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GLEANmGS IN BEE CUlL'i'U^t. 



Dec. 



with the tinned tacks V Now, you may 

 think this is a simple question, but io is a 

 matter of no small moment. I tell you. Sup- 

 pose you have half a dozen different kinds 

 of strawl)erries in one row, to be tested. 

 Where will you put the stake V It can not 

 be in the middle of a dozen plants, be- 

 cause the stake ought to tell where one;kind 

 ends and another commences. If, however, 

 it is placed between two varieties, should it 

 describe the variety in front of the label, or 

 back of it ? Mr. Seth A. Bushnell, who has 

 spent almost a lifetime among plants and 

 fruits, originated, I believe, the plan we fol- 

 low, and he tells me that the great firm of 

 Storrs & Harrison, of Painesville, O., adopt 

 the same plan. It is simply this: Put down 

 your stake before you commence setting out 

 your strawberry-plants. Let the label face 

 you as you look at the stake, and let the 

 plants be set behind the stake. When you 

 have set all of that kind, pnsh another stake 

 in the ground, with the label facing you as 

 before, and set the plants back of the stake 

 MS before. I may say, right here, that the 

 stake illustrated above can be stamped into 

 almost any good ground Avith the heel of the 

 boot, deep enough to be secure. Now, then, 

 to our stakes and labels. W^hen you get to 

 the end of the row, turn right about and 

 come up on the next row, setting the stakes 

 before you as before, with the plantft tlie label 

 descrihes always hack of the stake. Just keep 

 doing this, and you will have no trouble, and 

 there will be no confusion. If, however, 

 you get up some plan of your own which 

 you think is simpler, you will eventually run 

 into trouble. I have tried it a good deal. 

 These stakes and labels will even answer 

 for potatoes. In hilling them up, if you 

 should cover your labels and stakes with 

 dirt, they can be plainly read Jjy washing 

 or rubbing the dirt off ; but any kind of pen- 

 cil or ink marks would be gone under the 

 influence of dirt and water. 



HOW TO AVOID VACANCIES. 



If one hill is missing, and other hills have 

 more plants than are needed, choose just the 

 right time after a rain, and transplant to 

 fill up; but don't plant some other crop if 

 you can avoid it. During the last season we 

 planted white beans where our sweet corn 

 failed. It was a bother to uncover the beans 

 when covered by the cultivator, and it was 

 a still harder one to gather the cro]). Two 

 very good boys went over the corn-field 

 tivice in order to get all the l)eans. But there 



are white beans now, dotting the ground, 

 that have droj^ped out of the dried-up split 

 pods. Had the beans been all in a patch by 

 themselves, the boys would have gathered 

 every pod ; but scattered among the corn- 

 stubble, they could not see them, and I 

 don't know that I ever found a boy who 

 could. All these things should be taken 

 into consideration when planning our work. 

 Make it so plain and simple that you can 

 give orders to the different hands, almost 

 without the possibility of a mistake or mis- 

 understanding. Try in every possible way 

 to avoid having things so mixed up that an 

 old experienced man must be employed, in 

 place of a comparatively cheap boy who will 

 do almost as well if his work be so arranged 

 as to make it pleasant and easy for the little 

 fellow. 



By doing every thing decently and in or- 

 der, we make work pleasant and easy ; but 

 Avhere we go ahead without system, or regard 

 for consequences, the way is open for mis- 

 understandings and fault-finding, and dis- 

 putes in regard to whose fault it was that 

 some accident happened. I expect, of 

 course, you will raise your own seeds to 

 some extent as soon as you can. How shall 

 they be put away and labeled? In the out- 

 set, I would decide upon some special room, 

 or part of a room, to be kept for seeds. Have 

 it labeled *' Seed-Room "" so there may be no 

 misunderstanding in regard to the locality, 

 when you send even a child there for some- 

 thing. Then I would have the seed-room 

 divided off into apartments, pigeon-holes, oi- 

 something of that sort, for each separate 

 kind of seed that yon decide to handle. 

 For peas, beans, and corn, and perhaps 

 some other bulky seeds, you will need a sort 

 of bin rather than a pigeon-hole. Over each 

 of these bins, have, in plain lai'ge letters, 

 "Peas," "Beans," " C^orn,'' etc. When 

 this is done each bin needs to be subdivided. 

 If you are going to have four kinds of corn, 

 and you can not well get along with a less 

 number, have these subdivisions plainly 

 labeled something as follows : Early Sweet 

 Corn, Late Sweet Corn, Field Corn, and 

 Pop Corn. Decide in this same way how 

 many kinds of peas you care to handle, and 

 have the pea-bin subdivided in the same 

 way. 1 think my choice of peas, after our 

 experience during the past season, would be 

 something like this: Extra^ Early Peas, 

 American Wonder, Stratagem, and York- 

 shire Hero. 



To he continued Jan. 15, 1887. 



