^42 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 1. 



besides, there ought to be some names given of per- 

 sons who are recognized as authorities, and who have 

 given it a trial. It may be a good thing; but I say, let 

 us have some proof of its value. W. J. Green. 



Wooster, O., July 28. 



I wish particularly to emphasize the point 

 that Mr. Green makes. These fellows have a 

 host of testimonials, but they are all from 

 somebody whom nobody knows any thing 

 about. They do^ not come from our experi- 

 ment stations, nor from men engaged largely 

 in fruitgrowing, nor from our prominent 

 writers on the subject. The worst part of it 

 is, so many of these things that have been 

 loudly puffed have killed the trees sometimes 

 by the hundreds. Below is a letter from one 

 of our subscribers; and as our friend has no 

 pecuniary interest in the matter, we can not 

 for a moment doubt his statement. I shall be 

 glad indeed if our experiment station would 

 tell us what they know about it. It is cheap, 

 and easily applied. If friend Barr has used it 

 eight years, without any injury to his trees, I 

 think we are pretty safe in using it. 



If your apple-trees are bothered with borers, use 

 gas tar, and you will have no further bother. I uise a 

 little swab — tie a rag around a little stick; use that in 

 place of a brush; put the tar about 2 inches below the 

 ground and up on the trunk of the tree a foot or 18 

 inches. That is proof again.st borers, mice, and rab- 

 bits. No rain will wash it off, but it must be put on 

 every spring. The tree expands, and that leaves 

 cracks for the borers. 



I use it on apples, peaches, plums, and cherries. If 

 I were there to talk to you I could tell you what trou- 

 ble I had before I used'the gas tar. Put it on the ones 

 that you have cut the worst, and take the borers out, 

 and you will be surprised to see how fast they will 

 heal up. I have used it for 8 years. B. F. Barr. 



Flagler, Iowa., Aug. 8. 



SOME QUESTIONS ABOUT GROWING TOMATOES. 



What are the best varieties of tomatoes ? Does it 

 pay to grow extra-early varieties when they are so 

 small and worthless, for the sake of having them a 

 few days or weeks earlier? Is there a better tomato 

 than the Ignotum or the Dwarf Champion ? Bv sow- 

 ing the seed, say by January 1, how early can we have 

 ripe tomatoes ? " John Major. 



Cokeville, Pa., Aug. 1.5. 



There are now such a great number of real- 

 ly good tomatoes it is a pretty hard matter to 

 say which is best. The kinds you mention are 

 probably as good as any for general purposes. 

 The Dwarf Champion is a strong grower, 

 stands up well, is qttite early, and the to- 

 matoes are as handsome as any known, but 

 they are not of very good size. The Ignotum 

 is about as large as any good-shape tomato. 

 While the color is not quite equal to that of 

 the Dwarf Champion — that is, in the opinion 

 of some people — it is one of the very best all- 

 round tomatoes. 



Your next question depends upon the mar- 

 ket. We have sometimes got about as much 

 money for the small early tomatoes, say the 

 Earliest in the World, as for the later ones, 

 for people will often pay five and ten cents a 

 quart for the first that come when they will 

 hardly give the same price per peck when ev- 

 erybody else has them. 



The answer to your last question will de- 

 pend upon the greenhouse and the man who 

 owns it. With every thing in tiptop shape 

 you shoitld have tomatoes in March from seed 

 sown the first of January. We rarely get 

 them under glass, however, until some time 



in May; but our Ohio Experiment Station, I 

 think, has produced nice tomatoes under glass 

 every month in the winter. The tomato is 

 very tender; and to make it fruit indoors the 

 temperature of the greenhouse must be kept 

 just right. 



KEEPING EGYPTIAN ONION-SETS OVER WINTER. 



This is the way I do: About this time, Aug. 15, I 

 pick the sets, spread them out thin on the up.stairs 

 floor of my wagon-house, where they always get per- 

 fectly dry, and just let them alone until I get ready 

 to plant in the spring. I plant in May. I do not 

 cover them at all over winter. In sorting them over 

 in the spring I always find some that are dried up, 

 but not many. I think thej- are those that had long 

 sprouts before they were gathered. 



lyOrdstown, O. H. A. SiMON. 



REPORT FROM THE ACORN ONION-SET AND THE DAR- 

 LING STRAWBERRY. 



I bought a few acorn onion-sets of you last spring, 

 and thej' are the finest onions I ever raised, especially 

 the red ones. In regard to Darling strawberries sent 

 out, I got one runner plant, and not a berry, but they 

 are making an immense growth, very strong, and 

 lots of runners this year; but I shall not bother with 

 them any more, as I think they are too much on the 

 " Michel's Early " order. Eugene Manning. 



Jacksonville, N. Y., Aug. 5. 



MORE ABOUT THE PAPAYA OR MELON-TREE. 



Papaya is one of the most valuable remedies known 

 in the cure of stricture. It digests and di.';solves lym- 

 phatic growths, without irritation. R. R. Harris. 



Bloomingville, Erie Co., Ohio, Aug. 5. 



You would be very much interested to see three 

 papaya-trees that have come up in the back yard ju.st 

 by the banana. They are from the seeds of the fir.st 

 papaya you ate when here in February. One of the 

 trees is 4',4 feet high, and has blossoms on it. You re- 

 member that General Hastings said thej" required 

 eighteen months to fruit. I have been asked by 

 Mclntyre. of California, whether the tree would 

 grow with him in Sespe Canyon. It won't stand 

 frost, but it might be possible to grow them under 

 gla.ss for two months, setting them out as soon as 

 frost is over, and getting fruit same year. If they 

 were all as smart as Miss Cornish's tree they might 

 be grown in Kentucky. W. K. Morrison. 



Devonshire, Bermuda, Aug. 31. 



ROBBING SICK PEOPI.E. 



On page 595 I mentioned the fact that I was 

 going to send our Ohio Food Commissioner 

 the article in question. Below is his reply in 

 regard to the matter : 



J/;-. Root: — I have read with interest your article 

 entitled " Robbing Sick People." If the' practice to 

 which you refer is considered a crime, what shall we 

 say of those who drug soothing-syrups and emulsions 

 with cocaine, morphine, and chloral, and sell them 

 for harmless vegetable remedies? This practice is 

 one of the most serious and dangerous of which I have 

 any knowledge, and ought to receive the condemna- 

 tion of every law-abiding citizen of the United States. 

 J. E. Blackburn, 

 Ohio Dairy and Food Commissioner. 



Columbus, O., Aug. 10. 



Since the above was written I have read in 

 some of the papers that a patent-medicine 

 firm in New York had sued Commissioner 

 Blackburn for S200,000 damages. Let us see 

 to it, friends, that our experiment stations, 

 food commissioners, and other like public of- 

 ficials, have our hearty encouragement and 

 support in this matter of exposing and driving 

 out those who would sacrifice life, property, 

 and ever}' thing else, in their greed for ill- 

 gotten gains. 



