336 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 1.5. 



TOBACCO AS THE BEST AND CHEAPEST REMEDY 



FOE BUGS AND INSECTS THAT VEX 



THE MAKKET-GARDEXEK. 



When visiting the greenhouses at the Experi- 

 ment Farm in Columbus I asked friend Green 

 how it was that they had no trouble with the 

 green Hy. He replied: 



"Oh! we do have trouble — or, rather, Ave 

 should have, if we did not keep them down 

 witli tobacco." 



•'Uut. friend G., will tobacco really do the 

 business when they get well started, and get on 

 the under side of lettuce-leaves, where the 

 plants are thick and large?" 



•'Oh, yes! I think tobacco will manage the 

 whole business, provided you use enough of it. 

 Let me show you how we do it, and how quick 

 it works." 



He took a handful of tobacco dust, and found 

 some radishes where the green fly had made 

 something of a start. He sprinkled it on the 

 leaves, and put on enough to mulch around the 

 plants, and we kept on talking. In just a few 

 minutes he told me to look. Sure enough, the 

 green fly was over on its back in the dirt, and 

 had •' turned up its toes." I then began asking 

 where he got it. and what it cost". 



'•Why, it does not cost any thing. It is the 

 dust they sweep up from the floor at the tobac- 

 co-shops, and they give it to us for taking it out 

 of their way." 



Now, I had used this tobacco dust before; 

 but mine cost me something like ^6.00 a barrel, 

 and we could not alTord to use it as liberally as 

 friend G. had been doing. In their reports in 

 regard to the striped bug on melons and cucum- 

 bers, I remember they gave tobacco dust as the 

 cheapest and simplest remedy. Sprinkle it on 

 so as to make a mulching perhaps a quarter of 

 an inch deep, right over the hill, so the plants 

 must come up through it, and they will not be 

 touched. If a very heavy rain, however, should 

 wash it off and take the strength from the to- 

 bacco, give the vines another sprinkling. Now. 

 where you can get this dust cheap, it certainly 

 is the cheapest, quickest, and easiest remedy to 

 apply that has ever been invented. 



SOJrE QUERIES ABOUT RAISING CELERY. 



Will liquid manure do the celery good'? 

 What time of the day is best to put it on'? 

 Could I not dig a trench, say one foot deep and 

 four feet wide, and lay rails along the side of 

 the pit to raise it just above the tops of the cel- 

 ery, and throw some old boards across, and 

 some straw and some earth on top of it. leav- 

 ing both ends of the pit open so I could open 

 or shut, accordiftg to the weather'? Could I not 

 bind a dozen roots in a bunch and ship it on a 

 car, laving it one on top of another, without 

 jamming the celery or hurting the sale of if? 



Unionville, Out., Feb. 15. John J. Griles. 



[Friend G.. the cheapest way to apply liquid 

 manure to celery or to almost any thing else, is 

 to scatter the manure on the surface of the 

 ground around and among the plants; and then 

 when it rains, the water will wash the liquid 

 manui'e down around the roots of the plants 

 better than anybody can put it on; and it saves 

 all fussing with a barrel of manure, sprinkling- 

 pot, and water. Your plan for wintering cel- 

 ery will be all right if you have a roof overhead 

 that does not let the rain get through, and 

 plenty of straw around the sides to keep the 

 frost out. Most markets demand that celery be 

 nicely trimmed, washed, and tied in neat 

 bunches, and put up in clean, tight packing- 

 boxes. If it is exposed to the air it very soon 

 wilts, and in that case you can hardly give it 

 away. You had better visit some practical 

 man, and see just how he does it.] 



CEOTH FOR HOT-BEDS AND COLD-FRAMES. 



Will you please tell me liow to prepare cloth 

 to make it watei--proof for hot-beds'? 



Willow Springs, Mo. J. N. Newcomb. 



[Friend N., my experience is that I would not 

 prepare it at all. I would rather have plain, 

 strong cotton cloth than any with any prepara- 

 tion on it. The preparation may be a little bet- 

 ter for the time being: but instead of preserving 

 the cloth it makes it rot. I noticed that our 

 friend who writes the tomato book speaks of 

 only plain cloth without any preparation. If 

 any of our readers have had experience to the 

 contrary, we should be glad to hear from them. 

 The great difficulty we have in using cloth, say 

 in February or Marcli, is from wind, snow, and 

 rain. It raises the mischief with it, where 

 glass would be undisturbed.] 



A HOE-HANDLE ATTACHMENT. 



Friend Root: — Haven't you wished a great 

 many times, when you were tired, and perhaps 

 thirsty, that your "hoe-handle were not so dry 

 and slippery as to necessitate expectorating so 

 oftei\ on the hands? It has been the case with 



BLOCK OF WOOD TO BE NAILED To YOUR HOE- 

 HANDLE. 



me, as well as of thousands. I often think 

 there is a remedy for such complaints. Several 

 years ago a simple device came to my mind, 

 and I have often thought I would send it to 

 you, and so I send it by mail to-day. Simply 

 nail one on the hoe-handle near the end, 

 the other about 18 inches from that, with 

 "'s ^^ire nails. Get them even, and both on the 

 under side. They are first rate on a steel rake, 

 and on all kinds of pronged hoes, and you can 

 use such tools with mittens or gloves on when 

 too cold; and the hoes, etc.. won't be the wrong 

 side up. I know from experience that one will 

 not get nearly as weary as when he must grasp 

 with all 'his might, besides spitting his whole 

 life out, unless he is one of the spitting kind. I 

 know it is a little early to talk hoes, but every- 

 body ought to be happy once; and for so simple a 

 thing it will call out happy thoughts. I am not 

 ijoasting. but all should be improving and press- 

 ing onward. There is no patent on this, and I 

 haven't got rich out of it, in dollars; but my 

 feelings have been elevated by it very much. 

 Please put them on and try them at something. 

 You may see some way to improve them. I 

 simply cut out a square corner, and think they 

 are tlie right size. In digging potatoes with a 

 pronged hoe, I tell you they are grand. 



I have a wheel-cleaner for wheelbarrows, and 

 I can not get along without one on hand-culti- 

 vators. You know a barrow-wheel is always 

 rolling up a lot of soil, especially on clay land, 

 such as you and I have. I will send you a sam- 

 ple later, if you wish. By the way, friend R., 

 a large wheel on a cultivator is bad for working 

 close to raspberries and blackberries. I think a 

 12-inch, as a whole, is the best. I speak unself- 

 ishly. E. P. Churchill. 



Hallowell, Me., Feb. 2. 



[Friend C.,with our modern implements, both 

 for horses and for hand use, the old-fashioned 

 hoe is getting to be a good deal discarded, and 

 I think it ought to be. On our place we use 

 rake-hoes a good deal instead. But this imple- 

 ment will perhaps be a help with them as well. 



