1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



These directions ai'e exceedingly practical. At 

 the outset one almost begins to wonder what 

 varieties would be recommended by a gi'ower 

 who raises tomatoes by tli<^ hundreds of acres, 

 and I think we will co|)y what the author has 

 to say in the matter: 



VARIETIES. 



Aeme 



Essex Hybrid 



Livingston's Beauty 



Turner's Hybrid 



Buist's Beautv 



Buisf K Prize Bell 



Livingston's Favorite 



It seems from the above, that friend Day 

 places the Acme ahead of all others, all things 

 considered. T wish he would tell us whether 

 he has ever test(Ml the Ignotum— probably not. 



The directions for sowing the seed are exceed- 

 ingly interesting, and T was specially pleased to 

 see that the author recommends using largely 

 what he calls bat guano. When I visited 

 Mammoth Gave I was greatly exercised because 

 the great heaps of excrement, from the bats 

 that clung to the walls, lay there on the ground 

 unused, perhaps the accumulations not only of 

 centuries, but may be tliousunds of yeavn. Who 

 knows to the contrary ? I ([uestioned the guide 

 until he became weary of the subject,' I 

 thought, and I have since been told that this 

 bat guano has been found in immense (juanti- 

 ties in many caves in the South. Why should 

 we go to the remote islands of the sea when 

 these deposits lie safely housed from the rain in 

 the caves throughout our land ? I wonder if 

 the readers of Gi>kanin<;s can tell me inoi'e 

 about bat guano. Then friend Day tells us 

 about, cold-frames for the plants, made of a 

 covering of cloth, to be roll(>d up on a long rol- 

 ler. He says that one man, by going to the 

 middle of the lied, can roll a curtain 200 feet 

 long. Well, I have used these beds covered 

 with cotton cloth rolled up on a roller: l)ut, my 

 good friend Day, what do you do when there 

 comes a tremendous wind, and just flops your 

 cotton, roller and all, all to l)its '? It is true you 

 might roll it up, but then wliat happens to your 

 plants? Then suppose the hard wind is accom- 

 panied with snow and rain. In your locality it 

 will very likely answer very much better. In 

 transplanting and moving plants to the field, 

 there are a hundred little hints that none but a 

 practical, liard-working man would ever get 

 hold of. I have had just about experience 

 enough to appreciate most thoroughly the 

 short cuts that save labor and backache, given 

 in this book. His directions in regard to trans- 

 planting to the held give us such a vivid picture 

 of real life in market-gardening that I want to 

 give it right here: 



TRANSPLANTING TO THE FIELD. 



Tf jou liave a large crop and not much force, I )e- 

 gin a week ahead, and hav^e every t.hhig' possible 

 I'eady and at hand— water at hand in barrels, hoes 

 and spades sind trowels and liand-bearers; and every 

 thing- that is to be used in getting- the field ready 

 must he ready, as adiiy at this time counts five days 

 at any other time. Experience will teach you this 

 A little ilbistration will suttice here: On the 3d of 

 April, 1884, I prepaied land until nearly night, and 

 it began to look like rain. We set a few hundred 

 that e\ening-. It rained that nig-ht, and coutiiuied 

 ten days, and the plants in frames grew two t'ect 

 high, and fell flat, and were almost worthless; while 

 the few hundred I set that evening sui-ely bore the 

 linest crop I ever saw. 



The inexperienced will ask, "Why didn't you set 

 all day and the day before V" Fi-ost! frost! is why; 

 but as the 5th day V)f April is the limit of the frost 

 season here, we begin to plant just as soon in April 

 as the first frost i)asses, which is between the 1st and 



5th. I am aware I am digressing a little; but to the 

 inexperienced, for whom this pamphlet is written, 

 it will all come in good. 



There is a chapter on trellising, or staking, 

 and this seems to us a very important item. 

 The author says, if we want extra early toma- 

 toes we must pruu" and stake them. If we 

 want a great lot of tomatoes, and don't care 

 about having them particularly early, give 

 them more room and let them sjjrawl over the 

 ground. By pruning and staking them he gets 

 them as close as 18 inches; but where they are 

 allowed to grow according to nature, put them 

 twice as far apart each way. 



Now, I have said so many encouraging things 

 about tlie book, perhaps I.should speak of some 

 of the discouraging features, ev^en if I do hate 

 to do it. The inice of the book is 25 cents for 

 only :.'5 pages of matter, and ihany of the pages 

 are not half tilled at that. In view of the great 

 value to be found in the book, we might over- 

 look this if the grammar, punctuation, and 

 spelling, were not so exceedingly faulty. But 

 there is still another greater lack. The book is not 

 illustrated at all, when it should have at least 

 one nice picture on every page. I have advised 

 the author to sell this edition at a low price, 

 and get out a finer one, for there is certainly 

 abundant need of a nice little book on growing 

 tomatoes. I am so sure he will agree with me 

 that I shall take the liberty of offering the 

 readers of GLEAJfiNos the little book for 20 

 cents, postpaid. 



I'KTRK HENDERSON. 



From a memoir entitled, "■ Peter Henderson, 

 Gardener, Author, and Merchant," written by 

 his son, Alfred Henderson, I extract the follow- 

 ing from the remarks of a great and good man, 

 and one who has certainly been a benefactor, 

 not only to our nation, l3ut to the world, in the 

 line of gardening and horticulture. The first 

 extract is taken from a magazine printed in 

 18(5G, when they were discussing horticultural 

 patents: 



I consider that man particularly unfortunate who 

 asks a i)ateiil for what he thinks to be a discovery in 

 horticulture, for there is a free masonry about the 

 craft which bej.'-ets a generous exchange t)f informa- 

 tion; and he that holds a " secret " to himself, or in- 

 trenches his " diseover.y " behind a patent-right, is 

 not usually benefited thereby. 



Right in keeping with the above comes the 

 following: 



His thirst for knowledge was so .strong, that, in 

 his first apprentice days, his companions in the 

 "Bothy" used to laugh at him for reading- the dic- 

 tionary at his meals. He kejjt at it for six months 

 until he finished it. and then pronounced it a most 

 interesting book. " no matter what others might 

 say." The practical outcome of it was, that his 

 " liothy " companions found that, when he was 

 through, he could s])ell and define an.v word which 

 they might put- to him. But, with all his studious- 

 ness and industry, he was not a recluse by any 

 means, for there is ample testimony to show that, 

 in all the frolics of the country side, he was al- 

 ways the leading siiirit. 



And again on page 37: 



Mr. Hendei'son was not only an abstainer from 

 liquor, but tobacco in any form ht^ nevei- touched. 

 He was very regular in his habits, and siiii])le in his 

 tastes. Up to the clo.se of Ids life he madeitarule 

 to spend from three to foui- Inairs every day in the 

 open air. 



Now, boys, I tell you there is a big sermon in 

 just the above extracts I have given yon. As 

 the twig is bent, the tree is inclined. The 

 memoir I have alluded to is a little book of 48 

 pages, containing a steel-plate engraving of 

 Peter himself. I do not supjiose the book is for 

 sale, but very likely the fi'iends of our departed 

 leader in the gardening business can have one 

 on application. 



