884 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. ir,. 



good, I sowed quite a lot of the seed from the 

 Department, and now the crop is getting to be 

 large enough to see what it is. I can say that, 

 in all my experience in lettuce-growing and 

 testing of varieties, I never saw a more good- 

 for-nothing, worthless sort of lettuce. Not over 

 ten per cent of it even resembles the Grand 

 Rapids, and the ninety per cent is a sort of mon- 

 grel variety which resembles the Yellow Dock 

 as much as any thing. The crop we have 

 grown from this seed will be almost worthless. 

 If Uncle yam makes a practice of sending out 

 such seed as this, it is no wonder the people are 

 finding fault with* the Seed Department. If the 

 second quality of seed sold by the seedsmen is 

 any thing like the Department seed, it would 

 be costly seed at any price; while the seed that 

 cost more, if as good as what Mr. Davis has 

 «ent out. would pay for itself in greenhouse 

 work at the price you originally paid for the 

 Grand Rapids. 



By the way, I have some of the plants grow- 

 ing side by side with the Department seed, from 

 seed which came from you last winter, and it is 

 as good Grand Rapids as one could expect to 

 grow in a greenhouse at this season of the year. 



The Grand Rapids lettuce always sports a 

 little. The half-pound of seed from which we 

 grew about .5000 lbs. of lettuce last winter shows 

 ■on an average about one poor plant to the hun- 

 dred, or not any more than that. 



We have a pound of new seed from you this 

 fall, and I must look up the bill: and if it is the 

 cheap seed I will not sow any more, but will 

 have some of the better seed ordered, for T have 

 just finished the first transplanting of about 

 3000 plants from the new seed, and that is sufti- 

 cient to try it. If you would like to have the 

 seed tested, please send some, although it will 

 take two or three months to tell. 



Wooster, O., Oct. is. E. C. Green. 



[I wish every agricultural and rural paper in 

 the land would copy what Prof. Green has to 

 say above in regard to Grand Rapids let- 

 tuce seed which the government has been send- 

 ing out. I first gave the Grand Rapids lettuce 

 seed to the world six years ago. After all this 

 time the government has finally woke up to the 

 fact that this lettuce seed is getting to be a 

 staple, and thereupon it sends out such stuff as 

 Prof. Green tested. It would be interesting to 

 find out where this seed was purchased, and 

 how it got into the hands of the government 

 seed department. Can anybody help us? Are 

 there some "Tammany Ring" transactions 

 that need holding up to daylight in this matter 

 of purchasing seeds for the government?] 



else), until July 10th. Now, if I had good seed 

 I believe I could make a good thing raising 

 Freeman potatoes planted in July. Of course, I 

 might take new potatoes, growing two crops in 

 a season; but there is much difficulty in get- 

 ting the new potatoes to sprout and secure an 

 even stand. Sprouting them flrst, and plant- 

 ing only those that have started, would make a 

 sure thing of it. These potatoes, dug this late, 

 will, of course, keep very much belter than 

 those taken out of the ground two months or 

 more earlier. 



A PEBIODICAI. ON SI AKKET-GARDENING. 



I am rejoiced to know that we have finally a 

 periodical devoted exclusively to the interests 

 of the market-gardener and trucker. Price 

 fl.OO per year. Published monthly by the Mar- 

 ket Garden Co., Minneapolis, Minn. The single 

 specimen copy we have received is a bright and 

 handsome sheet, and promises to be full of 

 items of interest to this special class of people. 

 For years I have looked through our agricul- 

 tural papers, our periodicals for florists, as well 

 as those devoted to gardening, just to glean out 

 what I could find here and there from practical 

 market-gardeners, and those who raise garden- 

 stuff by the acre for the markets of our great 

 cities. I have been expecting, year after year, 

 that we should find a periodical devoted entire- 

 ly to this class of people. We hope it may have 

 a generous support. We take the liberty of 

 offering it with a club for (Ji.eanings for #1.7.5 

 for the two. 



OUR LATE-PLANTED FKEEMANS. 



Those planted the lOth of July, that I have 

 told you about, were killed by frost Tuesday 

 night, Oct. 0. After the vines had got dry, so 

 that the substance had all gone into the pota- 

 toes so far as it would, the boys dug them and 

 got about 40 bushels of the finest Freemans we 

 •ever raised; and they were on our rich market- 

 garden ground, so that they had been heavily 

 dosed with manure, and yet there was not a bit 

 of scab or blemish, scarcely, on one of them. 

 The potatoes came right up, and the vines 

 grew bright and green, without any mutilation 

 by bugs, flea-beetles, blight, or any thing of the 

 sort. A basketful of the large ones were about 

 the finest I ever saw. A part of the ground 

 was where I raised those great White Pearl 

 onions, and the other part was where straw- 

 berries were turned under. There would have 

 been a much larger yield, but the seed was very 

 poor, and nearly half of it failed to come up. 

 You see, it is a pretty hard matter to keep po- 

 tatoes in good order for planting (or any thing 



BUSINESS^ 



ANACER 



Only 3 weeks moi'e in wliich to secure the 5 per 

 cent eiirly order discount. 



FLOKIDA BKANCH. 



Bee-keepers in Florida will be interested in know- 

 ing that we have made arrangements with A. F. 

 Brown, San Mateo, Fla., to keep quite a full line of 

 bee-keepers' supplies needed in that sec-tion. We 

 expect, soon after this number is mailed, to stait the 

 first carload. This will be followed a few weeks 

 later by a second cai'. We will mail circulars, with 

 full particulars and list of goods in stock, witliin a 

 week or ten days, to all addresses we have of Florida 

 bee-keepers. 



NEV.\DA HONEY. 



Of the carload of alfalfa honey from Bene, Nev., 

 which had just arrived as we went to press with 

 last issue, we have left less than 35 cases of extract- 

 ed, and some over li;ilf of t lie comb. We are able, 

 alst), to otler t-Atracted elover and basswood honey, 

 if any prefer, at the same price, which was as fol 

 lows: Extracted, in 60-lb. cans, 9c per lb. for single 

 can; 8'/4c per lb. for a case of 3 cans, or 8c per lb. 

 for 3 cases or more. Comb honey, less than 100 lbs., 

 16c; 100 lbs. or more, crated to carry safely by 

 freight, 15c. 



AlKUTE STOVE-MATS AT 5 CENTS. 



Since the stove-mat was introduced, a little over 

 two years ago, it has had a wonderful sale, and no 

 wonder; for if every one who has any thing to do on 

 a cook-stove knew what !i blessing these mats are, 

 the sale would have been still more wonderful. No 

 one who has used them enough to learn their ad- 

 vantage would think of being without. We have 

 thovight that the bottom liad been reached in price 

 several times; but it seems we were mistaken. We 

 are sure of it this time, however. The augite mat 

 which we have always handled is the original, and, 

 so far as our experiments have gone, it has contin- 

 ued to be by far the best mat made. The asbestos 

 used is much whiter, and superior in quality. It is 

 hard to convince dealers, however, that it is worth 



