So(5 



(1 LEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 15. 



plants lakt'ii up were, some of them, large 

 enough for market: but they were green, hard, 

 and unbleached. These plants grew nicely; 

 and this convinced me that celery can be moved 

 at almost all stages of gi'owth; and, if done 

 properly, ii will grow right along. 



Some time during the fall these two rows of 

 celery began to be something immense. We 

 banked it up as well as we could, but other 

 crops had been planted so near it that there 

 was no dirt and no room to get any. I thought 

 of drawing on some boards; but the other crops 

 that were crowding the celery would be injured 

 by tramping and handling the boards, and so 

 w'e banked it all we could, and let it go. think- 

 ing to bleach it in the cellar after it was taken 

 up. Saturday. Nov. .5, we decided to draw it in, 

 as there had been several pretty hard freezes. 

 How much do you suppose we got from those 

 two rows forty rods long? Six great iraqon- 

 loads of celery ! That is a stunner, is it not? 

 But wiiat do you think the heaviest plant 

 weighed? Just 9 lbs.. I'oots and all, aftei' we 

 had shaken off all the dirt we could pound off. 

 Now. then, if any celery-grower umong the 

 readers of Ctleaning.s has had celery like that, 

 let liim •• stand up and speak his piece." Where 

 would the •■new celery'culture" be if nil the 

 plants grew like that? To tell the truth, it was 

 rather a new celery culture of itself. It had 

 suckered out, and each sucker was as large as 

 an ordinary stalk of celeiy. One immense root 

 held them all together. I wonder how these 

 folks who sell all sorts of celery by the dozen 

 would manage with this crop. Of couise. this 

 weight included green leaves and all ; but I 

 think that that one stalk would trim up at 

 least () lbs. of celery — that is, when properly 

 bleached. In regard to the quality, the suckers 

 that were underground, and thoroughly bleach- 

 ed, were the most delicious of any thing in the 

 celery line I have ever tasted in my life. The 

 hands who were taking it up tried it, and all 

 decided in the same way. The two rows were 

 planted four feet apart, and they were, perhaps, 

 from six to ten inches apart in the row. This 

 great growth was due to the gravelly sub-soil 

 thai underlies the rich loam, and which held 

 the water during our recent dry spell, so that 

 the celery kept right on growing. The ground 

 had also been heavily manured for several 

 years previously. Surprise No. 3 is— 



GROWING MTJSHKOOMS BY STEAM HEAT. 



More than a year ago we tried growing 

 mushrooms in the cellar. The heat of our 

 manure was too far spent, I presume, when the 

 spawn was put in, so we never got any mush- 

 rooms. While I was in California the boys tore 

 down our mushroom-bed and used the manure 

 in various places. They said it was all dead, 

 and of, no use. Along in April, something very 

 much like mushrooms began to grow in the 

 greenhouse between the radishes and lettuce. 

 I asked one of them about it, and he said it was 

 toadstools that came from some old manure 

 they had bought. These toadstools, however, 

 grew in such wonderful profusion that they 

 had to be pulled up like weeds, to get them out 

 of the way; and several basketsful were 

 dumped on the compost-heap. It did occur to 

 me several times that these might be edible 

 mushrooms; but I did not get time to have 

 some of them cooked, and so the matter was 

 dropped and forgotten. A few days ago those 

 same toadstools began to come up again on the 

 same beds. These beds were over the new 

 agriculture, and the exhaust steam, that has 

 been turned on since we commenced using the 

 steam to warm the factory, down under those 

 stones, seems to have been just the thing to 

 suit the mushrooms. Of course, the ground is 



rich. This time I took some over home, and 

 Mrs. Root cooked them for supper. They were 

 the most delicious mushrooms I ever tasted: 

 but to make sure that they were not poisonous 

 we just tasted them all around, and then set 

 the dish away until the next morning. Ex- 

 haust steam in many cases will certainly be 

 c?icn2Jer than manure, to furnish the requisite 

 heat. SomeoftlH^ agricultural papers tell us 

 that the manure fi-om spent hot-beds is just as 

 good as or better than it was befoi'e. This is cer- 

 tainly a mistake, as you will see by the tomato 

 book. If not. why do those who use manure 

 hot- beds on a large scale throw away the resi- 

 due as so much sawdust? Now for surprise 

 No. 3: 



TILE DRAINAGE ALL PAID FOR WITH THE 

 PROCEEDS OF A SECOND CROP IN A SIN- 

 GLE SEASON. 



The advertisement in our local paper resulted 

 in selling our turnips and cabbages to such an 

 extent that we were obliged to buy more to 

 supply the demand. A farmer living five miles 

 away brought me a load of beautiful cabbages 

 and turnips. I asked him, of course, how he 

 managed to get such a crop of fine vegetables 

 during this disastrous season. Said I, " What 

 manure did you use, friend K.?" 



" Why, Mr. Root, did not use any manure 

 at all." 



" Look here, my friend; I know by the twin- 

 kle in your eye that you did something. Now, 

 what was it?" 



" Well, these things grew on a piece of new 

 land. It was upland— in fact, on one of the 

 highest hills in the county. A year ago last 

 spring I underdrained it. and put on potatoes. 

 Then I gave it a good manuring. Last spring 

 the drainage did not seem to be quite sufficient, 

 so I put in a second series of underdrains and 

 did a good job. fixing it according to my own 

 notion. I had a good crop of potatoes this year, 

 and they sold at a good price. After the po- 

 tatoes were off I bought some purple-top globe 

 turnip-seed of you, and sowed the whole piece 

 to turnips."; 



Here he stopped; but there was still a twin- 

 kle in his eye that encouraged me to question 

 him more, and he finally said: 



" Well, Mr. Root. I have received money 

 enough from the turnips alone from that 

 ground to pay for all the tiles and all the ex- 

 pense of laying them." 



Now. here is a story for the Drainage Jour- 

 nal, which is. I think, the biggest it has ever 

 had. I am quite a Yankee at questioning,'as 

 you know, and so I went oJi: 



" But, Mr. Kraver, you must have taken 

 some pains to market your crop in order to get 

 that amount of money out of the turnips." 



" Well, yes. I have worked pretty hard for a 

 month back in selling my stuff. Yesterday 

 morning I got up at half-past two so as to get a 

 load of turnips and cabbages into Akron in 

 good season. I sold them all out. and got home 

 at night with the cash in my pocket. I do not 

 get up that early every morning, mind you; but 

 I can do it when circumstances seem to de- 

 mand it." 



rjl paid him almosi?$10.00 for the load of stuff 

 he brought me. and it was not much more than 

 half a load either. I think, if he tried hard, he 

 could get on that wagon enough to bring him 

 S2.5.00, and the team he had could draw it. 

 Now, fi-iends. how does this sound when we 

 hear so much about farming not paying? 

 Medina County is really about as poor a por- 

 tion of the State as any we can find, for truck 

 gardening; and this ])iece of ground in ques- 

 tion is certainly not f(?)orc the average. 



