524 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



JUI.Y 1. 



ways does give us a big crop of almost every 

 thing we put on it. The potatoes were got in 

 in splendid order. They were Manum's Enor- 

 mous. One reason why these happened to be 

 kept until the last was because they were the 

 last to sprout and wilt. The boys said, when 

 they were cutting them up, that they were 

 just as sound and crisp as when they were put 

 into the cellar in the fall. This is a big point 

 in favor of Manum's Enormous. Will it have 

 time to give us a good crop if planted as late 

 as the last week in June ? We shall see. 



I am gild to tell you we have once more an 

 excelltnt stand of crimson clover. This year 

 we waited for rain so long that I was really 

 afraid some of the clover seed would sprout 

 unless it was put down in the ground too deep 

 to germinate. There was such a quantity of 

 crimson clover and timothy and other stuff that 

 it was with very great diflficulty we got it out of 

 sight. In fact, I had an extra man follow the 

 plow, to stamp the grass down under, and to 

 turn the sods over so the roller and Acme har- 

 row would cover up all the green sti:ff. When 

 we came to planting, any thing besides the fur- 

 rower and marker with its revolving steel disks 

 would have pulled the green stuff all up on 

 top of the ground. With this machine, how- 

 ever, using the same thing for a coverer, we 

 got the seed in in pretty good shape. This 

 tool, however, leaves a ridge of mellow dirt 

 over the potatoes, and a furrow between the 

 rows. Now, as we wish to scrape off the top, 

 and fill up these furrows with the Meeker 

 smoothing-harrow, we run the latter over the 

 ground several days after planting, and after 

 a rain if possible, so that the weeds may get a 

 little start, and just before the potatoes are 

 coming through the ground. If the smooth- 

 ing-harrow scrapes the tops of .some of them 

 we do not inind it, for we think that, in the 

 end, it does such a great amount of work so 

 cheaply that we can stand a little harm to an 

 occasional enterprising potato. 



On my wheelrides through the country I 

 have noticed of late a good many farmers 

 rolling the potato-ground ju.st as the potatoes 

 were coming through. Well, there was so 

 much trash where we turned the crimson 

 clover under I feared that even the smooth- 

 ing-harrow would roll the sods up after we 

 had taken so much pains to get them down in 

 good shape ; so we have for this season used 

 the roller to level off the ground. Just at the 

 right time after a shower we propose to run 

 the weeder lightly over the ground so as to 

 break up the slight crust produced by the 

 weight of the roller. By the way, the roller 

 is a pretty good thing to smash bugs, especial- 

 ly when they commence on your potatoes just 

 as they are coming through the ground. A 

 rolling heavy enough to kill the bugs does not 

 seem to do the potatoes very much harm, es- 

 pecially if they have a refreshing shower 

 shortly after the rolling. By the way, the 

 bugs are not nearly as bad this season, with 

 us. I don't know whether it is because we 

 gave them such a terrible routing last season 

 or whether it is because this season is not a 

 good one for bugs. It is a satisfaction, any- 

 way, to have the upper hand of them. 



By the way, the little 75-cent sprayer that I 

 pictured on page 369 suits me better for man- 

 aging potatoes, especially when there are not 

 very many of them, than any thing else I have 

 ever gotten hold of. In fact, our four and five 

 dollar dusters have been used scarcely at all 

 this season. One of our small boys has some 

 Paris green in spoonful packets done up in 

 his vest pocket. When his cup is empty 

 he puts in another packet of Paris green, 

 fills the cup with water, and goes ahead. One 

 push of the plunger, held at the right dis- 

 tance from the potato-hill, fixes the bugs. 



By the way, our early potatoes are all look- 

 ing so exceedingly well that it is hird for me 

 to say which variety looks best. They are on 

 that creek-bottom ground, and the greater 

 part are now in blossom. Red Triumph has 

 potatoes already as large as hens' eggs, and I 

 am inclined to think it is still going to head 

 the list of extra-early potatoes here in the 

 United States as it does in Bermuda. Right 

 in the same plot we have the new Bovee, Ear- 

 ly Andes, Early Zehr, New Queen, and, in fact, 

 almost all that have been advertised as being 

 remarkable for earliness and yield. The 

 blight has not as yet struck them, or not 

 enough to do them any harm ; but I am 

 watching anxiously, fearing it may come at 

 any time all of a sudden. I have not yet used 

 the Bordeaux mixture to ward off the blight. 

 The results of the experiments in Bermuda 

 were so varied that I have not been really sat- 

 isfied it is a preventive ; and yet the results of 

 the experiments at Cornell would seem to be 

 almost conclusive. Our potatoes that were 

 affected by scab have all been treated with the 

 corrosive-sublimate solution this year. In 

 this matter of scab there are many perplexing 

 things. Last year one of our men in the 

 machine-shop purchased at a low price the 

 worst lot of scabby potatoes, almost, I ever 

 saw. It was late in the season. Our others 

 were all disposed of. He took them home 

 and planted them, and when it came time to 

 dig he was greatly astonished to find a crop of 

 clean nice handsome potatoes — not a scabby 

 one in the whole lot. They were put in ordi- 

 nary garden soil where potatoes and other 

 things had been grown for years. Of course, 

 this does not prove any thing unless it is that 

 scabby seed does not always, at least, produce 

 scabby potatoes. 



ELECTROPOISE AND OXYDONOR OUTDONE. 



Friend Root: — I see yon have been giving those elec- 

 tric frauds a write-up (on the wrong side for them) in 

 Gleanings for the past few years. We have one in 

 our mid.st that I wi.sh to tell you about, and should be 

 pleased to have you publish, with comments on same. 



This man is located in the beautiful little town of 

 San Saba, in San Saba Co., Texas. He is not selling 

 electric belts, rings, etc., but claims to have so much 

 electricity about him that he can cure most diseases 

 the human family is subject to by just rubbing his fin- 

 gers over their clothing, near the affected parts, and 

 in some cases by just holding his hand near them for 



