1888 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



9o 



To destroy the green fly, or aphis, cover the 

 benches with tobacco dust. If on the plant, before 

 setting rinse the plant in tobacco water about the 

 color of strong tea. We usually fumigate the 

 houses twice a week, using three or four pounds 

 of stems to each thousand feet of glass. The ap- 

 paratus for that purpose is a round sheet-iron cyl- 

 inder a foot in diameter, with draft at the bottom. 



11. If your lettuce is not sold as soon as it 

 is mature in the greenhouses, how long will 

 it keep? and if not sold at all, when it ought 

 to be taken up, what will happen to it ? 

 Does it. ever run to seed in the greenhouse V 



It sometimes happens, after getting a crop grown, 

 that the price is not satisfactory or the sales are 

 slow, and it is desirable to lieep it until the mar- 

 ket improves. Use just enough water to keep it 

 from wilting, and keep the temperature just above 

 freezing, if late in the season. Give all the air you 

 can, day and night. It will run to seed if kept too 

 long. 



12. How much water does lettuce require, 

 and is it not bettei- to let the beds run until 

 they are dry enough to cultivate nicely; 

 that is, until we should call the ground 

 pretty dry in open air ? I am inclined to 

 think that rot is often caused by too much 

 dampness. Do you think so V 



It is important to know when to water the beds 

 and when not to; not so much so when the plants 

 are small as after they cover the ground. The best 

 way to tell then Is to put your hand in the soil; and 

 if it feels damp and cold, and packs in your hand it 

 is wet enough; if dry and crumbly, give it water, 

 and do not water any more until the soil is in the 

 same condition. Rot is often caused by watering 

 too much and not giving air enough. 



13. How often do you think it needful to 

 ventilate the house thoroughly; that is. 



when the weather is so cold that the ven- 

 tilators can not well be opened ? If I keep 

 the temperature oO degrees at night, and 

 about 70 degrees in the day time, is there 

 any need of a change of air, say for a week 

 or ten days V I suppose most greenhouses 

 admit more or less air, but suppose we 

 had one made very tight in order to save 

 fuel. Again, suppose we have warm spells 

 in winter, so there is no frost in the air or 

 in the ground, would you advise opening all 

 the doors and ventilators so as to let the air 

 circulate for a while during the day ; that 

 is, providing the outside air is between .50 

 and 60 degrees ? We frequently have such 

 weather here, even during the winter 

 months. 



Whenever the temperature is above 70 or 75 de- 

 grees in the house it is well to give some air. Oc- 

 casionally in winter there will be damp foggy 

 weather, when the air in the houses feels close; you 

 can't breathe well, neither can the plants. Open 

 the ventilators and give the house a good airing. 

 There is no need of a change of air unless it gets 

 close and uncomfortable. Whenever you can work 

 in the houses in comfort, that is the right tempera- 

 ture to keep the plants healthy and growing. 



When growing a ci-op to sell by the pound, set 

 the plants six inches each way. In twelve weeks it 

 will average half a pound each. To sell by the 

 dozen, five inches will be sufiicient. 



After the plants are set, keep them growing. 

 Any sudden check, such as drenching with cold 

 water, or too gi-eat a change in the temperature, 

 will be apt to bring on disease. Finally, the bet- 

 ter care and attention given the crop, the better 

 success you will have. Eugene Davis. 



Grand Rapids, Mich., Jan. 10, 1888. 



CHAPTER XLV. 



Whosoever will be chief among yon, let him be your servant.— Matt. 20: 27. 



I have just returned from a three-days' 

 session of the N. Y. State Bee-keepers' Con- 

 vention, held at Utica. During those three 

 days, for the first time in my life I put up at 

 a hotel where they charge $4.00 a day for 

 board and lodging. Perhaps some of our 

 readers may smile at what I am going to 

 say in this chapter ; but 1 am writing for 

 those who are inexperienced in this matter, 

 like myself. And, by the way, I shall not 

 be surprised if some of the young gardeners 

 and young bee-keepers inquire if it is not a 

 pretty big joke to advise those who liave 

 been looking for something to do, and tell- 

 ing them how to be happy in doing it, tt) go 

 and board at a four-dollar-a-day hotel. My 



friends, I do not mean to advise anybody to 

 put up at such an expensive house — tliat is, 

 generally speaking; and I wish to say to 

 you that I expect to live, and prefer to live, 

 all my life, right among people who are 

 working for their daily bread, and earning, 

 say, from one dollar to two dollars a day. I 

 do not believe in paying out for one day's 

 board and lodging more than you can earn 

 in tliree days of hard work ; but for all this, 

 there are some morals and some valuable 

 and practical lessons to be learned in study- 

 ing oiu- great hotels. When J first saw by 

 the programme that the bee-keepers were to 

 put up at so expensive a house, I thought 

 the managers had made a mistake, and I 



