1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



785 



about hot- beds, I know — we can not, as with a 

 greenhouse, get Inside to regulate the tempera- 

 ture; neither can we work inside during stormy 

 weather. Notwithstanding this, tlie benefit of 

 having the sash stripped clear oft' when the 

 weather will permit seems to me to overbalance 

 the other. Perhaps, however, in many cases it 

 would be profitable to have both the green- 

 houses and a proper number of hot-beds and 

 cold-frames to go with them. 



THOSE GKEAT BIG ONIOXS. 



Our friends who have secured a crop by the 

 "new onion culture" will need to be a little 

 careful about giUting them cured properly or 

 they may be troubled with rot. Some of our 

 Prize-takers have utterly refused to be cured 

 dry and hard, even during this beautiful drouth 

 we ai'e having, unless we first peeled off the 

 damp outside covering. The rot seems to com- 

 mence on the outside: but if you peel off all that 

 is wet and then lay them in the sun, being care- 

 ful they do not get rained on, they will make 

 hard dry onions. It is only occasionally that 

 we find such a one: but during a spell of damp 

 weather I can readily imagine thei'e will be 

 great trouble in curing the crop. Once get 

 them dry and hard, and then keep them in a 

 cool dry place, and we think you will have no 

 trouble in keeping them for at least a reason- 

 able length of time. Onions of all kinds seem 

 to require a tremendous amoiuit of drying. We 

 spread our onion-sets out in the sun on shallow 

 trays, and carry them in when the barometer 

 gives the least indication of rain. After they 

 are once di'ied and hard, you will not have 

 much trouble. We need to be very careful 

 about storing onions or onion-sets in any bulk 

 so they may get damp or heat. We have been 

 very successful by using some frames made of 

 lath. These are put into a cool dry room, about 

 six inches from the floor. Now put on. say, six 

 inches of onions: then another frame of laths: 

 more onions, and so on. This arrangement 

 allows the air to get through them in every 

 direction constantly, and they seldom get damp 

 enough to start to grow. Our Ohio experiment 

 station gives the preference to White Victoria 

 and Spanish King, or Pi-ize-takei', for starting 

 in greenhouses or cold-frames. The White Vic- 

 toria seems to be about the handsomest onion 

 in the world; but I suspect it is not a first-rate 

 keeper, unless cured as directed in the way I 

 have indicated. Better sell your onions oft' as 

 fast as they can be cured in good order, unless 

 you have had some experience in keeping them. 

 An unused greenhouse is just the nicest place 

 in the world to cure onions, providing you have 

 plenty of doors and ventilators so you can let 

 the ail' circulate freely. ' You can arrange your 

 trays of onions so they will have all the benefit 

 of the sun, and still be secure from rain. The 

 sash from a hot-bed or cold-frame can be used 

 to cover them with in the same way; but if you 

 want them to dry they must have lots of air, as 

 well as heat from the rays of the sun. 



TOBACCO DUST F^R MELON-VINES, ETC. 



I liave good reason to think that, while this 

 failed in our hands last season, it was because 

 we did not put on enough of it. Our Ohio ex- 

 periment station says, "Put a shovelful on a 

 single hill of melons or cucumbers." If you 

 cover the young plants all up it will not hurt 

 them. The bugs will not be likely to dig down 

 through the tobacco as they do through the 

 mellow soil. If a rain comes and washes it 

 away, or takes the strength from it, put on 

 another shovelful. They call the tobacco 

 worth $'2n a ton as a fertilizer, to say nothing of 

 its qualities for repelling insect-enemies. From 

 what experiments I have been able to make, I 

 am inclined to think they are right about it. 



Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and lie shall su.s- 

 tain thee. He shall never sutler the righteous to lie 

 moved.— Ps. 55:22. 



I have for years supposed that I und(!rstood 

 the admonitions of the beautiful little text at 

 the head of this; and I supposed my faith was 

 strong enough to bring all my burdens to Christ 

 Jesus and cast them at his feet, and — leave 

 tlion there. But my recent experience has 

 taught me something in this line. When the 

 doctor absolutely forbade all thoughts of 

 business, I promised obedience; and when he 

 gave directions to the people of the factory 

 that I was not to be troubled nor even consult- 

 ed, I assented. Of course, he did not forbid 

 their answering any questions that I might ask, 

 nor was any attempt made to deceive me. I 

 was simply to be ignored unless I inquired after 

 certain things: but with this he insisted over 

 and over again that 1 was to give up business 

 entirely, not to worry nor question, and to stop 

 thinking, so far as it was possible for such a 

 restless creatui-e as myself to do so. I promised 

 obedience; but very soon I began to I'epeat over 

 and over again my brief old familiar prayer, 

 "Lord, help!" My fever was a nervous fever, 

 brought on somewhat, perhaps, by weeks of 

 too much care and responsibility; therefore 

 absolute quietness and rest were the things to 

 be most desired. The doctor is an old friend of 

 mine. In fact, I have been more or less inti- 

 mately acquainted with him for thirty years; 

 so we good-naturedly joked together, and he 

 talked to me sometimes quite plainly. You 

 have had experience, no doubt, with people 

 who could not be taught any thing, because 

 they "knew it all'^ alrendy. Well, as I look 

 back at the experience of the past few weeks 

 I feel ashamed to be obliged to admit that, in 

 many respects. I was bne of those very chaps 

 who "knew it all." While I thought I was a 

 perfect pattern of docility and obedience to the 

 doctor's directions, the real truth was, there was 

 a great deal of self-conceit that had to be got 

 out of the way before the doctor could give me 

 any real help or aid. One reason why I want 

 to tell you this is, that I fear there are many 

 others who sadly err in this way. In fact, here 

 on these pages we have been discussing doctors 

 and medicines pretty freely. I for one hereby 

 humbly heg purdoii of the many physicians 

 who are friends and readers and contributors 

 of Gleanings. One of my first experiences 

 was with this same fever thermometer that so 

 delighted me when I first saw it. Of course, it 

 is desirable to break a fever when it can be 

 done; and accordingly I was given anti-fever 

 remedies. The doctor's instructions were, that 

 the powders should be given only when the 

 fever thermometer ran up to or above a certain 

 temperature. When I volunteered to manage 

 it myself, he rather objected to it. He said the 

 nurse had better have it in charge. But I was 

 so sure I could manage it to "a dot" that he 

 reluctantly gave way. Well, the first thing I 

 did was to make a blunder in reading the scale 

 on the instrument, and to take three powders 

 when they should not have been taken at all. 

 As a consequence, it threw me into a drenching 

 sweat, and weakened me somewhat. When the 

 doctor came he looked a little bit cross, and 

 said that the nurse should give the medicine, 

 and not the patient. I suggested; 



"I suppose, doctor, because they are less liable 

 to make blunders'?" 



" Yes, and there are some other reasons." 



"What other reasons, doctor?" 



"Well, for one thing, a person who is sick is 

 naturally inclined to be nervous, and to worry; 



