256 



GLEANINGSIN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 1. 



wide. The town of Hudson, O.. is said to be 

 not far from the center of it, and it extends in- 

 definitely both east and west. 



THE NEAV QUEEN AS AN KARLT POTATO. 



Last year we had such a quantity of New 

 Queeu'^ that we took no pariicular pains to 

 test their earlineir^s with other earlv potatoes; 

 but we had one planting where the New Queens 

 produced potatoes big enough to eat (and a 

 large yield at that), in a shorter time, it seems 

 to me, than any other potato we ever planted. 

 In making out our list I felt inclined to put it 

 among the extra earlies, but finally did not do 

 so. Since then I find the following in a recent 

 issue of the Rural New -Yorker: 



Mr. Albert Emerson, of Danville, III., tells the 

 writer of these notes that he fo ind the New Queen 

 pntato 10 da.vs earlier I h:in Eurly Ohio. Both were 

 plantid April 7, and tlie Queens were dug June 11, 

 yielding about 300 bushels to the acre, twice as 

 mucli iis tiie Chios. Both kinds were treated in pre- 

 cisely the same way. We j re jrlad to receive such 

 reports. They aid our readers in making selec- 

 tions. 



Now, then, why not use the New Queen for 

 an extra-early potato for market? In consid- 

 eration of the quantity we have on hand, we 

 offer them lower than any other potato in our 

 list: and as they are now thoroughly dissemi- 

 nated, other dealers are offering them at like 

 low prices. 



THE DIFFERF.NT SPECIES OF SWEET CLOVER. 



By your seed-list I suppose the cocndea, or bee 

 clover, is not known by you to belong to the meliM. 

 Heie is its hotanical position: 



Melil'iti>ffi,cinaiis [ye\U)\v). a n&tive of Europe. A 

 water is distilled from the blossoms that is used in 

 perfumery. 



Mdilut vulgaris (or levcantha). This is a white 

 meliliit. It is the one you call M. nlha, wliieh is in- 

 correct: also the name, Bokhara, is incorrect, as my 

 desdiptioa later en will show. 



Melilot coerulea (blue). This is the cccnifca of Eu- 

 rope, particularly of Switzerland and tlie Tyrol. 

 This hiis themed/ot odor in a high degree, and' was 

 much used formerly in medicine as a discutient, 

 sudorific, e.vpectorant.rndvulnerar.N : also the many 

 good qualities of the Schal^aieger cheese aie sup- 

 posed to be due to this »riert((;t, to which it is sup- 

 posed to owe some of its flavor. 



Melilut arboiea (Bokhara). Valuable in some re- 

 mote parts ft^r its fiber only, which is supposed to 

 be closely allie I to hemp in quality. 



Melilut maasimeuftis. A uaiive of the locality near 

 the Mediterranean Sea. and by the native ancients 

 given the name <t " L(Aus," whence the latter part 

 of the nan e meJilotiis is df rived. 



Tlie foregoing inft)rmaiion m-iy be new to you, 

 and it may not. Gray's .N[anuKi does not thus c;lass- 

 ify the melihitvs, nor do any of our former botanical 

 works. It is classitiod thus only by our most class- 

 ical works. However. I believe this to be a correct 

 classification. The only thinsr ih;it I should like to 

 suggest is, could not the rcendexi be culti\aied and 

 eventuallx become acclimated to giow spontaneous- 

 ly like our common white clover? 



Reading, Pa. L. L. Esenhowek. 



My good friend, I am exceedingly obliged 

 for the facts you give us; but how is it that we 

 find stalks of sweet clover bearing yellow blos- 

 soms scattered through our white sweet clover? 

 Is not the difference only in color of the bloom ? 

 In regard to Bokhara, we first purchased our. 

 Bokhara seed of D. A. Jones, of Canada. 

 When planted side by side with our own sweet 

 clover no one could tell a particle of differ* nee. 

