyers 

 as berries. Being a schoolteacher, and not 

 used to farming. I had made a failure of almost 

 every thing, and was getting deeper in debt all 

 the time. One hundred and thirty dollars from 

 one acre opened my eyes, and I set two acres 

 more, and began to experiment with other va- 

 rieties. As the crop increased, the demand in- 

 creased; and the number of the disappointed 

 ones was so great that I vowed I would supply 

 the home demand or perish in the attempt. 

 That vow has been faithfully kept, and I now 

 have K) acres of raspberries set out, and all are 

 doing well, with hardly a trace of anthracnose 

 or any other disease. This year we picked and 

 sold 40 bushels in one day, bringing us nearly 

 *100. On that day we sold 25 bushels at the 

 field at $3.50 a bushel, and the rest were sold in 

 adjoining towns, without any trouble or worry. 



I have always had the fear that I could not 

 sell the berries if I raised them. One of my 

 neighbors said I was ruining my farm, and he 

 would prosecute any one who would set his 

 fields to brambles. He is now harvesting about 

 40 acres of 48-cent wheat, and says no more 

 against brambles. 



The varieties that do me the most good are, 

 first, Gregg for late, and Hilborn for early. 

 The Tyler (or Souhegan) and I'almer are very 

 much alike, growing low and sprawling, and 

 are most affected by anthracnose; while th^ 

 Hilborn, with me, is entirely free — a tall, vig- 

 orous grower, and enormous yielder of berries, 

 next to the Gregg in firmness. 



We picked our first picking from the thi'ee 

 above-named early varieties on the same day, 

 although a few Palmer and Tyler berries ripen- 

 ed a day or two first. 



The great question. " Can farming be made 

 to pay ?'■ is settled for me in the alifirmative; 

 and the wolves that once howled at the door 

 have taken their departure. 1 want to state 

 here, that some of the courage and inspiration 

 came to me from visiting the home of A. I. 

 Root, and seeing the success he was having, 

 and the good he was doing in making work for 

 so many, and in furnishing fresh, health-giv- 

 ing fruit to Medina. May his prosperity con- 

 tinue. 



I now have out one acre of strawberries, one 

 acre of currants, one and a half of blackberries, 

 and .sixteen of raspberries. The work of caring 

 for them is very light, and to me, very pleasant. 



