1888 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



811 



them on the gh)wing embers or coals, upside 

 down, or cup side upward. We usually car- 

 ried along a paper of salt in our pockets, 

 which was sprinkled inside the mushroom 

 cup. In the cooking process this cup tilled 

 with a liquid, or broth. When done brown 

 this little mushroom c-up with its spoonful 

 of broth inside was to me about the most 

 delicious food I ever ate. 



Your question, friend G., in regard to 

 growing mushrooms in the open air, strikes, 

 it seems to me, upon a great unexplored 

 field. While mushrooms sell readily from 

 25 cents to $1.00 a pound, or even higher, in 

 large cities, no one has yet, that I know of, 

 worked out the conditions necessary for 

 growing them outdoor.s. They are grown 

 under benches in greenhouses, and in cel- 

 lars and caves, without any trouble. Why 

 they should not be grown outdoors, exactly 

 as wild mushrooms grow outdoors, is more 

 than I can tell. They require special con- 

 ditions of temperature and moisture, and 

 this is why it is only occasionally we have a 

 good season for mushrooms. I believe there 

 IS no vegetable known that commands any 

 thing like the price of mushrooms, and yet 

 few gardeners grow them at all. Last win- 

 ter 1 saw them growing among a bed of 

 radishes in a greenhouse in Columbus. 

 Mushrooms had been grown on the bed be- 

 fore the radish crop, and these, therefore, 

 came up like any other plant among the 

 radishes. If any of the readers of Glean- 

 ings can give us any further information 

 on any of the points touched on above, we 

 shall be very glad of it. 



The friend who writes the next letter, 

 sent it once before ; but he indulged in some 

 remarks that I thought objectionable, there- 

 fore it was returned to him. In place he 

 sends another, with the following title : 



ODDS AND ENDS. 



Re-written, and the stings all plxicked out. 



On turning- to the department of Gleanings 

 which I seldom read (no fault of yours), I found 

 you had been to friend Terry's. I was glad, for I 

 got something of whiU T wanted, about that straw- 

 berry-bed of his. I am interested in strawberry 

 culture, in a small way, as well as bee culture. 

 Mine is the Sharpless. They did not have the ad- 

 vantage of clover sod, and to weed them this sea- 

 son sorely tried my wife, on whom the task fell, 

 to keep weeds down, a baby quiet, other seven 

 babies nearly grown up to forty, and to wait on 

 the old "chap." 1 am a railroad man, and I 

 have no day to call my own save the one on which 

 "God rested from all the works which he made." 

 While fair, they have not made the growth of vine 

 I could wish. I want a talk on this industry by 

 yourself, in which I want you to take up the sub- 

 .ject of the best fertilizer. How will nitrate of soda 

 do, applied next spring? My two grocers ship 

 strawberries from Chicago here. I thought, "Try 

 and meet this want." 



Now about the bees: I have my coat off, inquir- 

 ing for the twin brothers in bee-keeping, friends 

 Hutchinson and Heddon. I should like to get 

 hold of the latter. May be I bad better get the 

 size of his boots first. I am an imported Irishman, 

 though not quarrelsome. I have been in a " scrim- 



mage," but as I am live and forty, perhaps 1 had 

 better go slow. 



Well, Jamie, my boy, I want to tell you that last 

 fall 1 fed most of my bees your pet winter rations. 

 ] did it up according to your book— wintered in a 

 cosy cellar under the kitchen. Then what hap- 

 pened? 



AND THEY DIED. 



I had other bees which were not fed your " War- 

 ner's Safe Cure." To these I fed two-year-old-honey. 

 Well, what happened to this batch? As your Amer- 

 ican young ladies say, they did "just splendid." 

 These were all in one cellar, save one old L. hive 

 that 1 was afraid to lift. It had had bees in it for 

 37 years, and, like that great mastodon which I 

 found when tiling here, it crumbled at the touch. 

 Even this hive, single- walled, pervious to the ele- 

 ments, came out tiptop. Now, what have you and 

 all syrup doctors to say? A friend of yours and 

 mine also writes me, " I have no use for this syrup 

 business. Cellar wintering is an innovation on 

 bee-nature;" and while I shall be compelled to try 

 that method this winter again, I will adopt outdoor 

 wintering as soon as possible. I have fed my bees 

 when they ought to have been feeding me. I kept 

 them strong. A honey-flow came four weeks ago. 

 They quit tlieir syrup, and gave me 6 per cent on 

 my entire investment. I am glad that I took care 

 of those creatures God gave me, and did not starve 

 them to death as did my neighbors. 



Season, 111. James Hamilton. 



Well done, friend 11. I am afraid you 

 did not get all the " little stings " plucked 

 out, after all ; but then you give them in 

 such a pleasant vein of good nature that I 

 guess no one will be hurt or even offended, 

 so we have given your article entire. I 

 should be very glad indeed if I could tell you 

 more about the use of chemical fertilizers 

 for the strawberry. I have tried nitrate of 

 soda, but I have not been able to see that it 

 produced very much effect. The strawber- 

 ries made a very good growth, and bore 

 well, but yet only a little if any better than 

 those that did not have it. On the spinach, 

 the nitrate of soda made the poorest end of 

 the patch catch up and go ahead of the best 

 end. I have never seen any thing so sure 

 and certain with strawberries, esi)ecially 

 with the Sharpless, as well-rotted stable 

 manure. I am a little surprised at your ex- 

 perience in feeding sugar. If you used 

 granulated sugar for your feed, the result is 

 different from any thing I have ever had ex- 

 perience with. I am inclined to think we 

 shall tind the reason somewhere else than 

 because they had sugar stores instead of old 

 honey. If your locality is as warm in win- 

 ter, and as changeable as ours, there will be 

 very good reason why your friend should 

 call cellar wintering an " innovation on na- 

 ture." Six per cent on your investment is a 

 result better than the most of us have made 

 with bees during the past two years. I like 

 your idea of taking care of the creatures 

 God gave you. 



cantaloupe melons by the acre; also .some- 



THINO about the IMPOKTANCE OF HAVlNfJ 

 TRUE SEED. 



Mr. Root:—} wish to talk a little more to you 

 about melons. We are in the center of the best 

 melon region in the North; and Knox County, Ind., 



