1894 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



took your last swallow before the taste came, 

 was it not? " 



Then I laughingly told him he had described 

 it exactly. 



No unpleasant effect followed, even if I did 

 drink so lavishly. 



Off to the northwest of the reservoir, the 

 derricks seemed still thicker; but although the 

 wells were all being pumped, the quantity of 

 oil secured is nothing to what it was a year or 

 two ago when this locality was first developed. 

 They get gas enough usually to run the engines, 

 sometimes supplementing it with crude oil, so 

 that there is no expense for fuel; and one engi- 

 neer not only pumps a great number of wells, 

 but he goes away and leaves his boilers and 

 engines for hours at a time. In fact, I saw ma- 

 chinery running at different points, where I 

 could not find anybody anywhere around. 

 They have an automatic feeding arrangement 

 for the water, so it becomes impossible for it to 

 get below the flues. Another automatic ar- 

 rangement shuts off the gas when the steam 

 pressure gets beyond a certain point. Some- 

 times one engine pumps one set of wells in the 

 forenoon and another set in the opposite direc- 

 tion in the afternoon, the managers having 

 found by experience that in this way they gpt 

 just as much oil and gas as where the wells are 

 pulled on continuously. 



To be Continued. 



LATHYRIS SILVESTRIS, ETC. 



Perhaps some of you are wondering whether 

 my enthusiasm was really so short-lived in 

 regard to this plant. Well, I have been waiting 

 to find out more about it. From what I had 

 read in regard toil. I confess I expected it to 

 make a little better headway during the severe 

 drouth: but perhaps I should have waited until 

 my plants were older and better established. 

 They grew some all through the drouth; but 

 since the abundant rains they have been doing 

 wonderfully. They are now so much crowded 

 in the seed-bed they ought to be planted out in 

 the field: but I am afraid they would hardly 

 make root enough to stand the frosts of winter; 

 therefore I propose to let them stand in the 

 seed-bed unprotected, and then put them out in 

 the field in the spring. I shall watch the plants 

 with much interest, tn see how they stand up 

 under zero freezes. By the way, is anybody 

 going to be able to furnish us one-year-old 

 plants next spring? Several new forage-plants 

 are coming forward, and I am watching scarlet 

 clover, that has b^en sown at different dates 

 during thi' fall, with much anxiety as to how it 

 will stand the winter, 



OUR POTATO CROP FOR 1894. 



Well, we have not dug them all; but a quar- 

 ter-acre the boys dug and put into the cellar 

 while I was off' on my wheel gave a little over 

 80 bushels. Considering the season. I feol pretty 

 well satisfied with th(^ result, especially since 

 visiting Chamberlain. Terry, and Wjlbur Fenn. 

 Not one of them has succeeded in getting any 

 thing near the yield, neither did any of them 

 ever put the quantity of stable manure on to so 

 small a piece of ground as I used. WpII, I have 

 received good pay for my manure. The pota- 

 toes were Early Puritan and Lee's Favorite. 

 By the way. I wonder if it is generally known 

 that some varieties are much more given to 



scab than others. The Early Ohio, for instance, 

 is terrible in this respect. Cousin Fenn says he 

 has always found it so: but the Rural New- 

 Yorker No. 2 is very seldom scabby, even when 

 other potatoes on the same ground are hadly 

 affected. Well, the Puritans are almost clean 

 and perfect; but Lee's Favorite are scabbed 

 quite badly. One row of Rural New-Yorkers, 

 right through the middle of the field, is also 

 almost entirely clean. To be honest, there is 

 one other thing I ought to say about getting 

 this big crop during such a poor season. I 

 planted whole potatoes, and many pretty good- 

 sized ones at tliat. I think I mentioned before 

 that these potatoes were cultivated only twice, 

 and never hoed at all — at least, I do not remem- 

 ber that they were ever hoed; but we went 

 over the ground with a smoothing-harrow 

 before they were up, once just as they were 

 coming up, and another time when they were 

 so high that it seemed as if it would tear them 

 all to pieces. Before planting them we turned 

 under a heavy growth of clover and timothy, 

 after covering the ground with manure besides. 



FREEMAN POTATOES. 



I planted one barrel of Freeman potatoes, a 

 few being frosted, which I got from you last 

 spring. After one of the dryest seasons ever 

 known in this section I harvested 109>^ bushels 

 of nice potatoes. I also planted some American 

 Wonder, which are still better. 



C. D. SWEATI.AND. 



Fredericktown, O., Sept. 2. 



AMERICAN PEARL ONIONS, ETC. 



The American Pearl has wintered through 

 with a loss of about ten per cent, and I consider 

 them to be next to the Evergreen in hardiness 

 and standing the weather. In an ordinary 

 winter I do not think there would be a loss of 

 one per cent. Silver Kings, planted the same 

 time, all winter-killed. I have tried English 

 Multipliers, potato and white-top set onions, 

 and I found it cost too much to grow the seed 

 to make anv profit from growing them. In the 

 future I will plant only the Pearl and Prize- 

 takers. Both are first-class, A No. 1. 



Eugene Davi.s. 



Grand Rapids, Mich., Apr. 30. 



a valuable hint in regard TO MULTIPLI- 

 ER ONIONS. 



We clip the following from the Practical 

 Farmer: 



HOW WE GROW WHITE MULTIPLIER ONIONS. 



We ])lant tlie onions in row.s 8 inclies apart, and 2 

 inciies apart in tlie rows, in Soiitpmhor and cover 

 lisrlitly over winter. By the middle of Marcli tliey 

 will he 3 or 3 indies liig-h, and ahont as thick as a 

 lead pencil, with a hiar buncli of roots. Then we dig- 

 tliem. knock otf the dirt, divide the plants, and set 

 them sinfrly, in rows 14 inches apart, 4 inches apart 

 in the row. Every onion will make a g-ood larg-e 

 salable hulb. Wp thus g'ain a year's time, and 

 g-row large bulbs instead of small ones that are fit 

 only for T)ickles. We can use ours for bundling- 

 very early. Minnie Uttebage. 



Evansville, Ind. 



From what experience I have had with the 

 White Multipliers during the pa«t year. I feel 

 sure that the above will prove to be a valuable 

 suggestion. I tried planting a few in our 

 greenhou-e. and tln^y soon divided up, making 

 a large number of onion-plants from a single 

 onion. These were then planted out in the 

 open air, and they made good-sized onions. In 

 this way one could increase the stock very 

 rapidly. 



