(W 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 1."). 



and It has not broken anywhere yet. This is 

 rf ally doing better than rubber hose that cost us 

 about 12 cts. per foot. 



To irrigate a field the cloth hose is laid to the 

 point in the lot furthest from the tank. One 

 of his men now takes the end of the hose in hand 

 and thoroughly waters nine rows of plants — four 

 rows each side of him, and the one between his 

 feet. As he gets the ground well soaked he 

 walks backward: and when he gets back to a 

 coupling in the hose he pulls the bow-knot in 

 the string, and drops one length of hose. 

 This he repeats until the nine rows are watered 

 the whole length of the field; then he puts his 

 hose together and waters nine rows more, and 

 soon. A good man will thoroughly soak an 

 acre in a day. When dry enough the cultivator 

 is put on, and then a lump-pulverizer — a ma- 

 chine of March's invention. This machine 

 scrapes all the lumps into the middle of the row. 

 and then mashes them up fine. Is all this too 

 nmch bother? By and by I will show you a 

 Kodak view of a dozen stalks of his irrigated 

 celery. They are about all I should want to 

 carry. I hardly dare tell you what crops friend 

 Marcli h<ts secured by his high-pressui'e garden- 

 ing: but I will say this: He has, under the most 

 favorable conditions, had a slmjlc C(tlifloiver- 

 plant give him -?.5.0(t worth of seed. Now, mind 

 yoti, this has been accomplished only by years of 

 labor with brain and muscle. He has fought 

 insect-enemies with all the insecticides known: 

 and after that, he and his men have gone down 

 on their knees and dug out the worms, one by 

 one, that were gnawing at the vitals of his seed 

 cauliflowers. They cut them off the living 

 stalk, and the plants healed up and bore seed. 

 He never gives up to any foe: and in seed-raising 

 he is so untiring in selecting the very best plants 

 to raise seed from that it is not strange that the 

 experiment stations of almost every State in the 

 Union are reporting that no such seed has ever 

 been tested as his. At present there is probably 

 no other man living in America who is succeed- 

 ing in raising cauliflower seed. Very likely 

 no other locality is so favorable for the industry. 

 In one of his cold-frames I was shown a single 

 choice head of Wakefield cabbage. This one 

 head is to furnish stock seed for nexfyear. All 

 the seeds it produces are to make heads next 

 year, to be used for seed in 18U.H. Thus you see 

 how preparation must be made so long ahead 

 for the best kinds of seed. He has three large 

 iiouses filled with the choicest Golden Self- 

 blanching celery then* is, probably, on the face 

 of the earth. I am quite sure there is none in 

 the ivorhl to compare with it. Oi-dinary celery 

 is sold for 18, '20. ;.'5. and may be 30 cts. per dozen 

 roots. Friend March gets a dolltir a dozen, and 

 it is cheap at tiiat. First, he raised a strain of 

 -seed that suited him: next, he manured the 

 ground with stable manure and tish guano 

 until the amount of manure under each row 

 suited him. Then he poured on the water un- 

 til that suited him. and now he gets over .?70(;o 

 for the ct^lery that grows on a single acre. 



I must not forget a point I got from friend 

 March on the advantage of warm instead of 

 cold spring water for irrigating. After he was 

 satisfied the latter was positively damaging to 

 caidiflower-plants he nuide his present arrange- 

 ment for running the water about one-fourth 

 milcMn the V-shaped wooden spouts, and then 

 into a storage- tank. The home- made duck liose 

 I have described is attached to this tank. The 

 wooden spouts are supported so high up from 

 the ground that a common wagon easily passes 

 under them the most of the way. The sun and 

 warm air raise the temperature of the spring 

 water to that of the ground by the time it is 

 used for irrigating. 



Now a word about his manure: He found on 



his premises, years ago. a peat-swamp: and 

 every summer, when there is a dry spell, loads 

 of this dried muck are piled under sheds close to 

 his horse-stables, cow-stables, poultry-houses, 

 and. in fact, near all kinds of stock that furnish 

 manure, either solid or liquid, and dry dust 

 is made to absorb every particle. Before spring 

 all the manure is mixed thoroughly, and water 

 enough added to start fermentation. When 

 sufficiently rotted it goes under the rows of cel- 

 ery, as I have explained. In these western re- 

 gions, when there is a lack of rain in summer 

 time there is an objection to stable manure be- 

 cause it makes the ground dry out quicker, and 

 nothing but plenty of water for irrigation can 

 reinedy this, especially where manure is put on 

 in such quantities as market-gardeners use. 





In the muUUude of counselors there is safety.~PR, 11: 14. 



We are having plenty of snow and good 

 sleighing. What effect this will have on the 

 honey the coming season will be seen later. 



Wk regret that we are unable to publish the 

 usual installment of Stray Straws at the head 

 of this journal. They are evidently lost in the 

 mails, as Dr. Miller has recovered from the grip. 

 It was too late to wire for another copy, as we 

 were expecting daily that they would surely 

 come. As it is, we put in a valuable article 

 from J. A. Green in their place. 



It is with much pleasure that we publish the 

 presidents' addresses, both of the North Amer- 

 ican and the Michigan State Bee-keepers' As- 

 sociation. Usually presidents' addresses cover 

 about the same old routine, and everybody is 

 glad when they are dis])0sed of. But these two 

 were decided exceptions. They both call atten- 

 tion to interests that are vital to every bee- 

 keepe'-, and we hope they will be carefully read. 



Wk are glad to announce that the health of 

 the senior editor is improving. He is not strong 

 yet, by any means, but is doing well. Mrs. A. I. 

 Root met him at San P'rancisco. as per arrange- 

 ment, and together they will travel for the rest 

 of their journey. In his last letter he was just 

 on his way to attend the bee-keepers' conven- 

 tion at Los Angeles. Jan. 7. We thought for a 

 time he would not be able to attend this meet- 

 ing. We presume Prof. Cook, as per announce- 

 ment, was present also. 



We have purchased a lot of large signs, which 

 read: "A. I. Root. Medina. (>.. Manufacturer of 

 Apiarian Supplies.'" These signs are to be 

 tacked across the sides of the loaded cars as 

 they come from our factory. Our carloads are 

 now beginning to leave the Home of the Honey- 

 bees: and may be if you are on the lookout you 

 may see some of these signs " skylarking " 

 around the country. There is nothing like 

 keeping vour name constantlv befoi'e the public. 

 See •? " '_ 



On page 18, the per cent of the schedule of 

 the marking of the Italian bee. as reported by 

 the committee at the North American at Al- 

 bany, does not seem complete. The total foot- 

 ing amounts to only 90 per cent. The committee 

 in their hurry failed to notice it. We would 

 suggest that honey-gathering be made 40, and 

 prolificness 20. This will make the footing 



