788 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 1. 



that we shall find such means the most effectual one 

 for fighting this disease when it is fixed in the soil. 

 The disease is widespread, and I noticed in the Pitts- 

 burg market this season that many shipments were 

 almost unmarketable on accoimt of it. Some souring 

 of the .soil is the rational remedy, and this can be 

 secured by the use of rye without .seriously diminish- 

 ing the yield if the potatoes; and in my own easel 

 am .'-ure that the rye sod always increases the crop of 

 potatoes very materially, being the best fertilizer one 

 can get in a winter-catch crop. 



Do you see the point, friends ? Now turn 

 to pag^e 502 of Gi,eanings for July last, and 

 see what I said about my winter oats that 

 turned to chess (?). I told yoti in conclusion 

 that the chess was promptly plowed under 

 while in full bloom, June 18, and the grot;nd 

 planted to Freeman and Thoroughbred pota- 

 toes. I do not know just when those potatoes 

 were put in, but I think it was toward the last 

 week in June. Had it not been for our severe 

 fall drouth I should have had a good yield of 

 potatoes — yes, a big yield. As it was, I had a 

 fair yield for the season ; and the happiest 

 part of it is, there was scarcely a scabby pota- 

 to. In fact, the Freemans were just as nice 

 as Terry's, and some of them weighed a pound. 



Now, my tmderstanding of the matter is 

 that planting late has very much to do with 

 avoiding scab. But if we plant late we shotild 

 turn imder some sort of green crop. Now, 

 then, has anybody succeeded in avoiding scab 

 by turning under a green crop early ? But, 

 by the way, you can not get any green crop 

 to turn under, very early — that is, no rank 

 green crop. We turned under some crimson 

 clover rather early last spring; but, as I have 

 told you, that did not help the scab at all. 



The next point is, can we avoid the scab by 

 planting about the first of July, or later, even 

 if we do not turn under any green crop ? Sup- 

 pose you try extra early potatoes, and dig 

 them and sell them the first of July. If you 

 plant more potatoes on the same ground, will 

 the last ones be freer from scab, when the 

 first ones are badly scabby ? I have a partial 

 answer to this question from a neighbor. He 

 planted half of a field to Early Ohio, very 

 early ; but something hindered, and it was 

 very late before he put in the rest. The first 

 planted were so scabby that they were hardly 

 worth digging. The last (same seed, same 

 ground, no difference except in time of plant- 

 ing) were the finest potatoes he ever grew — 

 in fact, he took them to the fair, and secured 

 the first premium. In this case the time of 

 planting seems to be the only reason for dif- 

 ference. I do not know whether the weeds 

 got up so high he plowed them under at the 

 second planting or not. 



Just one thing more : Can't some of our 

 fertilizer-men give us a fertilizer that will 

 make the ground "sour," so as to kill the 

 scab fungus ? I should be glad to get the ex- 

 perience of others on this same point. 



I propose to give you a brief outline of my experi- 

 ence with glass and cold-frames, as my perseverance, 

 after failures, is partly due to mv reading " High- 

 pre.ssure Gardening on One-fourth Acre " in your 

 " Tomato Culture." 



I commenced four years ago with 14 sash, five miles 

 in the country; raisecl plants for my own use, and sold 



six or eight sash of lettuce and radishes, with a de- 

 termination to get closer to market. Second year, 35 

 sash, one acre bottom land in=ide of corporation of 

 town of 8000 inhabitants: cash rent of land S*27.5. I 

 made enough to pay rent and expenses; failed to make 

 more, by planting wrong kind of vegetables on high- 

 priced land. Third year, 13') sash, same land nnd 

 rent; did well in winter, and good prospects for the 

 summer, but was flooded by high water in the middle 

 of May. and again Sept. 1; "back-water .5 ft. deep each 

 time, and covered every thing with mud. Result. I 

 made enough before flood to pay rent, and afterward 

 did not make expen.ses. due to second flood. Fourth 

 year, 2:5.5 sash on a lot 80 x 100 ft.; rent nothing, as lot 

 goes with house I live in. Result of sales from this 

 lot, vegetable-plants, $12-5: lettuce, radishes, beets, 

 spinach, and parsley, KiOO, .Sales of celerv from July 

 10th to Oct. 1.5th, SSO. Celery on hand at present, 12,000 

 plants — which I am retailing from (K) cts. to S1.20 per 

 dozen plants — fully two-thirds of it bringing 00 cts. 

 per dozen plants, "which makes m j- lot of le.ss than 

 one-fourth acre run between S1.500 and S2000. which 

 demonstrates that a family can live on one-fourth 

 acre. 



Nov. 1 will enter my fifth year in gardening with 

 83.5 sash : and as I empty each bed of celery (the cel- 

 ery,- is right in the cold-frame) I fill it with lettuce. 

 This is my first year with celery, as I have mostly 

 raised lettuce. 



The fir.st year I planted fi .sash of lettuce, and sold 

 most of it. The .second year I planted 20 sa^h of let- 

 tuce ; sold about two-thirds of it, this market not be- 

 ing used to early lettuce. Third year I planted 60 

 sa.sh to lettuce; sold all out by April 15th, right when 

 there was the best demand. The fourth vear I .sold 

 180 .sash of lettuce from December to June. All this 

 lettuce I have retailed in this town, did all the work 

 in garden myself, averaging about five hours each 

 dav. ' J. B. L,ACKBY. 



Staunton, Va., Oct. 16. 



My good friend, I am exceedingly obliged 

 to you for the many practical points you give. 

 First, do not be discouraged if you do not 

 make a success of it at once. Second, beware 

 of localities subject to overflow. Third, have 

 a home of your own, and do your farming in 

 your own dooryard instead of renting high- 

 priced land. Fourth, it pays to be as close to 

 your customers as you can get, even though 

 the ground is high-priced. Your last record 

 is equal to almost any thing I have seen. It 

 seems to me you paid a pretty big price for 

 rent ; but circumstances might, of course, 

 warrant such an outlay. But the worst part of 

 it is, you would have to put on fertilizers, and 

 do work that almost doubles the vahie of the 

 land, for which you would get nothing. Have 

 a piece of ground of your own as soon as you 

 can ; and then not only make every foot of it 

 grow something, but every square inch. 



Mr. A. I. Root: — I am very little of a farmer or bee- 

 keeper — am simply an old surveyor and civil engineer, 

 who. being too old for active work, has settled down 

 in the country, like a .stick of drift-wood, long carried 

 and tos.sed on" the flood, lodging at last on the bank, 

 where it quietly rests until the du.st returns to the 

 earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who 

 gave it. 



I have been a subscriber to Glbanings for many 

 years, not .so much for the bee-keeping news it con- 

 tains (I read and am instructed in all) as for the gener- 

 al spirit which pervades it and which harmonizes 

 with my own feelings; and it often makes me long for 

 a good quiet talk with you. We both hate humbugs, 

 and the world is full of deceit, sham, and adultera- 

 tions. The mass of the people like to be deceived, and 

 honor those most who can and will deceive them, be- 

 cause the mass of the people love deceit; they "love 

 darkne.ss rather than light." 



As a rule, the part of Gleanings I like best begins 

 with Notes of Travel and ends with High-pressure 

 Gardening. I like to look over j'our price lists, for 

 they give an idea of what things ought to cost. Here, 



