706 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 



night and dug your currant-hush up, putting 

 a white currant in place of it, and did it so 

 skillfully you never knew the difference. 

 This, I grant you, is very improbable indeed, 

 but it is among the possibilities. 



SEED-RAISING. 



Although so much has been .said about 

 the importance of good, pure, true seed, no- 

 body seems to realize yet the great need of 

 accurate, careful, and" honest seed-growers. 

 When we come to buy our seeds we find 

 ourselves obliged to pay the highest prices 

 for the most desirable and latest kinds, and 

 yet few people are found willing to take the 

 necessary care and pains to give the public 

 just what they want. You may remember 

 my talk about Stratagem peas and German 

 wax beans. Just now a letter is before me, 

 asking for from 10 to 15 pounds of Louisville 

 drumhead cabbage-seed. The Maiter says 

 that, before he purchases, he must have 

 positive knowledge of who grew it. It does 

 not pay to take risks in such a matter as 

 this. A great many of our large seed-grow- 

 ers employ careful, painstaking men to 

 grow their seeds for them— one kind of seed 

 on one farm and another kind on another, 

 to be absolutely sure that there can be no 

 mixture. Below is a letter from a friend 

 who bought quite liberally of the Grand 

 Rapids lettuce : 



Mr. A. I. Root:~l bought of you two lots of the 

 Gi-and Rapids lettuce-seed. I started it in the 

 greenhouse, transplanted to open ground, and 

 pulled out all plants that varied in the least from 

 the general appearance, aod I now have 16 rods of 

 very fine seed just ripening. I write this to know 

 if you wish to buy; and if so, what would you pay 

 per pound? I don't expect $100. No other lettuce- 

 seed is grown here, so it is absolutely pure. 



Flint, Mich., Aug. 11, 1888. J. L. Wilcox. 



Well, I have offered our friend over $-50.00 

 for the seed he raised on 16 rods of ground. 



He was smart enough to take advantage 

 of the hint 1 gave last winter, that there 

 would be a great demand for the seed in the 

 spring of 18S9, and he therefore purchased i 

 ounce of the seed of us at 75 cts. It was 

 carefully started in the greenhouse, with 

 the view of gettiug the seed, and he was the 

 first one among us to be able to announce a 

 good crop. Best of all, he has a character 

 and reputation for fair dealing, that makes 

 it a safe operation to purchase the whole 

 lot, even though he has been a comparative 

 stranger to us heretofore. My friends, a 

 good character and reputation in any kind 

 of business are like good seed to start with 

 in raising any kind of crop. 



There, friends, 1 am sorry to tell you that 

 the boss printer says if I take any more 

 room this time, certain articles will have to 

 be ciowded dut that we decide must go in, 

 so 1 am reluctantly obliged to stop. But I 

 tell you I fed real happy to think 1 have re- 

 duced a heaji of manuscript on one corner of 

 my tabln, that has been accumulating for a 

 long while. This heap embraces articles 

 that I have long wanted to find a place for, 

 and I have just got down to a spot where 

 there are a dozen more that I want to see in 

 print very much indeed. Now, if you like 

 this new department, and wish me to con- 



tinue it, the next time you write us on some 

 other matter add a postscript to the effect 

 that you would like to see the new depart- 

 ment kept going. 



A SLATTED POTATO-BOX. 



SOMETHING A LITTLE CHEAPER, AND PERHAPS A 

 LITTLE BETTER. 



TN the manufacture of the one-piece sec- 

 M tions we have pieces of basswood left 

 W that will not make sections on ac- 

 ■'' count of bad color, unsightly knots, 

 checks, etc., in such quantity that we 

 sell, during the busy season, from three to 

 foui- wagon-loads of this kind of wood for 

 kindling, almost every day. For years we 

 have been puzzling our brains to find some 

 use for these refuse pieces of basswood ; 

 but nothing has come up to indicate a use 

 for more than a very small part of them un- 

 til just now. A few days ago, Mr. Warner, 

 the foreman of our wood-working machine- 

 ry, submitted a potato-box, made entirely 

 of these refuse strips of basswood, with the 

 exception of the end pieces. We give you a 

 picture of it below. 



A NEW rOTATO-BOX, MADE OF SLATS. 



Perhaps I might explain that the refuse 

 sticks are put on to the buzz-saw and sliced 

 up I inch thick. This gives the slats. 

 The ends of the box are also made of 1-inch 

 lumber. With our specially made saws, we 

 cut the stuff almost as smooth as it can be 

 made with a plane ; and as the ends are al- 

 ways planed, we have a box that is nice 

 enough to be painted if desirable. By us- 

 ing long barbecl wire nails, and putting two 

 in the end of each strip, we get a box strong 

 enough so that the galvanized iron binding 

 can, 1 think, be safely omitted ; and we can 

 make the price, all nailed up, complete, on- 

 ly 20 cts., instead of 25, the price of our 

 former potato-box ; 10 boxes, nailed up, will 

 be sold for $1.85; 100, nailed up, for $16.00. 

 Material in the fiat, including nails, will be 

 $12.00 per 100. We shall crate them in 

 packages of 12 boxes each at SI. 50 cts. a 

 package, and Uoo of the 12 will l)e nailed up. 



The more I use the potato-boxes, the more 

 I am convinced there should be a, good deal 

 of ventilation through them. Keeping our 

 seed potatoes over winter last year, we 

 found a few rotten ones, but they were in- 

 variably in the center of the boxes. The 

 boxes were raised from the ground by 

 blocks, and separated from each other by 

 blocks also, so as to allow a full circulation 

 of air. Now, these slatted boxes will give 

 a better circulation than the old kind, even 

 if they are simply piled one over the other, 

 without any blocks between them at all. 



