856 



GLEANESTGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 



OUH BOOKS AND OUR \\rHITEES ON 

 GAKDENING, ETC. 



tUlE.ND GKEE>-LEAF MAKES A REPORT AFTER HAV- 

 ING PURCHASED SOME BOOKS. 



EAR TNCLE AMOS:-I dont Uke Gregory 

 ou cabbage, squashes, and onions. I read 

 'em all throug-h. and am tired to death shov- 

 eling manure and trying to sell the unsala- 

 ble things I all in my mind, you knowi. But 

 Terry! His books nearly made me wild i what's 

 the matter with him, any way?K I can't wait till 

 spring to plant my potatoes. The boy in the stable 

 doesn't know what to make of my sudden interest 

 in feeding, watering, and cleaning out the horse- 

 stables. I have taken the fork out of his hands, 

 "just for fun." Why, bless me, I never knew it 

 was fun to shovel manure before. I always 

 thought it was hard work. "Pat," who takes care 

 of our two cows, is patient, but looks at me with 

 pity in his eyes. He has cared for cattle for thirty 

 years. He thinks I am going to be insane. But 

 any way, those cows must be fed, watered, and 

 carded, on Terry plan, if I kill them both before 

 spring. Are these two books all Terry ever wrote? 

 If so, punch him up for something more before he 

 dies or somebody steals him. If he ?ia«, send me 

 the whole business by mail or express. 



Why do you advertise " How to Propagate and 

 Grow Fruit. Green, 25 cts." ? I can do it without a 

 book. What I want to pay 25 cts. for is to know 

 how to grow "em ripe. J. C. Greenleaf. 



Greenleaf,Mass , Oct. 34, 1888. 



Friend G., I have been thinking for some 

 time that Gregory's books ought to be re- 

 written and brought up to the present time. 

 Terry's books are not only of recent date, 

 but he has the rare gift as "a writer of mak- 

 ing everybody fall in love with intelligent 

 farming, as well as caring for stock in an 

 intelligent manner. His books affected me 

 very much as they have you. and I believe 

 our horses and cattle will always receive 

 better care than they would have done had 

 Terry's book not been written. Never 

 mind the pity that I'at expresses in his face 

 as he watches you. If your enthusiasm 

 holds out until he sees the fruits of Terry's 

 teachings, he will fall in with your plans, I 

 am sure. Terry's treatment \\ill not kill 

 them. I believe the potato-book and the 

 book on the winter care of horses and cattle 

 are all the books that Terry has ever writ- 

 ten ; but he has plenty of material for a 

 good many more. My impression is, that a 

 great part of his lifelike enthusiasm comes 

 from his work at farmers' institutes. He 

 has fallen in love with his brother-farmers, 

 as well as with raising crops : and I tell you. 

 ray friend, it is a hopeful sign when any of 

 us fall in love with our neighbors — the com- 

 mon people right around us. We can send 

 you the back volumes of the Ohio Farmer, 

 Country Gentlenam. Bural Xew Yorker, and 

 some other papers containing Terry's writ- 

 ings : but I think we should have' to send 

 them by freight, as there are so many of 

 them— In regard to your last questirn. whv. 

 bless your heart, my good friend, when vou 

 learn to grow fruit fjrecn there will not be 

 any trouble about erowing fruit ripe, espe- 

 cially if the frost holds off. I am afraid 

 you are not very well acquainted with our 



friend Green, who is as enthusiastic about 

 fruits as Terry is about horses and cattle 

 and potatoes. 



THE IGNOTUM TOMATO. 



another op god s gifts. 



fp^ wo years ago the Michigan Agricultu- 

 ^ ral College made some very tnorough 

 ^ experiments in testing all 'the differ- 

 ent kinds of tomatoes known — not 

 only every kind advertised in our own 

 country, but they sent for all the tomatoes 

 they could get hold of from foreign coun- 

 tries. I think they tested over 100 varieties. 

 The result of this laborious test was, that 

 they recommended only a very few, perhaps 

 a dozen, as being worthy of attention ; and, 

 strange enough, one of "the most promising 

 of this dozen came into their hands by acci- 

 dent. The seed of a particular kind' of to- 

 mato was sent them from Europe ; but only 

 a part of the seed produced tomatoes ac- 

 cording to description. The other part of 

 the seed produced something else. Not hav- 

 ing any name for it, they called it " Igno- 

 trma," or unknown — at least, so I have been 

 told. WeU, strange to relate, their verdict 

 was (and I think it was Prof. Bailey himself 

 who told me about it that, should it behave 

 another season as it had during the past, 

 they would give it the tirst place among all 

 the tomatoes on the face of the earth. Of 

 course, I begged for a few seeds. These 

 were granted to me, with the understand- 

 ing that I was to report, and my report is 

 ready. I secured perhaps a dozen plants. 

 Two of the plants produced tomatoes per- 

 fect in shaj)e, brick red in color, but only of 

 about the size of plums. All the rest of'lhe 

 plants produced the same kind of tomatoes, 

 only they were of large size, larger than any 

 thing we have in common use except the 

 Mikado. They are not as heavy as the Mi- 

 kado, but they are as perfect in form as any 

 tomato we have ever tested. Besides all the 

 above, they are remarkably early. The tirst 

 ripe tomato I picked in "the open ground 

 was from the dozen vines of Ignotum. It is 

 remarkably free from rot. ripens all over 

 alike, and each vine bears a great quantity of 

 tomatoes. I do not know that we have any 

 tomato in any respect superior, except the 

 Mikado, and the Mikado excels only in size. 

 Perhaps this is owing, however, to the fact 

 that our Mikados of the past season were 

 all from the seed taken from a tomato that 

 weighed a pound and a half. The result of 

 this selection of the seed gave us extra large 

 tomatoes, but it did not mend the awkward 

 shape of a gi'eat part of the tomatoes very 

 much. To sum it all up, then, the Ignotum 

 tomato, in my estimation, is ahead of any 

 thing heretofore fiu'nished by the whole 

 world at large— at least, so far as I knotv. 

 ^ye have saved about two pounds of seed ; 

 and now comes the question. What shall we 

 do with it ':• 1 do not feel at liberty to offer 

 it for sale until I have permission from the 

 Michigan Agiicultnral College. And then, 

 again, how much seed have they, and what 

 do they propose to do with it? Besides,'it is 

 quite likely that the Ignotum seed was put 



