472 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 15. 



They were quoted at the time at ?7.00 a bushel, 

 wholesale. Right before me as I write, is a bed 

 of Early Ohio potatoes with foliage that seems 

 to promise a yield of certainly more than 1000 

 bushels per acre. Early Sugar pumpkins we 

 started under glass, and moved them to the 

 field when they were just beginning to run; 

 the same with cucumbers, summer squashes, 

 and other vines. A nice bed of radishes under 

 glass, prudently managed, gave a tremendous 

 crop — I never figured up just how much. Spin- 

 ach we propose to grow next season under the 

 sash made of slatted glass, said sash never to 

 be handled at all until it can be removed en- 

 tirely. We have not yet raised tomatoes under 

 sash, but I will tell you what I have done. 

 About a month ago we had some beautiful 

 Dwarf Champions getting to be too large for 

 the greenhouse. They were removed out into 

 the plant-beds, and set far enough apart so 

 they could make great stocky handsome plants. 

 Well, these plants grew up to be the finest- 

 looking ones I ever saw in my life. We did not 

 intend them for sale, but they were to be plant- 

 ed out in our own ground. A lady went by, 

 however, and declared that she must have 

 some of them, if they were to be bought. 

 Thinking she would not want more than two 

 of them, I told her they were worth to us about 

 a nickel apiece. She took eight of them, and 

 went away highly pleased. Well, at a nickel a 

 plant (and th ■ plants occupied the bed for only 

 about four weeks, so late the sash was not put 

 over them more than once or twice all together) 

 how much profit do you suppose there would 

 be? 



This ground, mind you, is to be occupied over 

 and over with crops — not only three months or 

 six months in the year, but with many crops 

 the ground can be earning something every 

 month in the year. 



We have been selling Prizetaker and White 

 Victoria onion-plants for a dollar a thousand 

 as you may know. Well, one customer paid us 

 a dollar for the onions that grew in a single 

 roiv, said row being the length of the sash, or 

 six feet long. The rows were about as far 

 apart as i\w lights of glass; and at that rate 

 we should get #4.00 for the use of a sash for GO 

 days. By the way, these plant-beds afford the 

 very finest opportunity to use concentrated 

 manures. At present, however, my experience 

 is in favor of only one such fertilizer— guano. 

 Of course, stable manure is always safe. In 

 one of our onion-beds, one end seemed to be 

 poor; in fact, the onions were not half as large 

 as those at the other end ; and for several weeks 

 it seemed almost impossible that they could 

 ever be made to catch up. As an experiment, I 

 directed some guano to be sifted over the poor 

 onions until the ground was pretty much hid- 

 den by the yellowish red of the fertilizer. Then 

 with hand-weeders it was stirred in between 

 the I'ows and between the plants. It was, per- 

 haps, ten days before the onions began to " feel 

 their oats;" and then after a warm shower — 

 myl but didn't they just climbl Whenever the 

 boys look at that onion-bed they just wonder 

 to see those little yellow puny-looking things 

 outstripping the rest in both tops and bottoms. 

 I have tried nitrate of soda in the same way. 

 and it has never yet showed any benefit what- 

 ever. Fearing that we had not used enough, 

 we commenced increasing the dose gradually 

 until we leally injured the onions; but the 

 ground has never since shown any benefit 

 whatever to any crop where the nitrate of soda 

 was put on. You will notice that the experi- 

 ment stations in different States are making re- 

 ports quite similar. It seems pretty hard, dear 

 friends, to think that any seedsman would 

 encourage people to buy a fertilizer that was of 



no benefit whatever. I speak thus strongly, 

 for it pains me to see nitrate of soda continual- 

 ly and persistently recommended by so many 

 who have it for sale. 



From the reports I have made above, it would 

 seem not a difficult matter to make the space 

 occupied by each sash bring six or eight dollars 

 during the whole year. As it is a pretty hard 

 matter, however, to plan so as to have every 

 foot of space going at a high-pressure rate all 

 the while, we shall have to figure more moder- 

 ately. Theoretically, either seed should be 

 sown, or plants put but, within one hour after 

 a bed has been vacated. But experience seems 

 to indicate that average humanity is hardly 

 equal to crowding things like this. Sooner or 

 later some piece of ground will be doing little 

 or nothing; and, no matter how much help is 

 employed, the boss will now and then forget or 

 neglect to do every thing in the time it should 

 be done. Some unprofitable crop will be al- 

 lowed to cumber the ground. For instance, 

 part of the radishes will be pulled from a bed 

 and the remnants left, when they are not really 

 worth any thing. Now. just as soon as this 

 time comes, the rest should be cleaned up and 

 sold for what they will bring; but instead of 

 doing this, such beds frequently stand until the 

 radishes go up to seed, and possibly weeds are 

 also doing the same tiling along with them. 

 No matter hov/ much the rich fertile soil costs, 

 nor how expensive the land is, I have never 

 known a man yet who didn't get caught nap- 

 ping now and then; therefore, instead of saying 

 that the space of bed occupied by each sash will 

 bring us at least SfJ.OO each year, we will count 

 it at just half that; and if the gardener is at all 

 enterprising and enthusiastic it should do this. 

 Well, our model quarter-acre of ground is to 

 have 24 beds, of 14 sash each. This would make 

 33(5 sash all together; tlieretore the net returns 

 from a quart<>r of an acre arranged as I have 

 planned should be about ?1(X)0. Some localities 

 may make it twice that, and others perhaps 

 half as much; and if the cost of labor and 

 manure for the quarter-acre be subtracted, the 

 remainder will snow you what you have to 

 support the family. The labor, we expect, will 

 all be done by the father, mother, and children. 

 Mrs. Root thinks she could take care of a quar- 

 ter of an acre herself except handling the sash. 

 My impression is, however, she would find the 

 help that three or four children could give very 

 convenient. 



It has occurred to me many times that such 

 an arrangement would be a wonderful thing 

 for a florist. But this will be rather out of 

 the line of the present little treatise. Last sea- 

 son I had a bed of portulaccas that seemed to 

 me were '" a thing of beauty and a joy for ever " 

 for many months. On our rich plant-bed soil 

 all sorts of flowers flourish with wonderful lux- 

 uriance. The third crop on a piece of bed about 

 the size of four sash is now occupied by gladio- 

 luses. First, we had cabbage-plants. Just be- 

 fore they were to be taken up and sold, the 

 gladiolus-bulbs were put in, a foot apart each 

 way. Before they had come up. Dwarf Cham- 

 pion tomatoes were transplanted as thickly as 

 if no bulbs were in the way at all. By the time 

 the tomato-plants were ready to be sold, the 

 sharp, knifelike blades of the bulbs were just 

 shooting up among them. This gives you a 

 hint of the way in which the ground may be 

 occupied with two crops at once, keeping the 

 surface of the soil covered constantly with a 

 heavy growth of something. 



STRAWBKRRY REPORT UP TO JUNE 10. 



Michel's Early blossomed quite profusely, and 

 we had hopes that it was going to make a bet- 

 ter record. It is just now fruiting, and the 



