1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



599 



the tops add a Hfth more We have 30 tons of 

 green matter, about 18 lbs. for each hill of corn. 

 This estimate is on the Cowhorn variety. 



The Southern Prize, I reason, will do nearly 

 aswell, besides being green and fresh: and the 

 fall crop of tops having decayed, a new ciop 

 begins to grow as soon as the freeze is out of 

 the ground; and when the time comes to plow 

 for corn we have a mass of tops a foot high, 

 our 18 lbs. of green manure in th(! best possible 

 •condition to mature the hill of corn, and this 

 has all been done between the seasons of plant- 



The nutritive properties of turnips, I am sure, 

 are greatly underrated. The chemists say that 

 turnips contain 90 per cent water. How is it 

 that they are so highly esteemed for feeding 

 sheep, when sheep require less water than any 

 other class of stock V My experience is. in feed- 

 ing to all kinds of stock (even to the chickens), 

 that it is a kind of water that helps a little 

 corn and fodder out mightily, and you save the 

 pumping. I can get 100 bushels of turnips with 

 as little labor as it takes to raise one bushel of 

 potatoes: and. supposing the stock harvest 

 both crops, the gain would be with the stock 

 that gathered the turnips and the ground they 

 grew on. 



One of your correspondents, a year or so ago. 

 said the way to insure a crop is to sow the seed 

 two inches deep: and supposing you had proved 

 the statement, as you are so well fixed for that 

 kind of business, was why I wrote you. 



Avon, Ind.. July ". A. A. Parsons. 



To-day finishes the strawberries with me. I 

 marketed 4ii bushesls. How do you like the 

 Enhance? Mr. Young, the originator, has an- 

 other wonderful crop of it. He told me the 

 ■other day that his advertisement in Glean- 

 ings brought him more orders for plants than 

 any other paper he used. J. (Juisingek. 



Ada. Ohio. Juni* 5. 



THE NEW STRAAVBEKRIES, ONIONS, ETC. 

 « 



Your last Gleanings is a very valuable and 

 Interesting number. I have read your reports 

 on the Haverland strawberry, with much inter- 

 est. It is a very fine berry indeed. I see you 

 have added the Parker Earle to your list". I 

 don't want so say too much of this variety at 

 present, for I have seen it in fruit here only 

 this season: but it was a sight long to be re- 

 membered. It was the most productive straw- 

 berry I ever saw, I think. That and Bubach No. 

 -Twiil make a fine team. I would advise you, 

 from what I have seen of this berry, to take 

 care of every plant you have, for I think they 

 will please j'ou; but, of course, I may be mis- 

 taken: but from the reports we are getting for 

 our July number. Parker Earle is doing most 

 •excellently outside of what I have myself seen. 

 Michel's Early is doing very well in most 

 places. Our July report will be rather late — 

 1.5th to 20th: but you will find it very interest- 

 ing on the strawberry. We would only suggest 

 that you also try a few of the Princess, pistillate. 



I notice the tobacco dust with you was not a 

 success for the cucumber beetle this year. I 

 ■would say, for the first time I had a hard mat- 

 ter to save our ''cukes" and melons this year, 

 but we did with the tobacco dust and air-slack- 

 ed lime, mixed. This I have always used, but 

 had to use it more freely this year than ever 

 before. 



I have a white Silver Skin growing, in every 

 way similar to the Egyptian, except that the 

 tops make a nice-sized bottom, and very few go 

 to seed except the largest. The sets are the 

 best-keeping onion I ever saw. We kept them 

 last year in our small berry-crates, and did not 



notice one sprouted at the time of planting. 

 We have found a good market here for these 

 bunched, selling for 2.5 to 35 cents per dozen 

 bunches: on an average. 30 cents or more. Last 

 Saturday we took in '.lO dozen. They brought 

 830. costing 3 cents per dozen for peeling. But 

 I don"t think they run as large as the onion you 

 speak of: or, at least, mine did not this year. 

 But I know my land is not as good as yours: 

 but I am wonderfullv well pleased with it. 

 Rio Vista. Va.. July 7. M. T. Thompson. 



THE KEEPING QUALITIES OF THE BLOO.MSDALE 

 PEAiSL ONION. 



Friend Root: — In reply to your inquiry about 

 the keeping qualities of "the Bloomsdale Pearl 

 onion. I can only say that I do not know. So 

 far I have not been able to keep them long 

 enough to find out. I pulled some this year 

 with the intention of keeping them, but sold 

 them last week, after they had been on the 

 ground exposed to the hot sun for about four 

 weeks. They were then sound and sweet. I 

 have no more, and so can not make a trial this 

 year. The onion is so sound and firm that I be- 

 lieve it will prove a good keeper. A. SioN. 



Kyle, Tex., July 8. 



STRAWBERRIES IN WISCONSIN. ETC. 



My strawbeiry crop this year was a failure 

 on account of the hard frost in May. There 

 was one mjin here who got up in the night two 

 or three times, and covered his up: and as the 

 result of a few hours" work, from half an acre 

 he picked (50 bushels of berries. Another year I 

 shall cover mine. 



THE LANG WEEDER. 



Did you ever use a Lang weeder for putting 

 in strawberry-runners? If you have not, try it 

 and you will not want to use any more stones 

 and sods to hold them down. Take the weeder 

 in the right hand and the runner in the left: 

 make a slit in the ground, and then shove the 

 runner in, being careful not to (jover the end. 

 A smart boy, when he gets used to it. can put 

 in 1000 an hour, and then they root about three 

 times as quick. By this method I can get a 

 stand of plants, even if it is dry for six weeks. 

 I should as soon think of being without a hoe 

 as a Lang weeder. I save the price of half a 

 dozen every day I use one. 

 ing on basswood now. P. H. Fellows. 



Brodhead, Wis. 



[We have used the Lang weeder, but find a 

 garden trowel about as handy.] 



Qm P8ME?. 



A righteoujs man regardeth the life of his beast. — PR. 12: 10. 

 Charity suffereth long, and i.-< kind.— II. COR. 13: 4. 



Our business usually begins to slack up to- 

 w ard the Fourth of July, so that we can breathe 

 a little easier, and think about visiting •• our 

 neighbors" and taking a holiday, especially 

 when the Fourth of July comes. Just after 

 dinner on the 3d of July I" obtained a "leave of 

 absence'" until the Fourth of July was over. 

 As horses are, as a ruh'. mostly pressed into 

 service during the Foirrth of July, I found my- 

 self obliged to tak(> one of the horses from our 

 big team for my buggy-ride of 60 or 75 miles. 

 They decided to let me" have old Jack. Jack 

 would be worth, perhaps. $200, or even more, if 

 it were not for an infirmity. When he is taxed 

 toward the limit of liis strength he is troubled 

 with the heaves, and begins to cough. He is a 

 large, powerful horse: and although he is not 



