1S<C' 



»;i>KANIN(;s IN HKE CULTURE. 



ill the rokl-tramc. iiluuii .'. iiiclics !i|iarl. 'I'liis 

 is iloiic with u marUfi- wliicli looUs liivc liic 

 licail of a I'Dininon raUc. only it is ."> feci loiiji. 

 ami tlu' Irt'tli arc ."> iiiclu's apart. Wlicu llic 

 plants an- as laiK<' as tlicy should \u\ a hntolicr- 

 kiiifc is run hctwct'ii the rows, so as to cutout 

 square soils, as it wimc. a plant Ix-iiiK in thi' 

 ctMitcr of cai-h sod. Hut 1 will tell you more 

 about this liitt'r on. 1 havo told enough so you 

 can go at work at once making cloth cold- 

 frames for any of your crops. They will solve 

 the i)rol)leiu as to how we may most cheaply 

 save our valuahle early crojis from frost. Vou 

 can use them foi' early aspaiagus. calihage- 

 plants. celery-plants, egg-plants, catilillower, 

 or any kind of plants that may l)e \vant(Hl; and 

 in many localities they will pay well for early 

 potatoes, wax beans, early be(>ts, etc. I can not 

 learn that they have i)eeii used for forcing 

 strawberries, but tlun- would surely i)ro\(' a 

 perfect remedy for frost in the spring: and 

 after frost is over tliey are just tlu^ thing for 

 melons, cucumbers, etc. In fact, tln^y have- 

 been a good deal used for this pur{)ose. Wh(>n 

 they are located in the middle of the tield for to- 

 matoes and such cro|)s. the whole thing is takf^n 

 apart and moved up by liie fence until the next 

 year. Enougli tomatcu'S are loft where it stood 

 to get a small advanci' crop of extra early. 



Now. this is not conjecture and theory, but it 

 is an account of a great industry that has been 

 going on and dev(>loping lor years; and I am 

 sure it will interest and profit hundreds of our 

 readers, north, south, <'ast, and west. The 

 book, with illustrations, will be issued during 

 the coming season. 



THE PHl/.KTAKEH .\XI) SI'AXISII KING ONION. 



Are these two one and the same thing? 

 Quite a few leadingseedsmen. including Johnson 

 & Stokes, who first introduced the .Spanish King, 

 declare they are the same, while others, includ- 

 ing William Henry INIaule. say they are not. 

 One friend writes us that the i'rizetaker is a 

 siraw-ct)lored (Jiiion apijroachiiig red. while the 

 Spanish King (or Yellow liocca) is a yellow one. 

 By the way. how much difference is there be- 

 tween straw color and yellow ? I think, friends, 

 that, no matter where you get yottr seed, or 

 whether you buy .Spanish King or Prizetaker, 

 you will find in every field a few onions of red 

 and white both, as well as yellow. I am inclin- 

 ed to think they are sports. Whether these 

 sports can be bred out or not is a ([uestion. You 

 will also lind similar spurts in regard to shape. 

 If the seed is carefully raised from birge yellow 

 round onions, so firm and hard they liave kept 

 over vvinter all right, there will lie a chance of 

 breeding out these snorts, and there is a big 

 opening for some enterprising seedsman, or any- 

 body else, who will take the i)ains to do this. 

 If there is a man among our readers who can 

 truthfully say he raised the seed himself, from 

 selected onions, during the season of W.v.:, he 

 can get a big price for his carefully bred selected 

 seed in the spring of ]S(t3. Our friend March 

 gave me some important facts in regard to ibis 

 raattel I) .-eed-raising. It is not at all dillicull 

 to get extra nice seed: but it takes more care 

 and patience than most people are willing to 

 give, especially after they have got a big busi- 

 ness established. We have some onions saved. 

 and are going to plant them ourselve.s. Who 

 else will help? Our experiment stations are 

 doing a good work in this very line : and. if 1 

 am correct, our Ohio station have decided they 

 could see no essential difference betwetMi the 

 Prizetaker and the Spanish King, although they 

 did decide that the seed purchased from sonic 

 <Z€a/('r.s. called Prizetaker. was supeiior to that 

 bought of certain ntlitr dealers called Spanish 

 King. 1 wish friend (irei-n would give us a few- 

 words on the subject. 



