1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



637 



"And you don't even noir use any Paris green 

 nor any sort of poison?" 



"Oil! we could not afford it. As wo plan our 

 work, the poison alone would cost more money 

 than w(> pay the man who keeps the fields free 

 from bugs."' 



Now. friends, please notice that Terry's whole 

 system of working is all hinged or interlocked 

 together. With such land as you and I have, 

 or, rather, with land in the trim that yours and 

 mine is, a good d(»al of it. he would probatily 

 use hoe and Paris green both. lie has kept 

 wiH'ds from going to seed for many years on his 

 grounds. He has also got every acre so it is 

 tine and soft, and all works readily under the 

 harrows and weeders, and in a like manner the 

 bugs have been prevented from "going to seed" 

 until very few of them make their appearance 

 on his premises. If he should let the bugs get 

 ahead of him. as you and I do. very likely poi- 

 son would be the cheapest way to "catch up." 

 And in like manner, if the weeds should get 

 ahead of him as they do of us. it would be only 

 a question of hoes or a loss of crops. I do not 

 mean that you and I must ((lioays use hoes and 

 poison, for we can get our land in trim just as 

 well as he can- some of us better, because we 

 have better ground. I am getting up to it grad- 

 ually. The potatoes we are digging now, and 

 which come pretty close to 400 bushels per acre, 

 have never been hoed. We are retailing them 

 around town at 30 cts. a peck; but I am e.xpect- 

 ing every day that competition will bring them 

 down to an even dollar a bushel. To-day is the 

 34th of July. 



THE FREEMAN POTATO. 



Perhaps some of you have heard of the Free- 

 man potato. Wm. Henry Maule gave Terry a 

 barrel of these potatoes, asking him to make as 

 many bushels of them as he possibly could. 

 Now, Terry does not fuss with gn^enhouses and 

 hotbeds, so the best he could do was to cut the 

 potatoes to one eye, and then split the eyes. 

 He has done this, and made them cover pretty 

 well 1% acres. Of course, tiu'y do not look 

 ([Uite as strong and thrifty as his regular fields, 

 but they come pretty near it. This crop of 

 Freeman potatoes will be worth, at Maule's 

 prices, several thousand dollars. I copy the 

 following from the Pn (ct leal Farmer, oi July 

 18. It is what friend Terry says in answer to a 

 query in regard to these potatoes: 



1 like the shape and looks of the Freeman potato 

 very much. It is simply perfect, being oval-sliaped, 

 with eyes on the surface. It certainly has strong 

 vitality or we c.mld not have got a good even stand 

 on 1% acres from a barrel of seed. It is a pretty 

 hard test wlien one asks a full top from split eyes. 

 We shall get it, and cover the ground, if we have a 

 reasonable amount of rain. Of course, such small 

 beginnings can not stand drouth as well as larger 

 ones. The eating quality? Well, we did not eat 

 very many at $3 a pound ! 1 will tell you about that 

 a month later. As a keeper— a very important point 

 with me— it is all right. I should judge our seed 

 was dug as early as August, at least, and we kept 

 them through till May in good shape. 1 think I can 

 keep them in a pit, without a sprout starting till 

 that date. As far as I have got, I e.xpect great 

 things from the Freeman potato, but it will need 

 more time to actually prove it. 



SECURING NICE POTATOES FOR THE TABLE IN 

 APRIL AND MAY. 



Friend Terry has made a good many e.xperi- 

 ments in reference to this matter. He is so cer- 

 tain that he wants all his potatoes hard and 

 firm, without any sprouts when planting-time 

 comes, that he buries all his potatoes for the 

 seed, in a pit. This is covered with straw and 

 earth in the usual way, but he puts on only a 

 little at a time. When there is a good hard 

 crust frozen over the potato heap he puts on 

 more dirt and lets that freeze, until the potatoes 



are finally incased in frost. Then straw is put 

 on over this fi'osty coating, to prevent it from 

 thawing out; and in this way he keeps them 

 until planting-time in May. 



Before 1 started away he wanted me to go 

 down cellar and look at a new potato called, 1 

 believe. Early Rochester. His good wife object- 

 ed to taking Mr. Root into the cellar, on the 

 ground that it was not "slicked up." I man- 

 aged to get permission, however, all the same. 

 I wish all the readers of (Jleanings had cellars 

 ro/)«/>Zc of being slicked u|) like this one. The 

 different rooms in the cellar were made as nice 

 and clean with cement and plaster as most 

 living-rooms. The Freeman potatoes were 

 great whoppers; and although the sprouts had 

 been rubbed olT several times they were firm 

 and solid, and just splendid to eat. as I found 

 out afterward; and this, mind you. was on the 

 Fourth of July. Now, thei-e is something pe- 

 culiar about this potato. It was sent to Terry 

 to try with his own; and on the first trial he 

 pronounced it not equal to some he had already. 

 For some reason, howevctr, he gave it another 

 trial, and the nc.rt year it showed marked su- 

 periority; and this season it is just doing 

 grandly. The moi'al is. don't be in haste to 

 condemn a thing from one season's trial only. 



I confess I felt a little sorry when I was oblig- 

 ed to bid good -by to this pleasant home with its 

 pretty aooryard and surroundings. I will tell 

 you one reason why it is possible for friend 

 Terry to keep his place so neat and clean and 

 tidy. He is a specialist, or a specialist fanner, 

 if you choose. He has not, lying scattered 

 around his house, barn, and premises, the traps 

 and "calamities" that a great many of us have 

 for so many various lines of industry. He does 

 owe thing, and lets his neighbors do the other 

 things. I do not wonder he likes to stay at 

 home. The man or woman who would not, 

 with such a home as his, would be a wonder. 



Prof. Chamberlain's farm is not very far from 

 friend Teriy's, and close by the town of Hud- 

 son, Summit Co. Even though it was the 

 Fourth of July. I found his son and hired man 

 in the barn, painting a wagon. I mention this 

 because most farmers' boys would think they 

 could not work on the Fourth. 



One of the first things that attracted my at- 

 tention was a cistern to supply his cow and 

 horse stables with water. This cistei'u was both 

 above ground and under ground; that is. it was 

 built entirely above ground originally. This 

 saved the expense of digging. In the second 

 place, it was entirely under ground, so as to be 

 safe from frost, for it is under the bank that 

 leads to the upper story of the barn. The cis- 

 tern is 9 feet deep, and"l.5 feet in diameter. The 

 barn stands on a slight side hill, so it is an easy 

 matter to lead the water from the extreme bot- 

 tom of the cistern right into the horse and cow 

 stables, into an appropriate watering-trough 

 for each. Now, the most of us would think 

 that, if we had the water so it would run by 

 opening a valve, that would be handy enough. 

 But friend Chamberlain has a large tub with a 

 float in it. so the water always stands just so 

 high. It is large enough for several horses to 

 drink from at once; and just as fast as they 

 drink the water out, more comes in. This ap- 

 paratus has been in use for 17 years, and has 

 worked perfectly, and without repairs, except 

 new hoops on the tank, and without freezing. 

 When we take into consideration that every 

 barn should have eavespouts any way, the ar- 

 rangement is not so very expensive. The cis- 

 tern holds 3.50 barrels. Only those who have 

 had a similar watering-arrangement so as to 

 have water always at hand right in the stables 

 can realize the amount of time and labor saved 

 compared with the way many farmers manage 



