GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 15. 



We make these exceedingly liberal offers because 

 we have still a large stock on hand. The Thorough- 

 bred matures so early that you can plant them 

 through the remainder of this month, through 

 June, and even up to the middle of July, and still 

 get a good yield. We hope that none of the readers 

 of Gleanings will fail to try at least a few Thor- 

 oughbreds. 



Our first planting of early potatoes was half Thor- 

 oughbred and half Early Ohios. At present writing, 

 May 11, the Thorouglibreds stand head and shoul- 

 ders above the Early Ohios. Very likely they will 

 not mature the crop as early as the Early Ohios, 

 and judging from the looks and from the e perience 

 of last year they will give a yield of about four 

 time as many potatoes. If you have not grown any 

 Early Thoroughbreds, by all means avail yourselves 

 of the liberal terms on which we now furnish them 

 to the readers of Gleanings. 



THE NEW CRAIG. 



While this potato does not give as great a yield in 

 every locality as it does with us here in Medina, I 

 believe it has generally been received with favor. 

 It has been one of the best late potatoes, and we 

 think its power of resisting bugs and blight is equal 

 to any. It is also, perhaps the best potato known 

 for making vines to mulch strawberries. In conse- 

 quence of a large stock still remaining on hand, we 

 make the following liberal offer on Craigs: 



For every new subscriber we will send a barrel of 

 firsts, worth I2..50, and for every renewal a barrel of 

 seconds worth $1.25 



Perhaps our friends may be interested in knowing 

 just how many potatoes we have at this date, May 

 15, to be given away to our subscribers. We have 

 the following number of bushelsof each kind : White 

 Bliss, 9; Maule's Thoroughbred, 250 (also 300 of 

 seconds); Early Ohio, 23; Early Norther, 4; Bur- 

 pee's Extra Early, 4; Freeman (Terry's growing), 

 200; New Queen, 110 (also 120 of seconds); Monroe 

 Seedling, 18; Runt New -Yorker, 15; Sir William, 

 220; Carman No. 1, 30; Koshkonong, 5; Manum's 

 Enormous, 12 (3 of seconds); New Craig, 100 (70 of 

 seconds)— nearly 1500 bushels in all, as you will 

 notice. All of these are to be given to our subscrib 

 ers, a dollar's worth of potatoes for every dollar 

 sent for Gleanings, as long as they last. 



LETTUCE, spinach, AND ONIONS. 



Lettuce is still retailing at 20 cts. per lb., and the 

 demand is greater than the supply. I tell you it is 

 fun to get a nickel for a stalk of Grand Rapiiis let- 

 tuce before it is fully grown. We have one com- 

 petitor in our town, and he has quite a good-sized 

 greenhouse. Both of us are sold short. We are cut- 

 ting ours before it is much more than half grown, 

 because people keep wanting it. Spinach has also 

 brought 10 cents per lb. till just now (May 14); and 

 real nice spinach, grown on extra-rich ground, will 

 bring 10 cts. per lb. now at retail. Of course, our 

 town does not furnish a market for a very large 

 supply of either; but it is refreshing to note that, 

 notwithstanding the low prices on most crops, we 

 have sold more lettuce this spring than ever before, 

 and have obtai ed a better price for it. 1 suppose 

 that, as soon :is strawberries get to be plentiful, 

 however, people will drop off on the lettuce. 



People are calling now for onions large enough to 

 cook; but with the backward spring we have none 

 yet quite the size of hen's-eggs, and it hardly pays 

 to pull them when they will probably double in 

 weight inside of a week or ten days. I see onions 

 are quoted in the cities at $5.00 a barrel. Imported 

 Spanish onions are somewhere about $2.00 a bushel. 

 Now, there is a moral right here: I have never yet 

 seen the time in the gardening business when there 

 were not a few things that commanded gO' d prices, 

 what you are to do is to be on hand with the thing 

 that people are willing to pay a good price for. If 

 by extra care, rich soil, thorough cultivation, and 

 protection, you are able to get a crop a little ahead 

 of the general run, you are pretty sure of a big price. 



A BOOK ON RHUBARB CULTURE. 



I have for some time been thinking that we 

 ought to have a book on jfrowing rhubarb for mar- 

 ket; and I assure you ii was a pleasant surprise 

 when I discovered that there was such a one al- 

 ready. It was written in 1894 by Fred. S. Thomp- 

 son, of Bay View, Milwaukee, Wis. W. W. Thomp- 

 son &Sons grow rhubarb by the acre. In fact, they 

 have one plantation of several acres, and they sell 



about 10,000 dozen annually in Milwaukee alone, for 

 making pies. They also make quite a business of 

 growing it in winter, and they even commence put- 

 ting it on the market for the holidays in December. 