Heads of Grain 



FROM DIFFERENT FIELDS 



FOITL HKOOn IN VOKK. NKBKA.SK.X; KKI'KV TO 

 KI.MKH TODD; TIIK I)ISE.\.SE NOT KAMI'.XN'r. 



In tJi<K.\MN»j.s, Feb. 1."). p. i:)3. 1 see an articleon 

 foul brood in Nebraska, signed by Elmer Todd. 

 IJegafding 1 he subject -matter of th(^ art iclc. we 

 wish to say to Mr. Todd, or any one else, that 

 it is an undisputed fact that there are cases of 

 foul brood in this vicinity; but to the extent 

 that he claims, (f i.s" not a fact. We have a so- 

 ciety her<'. and one of the express purposes of 

 the organization was to get a unity of action 

 regarding this v(>ry disease. To our nn'inljer- 

 ship Mr. Todd has often been invited, but will 

 not unite with us. preferring to stand aloof and 

 growl. If it is true, as he says, that rotten 

 combs were thrown in the streets of tiiecity 

 last summer, instead of picking them up and 

 carrying tlu'in home, and using them in his 

 own hives, as he admitted to me In; did do the 

 summer i)revious, why did he not re|)ort the 

 case to our county bee-inspector, who has been 

 worKing ca,refully but etT(>ctualIy to prevent 

 that kind of work, and is stamping out the dis- 

 ease wherever he finds it ? 



RefeiTing to the catalogue, we supi)0se he has 

 reference to that of S. C. Oorham. a supply- 

 dealer of York. We printed tliat catalogue: 

 and before that offer was jiiade. Mr. (Jorham 

 said to us: " If he got bees in exchange he could 

 use them in his own apiary: and as to supply- 

 ing his customers, to my certain knowledge he 

 has arrangements for buying to fill orders 

 where there Ix no foul brood." Mr. Oorham is 

 an old bee-keeper, and a man of principle and 

 honor, and we do not think he would sell any 

 thing to cu.stomers from his own yard or this 

 vicinity, knowing that foul brood ex'isted here, 

 and his customers need have no fears; and for 

 one who had little if any knowledge of bees, 

 and never kept any himself until the last two 

 years, and who never goes far from home, or 

 never attends the meetings of bee-keepers, 

 either at home or in the State, to make the 

 broad assertion he does in the published article 

 is unjust and injurious to those who are trying 

 to do the very thing he complains of not being 

 done, but does not hel|) to do. 



I hope you will give this as prominent a place 

 as you did Mr. Todd's article, as I think he tries 

 to create a false im])r<\ssion of things here, and 

 injure the trade of those engaged in business 

 here, but which lie does not ixttronize. 



L. D. Stilson, Ed. Neb. Beekeeper- 



York. Neb.. Feb. 22. 



[We are glad to give place to the abovts as 

 we would not willingly do an injustice to the 

 bee-keepers of Nebraska. We hav(! no doubt 

 that Mr. Stilson, as editor of the NeJrranlui 

 Bee-heei>er (an excellent bee-paper, by the 

 way), is in a position to know the facts.] 



I'oisoNots honey; is the .stoky in tmk a nc 



OK HEE CUI/niRE A MYTH? 



In the interest of 

 obstacle ought to be ii 

 years I have been satis 

 thing as " poison Ian 

 have ev(U' seen writte 

 very much to me as 

 story," related in A H ( 

 ens many ix-ople who ; 

 it: and that a gorge 

 plenty of nuished bee 

 effects described can r 

 reasons for this opinloi 



honey -production, (^very 

 •moved: and for several 

 lied that there is no such 

 rel honey." All that I 

 n on the subj(>ct looked 

 if it weri^ the "soldier 

 . remodeled. Honey sick- 

 ire not accumstomed to 

 of honey (and jierhaps 

 s) sliould have had the 

 cadily be imagined. My 

 I seem tome conclusive. 



