300 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 15. 



mer trip seen a dozen men hunting over the gul- 

 lies and ravines after a heavy raia, to find the 

 precious metallic gold that had been washed 

 out by the storm. 1 asked him if he did not 

 think it likely that I might Hud ]usi & little bit 

 of gold if I went on foot up some of the dry 

 canyons while the horses were climbing some of 

 the hills. He said it was possible, but he did 

 not think it very probable. Off I started. He 

 told me the gold, being so heavy, it would 

 bu clear down to the bottom, under every thing 

 else; and sometimes a little nugget would get 

 stuck in a narrow crevice in the rock, right in 

 the bottom of the run. I soon bfcame full of 

 entnusiasm, and pictured to myself holding up 

 a nugget the size of a small hen's egg. and tell- 

 ing my friends that I myself picked that out of 

 the ravine while I was off on that ride to the 

 Grand Canyon. As I got tired a little I thought 

 a lump of gold the size of a hickorynut would 

 have satisfied me very well; then a little later I 

 concluded I would go home satisfied if I could 

 get a piece as large as a pea. Finally I fished 

 my spectacles out of my pocket, and concluded 

 I would try very hard to be satisfied if I could 

 only show to the admiring ones at home a piece 

 of gold of a?iy size that I found in the moun- 

 tains. When I was about tired out I discovered 

 the wagon was waiting. As I reached my 

 friends, panting from my exertions, I announc- 

 ed my convictions something as follows: 



" Look here, friends, I have looked every- 

 where, and worked hard, and I have not been 

 able to find a piece of gold even as large as a 

 pinhead, and I have spent as much as twenty or 

 thirty minutes of time, and looked very sharp. 

 I believe I shall hereafter try to make my 

 money in some other way." 



They greeted my announcement with a great 

 deal of pleasantry, especially when they re- 

 membered my sudden enthusiasm for gold- 

 hunting, and how quickly it had vanished. 



BUFFAl.O BERRV, HIGH-BUSH CRANBERRY, ETC. 



I do not know but I shall have to take back 

 some of my severe strictures in regard to a few 

 of these small fruit-. High-bush cranbrrry 

 certainly was not fit to eat last fall; but after 

 the fruit had remained on the bushes all win- 

 ter, looking very pretty and ornamental, I 

 found the bitter taste had largely disappeared, 

 and along the last of March Mrs. Root made 

 some jelly or marmalade of some of the berries, 

 that was to me quite delicious and wholesome. 

 Why didn't the nurserymen tell us that the 

 fruit should be left on the bushes all winter, 

 and made into some sauce in the spring? The 

 buffalo berry this year was in bloom the first of 

 April— in fact, before the bush had leaves on. 

 If it comes any thing near being equal to Ele- 

 agnus longipes, I should be much pleased. 

 Another thing that gives me courage is my 

 Logan berries. These have wintered over 

 all right, and are leafing out quite profusely. 

 They will probably bear this season. The 

 strawberry-raspberry is also starting up out of 

 the ground quite thrifty and strong. The won- 

 derful May-berry does not look quite so prom- 

 ising, but we are beginning to take courage. 

 The Japanese wine-berry has been killed dur- 

 ing the winter, except several inches of the 

 wood belonging to the tips that took root last 



fall. May be we shall be able to get a few ber- 

 ries from these. 



THE IGNOTUM TOMATO. 



Our veteran seedsman, J. H. Gregory, of Mar- 

 blehead, Mass., on his experimental grounds 

 last season, tested 45 different varieties of to- 

 matoes. In the account given of this experi- 

 ment, in a recent issue of the American Agri- 

 culturist, we find the following: 



If I were asked what one variety for both market 

 and liome use I would select out of the entire lot 

 tested in the experimental plot, and combining- in 

 tiie largest proportion all the most desirable traits, I 

 should incline to select the Ignotum. 



The above is exceedingly gratifying, espe- 

 cially as your humble servant had the honor of 

 first giving the Ignotum to the world; and I 

 have just interviewed our boys in regard to the 

 matter. While the Ignotum many times seems 

 to be about equal to any other, there are sea- 

 sons when- we are inclined to give the prefer- 

 ence to some of the other kinds mentioned in 

 our catalog. For instance, the Earliest in the 

 World tomato is quite a little ahead of the 

 Ignotum in earliness, but is small. Dwarf 

 Champion and Livingston's Beauty are of a 

 brighter color that takes the eye of many; and 

 Livingston's New Stone, for a late tomato, is 

 sometimes larger and of a little belter shape. 



THE "NEW CELERY CULTURE;" AN IMPROVE- 

 MENT ON IT. 



From a recent number of the Farm and Fire- 

 side we take the following, which is high-pres- 

 sure gardening, and no mistake: 



Those who have tried to grow celery for market 

 by the method known as the " new celery culture" 

 have probably found it difficult to Dlunch it perfect- 

 ly. Boards can not be easily used for blanching it 

 wben the rows are so close together. Tney have 

 also found that, unless large quantities of fertiliz- 

 ers and water are supplied, the bunches are too 

 small to be marketable, and that frequent irrigation 

 is required because of the rapid escape of moisture 

 during the long hot days in summer. I think I have 

 developed some methods by which these difficulties 

 have been largely overcome. My experiments were 

 not very satisfactory with the " new celery culture" 

 until last year, when I grew very fine celery in rows 

 at an average distance of one foot apart. Some of 

 this celery, marketed at a fancy price to some of the 

 summer resorts near mj' village, paid me at the rate 

 of five thousand dollars an acre; and from one large 

 plot of early celery I realized at the rate of between 

 two thousand and three thousand dollars an acre. 

 I am so well satisfied with the results of my plan 

 that I shall use it in my large celery field this year. 

 The plot on which the celery was grown haJ receiv- 

 ed a heavy dressing of stable manure for several 

 successive years, and was veiy rich. Another dress- 

 ing was applied last spring and plowed in, then the 

 ground was finely harrowed and smoothed with a 

 light plank drag, and White Plume celery-plants 

 set in May. Instead of setting the plants in rows 

 one foot apart, as had been my custom, I set two 

 rows six or seven inches apart, leaving an eighteen- 

 inch space between the double rows. My plan was 

 to board two rows together in blanching the celery, 

 and to leave a space wide enough to walk in when 

 placing the boards. The most of the cultivating 

 was done with a wheel-hoe until the plants were 

 eight or ten inches high, when the blanching-boards 

 were set up and held in place by crosspieces notched 

 and set over the top of the boards. It is very im- 

 portant that the boards be kept well apart until the 

 celery has nearly reached its growth, for the leaves 

 must be kept exposed to the air and sunlight. Near 

 the celery-field is a large brook. Water from this 

 was elevated into a large tank, and used for irrigat- 

 ing purposes. Iron pipes were laid from this tank 

 over the celery-field, with hose attachments every 

 few rods. In this tank I placed some loosely made 

 bags filled with poultry manure. After the water 

 had been allowed to stand a day or two it was dis- 

 tributed along between the celery rows with the 

 hose. To retain the moisture and keep the ground 

 from baking, the eighteen-inch space between the 



