1898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



231 



the dogs are taught to run around the garden- 

 patches instead of tramping over things. 



The planter sets two stakes when he starts 

 out, the right distance apart, with his mark- 

 ing-stick. Then he goes to the further end 

 and sets two more, drawing the two lines up 

 tight. After he has planted through on the 

 one line, he moves one stake. This throws it 

 across the line, X fashion. When lie gets 

 planted through on the second line he moves 

 the first stake over, making the X in two par- 

 allel lines just as when he started. If his gar- 

 den-patch is irregular in boundary, as it usu- 

 ally is, he rolls up his lines, or unrolls, as the 

 case may be, to make the length of the line to 

 suit the width of the patch. 



not oftener. A good deal of the fertijizer is 

 sprinkled over the ground at the time of culti- 

 vating. The cultivating is done as soon as the 

 potatoes begin to show themselves above the 

 ground. It is done with a potato-fork. The 

 operator goes down almost if not quite as deep 

 as the potatoes are planted. He walks back- 

 ward, so that the ground is once more light- 

 ened and fined up. With a flirt of his fork he 

 stirs every particle of dirt clear around the 

 young plant. 



The first crop grown in the winter time, of 

 Triumphs, never blossoms. The potatoes are 

 cut to one eye, on Terry's plan; and they like 

 to have the potatoes sprouted enough so there 

 will be no mistake about having a plant wher- 



A BERMUDA POTATO-FIEI,D. 

 Please notice how completely the potato-tops cover the ground, coming up knee-high, or possibly more, 

 to the man standing in the field. In the background you will catch glimpses of the native cedar-trees; and you 

 can see how they have pushed their garden clear up among the rocks and bushes. 



This is very close planting, as you will no- 

 tice ; and the Triumph potato, which is almost 

 the only one used on the island at the present 

 time, is very often planted in rows 20 inches 

 apart, and 6 inches apart in the row. In or- 

 der to get a crop, crowded like this, the ground 

 must be made exceedingly rich, either with 

 staV)le manure or with chemical fertilizers. 

 One of the finest gardens I saw on the island 

 was where they used Bowker's " complete ma- 

 nure " (costing about .?40.00 per ton, I think) 

 at the rate of one ton per acre ; and this heavy 

 manuring is put on as often as once a year, if 



ever a piece is put in. In Bermuda the rain- 

 fall averages 60 inches in a year; and 40 of 

 the 60 inches comes in the night. Their soil 

 is so porous, being composed mostly of pul- 

 verized coral rock, that the water goes right 

 down through. Even where a garden is right 

 down in a hollow between the hills, with no 

 outlet, there is never any injury from standing 

 water; and yet there is no underdraining nor 

 ditching ever done in the Bermuda gardens. 

 The consequence is, the soil is always soft. It 

 never becomes soggy, and never bakes, as 

 most of our soils do. On account of this 



