346 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



MArl. 



the sides. The picture of shutters given in 

 Dreer's book seems to be simply narrow raatch- 

 eJ lumber H or % thick. That will do very 

 well, but this makes them heavier to handle 

 than they r<!aily need to be. After snowstorms 

 are all over, cotton cloth will do very well in 

 place of shutters. But cotton cloth is liable to 

 be weighted down by heavy snow.-i, even in 

 April, in our locality. Shutters are not only 

 needed to keep out frost, but to protect the 

 plants from the hpat of the sun when they are 

 just put out; to shade lettuce so as to have it 

 bleached as I have explained; to protect lender 

 tomato plants from being whipped by cold 

 winds, and tor ever so many other purposes. 

 Even if we have the cotton sheeting to be roll- 

 ed up on poles, we want shutters to cover little 

 patches of something or other to follow up 

 where we are transplantincr. Now, if any of 

 you have studied on this matter of cheap shut- 

 ters. I wish you would send me a description of 

 what you have, or a little model, by mail. 



HOW TO GROW SQUASHKS AND NOT HAVE THEM 



ALI. DESTROYED BY BLACK BUGS AND 



BORERS IN THE ROOTS. 



I have tried every tiling- that T have heard of ex- 

 cept late planting-. Tbey understand raising tliem 

 in Ohio, for there are lots of Hubbards sliipped in 

 here from Toledo. I havp bad a total failure for 

 two yenrs. One year I had two at^res, and lost every 

 plant after going-over them five times, picking- bugs 

 and dusting the vines. C. H. Billinghurst. 



Albion, Mich. 



We have had more or less experience every 

 year for many years past in growing squashes, 

 and we have "licked " the iDugs every time — 

 that is, where we grew them on our rich creeK- 

 bottom land. On our upland soil we have sev- 

 eral times made almost entire failure. First, 

 you want rich bottom land suitable for 

 squashes. Then it wants to be manun d tre- 

 mendously with old well rotted manure. You 

 want to read '' Gregory on Squashes " to get an 

 idea of the amount of manure really needed for 

 a crop. 



In regard to bugs, when the squashes are 

 small the only dead-sure thing we have ever 

 found is to cover them with wire-cloth bug- 

 protectors. These are pressed down over the 

 hills, and the dirt packed arouna so no bug, 

 black or striped, can get under the edges. It 

 takes a good many bug protectors for an acre, 

 it is true; and we have of late years succeeded 

 very w^ll by coverine the young plants pretty 

 well with tobacco dust. This is worth almost 

 all it costs, for a fertilizer; but if you have fre- 

 quent rains h^avy enough to wash the tobacco 

 dust off. it will take several applications. Aft- 

 er the plants get so large as to crowd against 

 the wire cloth they will usually take care of 

 themselves, but not always. If they do not, 

 you have got to fight; hand-pick the bugs; 

 examine the under side of the leaves for eggs; 

 and if you follow the business right up you will 

 generally come out ahead. The bugs evidently 

 know when a man really means business. The 

 squash grower ought to have a good-sized fam- 

 ily of children; and if they all have a common 

 interest with thp father in the work the bugs 

 will generally give it up. 



The worst trouble when the vines get to run 

 ning is the borer in the pith of the vine; and 

 there is only one remedy I know of, and that is 

 to cover the vines with earth every yard or so 

 as soon as they begin to run. In good soil, and 

 with plenty of rain, the vines will take root at 

 the joints very quickly; and if the borer com- 

 mences near where the plants started origina!- 

 Iv, the damage it does will be only temporary. 

 Plant-lice on the roots are something I have 



never had any experience with; but I have 

 been told that, if you make a little hole in the 

 soil with a stick, and pour in a little bisulphide 

 of carbon, you will get rid of the plant lice. 

 Of course, you must be careful not to kill the 

 plants. Hubbard squashes are raised success- 

 fully all over Northern Ohio; and we had some 

 very fine ones brought us as late as the first of 

 April this year. 



Let me again emphasize having the ground 

 exceedingly rich. I know a man who cleaned 

 out his poultry-house, and put the contents on 

 his garden so much in one place that he could 

 not grow any thing that season— not even 

 squashes. The next year he plowed it up very 

 deep, and had an enormous crop of Hubbard 

 squashes. The ground was so exceedingly rich 

 that the bugs could not stand it. In fact. I 

 have heard of putting so much strong manure 

 around squash-vines that the bugs could be 

 seen going away holding their noses. Strong, 

 rank, offensive manure will very often give the 

 vines such a start that the biigscan not well 

 harm them, and at the same time will repel 

 them by the rank odor. Where the ground is 

 too poor to give a vigorous growth, the bugs 

 seem to make the most havoc. 



THE FIRST REPORT OF COWS THAT WILL NOT 

 EAT SWEET CLOVER. 



My cow has the range of 40 a res part of th time 

 —one acre in sweet clo er, now in luxuriant growth, 

 a foot high, in its second year, and I have not yet 

 seen her touf h it, though she eats the alfalfa next 

 to it with relish. 



SUGAR-BEETS. 



You say the sugar-beet belt is through Wisconsin 

 and Nonhern Ohio, south of Lake Erie. Perhaps 

 you are not aware of the thousands of acres here in 

 the Pecos Valley, where our coo.sfaof sunshine en- 

 ables us to raise sugar- btets, which, with our crude 

 experience of a first season just closed, enabled us 

 to raise beets not only of 14 r'. but by the scores of 

 acres 16 to 20* sugar. One carload ran from 19 to 

 3! '. ; and tiiis can be done on 10,000 acret- yet in un- 

 broljen natural state, with our irrigation facilities. 

 I raised beets last season, one of which— not an ex- 

 ceptionally large one by any means — weighed 15 

 lbs. 6 ozs. with top, and 9 lbs. 11 ozs. as trimmed for 

 the factory. 



A HOUSE-APIARY THAT PROVES SATISFACTORY. 



On page 242 in Dr. C. C. Miller's temarlis on house- 

 apiaries, he says some like them, some do not. 

 I have one for l'^9 colonies: have just liad photo 

 taken of my ranch. You will have no dilMculty in 

 picking out the house-apiary. I can do more work 

 at my hees in th house in three hours than I can 

 at the bees outdoors in a whole day; no need for 

 veil, and very little for smoljer. Every thing is at 

 hand to worls with inside. Bees are not so irritable 

 —no robbing to amount to anything: all in shad^; 

 swarming, not enough to consider; liave not had 

 a swarm yet, and have used it over one yt ar Mine 

 is, I think, unique— so far as I know ihe only 

 "adobe" bee-house in existence. If there is. or has 

 been one befcne, I should like to know. My hives are 

 set back 3 inches from wall; bees at liberty to come 

 int'i the liouse if they wish, but they don't. 



Eddy, N. M., Apr. 12.?ji:t::.<!^i:^ John Singleton.c 



li'nenu 8 , it your cows should run out of feedi 

 and be obliged to eat that sweet clover, my 

 opinion is that, after they have learned how, 

 they would take it in preference to any thing 

 else. Your locality, however, may make a dif- 

 derence. It is not at all strange that they 

 should take the alfalfa first, especially if they 

 are used to it; for I t<ll you alfalfa comes pret- 

 ty near being the best "feed" that the world 

 supplies. 



We rejoice with you in regard to your suc- 

 cess with the sugar beet. 



In regard to the house apiary, that may be a 

 little out of this department, but I guess most 

 of the bee-friends will see it. I am very glad to 