One thing I was pleased to learn was to find that, 

 like asparagus, rhubarb must be frozen first, and 

 then thawed out by an artificial S|iring or a real 

 one before it will grow successfully. This tells us 

 why so many failures have been reported in regard 

 to growing rhubarb in Florida. It can be done suc- 

 cessfully, however, by shipping roots south after 

 they have been once frozen up 



The book contains several illustrations from pho- 

 tographs pertaining to the industry, ttiat are valu- 

 able. The author says, " No reliance can be placed 

 on the seed producing tbe identi al variety of its 

 parent." If this is true, what are we to think of 

 St. Martin's rhubarb, the seed of which is offered 

 by Pete ■ Henderson at JilO 00 per lb.? 



The book treats of two different arieties in par- 

 ticular — the Victoria, the kind we grow and recom- 

 mend, and the Mammoth Red. Tliis latter, from 

 the description, we should call much the same 

 thing as a plant introduced years ago as the " wine 

 plant." It was to be grown for making wine; and 

 not only were wonderful stories told in regard to it, 

 but some of our people paid out a " wonderful " lot 

 of money for it, only to throw it away and get back 

 to the Victoria when they wanted gnod pies. I be- 

 lieve several made wine by the barrel ; but as it was 

 all soon dropped and forgotten, I judge it did not 

 amount to much as a wine-p\nnt; and, by the way, I 

 am heartily glad of it. 



This rhubarb-book contains 76 pages; price 50 cts. 

 In fact, that is what I paid for the one I have in my 

 hands. We have, however, made arrangements 

 with the publishers so we we can furnish it to our 

 readers for an even 40 cts., postpaid. The author is 

 supposed to be the largest grower of pie-plant In 

 America. Their yearly output is something like 125 

 tons of "i)ie-timber:" and it is estimated that It 

 takes 120,0110 Uis. of suyar to sweeten up the tartness 

 resulting annually from their plantation. 



A NEW(?) PROCESS FOR KEEPING APPLES. 



In a recent number of the OMo Farmer we find 

 the following: 



WRIGHT'.S PERFECT APPLE-PEESBRVER. 



I have a discoverv of incalculable value to apple-growers. 

 For the small sura of fifty cents I will send a printed recipe 

 for the preservation of ai)ples in their natural state througli- 

 oiit the winter. Fruit put awav hy my method will remain as 

 solid, crisp and perfect as when jpicked from the trees. No 

 rot. no shriveling. My method will not only keep vour apples 

 ■^.ifr. riTi.l -,.>ii;.! t'M-.iiv.-h tbf> wii'to-, iMit h\- its use you can 

 \r<' ■■' tii.-iM i..r I,..:. ,,r ,,, ,,-!,-, .t I;. I.. <:: iin. .,,, , n _- when the fruit 

 i - I , ■ I _, liut a valuable 



^h- •■ . • !!>,,' I;-.- ;...!• ;. i> ,:,,-,..,.,, ,:,,.rit fully dem- 



nii-f,i',i \;i\ ;i-i -II |i;ii.i,-. :i":i\ i.-;i Ihi -liels of apples 

 tor the winter will save money liy usmu- my method, which is 

 quite simple, and costs uothiiijc. Send 50 cents for the recipe; 

 try it, and if it does not prove satisfactory your money will 

 be refunded. Address 



C. B. Wright, Belmont, Belmont Co.,0. 



The readers of Gleanings, at least the older ones, 

 are well aware o^' the position that we liave taken 

 for twenty years or more in regard to selling infor- 

 mation, recipes, etc., for doing something. The 

 above illustrates the point exactly. If Mr. Wright 

 really had something valuable, why did he not sell 

 it to the Ohio Fanner folks and let them give it to 

 their readers ? He offers a printed recipe. Each 

 reader of the Farmer, if he wants it, is expected to 

 send 50 cts.; and yet the whole recipe could be put 

 in the Farmer and occupy less space than the adver- 

 tisement. Besides, what is to hinder the first man 

 who gets it from publisning it to the world, thus 

 saving a large amount of money spent uselessly? 

 We sent the 50 cts. just as soon as we saw the adver- 

 tisement. Below is the recipe: 



RKCIPK FOR USING WRIGHT'S PERFECT APPLE-PRESERVER. 



In Storing your apples if using either barrels, boxes, or 

 bins, first cover the bottom with two inches of dry sawdust; 

 then place a layer of apples, covering the same with another 

 layer of sawdust of like depth, and so on, alternating |ach 

 layer of apples with one of sawdust. Leave room at the top 

 for a covering of six inches of sawdust. This will make the 

 fruit perfectly air-ti)jht. and the preservation will be com- 

 plete. C. B. Wright, Belmont, Belmont Co., O. 



I judge that Mr. Wright soon found this method 

 of doing business was not quite satisfactory; for 

 inclosed with the letter was perhaps half a teaspoon- 

 ful of gray powder. The envelope containing the 

 powder had printed on it the following: 



Take Notice.- Dissolve the powder contained in this en- 

 velope in one quart of hot water. Sprinkle a sufficient quan- 

 tity of sawdust with the solution, and mix thoroughly. The 



