274 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. L 



The woof'en frame lliat makes the handle of 

 the machine is made of strips of board, sawed 

 pieces say 1x2 in., perhaps 4 ft. long ; then a 

 round stick, say something like a hoe-handle, 

 put in the top to hold it by, and strips put across 

 to brace and strengthen the frame. To have 

 the machine push easy you might drive a round 

 piece of steel in the shaft at each end. Any 

 man who can handle a saw, mallet, and chis- 

 el, and hammer and nails, could make such a 

 marking-machine in a few hours. Of course, 

 you can have it to space the plants any desired 

 distance apart just as you like. I have given 

 about the distance apart they plant them ia 

 Bermuda. 



I happened to be present when there were 

 three or four boys and two men getting the 

 ground ready. I think they had about a bar- 

 rel of onion-plants. The Bermuda people 

 never trim off the roots or tops. The}- say 

 they like them better just as they are dug. 

 The man who made the marker took it in 

 hand and ran it along the line with rapid 

 strides — one of the boys who was planting, 

 moving the opposite end of the line for him as 

 fast as he had made a row. The whole piece 

 of ground was nicely marked in a little time. 

 One of the other men, who knew about how 

 many onions would be needed, walked along 

 the path, dropping the onions in little bunches 

 to the right and left ; then the transplanters 

 got down to their work. A bundle of plants 

 is taken in the left hand. With the right he 

 picks up an onion-plant, places his forefinger 

 on the bulb, then he sticks the onion, fore- 

 finger and all, down into the soft dirt. With 

 his fingers he gives the dirt a little flirt over 

 the roots ; then another and another, as rapid- 

 ly as a compositor in a printing-ofiice picks up 

 his types. The machine marks six rows, so 

 the man in the path plants three rows as he 

 walks along, and three as he comes back on 

 the other side of the bed. I have seen quick 

 gardeners at work in different parts of the 

 United vStates ; but I never saw men or boys 

 anywhere who could come up to the Bermuda 

 onion-transplanters. I suppose one reason for 

 it is, it is their almost daily occupation, at 

 least for a good many of them, for several 

 weeks or perhaps months. 



I thought at first the work was done care- 

 lessly. It did not seem to me that the onions 

 were down deep enough, and some of the 

 long roots were left sticking up out of the 

 ground. If done on our own soil I should 

 have said that, unless rain cime immediately, 

 and in abundance, half of the plants might 

 die ; but with the damp sea air constantly 

 blowing in from off the water, nothing dies 

 in Bermuda unless it gets the blight. The 

 onion-plant will grow, even if it does not 

 rain for a week after planting. If the sun is 

 shining all the time they are planting, they 

 will look considerably lopped down the first 

 afternoon. The next day, if it is clear and 

 bright, they will lop down under the influence 

 of the sun a little ; but about the third day 

 they will stand up straight, and keep straight. 



They do not use any Breed weeders — at 

 least not as yet — and they do not meddle with 

 the onions, so far as I could learn, in any way 



until the weeds are big enough to pull and 

 throw into the paths. 



The most troublesome weed they have is 

 what I should call a beautiful little flower. I 

 believe most of the weeding is done by hand. 

 I noticed our next-door neighbor, Mr. Webb, 

 had what he called wire weeders. It is just a 

 loop of wire stapled to a short handle of wuod. 

 Suppose you take an ordinary tool-handle, 

 such as we have on files, for instance. Instead 

 of boring a hole through the handle, as we do 

 for a file, just bend a piece of wire as shown in 

 the cut below, and staple the loose ends ^\ith 

 poultry netting staples to the sides of the 

 wooden handle. 



MR. WEBB'S WIRE WEEDER. 



This weeder pulls the weeds out by the 

 roots instead of cutting them off, and mellows 

 the soil by breaking the crust, or what little 

 there may be around the onions. The weeds 

 are cleaned out of the onion-beds, and dropped 

 in the paths. Sometimes they lie there and 

 stay there till they take root again. I was go- 

 ing to remonstrate against this slovenly way, 

 as it seemed to me ; but when they got ready, 

 a smart colored man, with a fork just a little 

 narrower than the path, went along rapidly 

 and spaded every weed out of sight. After 

 every spadeful, with a flirting motion of his 

 fork he made the soil fine and level. When 

 this was done, potatoes were planted right 

 along through the path. The potatoes were 

 put in so that they will come on about the 

 time the onions have covered the ground so as 

 to crowd out the weeds. After the onions are 

 pulled, melons are planted between the paths. 

 I do not know how many onions they get per 

 acre, but I think it is something like 1(»00 

 bushels when every thing goes well. The 

 onions come into the United States markets 

 just when our old onions are all cleaned up, 

 and before any new ones are ready. Not only 

 this but it is claimed that the Bermuda onions 

 have an established reputation for quality. 

 They are all sound and firm, nice and clean, 

 and mild compared with many of the home- 

 grown onions. The fertilizer is stable ma- 

 nure, seaweed, and last, but not least, differ- 

 ent brands of American fertilizers. 



While over at my neighbor's, Mr. Webb's, I 

 saw a large patch of onions of most beaiitifully 

 rank luxuriance. The thrifty dark -green color 

 indicated that they were heavily fertilized with 

 something that suited them. I found this was 

 a special manure purchased of Bowker.* Now, 

 almost in the center of this rank luxuriance 

 there was a little square spot of onions very 

 much inferior ; and this spot was defined by 

 sharp straight lines. In fact, the rank strong- 

 growing ones actually lopped over on three 

 sides of this little square. 



"Why, Mr. Webb, what is the matter with 



* Made by the Bowker Fertilizer Co., 43 Chatham 

 St., Boston, Mass. 



