63(5 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 1. 



plan that we have begun practicing this sea- 

 son, that seems to fill the bill, and at the same 

 time makes tilth supplement manure. As a 

 matter of course, we keep the horse and cuiti 

 vator going constanily : and with the trouble 

 we have had fi'om dreiu'liing rains, especially 

 on that side hill by tlie windmill, we have found 

 it necessary and desirable to hill up most of onr 

 crops, making a pretty deep furrow between 

 the rows— not such as is made with a shovel- 

 plow, howevei' : but we are gi'catly pleased 

 with a sort of smHll shovcd-plow that goes on 

 the back end of the Planet cultivator. 



We like this, especially where the soil is not 

 as deep as is desirable. Hy running this shov- 

 el-plow or furrower between the rows, it throws 

 tine soft ground up ai'ound the potatoes and 

 other plants, and (loHhlca the depth of soil, as it 

 were. I have known for years ihnt I could get 

 a good crop by pulling up the surface soil round 

 the plants so as to make a broad flat -topped 

 hill, as it wei'e. This hill is of tine soft earth ; 

 and it makes the "dust blanket" we have read 

 about, ana keeps th<^ ground from drying and 

 cracking. Of couisc. we can not have our stuff 

 so close together wiien we do this. Friend 

 Teri-y recommended putting sti-awbi')'ries four 

 feet apart : and while we had onr marker ready 

 we have put potatoes, cabbages, and some otii- 

 er things, four feet ai)art. Well, at this dis- 

 tance we are just in sliape to make a furrow be- 

 tween the rows, and double the depth of soil 

 around the plants, at tlie same time leaving tlie 

 hill so bi'oad that it does not dry thi'ough. nei- 

 ther does the lain all run over iiito tlie furiow. 

 And when we have thesi' tremendous rains that 

 make mud of every thing, these raised-np rows 

 with a pretty deep furrow between them are 

 just the tiling. Tliis sort of shovi'I-plow on the 

 Planet cultivator \\ill, if you pusii it down 

 deep. leav(> ihe hoitom of ihe fnirow almost 

 hard and bare, and the ground will be likely to 

 crack. To obviate this, the next time through 

 we go with a cultivator rigged out with the 

 small teeth only. This mellows up the bottom 

 of the furrow down as deep as the plow went, 

 and sometimes, may be, a little deeper. I know 

 this is opposed to the teaching of Terry and 

 others who practice flat cultivation ; but with 

 sandy soil the flat cultivation may l)e better ; 

 but with our clay soil I do not like it — that is, 

 especially for a wet season. Now, then, when 

 your cabbages are, some of them, almost ready 

 to be cut, and your early potatoes so you can 

 commence digging them, I will tell vou what 

 we do. 



We run the cultivator on the bottom of these 

 furrows until the ground is so fine and soft that 

 you can easily put your hand down into it all 

 over. When it is iii this condition, plant be- 

 tween the cabbages, potatoes, or any other 

 crops, more cabbages, more celery, tomatoes, 

 white beans, or any -thing else that matures 

 quickly, and by the "time the plants are well up 

 and ready to grow, remove your first crop and 

 then work the cultivator in the same way where 

 the first cabbages or potatoes stood ; and I am 

 not sure but you could put in a third crop of 

 spinach. This enables the cultivator to fine up 

 the whole of your ground. In fact, while you 

 are fining it up to make the first crop grow, you 

 are also preparing the very nicest kind of seed- 

 bed for the succeeding crop. You can in this 

 way manage so as to have a strong heavy crop 

 cover the ground almost all the while ; whereas 

 if you wait until your vegetables are all off from 

 the ground, and then plow and harrow it all 

 over, and sow your seed, there will be several 

 weeks when no crop of any account occupies 

 the ground. The seed must germinate, and the 

 plants must get to be of sufh'ciennt size for the 

 roots to occupy the ground. During all this 



time your high-priced, highly enriched ground 

 is. comparatively, wasting its time ; and this, 

 too. right in the best growing season of the year. 

 It is like letting a liig strong man do a child's 

 work b(>cause you have nothing else for him to 

 do. Anothei' thing, one of the most important 

 things toward getting a crop is to liav(> your 

 ground thoroiigliUj pulverized, and nothing does 

 this so effectually as running the cultivator 

 through it every three or four days for several 

 weeks : then try it and i<ee how things will take 

 hold and grow riglit in the iniddh; of the fur- 

 row, where your cultivator has been going back 

 and forth all the fore part of the summer. Then 

 wlien you get the first crop out of the way. and 

 repeat the process between the furrows of the 

 second crop, your ground is in most beautiful 

 condition so far as tilth is concerned. Few peo- 

 ple have any idea of the amount of stuff that a 

 piece of ground can produce when it is all the 

 time covei-ed with a rank growth of vegetation, 

 about as thick as it can stand. Ground in this 

 condition also suffers much less from drouth ; 

 for where it is pretty thoroughly shaded all the 

 while, the sun does not seem to have a chance 

 to dry out the moisture. A tew minutes ago I 

 wanted to find some carrots large enough for 

 the wagon. Many of them had good -sized tops, 

 but no bottoms. Finally I found where a Hub- 

 bard squash had run over the carrots so as to 

 shade them pretty thoroughly. This had the 

 effect of keeping it still damp from the last 

 shower ; and riglit here I found carrots twice as 

 big as where the ground had not been shaded. 

 There are quite a tew things that will do better 

 in the )n(iut}i of Jnly if they are pn^tty well 

 shaded frym the burning rays of the hot sun ; 

 and a luxuriant growth of almost any thing, so 

 as to covMU' and shade the whole surface of the 

 ground, does this. 



A VISIT TO W. I. CHAMBERLAIN. 



A FARM THAT HAS BEEN UNDERDRAINED FOR 

 15 OR 20 YEARS. 



Before we take leave of friend Terry, I wish 

 to say something more about his nice potato- 

 fields. At one time I climbed over the fence 

 and went out in the rows and kicked my feet in 

 the soft dirt, and said: 



" Friend T., if I understand you these pota- 

 toes have never been hoed at all." 



" You are right. There has never been a hoe 

 In the field." 



"That is, the weeds were all so thoroughly 

 destroyed by the cultivator. Breed's weeder, 

 and similar tools, before they came up, and after 

 they came up, that no hoeing was necessary." 



At first sight there did not seem to be a weed 

 in the field; but I commenced examining hill 

 after hill, for it seemed to me almost impossible 

 that there should not be a weed lurking in the 

 potato-tops sooner or later; and, sure enough, 

 I found a stalk of red-top. This is a peculiar 

 weed that our boys can not see. They will go 

 through a field and get out every thing else; 

 but this looks so much like a potato it eludes 

 their vigilant eyes. It malies me think of what 

 Prof. Cook has told us about the mimicry 

 among insects and small animals. Friend T. 

 smiled as he added: 



"It is true, Mr. Root, we did not use a hoe, 

 but we did have a man pull out the occasional 

 weed that escapes the horse-tools. A relative, 

 who is not able to do severe labor. -has this sea- 

 son taken care of the bugs; and he also, while 

 doing this, gets out these stray weeds. But 

 even the sharpest man is liable to skip that 

 kind of weed now and then." 



