ISirj 



IJLEANlNCiS IN HEPi CULTURE. 



425 



SIKKACK DUAINS 111 KKKl' IIIK \VA IKU KUOM 



lUNMNO KKO.M YOfK NKUi lIltoK's (fKolND 



DOWN ON VdlU OWN. 



After I hiiil got in my drains JO feci apart, so 

 nuK'h wat(>r came down the (MubanlvnitMit 

 thrown np hy tlic railroad that it was oontin- 

 naliy washinsi yeikiw chiy over tiic siilaoc of 

 my (Mirit'lKMl fxardcn soil; and 1 finally went to 

 thi> expense of niaUinfi a shallow open ditch 

 clear alonp tlie foot of the emiiani<m(>nl.so as to 

 carry the water from both w ays ((nvii/ from my 

 gronnd instead of iti-mss it. In Ihi' same way I 

 have been gradnally making shallow op(^n 

 ditches clear around all of my premises, wher- 

 ever there is any danger that any water may 

 come in on my ground; and thes(> open ditches 

 also carry the surface water speedily away 

 from my own land: and every time we plow 

 and cultivate, we keep constantly in view and 

 work toward this end of making all ground 

 slope toward these open ditches. Ttie furrows 

 between the crops are always h^ft open, when 

 we stop cultivating, so the water can get out of 

 them into the before-mentioned open ditches. 

 During this remarkably wet spring of 181)2 this 

 has been a wonderful help toward getting our 

 grounds dry and keeping them dry. In fact, 

 while it rains I keep watching these open 

 ditches, and every little while a man is sent out 

 with a shovel to open the ends of the furrows, 

 and thus help the water to run away. You see, 

 the point is, when everybody else has their 

 crops drowned out by the e.xcessive water, my 

 own are going to be almost unharmed. Now, 

 please do not think that I am altogether selfish 

 in this line. There are very many reasons why 

 it is better for one man to have a good crop in a 

 neighborhood than that there should be no 

 good crop at all. One particular reason is, 

 that he teaches his neighbors what may be 

 done by incessant watching and planning. 



Now. then, my friends, are you sure that the 

 north boundary of your land has surface drains 

 so that no water in a time of great flood can 



four over into your premises in that direction ? 

 f so, how is it about the east side, and the 

 south side, and the west side? And, again, 

 have these open ditches as well as these under- 

 drains good sufficient outlets at all times? Ob- 

 structions left carelessly in the bottom of drains 

 often hinder them from doing their work, to the 

 extent of great loss of property or even of life. 

 Again and again I have noticed my water- 

 passages temporarily stopped by some work 

 that is going on; and I have said to myself, 

 '• I am sure we shall get around to fix it before 

 a big rain comes. It does not look a bit like 

 rain, nor act like rain." Hut almost every time 

 it has seemed as if I paid the penalty for my 

 negligence. The careful grower should be al- 

 ways ready for a tremendous i-ain that may 

 come unexi^ectedly. Whatever you do, don't 

 have your plant-garden ruined by a flood. 



SELLING ONION-PLANTS. 



It has rained again to-day, and the ground is 

 so wet I hardly knew what to do with the troop 

 of boys that just came in from school; but just 

 in the nick of time one of tlie express clerks an- 

 nounced that there was an order for 25(X) onion- 

 plants as ijuick as we co\ild put them n\). One 

 of the boys who packs the plants provided him- 

 self with some rubber bands and strips of oiled 

 paper, and stationed himself near a pile of sash. 

 Thi' schoolboys lifted the onions carefully from 

 the .soil, counted tliem in bunches of 50, and 

 then passed them on to be tied up: and by 

 working all together, with a hint now and then 

 from :your humble servant, within one hour 

 after the letter was opened the plants were on 

 the train for their destination. Hy the way. 

 few things in market-gardening have pleased 



me as much as lliis onion-iilant business. In 

 order to have good sti'ong jihiiit-s t-o put out in 

 the li<'l{ls. we have |)ushed them pretty freely 

 with guano; and if th(! tops get so tall as to be- 

 gin to lop over, we shear them oiT. Hy the 

 way, these trimmings are just the things to cut 

 up with salt and vinegar and pejjper. for the 

 table. These unions are so tenacious of life 

 that 1 hav(> seen every one grow in a long I'ow 

 through a large field, when tln^ planting was 

 done by schoolboys so small that I fi-ared they 

 would not be able to do it successfully. The 

 ground was fine and mellow; and as it was just 

 after a rain, all that the boys did was to push 

 the onion down into the ground with their fore- 

 fingers, and then press a little earth on top of 

 them. No mat-ler how crookedly they stuck 

 them into the ground, they all stood up straight 

 in a few days. The ground was marked out for 

 onion-plants with a wheat-drill, running a good 

 dressing of ferti'izer into the ground at the 

 same time that- it was ma.rk(>d. We plant tlie 

 onions in every other drill-mark. 



OURSELVES AND OUR NEIGHBORS. 



And God blessed them, and God said unto them. 

 Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, 

 and subdue it: and have dominion over the flsh of 

 tlie sea. and over the fowl of the air, and over every 

 living- thing- that moveth upon the earth. —Gen. 1:38. 



When I gave them that talk of an hour and a 

 quarter at San Jacinto, as referred to in another 

 column, I commenced something like this: 

 Said I, " My friends,! have been asking myself, 

 over and over again, what 1 should talk to you 

 about; in other words, why did God send me 

 away off here? and what does he want me to 

 do? Well, the replies came, as nearly as I can 

 understand, that I am sent here to hunt up 

 (iiid's ;///7.s- to the children of men; and my talk 

 to you to-day will be in regard to these gifts." 



Now. instead of talking to-day about God's 

 gifts which I saw and found round about San 

 Jacinto, I am going to speak of some of them 

 that I have found right around home here in 

 Ohio. The way I ran on to them, seemingly by 

 accident, was something like this: One day as 

 I sat at my table a letter was placed before me 

 from which I make the following extract: 



Last season T used about 100 feet of bed heated 

 with live steam, blowing- it into two rows of drain 

 tile under the bed. This season 1 am using- 1000 feet 

 of bed heated in the same manner. It is working- 

 very well, bringing- the young- plants through the 

 recent cold weather in g-ood shnpe. A month or two 

 latei- I may be able to give some points on this way 

 of heating. If it is satisfactory this season, 1 expect 

 to arrangt^ all my beds for steam heat, using only 

 enough manure to keep the soil rich. My object is, 

 to get a heat that can be controlled. The manure- 

 bed is often too hot when waim days come, causing- 

 a soft, weak, spindling growth, even when ah cover- 

 ing is removed. D. Cum.mins. 



Conneaut. ()., April 22. 



I at once wrote to friend C, begging an invi- 

 tation to come and see how h(^ us(;d live steam 

 to help him giovv tomato- plants to supply the 

 farmers who raise tomatoes for the great Lake 

 Slior(> Canning- Factory at Conneaut. O. I pre- 

 sume yon already know that I am deeply inter- 

 ested in this n)atterof using steam h(>at through 

 drain tile, in place of fermenting manure, to 

 heat hot-beds. I found friend Cummins wait- 

 ing for me at the station, with a horse and 

 buggy; and on the way to his home and factory 

 he gave me the following (to me) precious bits 

 of history. Thirty or forty years ago he was a 

 harne.ss-maker by trade. There; was not busi- 

 ness in the shop, and, besides, it was a little 