 I wrote him about it. and he said there ivns no 

 difference, only that seedsmen generally called 

 the hulled sweet clover Bokhara. Now, in 

 order to settle this I should like to have a little 

 btdofall the five kinds you mention, side by 

 side. We already have the first three, if I am 

 correct. Can you supply the last two? I shall 

 be specially glad to get the real Bokhara. We 



have always made Gray's Manual our standard; 

 and if that is incorrect, as I take it from what 

 you say. I am afraid that at least a good many 

 of us will have to go wrong. 



MORE ABOUT THE CRANDALL CURKANT. 



It gives me great pleasure to give place to 

 the following: 



Mr. A. I. R(ii)t:—1 have some Crandall currants, 

 but mine bore very well. They were so full that I 

 had to prop them. They were not as big as j'ours, 

 except where one was by itself. I planted these in 

 a rather low moist place. I had some on high dry 

 ground that did not do so well. They are easy to 

 raise, and spnutagreat deal. No insect seems to 

 harm them I send you a few plants, and you can 

 try how they do. H. L. Wise. 



Berkeley Springs, W. Va., Mar. 22. 



THE BUNCH YAM SWEET POTATO. 



I presume most of our readers noticed the 

 spread-eagle advertisements that appeared in 

 most of the agricultural papers last year, of the 

 new sweet potato called Goldcoin. The claims 

 made for it were in the most extravagant lan- 

 guage, to the effect that nothing like it had 

 ever been seen or tasted since the world began, 

 etc. I felt satisfied at the time that it was a 

 swindle, but we could not just prove it. The 

 sequel finally appears in a circular just at hand: 



Last yenr a prominent seed-house contracted for 

 all the stock I had to sell, and requested me to 

 christen the improved strain witli a new name, 

 which I did, viz., Goldcoin Vineless. They adver- 

 tised them extensively, and got a great many orders, 

 I am told: but what kind of potaioes their patrons 

 were supplied with I am not able to say, as they got 

 but very tew from me, and never j>aid me for what 

 they did get. W. T. Simpson. 



Pine Bluff, Ark. 



It is just as I expected. They had the com- 

 paratively well-known bunch yam. and nothing 

 else. But they did not get rich at the business 

 after all. So far as I can learu, there are just 

 two vineless sweet potatoes or yams before the 

 people, and each one of them has about half 

 a doz^n different names. The bunch yam is 

 different in vine and different in foliage, and 

 stands almost straight up until along late in the 

 season. The other kind— the vineless sweet po- 

 tato, called "General Grant" for short— has a 

 leaf like the ordinary sweet potato, and with 

 us, the latter part of the season, it makes con- 

 siderable of a vine. Now. something should be 

 done about confusing the agricultural world 

 with anv more names. If I have not got the 

 names right, or the best ones. I am willing to be 

 set risht. One enterprising advertiser calls his 

 the " McKlnley" bunch sweet potato. F don't 

 know but we shall have to call on the experi- 

 ment stations or the authorities at Washington 

 to give us the proper names of these new things, 

 and then expose attempted frauds in that direc- 

 tion. We ha\ e alreadv prepared printed sticks 

 for the two different kinds, labeled respectively 

 as follows: ziij 



^~~: [Qen. Grant, or Vine!ess:Sweet Potato 

 Bunch for "Vineless") Yam. 



march's STRAIN 'of JSN0WB.^LI4 CAULIFLOWER 

 SEED. 



We have just received 1 lb. of seed from the 

 grower, and the following statement in regard 

 to it: 



We send this time extra .stock, picked heads, 

 Puget Soxind Snowball. Weguarante ■ 98* to mike 

 perfect heads. H. A. March. 



Just a word in regard to growing cauliflower. 

 We make our first' sowing of seed in the green- 

 house in January; then we sow some more 

 every two or three weeks, clear along until 

 somewhere about June 1st. The first and last 



