1S92 



GLEANINGS IN HEE CULTURE. 



661 



till' (litTt>n'iit varieties of iiliiiits, iiiul ^rct lliciii 

 toconifnui at just tlic ritrlii tiiiic. In iDnkiiifj; 

 over the btiis, 1 irot luild of one very impniiaiit 

 item. At the lirst lime nf traiisplaiitiii!^ 

 tliev nsnaliy pill ticn pliuils in a plaee. If one 

 of tliein fails, the other euines in lo iiiaUe a full 

 stailii. If lintll of tlleiii tirow. tliey jjel alollf,' 

 very well until the seeoiid naiisplanting. if it i> 

 nut put off till too late. And lliis reveals the 

 fact ihat.evi'n in raisiiifr plants by the hun- 

 dreds of thoiisaiuls for lield eultiive they have 

 fomid it prolitalile. as a rule, to iransi)laiil tin in 

 ainiricf hefore tliiyiro inlo the lield. I have 

 for years felt sure that this would pay. hul 1 

 have not foiiiul people w ho would pay for the 

 additional expense. In fai't, a jiood iiiany will 

 take totiiato-i)laiils out of the seid-hed at ."> 

 cents per dozen, when they can have nice tians- 

 planted ones for 10 eeiils i)er dozen. Hut in 

 running a great euniiing-fartoiy they tind it 

 pavs to have twioe-transplauled plants to take 

 to the lield. 



v.\kii;ti?;.s of ti).matoes grown at the can- 

 mxg-factohy. 



When friend Day gave me his preference in 

 regard to varieties I was a little bit suii)iised, 

 especially to know that he i)Ut the old and 

 well-known Acme equal to or ahead of all other 

 new varieties. Well, whai kind do you suppose 

 friend Cummins uses'? Why, the old and well- 

 known Trophy. For many years we were in 

 the habit of regarding the Acme and Trophy 

 as a soi-t of fairly well " matched span," that is, 

 when they were young, or new to the gardening 

 people. I felt like remonstrating: but he as- 

 sured nie that, after having tested every new 

 variety as it came before the tomato-growing 

 wor.d. they had yet to lind oii(> that suited 

 their business as well as the Trophy. 



I was much stiiprised when my kind friend 

 turned his hoise from tlie main road and drove 

 off into the wet fields through a pii'ce of line- 

 lotjking rye. By the way. rye is largely grown, 

 and the crops are turned under just before the 

 tomato- plants are set. Yon see, it can be put in 

 after the frost has killed thi; tomatoes; and by 

 the time it is warm enough lo plant tomatoes 

 out for the next season, there will be a big 

 stand of rye to turn under. In fact, friend 

 Cummins says they often turn it under when it 

 is in the head. ]{y the use of a chain attached 

 propei'ly to the plow there is no trouble in get- 

 ting every spear of it out of sight. Well, now, 

 if you will excuse this digression I will tell you 

 why he drove out into that wheat-lield. In 

 order to see what the skins and refuse of the 

 tomatoes are worth for enriching the ground, 

 they loaded wagons with this pomace last fall 

 and drew it out into the tields. and spread it 

 around as they would manure— of course put- 

 ting it on the poorest spots. Well, wtierever 

 this tomato pomace was scattered through the 

 field, you could see the effect of it on the rye 

 almost as plainly as if it had been loads of 

 stable manure. My impn^ssion is, that the 

 pomace was put on as a top dressing after tlie 

 rye was up. Of course, it was scattered enough 

 so it would not smother the young grain. 



A NOVKI- WAY OF HIDPIXO TIIK FIELDS OF 

 TO.MATO-WOKMS. 



