740 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 1. 



is of a tine quality. Tlie bees liave been getting 

 enough lioney from goldenrod to l\eep up brood- 

 rearing at a lively rate. At present ttiey are 

 filling tlieir combs with honey from the asters; 

 and if they have a few more warm days they 

 will have enough to winter on. 

 Dilworthtown, Pa. H. P. Faucett. 



By all means let us have a union as spol^en 

 of by Mr. Mclntyre. If it had such an effect on 

 the syrup-trade, why would it not have a sim- 

 ilar one on honey? You may count me one to 

 help. ■ O. H. Hyatt. 



Shenandoah. la., Aug. 22. 



A POSSIBLE solution; milkweed. 



I thinlf the bees that Wm. Miller speaks of 

 as trying to carry each other off, on page G22, 

 were "fastened together with milkweed pollen. 



New Hampton, N. Y. E. E. Howell. 



High-pressure Gardening. 



PEAS IN THE FALL. 



All along during the spring month* I kept 

 planting peas without getting enough of a crop 

 to pay for seed and picking, even though we 

 got high prices (none sold at less than lo cents 

 a quart) for them. Well, although I never suc- 

 ceeded very well in getting peas in the fall. I 

 kept putting in seed of the American Wonder 

 clear up into August: and during the whole of 

 September we have been having the nicest 

 American Wonder peas we ever had in the 

 world. I suppose it was owing to the many 

 cool nights, with almost a frost several times. 

 For a long while we disposed of all we could 

 pick, at 10 cents a quart; but finally we had to 

 come down to 8 cents, and finally the bulk of 

 the crop went for .5. A. I. R. 



THE MAN -WEIGHT CULTIVATOR. 



Mr. Root:— 1)0 you find the Man-weight cul- 

 tivator to be what the manufacturer claims for 

 it? I bought one of the double-wheeled ones, 

 and it will not stand the work where there are 

 stones. I find the cast parts are very brittle, 

 and the screws that are intended to hold the 

 hoes are entirely too light, and break befoi'e I 

 can get them tight enough to hold. I wrote the 

 Everitt Co., stating that I thought they ought 

 to make the machine good or else refund my 

 money. They did not answer me. 



Our bees have made some sui-plus honey from 

 buckwheat. The honey crop in this vicinity 

 will be a light one. P. Sutton. 



Exeter. Pa.. Sept. 7. 



[My experience has been quite like yours in 

 regard to the cultivator; but the Everitt people 

 have replaced the weak parts of my original 

 machine. It now does fairly well where the 

 soil is sufficiently mellow, and free from stones, 

 etc. Their claims in regard to it, however, are 

 greatly exaggerated. As there have been quite 

 a number of complaints, to the effect that they 

 do not answer letters, I think it is no more than 

 fair that the public be notified.] 



A STKAWBERKY REPORT, AND SOME VALUABLE 

 SUGGESTIONS. 



The strawberry crop liere was about one- 

 fourth of a good crop. Hubach did nothing. 

 ^Yhat few berries there were, rotted before they 

 ripened. Warfield and Crescent were the best. 

 I do not think it was because the blossoms were 

 not fertilized enough, because beds that had 



the fewest plants that have the perfect blos- 

 soms had the most and best berries. 



On the bed I set out this spring I picked off 

 all perfect blossoms and let the others blossom, 

 thinking they would not have any berries on; 

 but if I had taken up all of my Bubachs and 

 set them out I should have had an immense 

 crop of fine berries. Now. what do you think 

 of having the perfect-blossoming kind to make 

 the imperfect bear? 



In the spring of. 1891 I bought 250 Warfield 

 plants, and saved only 35 of them. From them 

 and their increase I picked (55 quarts of berries, 

 besides selling a good many plants. 



I have a hotbed that 1 heat with a stove. 

 The wood I use is half-rotten stumps that I 

 grub out, whicli would not be of any use if not 

 used in this way. It is 4)^x34 feet; from this I 

 sold S37 worth of plants. 



I had some clear sand and manure that the 

 hens had mixed together, and thought I would 

 try some of it for transplanting in; and, how 

 the plants did growl They grew more than 

 twice as fast as they did in the well-enriched 

 garden soil I was using. 



I shall use sand and manure mixed together 

 entirely next year. I let the hens do the mix- 

 ing, asthey can do it better than I could. 



Brodhead, Wis. P. H. Fellows. 



[Friend F.. perhaps we may remind you that 

 many of the berries classed with the imperfect 

 varieties produce some perfect blossoms; and 

 the Warfield has at times shown so many as to 

 be almost worthy of being called a perfect- 

 blossoming varieiy. Yoiu' plan of getting a 

 rich compost foi' plant-beds is tiptop; and by 

 the use of the sand you kill two birds with one 

 stone— you keep your poultry clean, tidy, and 

 healthy, and have one of the best fertilizers 

 made and mixed by the hens. They can be 

 easily induced to scratch and mix the dirt up 

 cheaper than anybody can do it with a rake. 

 Some of us have learned this to our sorrow.] 



MULCHING AND WATEP.ING STRAWBERRY- 

 PLANTS. 



I would say that I was well pleased with the 

 strawberry book you sent me; but I would ad- 

 vise friend Terry to revise it some; for, if I had 

 followed directions closely 1 should undoubted- 

 ly have lost all the plan*^s you sent me. On 

 page 27 he says, " Do no watering or covering." 

 so I tried about ten plants according to direc- 

 tions — "no watering," and lost every one of 

 them: the rest that I watered every evening 

 are all growing and doing finely. I suppose he 

 intends this for spring planting only; if he 

 does, he should say so. j G. J. Sturm. 



Mount Erie. 111., Sept. 12. 



[Thank you, friend S. Very likely you are 

 quite right about it. Friend Terry, you know, 

 practices spring planting exclusively. In my 

 directions for fall planting with the transplant- 

 ing-tubes, yon' may remember that I advised 

 quite heavy watering.] 



WINDMILLS FOR ELEVATING WATER FOR IRRI- 

 GATION. 



Friend Root: — I am gardening two acres of 

 ground, and have lost two crops of celery on 

 account of the drouth, besides other crops that 

 were short on the same account. My garden 

 lies on the banks of a river, and the water must 

 be raised 24 feet, so that it will run on the high- 

 est ground. What sized windmill would I need? 

 also, what sized tank will be needed to hold a 

 surplus, in case the wind does not blow for a 

 day or two. I am not able to run any risk in 

 experiments, so I thought I would come to you 

 for advice, which you might give through 



