GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 15. 



subscribes to the periodicals devoted to grow- 

 ing small fruits, and is a live man in every 

 sense of the word. As we prepared to take our 

 leave he informed me that, when he started in 

 the berry business some years ago, he had only 

 about S'-'OO or $300 to make a payment on the 

 farm. The place was already pretty heavily 

 mortgaged. It was only a short time ago that 

 the last dollar of the mortgage was paid; and 

 now he can breathe a little easier while he 

 plans to make every yard of ground produce 

 fruit of some kind. Besides the strawberries 

 he has considerable ground devoted to currants 

 and gooseberries, and these have always paid 

 him well. Instead of paying large sums of 

 money to nurserymen for plants, he grows his 

 own, makes cuttings from the currants and 

 gooseberries, and has a very pretty little nur- 

 sery where they are cultivated and cared for 

 until they are ready to go out into the field. 

 As we prepared to go, I said: 



" Mr. Cowan, this visit has been specially 

 interesting to me because it is so unusual to 

 see one of your race doing business and owning 

 property as you are. I am sure the example 

 you set before your people must be worth a 

 good deal. You are not only succeeding in 

 business, but you are doing missionary work 

 among your people." 



" Mr. Root, 1 know what my people are, the 

 greater part of them. There are men who 

 come here and pick berries, and I have seen 

 them work until they had earned perhaps 

 twelve or fifteen dollars, and then I have seen 

 these same men go and waste this money, or 

 worse than waste it, in two or three hours'' time. 

 The saddest part of it is, they seem to feel no 

 compunctions of conscience or regret, but start 

 In to work, and do the same thing over again." 



While my friend was talking I could not help 

 feeling sad to reflect that it was not only the 

 colored people who "spend money for that 

 which is not bread, and labor for that which 

 satisfieth not." 



When I got out on the national pike I called 

 on two more strawberry-growers. One of ihem 

 told me how he had been growing berries a 

 great many years, but had just made a discov- 

 ery—in fact, had just got his eyes open so as to 

 know how to grow berries profitably. He took 

 me down a side hill to show me his new inven- 

 tion—another patch of Bubachs fertilized with 

 our old friend Sharpless; and, oh such berries! 

 not only in size, but in luscious sweetness; and 

 I actually believe I would rather have the 

 Sharpless berry for my own eating than any 

 other berry grown. But, let us get to the new 

 Invention. 



The plants were all put out last fall; and 

 neither the Sharpless nor the Bubach had pro- 

 duced a very thick matted row. In fact, in 

 some places there were not enough plants; but 

 they had had good care, and each plant had an 

 abundance of room so that it was growing 

 great whoppers, even if there were not so many 

 of them. This man sells the greater part of his 

 crop by sorting out the largest ones and selling 

 them at fancy prices. It is almost like grow- 

 ing berries in hills. The runners are kept off, 

 or mostlv off, as soon as a sufficient stand is 

 secured for large berries. He does not get as 

 many bushels per acre, but he gets better prices 

 for what he does grow. A neighbor near him 

 was managing a plantation a good deal the 

 same way, but he was using the Brandywine. 

 Here again we had great berries that could be 

 tumbled about like potatoes, while the Bubachs 

 in the same patch would be, many of them, too 

 soft to handle before they were fully ripe. But 

 I am afraid the Brandywine Is not going to give 

 us as many berries as the Bubach. The latter 



stands to-day, if I am correct, at the head of 

 the list for large berries, and a lot of them. 

 Some of the new varieties may get ahead of it; 

 but introducers have been working hard for a 

 good many years, and the Bubach seems to hold 

 its own year after year. 



^^^^-^m 



--^m 



A NEW TRANSPLANTING -machine; ALSO SOME- 

 THING ABOUT BASSWOOD- SEEDLINGS. 



Something like two years ago a transplanting- 

 machine was sent to Matthew Crawford, but for 

 some reason or other he forwarded it on to me, 

 asking me to test and report. On account of 

 many cares, and other things to be looked after 

 and tested, the little machine was laid under my 

 desk until well along into the season before I 

 took the trouble to take it out and try it. An- 

 other thing, I have tested so many machines 

 that did not seem to be as convenient as some 

 we already had in use, I was a little skeptical 

 about it ; but when I did get hold of it I was 

 agreeably surprised to find that I could in a 

 twinkling move any small plant to another lo- 

 cation so quickly and so safely that it seemed 

 almost as if it must be some sleight-of-hand 

 performance. 



Thedrawingwill 

 make the machine 

 plain, almost with- 

 out any particular 

 explanation. You 

 hold the machine 

 in both hands, and 

 with an auger-like; 

 motion back and | 

 forth you set the 

 steel tube. No. 1, 

 over the plant. It! 

 is pressed down till 

 it will bring up the' 

 plant, roots and all, 

 in a lump of dirt 

 like No. 2. It is 

 not advisable to 

 push it any further 

 down than is nec- 

 essary to get all the ^ new machine for transplanting 

 roots. In fact, if small plants. 



the tap-root is broken off, with most plants they 

 will do just as well. 



After the plant is out of the ground in its ball 

 of earth, you place your two thumbs on the lev- 

 er at the top of the macbine. and push down, 

 releasing the ball of earth. With strawberries 

 you can load these balls into a wheelbarrow, or 

 with appropriate trays you can load them into 

 a wagon. Fit your ground nicely, as described 

 in our book on strawberry culture; mark it out 

 according to your notion, then with the trans- 

 planting-machine make holes to drop your 

 "potted plants" into, for they are potted 

 plants, to all intents and purposes. 



Some time in the fore part of April we put 

 out with this machine several thousand straw- 

 berry-plants, including all the different varie- 

 ties; and if there is one failure in the whole 

 lot, I have not seen it. Almost any boy, with a 

 little instruction, will operate it nicely; and 

 with any soil that I have yet used it on, the 

 dirt, if wet enough, will hold around the plant 

 so it can be handled. The nicest way, in my 

 opinion, is to grow your plants in a plant-bed 

 made up of exceedingly rich compost; then you 