You will notice in the book .just mentioned. 

 a suggestion in regard to getting rid of the 

 tobacco-worm; and this brings to mind, that, a 

 good many years ago. we purchased some even- 

 ing piimroses of one of oui' leading seedsmen, 

 because the catalogue said the blossoms weie 

 sometimes foiii- inches acros-;. Well, they were; 

 and not only that, but just at dusk, when the 

 plants looked like a thing of lile, because of 

 the rapid unfolding of the flowei'S, we weie de- 

 lighted to see great numbers of beautiful tiny 



" hnmmingbinls " going from blossom to blos- 

 som, ami uniolling great tongues, of micIi won- 

 derful length that I hey would reach clear 

 down into the tube of ihe Mower. Tlnse hum- 

 mingbirds were exhibited for weeks to adniir- 

 iiiLT friends as a. beanlifiil supplement lo the 

 lloial tr<'asuie, the primrose. And now it 

 transpires (in fact. 1 found it out at the time) 

 that these winged things were not birds at all, 

 but a great l)ig moth: and that these birds C.') 

 of ours weie the motlii rs of t he gicat hideous 

 tomato worm. I rcmcmlier the cliildren got a 

 fashion of knocking tlnin (low n because it was 

 such line fun to hit such big fellow^ a clip. Hut 

 I never dreamed at the lime that the childicn 

 were really doing gardeners a service. Now 

 for the other remedy. 



Mrs. Cummins, like her husband, has now 

 and then hobbies of her own; and one yiuir she, 

 took it into her head to raise turkeys, and suc- 

 ceeded so well that she had a beautiful Hock of 

 toward a hundred. When they got big enough, 

 turkey fashion they Ix gan roaming the Melds; 

 and, what do you think? There was much 

 rejoicing when somebody made the discovery 

 that the turkeys were peeking around under 

 the tomato-plants, and gobbling up the tomato- 

 worms before they were big enough to be visi- 

 ble to any other eyi s than their own. Their 

 keen, sharp, piercing scrutiny cleaned the^e/(7.s'. 

 while it fatted the turhcyN. The flock was sold 

 before the holidays, at a big price. As it was 

 desirable to lead tin m over as large an area as 

 possible, Mrs. Cummins used to start out with 

 their feed, and call them where they seemed lo 

 be Oiost needed. After a while, however, they 

 '■ caught on " to the program; and as soon as 

 she appeared outside of the house they were 

 all ready for the game. When the weather 

 was bad, and it was still desirable that the tur- 

 keys should ke(>p on with tlwir part of the work 

 of running a tomalo factory, she clad herself in 

 suitable water-proof clothing, donned light 

 rubber boots, and led her rambling family off 

 to the hunting grounds. This is only another 

 illustration of how much there is lo learn and 

 proMt by. in any sort of calling that one takes 

 up and pursues with enthusiasm: and it illus- 

 trates, loo. how one department of rural work 

 may be made to com • in and nicely supplement 

 another part. 



THE PRODUCTION OF COMB HONEY. 



THE I)OVETAII-EI)-IIIVK SECTION-SlTI'Ei; INDOKS- 

 EI) BY H. F. HOI/rEI{.MA.V.\. 



I am more and more convinced that your 

 section-super with closed-end- frame follower 

 and separator can not be surpassed for the pro- 

 duction of comb honey. For years I have looked 

 about for a better method of taking comb honey 

 —sent for a sample crate, and now after testing 

 yours for two seasons I am satisMed. I Hnd 

 with it. that good straight comb is .secured. If 

 I am particularly anxious to get nice comb 

 honey, white, I can. when two-thirds of the, 

 sections are ready, take out my wedge, loosen 

 the follow'er. and immediately every section is 

 ready for removal. The rest of the sections, 

 which are not ready. I can put back on the 

 hive, or the unMnisiied sections from several 

 supers can be put together. This yi ar I worked 

 for comb honey in a litll(^ diffficnt manner 

 than n>-ual. I put on all tin' section-supers 

 Mist; and as the latter pari of Hh; honey .reason 

 came on I changed over lo extr;icl<d. This 

 method necessitates a few extra supers, but it 

 reduces the chance of having cull sections to a 

 minimum. With your super, toward the end of 

 the honey -How some of the section- holders can 



