1888 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



705 



the side of the rye land, and each planted at the 

 same time, and fertilized in the hill with raw ground 

 bone. The same is true of the cotton, each being 

 treated alike, and side by side. All is on sandy soil. 

 I am doing considerable farming for a gween-breeder, 

 this season. I have 13 acres in corn and 9 acres in 

 cotton, besides numerous "e.xperimental " patches. 

 If you could pass this way I could treat you to some 

 watermelons that are eatable, and not tough and 

 stringy, as the market melons usually are, from be- 

 ing fertilized with a commercial fertilizer. 

 Goldsboro, N. C. Abbott L. Swinson. 



Friend S., I shovildn''t wonder if yon had 

 got hold of something very vahiable. The 

 seven-top tnrnip winters over withont a 

 bit of trouble. In fact, our ground has got 

 so seeded with them that they are a bad 

 weed. They will start up during this pres- 

 ent month of September, and make a most 

 astonishing growth, come into winter stout 

 and strong, and furnish greens in the spring, 

 before any thing else has thought of grow- 

 ing. A good many times 1 have pulled the 

 great roots, and whittled off the peel to see 

 if there was not something turnip-like about 

 them, but found only a slight turnip flavor, 

 with a small, tough, weedy root. Now, by 

 crossing you may have the great endurance 

 of the seven-top turnip and the bulb and 

 edible quality of the Norfolk Globe. 1 will 

 explain to our readers, that the seeds were 

 sown about the middle of August. I have 

 now just begim to hoe and thin them out, 

 making a nice stand. — In regard to the rye, 

 I have had the same experience as your own, 

 when I let it get so tall as to show the straw ; 

 but where we plowed it under when only 

 knee high, so as to resemble a heavy growth 

 of grass, the effect was quite different.— 

 Thanks for the invitation to come and eat 

 watermelon ; but we have some raised right 

 here on the creek-bottom ground which we 

 think are equal to any in the world. 



PARIS GBEEN, LONDON PURPLE, SLUG-SHOT, ETC.; 

 IS IT DANGEROUS TO tTSE THEM? 



Prof. Ooofc:— What is Paris green, London purple, 

 and Hammond's slug-shot? I saw in a plant and 

 seed catalogue the other day, where the editor of a 

 bee-paper said slug-shot is so harmless it could be 

 used for tooth-powder, if you choose. I think any 

 thing so harmless it could be usi'd for tooth-powder 

 would be of little use as an insecticide. Please an- 

 swer, through Gleanings. Geo. E. Cressler. 



Shippensburg, Pa., Aug. 2i. 



Prof. Cook answers as follows : 



Mr. Cressler:— Paris green is arsenite of copper. 

 It is very poisonous— so much so that, when mixed 

 1 lb. to 300 gallons of water, or 1 lb. to 75 lbs. of plas- 

 ter, it is very efficient to destroy any insect that 

 may eat it. London purple is arsenite of lime. It 

 is produced by the great Hemingway Manufacturing 

 Co., of London, in the production of aniline dyes. 

 Formerly it was thrown as waste into the ocean. 

 Though it is said to be a little less poisonous than 

 is Paris green, it is practically as fatal to insects. I 

 like it better, as it mixes easier with water, and 

 stays mixed longer. It can also be reduced by mix- 

 ing with plaster and Hour, even to one part in a 

 hundred, and yet be terribly insecticidal. Slug-shot 

 is simply arsenic reduced by plaster, and sold at an 

 enormous profit. Why not use London purple, do 



our own mixing, and make the profit ourselves? I 

 would never buy any of tUese indefinite compounds. 

 They cover too much of fraud and adulteration. 

 Agricultural College, Mich. A. J. Cook. 



It is true, that we in our seed catalogue say 

 that slug-shot may be used for tooth-powder, 

 and I have repeatedly tried it when using it 

 to kill cabbage- worms ; but the quantity of 

 arsenic contained in slug-shot is so small I 

 do not think there is any danger in applying 

 it to almost any kind of vegetables. It does, 

 however, leave an acrid, unpleasant taste in 

 the mouth, indicating its poisonous proper- 

 ty. I have noticed, also, that, where it is 

 applied with the naked hand, if it gets 

 into a bruise or cut, the effect is decidedly 

 unpleasant. When applying it with the pow- 

 der-bellows, if you happen to stand so the 

 wind will blow it in your face, you will soon 

 find it unpleasant to breathe the dust. Now, 

 I presume it is very likely true that each 

 individual could buy his own arsenic and 

 plaster (or some similar substance), and mix 

 them for himself cheaper than to purchase 

 the slug-shot ; that is, if he needed any con- 

 siderable quantity — 50 lbs. or more; but 

 where only a few pounds are needed, I 

 should prefer to purchase it ready made, of 

 just the requisite strength If I am not 

 mistaken, it is quite a difficult matter to 

 mix the poison and plaster very thoroughly 

 without the use of machinery, and friend 

 Hammond has the machinery. I have had 

 some unpleasant experience in having poi- 

 sons mixed too strong, and I should prefer to 

 pay a little better price to have it done just 

 right. 



REPORT FROM THE " GRAND RAPIDS " LETTUCE. 



Last spring I bought two .5-cent papers of Grand 

 Rapids lettuce of you; planted it in hot-bed early 

 in April; transplanted in cold-frame, and then to 

 open ground one foot in row, two feet between 

 rows, and now it nearly covers the ground, touch- 

 ing each other in the row with just enough room 

 between the rows to walk, placing one foot in front 

 of the other, and this, too, on clay ground without 

 extra manuring. In fact, it had no fertilizer of any 

 kind on it this season. 



1 have 160 fine heads just beginning to send up 

 seed-stalks. There were a few sports in the lot, but 

 only two that would be noticed unless examined 

 very carefully. As [ am growing it expressly for 

 seed, I pulled every one that I thought was not 

 true. S. W. Pike. 



St. Charles, 111., July .5, 1888. 



A MIRACLE IN NATURE. 



I have lived on the same farm over 27 years. 

 There is a currant bush near the hou.se, standing 

 alone; it has borne common red currants until this 

 year, when it hung full of nice large white ones. 

 We have neither cultivated it nor fertilized it in any 

 way, thinking it was old enough to die. Please give 

 a scientific explanation. Mrs. L. Lawrence. 



Wayland, N. Y., Aug. 34, 1888. 



You have indeed given us somt^hing 

 very wonderful, my good friend. Pcihaiis 

 Prof. Cook or some of the rest of our scien- 

 tilic men can tell us if such a tiling has 

 happened l)efore. My explanation of it, 

 from wliat I know of currants and their 

 habits, would be that somebody came in the 



