1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



521 



Planet cultivator; and then it occurred to me 

 that they were in just the right condition for 

 the weeder. The Planet tool had left a crust 

 from six inches to a foot wide around the plants. 

 In this crust the weeds were just starting. I 

 thought it looked just right for the weeder; 

 and although some of the potatoes were almost 

 a foot high, into them we went. The steel 

 teeth broke every bit of the crust up fine, rooted 

 out all the weeds, and tipped the potatoes over 

 so I really feared they were harmed, at least to 

 some extent. A summer shower, however, 

 came on in the afternoon, and in the evening 

 the potatoes stood up just splendidly. As we 

 passed along the rows I asked Mrs. Root if she 

 ever saw a nicer job of hoeing. 



" Yes," said she, " it is very nice. One of 

 your careful, high-priced men musi have done 

 it." 



And then I laughed as I replied, " Why. my 

 dear wife, those potatoes have never been hoed. 

 at (ill. In fact, a hoe nas not been among them. 

 It was all done with the Breed weeder. The 

 man who did it remarked, before he had got 

 half through the first row, " Mr. Root, this tool 

 and the Planet cultivator are two of the best 

 tools you have on your grounds.' " 



It did just as good work in the corn. He ask- 

 ed if he should try it in the beans; but I told 

 him it would break them off. I felt pretty sure; 

 but in the afternoon he said it did the beans 



i'ust as well as it did the corn and potatoes, and 

 .e did not see that a bean had been injured. 

 To do this, however, your ground must be clean 

 and fine, as I have said before; and if it crusts 

 you must wait until just the proper time after a 

 shower, so the crust will break easily. The 

 fingers of the tool break it up just as you break 

 it with your fingers — the corn, potatoes, and 

 b'eans, being rooted so deeply they simply bend 

 over and slip between the fingers. It is much 

 on the plan of a smoothing-harrow, but it is 

 worked by one horse, and is very much easier 

 on the plants. As you need to go only oiicc 

 through every other row. you get along" about 

 /oi(r times as fast as you do with an ordinary 

 cultivator. But the cultivator is needed occa- 

 sionally as well as the weeder. Our experiment 

 stations have said a good deal in regard to mu- 

 tilating the roots by cultivating too deeply and 

 too close to the plants. I agree with them; but 

 I am sure Off )■ ground wants cultivating deep 

 and fine while the plants are small. The 

 ground must be worked fine, away down deep, 

 before the seeds oi' plants are put in, and then 

 it must be worked almost constantly to keep it 

 from getting hard, and ci'acking during dry 

 weather. When your ground becomes so hard 

 that it cracks open with cracks that go down 

 an inch or two, your crop is greatly injured. In 

 some soils the only way to prevent such a state 

 of affairs is constant stirring. When we have 

 tremendous rains, such as we had last season, 

 so that every thing settles down hard and com- 

 pact, it is a pretty hard matter to keep your 

 ground in order. Thoi'ough underdraining at 

 such a time is an absolute necessity. And then 

 you must watch the condition of the soil, and 

 just at the moment it works right, put all your 

 force into the crops, and make your soft-dirt 

 blanket to protect tlie surface before any bak- 

 ing or cracking can do you damage. 



EVERETT'S HAND CULTIVATOR. 



My impression is, that the Everett Seed Com- 

 pany (Indianapolis, Ind.) have made a real and 

 decided improvement in everything in the form 

 of hand-tools. The novel idea consists in hav- 

 ing a brace to propel the machine, to come right 

 up against the body — say a little under the 

 arms. This enables you to push the cultivator 

 forward without crowding with the hands at 



all, the hands being left free to handle the hoes 

 that do the work, just as you would handle a 

 weeder in your hands. A good strong man, 

 with this tool, is a pretty good substitute for a 

 horse and cultivator; and when it comes to 

 narrow rows in onion-binls. parsnips, v(;getable 

 oysters, etc., the tool is really a big institution. 

 So many hand-cultivators have been sent us to 

 test. I was reluctant about having another in 

 our tool-house; and I waited quite a while, so 

 as to be sure that this was really an improve- 

 ment above all other hand-cultivators. I now 

 feel satisfied that it is really quite a step ahead. 



THE AMERICAN PEARE ONION FOR FAEE 

 PLANTING. 



These onions, spoken of in our last issue, are, 

 some of them, now (June 4th) 2^ inches in di- 

 ameter. They are of such pearly whiteness 

 that all we have to do to get them ready for 

 the market is to pull them and swash them in 

 running water in the brook, and thev are ready 

 to tie up. Whether they will answer for hard, 

 dry onions or not, I do not know. I have writ- 

 ten to Johnson & Stokes, but they do not an- 

 swer. We are getting .5 cents for a half-pound 

 bunch, and the demand is ahead of the supply. 

 Of course, I want to let some of them stand in 

 the ground, to see how lai-ge thev will grow. 

 Very likely they must be used soon" after pull- 

 ing. The flavor is so mild that thev may be 

 eaten from th(> hand like an apple. * Whether 

 the onion is a good keeper or not, it is certainly 

 a wonderful acquisition to market-gardeners. 

 The work can all be done in the fall when 

 things are not crowding; and all that is neces- 

 sary is to cultivate them in the spring, when 

 the ground is settled and dry enough. A great 

 many of ours started a seed- stem; but after 

 these were once cut oft', ihey all seemed to go 

 right to work making good-sized bulbs. At the 

 present writing I can not see why thev do not 

 answer the purpose exactly as weJl as starting 

 the seed in the greenhouse or from the bed, and 

 planting out in the spring. 



TOBACCO DUST NOT A SURE CURE, AFTER ALE. 



With regret I am compelled to givt^ notice 

 that tobacco dust does not always manage the 

 striped bug. During April and May it seemed 

 to be a complete remedy; but one evening, 

 early in June, I was greatly astonished to find 

 our Hubbard squashes literally covered with 

 striped bugs, and some of my squashes were so 

 dried up that I could hardly see where they 

 had been growing with great luxuriance only 

 the day before. The tobacco dust seemed to 

 hinder them for a time, but the Hubbard 

 squash was too tempting a dainty; and when 

 they got at it in droves there seemed to be a 

 strength in numbers to resist even the powerful 

 odor of the tobacco. The tobacco dust seem- 

 ed, however, to answer the purpose perfectly 

 for melons and cucumbers until to-day, June 

 10; and now we are going back to our wire- 

 cloth screen again. And even with these the 

 bugs seem to be so fierce^ that, unless the dirt is 

 very thoroughly jjacked siround the edges, they 

 will get under and be just about as bad as if no 

 screen were on. Another thing, just as soon as 

 the leaf of a squash grows up so as to touch the 

 wire cloth they gather about it like a lot of 

 bees, and just riddle the leaf wherever they 

 can reach through and take hold of it. We 

 have been raising the screens u]) and banking 

 the dirt a little higher around them. If they 

 do not let up pretty soon I do not know what 

 we shall do for Hubbard squashes. The prin- 

 cipal part of the damage was done this season 

 after the vines had their second leaves. Some 

 of these second leaves are as large as the top of 

 a teacup. We are hoping the wire-cloth screens 

 will keep the bugs at bay until the bug time is 



