108 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 1. 



I was interested in it. It was the first work I ever 

 saw on bee culture. I came home and read it from 

 cover to cover. Then I said to Mrs. F., " I must send 

 right away for Gleanings before they tell all they 

 know about bees," for I thought it would not take 

 more than two or three months to do that, and then I 

 should have no further use for Gleanings. How far 

 I missed the mark I can't tell, for here you are still 

 going on, bringing new things out of the old, as well 

 as introducing many new ones. C. M. Farrar. 



Confidence, W. Va., Dec. 21). 



Special Notices by A. 1. Root. 



ROCKY FORD CANTELOUPE MELON. 



I notice our seedsmen want over SI 00 a pound for 

 Rocky Ford grown seed. Now, while we were eating 

 them there by the carload at Omaha, why didn't 

 somebody think to save some seeds? and can't some 

 of our Rocky Ford friends do a little better than the 

 above on prices? 



OUR FIRST STEAM-ENGINE. 



On page 24 of our Jan. 1st issue I spoke of getting a 

 4%-horse-power engine to back up the windmill when 

 the wind did not blow ; but at that time I did not 

 know that the maker of that first engine had at the 

 time a standing advertisement (see page 111). It 

 seems that he has been in the same line of business 

 for over 25 years; and the low-priced engines manu- 

 factured by James Eeffel, Springfield, O., are still 

 doing a vast amount of work of different kinds 

 throughout our land. After using ours for several 

 years we sold it at a veiy fair price, and since then it 

 has changed hands ever so many times ; and it has 

 been hauled around here and there, and the last I 

 heard of it it still was doing good service although ex- 

 postd to the weather and all sorts of rough handling. 



TWO NEW ONIONS. 



When I made up my list of novelties for our last 

 issue I omitted two new onions — the Gigantic Gibral- 

 tar and the Australian Brown onion. The former is 

 much like the Prizetaker, only larger, and so far every 

 plant seems to produce a big nice solid onion. For 

 starting in the greenhouse and transplanting in the 

 open air, they are the best onion known, so far as I 

 have heard. But, unfortunately, they are not a very 

 good keeper. They should be sold not very long after 

 harvesting them. The other one, the Australian 

 Brown, is about the best keeper of any onion known. 

 In fact, they have been kept over a whole season so 

 that, when the old and new onions were placed side 

 by side, one can hardly tell one from the other. Prices 

 of the latter will be": Packet. 5 cts. : ounce. 20cts.; 

 pound, $1.75. Price of the Gibraltar: Packet, 5 cts.; 

 ounce, 2.5 cts. It is said that neither kind ever pro- 

 duces any stiff necks or scullions. And by the way, 

 this is ■ ften the cise with any onion for the first few 

 years after its introduction. After the seed gets gen- 

 erally in the market, and the price g>-ts down, then 

 seedsmen become careless about growing the s.ed. 

 For this reason alone it sometimes pays to test new 

 varieties of onions. 



TEN DOLLARS FOR A SINGLE POTATO. 



You may remember that, a year ago last October, 

 Win. Henry Maule permitted me to take one pot' to 

 from T. B. Terry's, with the understanding that all I 

 succeeded in growing from one potato in one year 

 should be Ma de's property. I to have 81.00 a bushel 

 for growing them. Well, I grew three hushel-i ; and 

 after receiving my S3 00 I asked Maule what ht would 

 take for the potatoes. He said they were worth to 

 him 110.00 per barrel ; and as his stock was limited he 

 did not care to sell for any It ss than that. I was some- 

 what disappointed because I did not succeed in getting 

 more than three bu-hels from the one potato; but 

 when I received Maule's 1899 catalog I saw where the 

 trouble lay. This new potato is named the Cummer 

 • cial. An ong its other qualities let me quote the fol- 

 lowing in regard to keeping : 



I have a record of keeping: the tubers in perfentlv gnrifl con- 

 dition, in ordinary storage, until August of the year follow- 

 inpr their production The tmtat.es wee ju»t as edible and 

 mealy Aug. 1 ? > as the day they were dug. 



You see, I took that potato home and tried to make 

 it sprout in the greenhouse. I fussed with it a great 

 part of the winter, but I could not make the eves 

 sprout, to ,'ave me, till toward spring: then when I 

 succeeded in getting some new potatoes in the green- 



house I had the same trouble in getting these same 

 new potatoes to sprout in the open ground, so that the 

 frost caught them before they had really done grow- 

 ing. Now, the very peculiarity that made this potato 

 a bad one to grow one crop in the greenhouse, during 

 winter, and another in the open air, during the sum- 

 mer, is one of its most valuable characteristics. If 

 planted in the ordinary way it is medium early, and I 

 believe it is the largest yielder of any potato I have 

 ever got hold of. It is a seedling of the Wilson Rose, 

 and is of the Ro=e tvpe, and it cettainly has great con- 

 stitutional vigor. If any of our readers care to try it 

 we will furnish it. by the pound only, at Maule's 

 prices. Single pound, postpaid by mail, 50 cts. You 

 may remember that T. B. Terry grew in the open air 

 nearly two bushels of tiemenciously large nice pota- 

 toes from a single potato that Maule furnished him. 



WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO GROW THIS SEASON? 



A good many people are afraid to grow perishable 

 crops for fear they may not be able to sell them all, or 

 because they do not want to be obliged to stop their 

 work to take care of the crop just when it is at its best. 

 These perishable crops, like strawberries, snap beans, 

 etc., bring the most money: but one must make a busi- 

 ness of it to sell them. What can we grow that will 

 have at least some value, even if we do not succeed in 

 selling it when it is just right for the table? Well, 

 there are quite a number of things. To begin with, 

 all the beans we list are valuable in the dry state; and 

 just now 1 could offer from SI. 50 to S4.00 and even So. 00 

 a bushel for any of the beans we advertise if anybody 

 had an}' to spare. Burpee's bush lima especially has 

 for several vears been worth from $3.00 to S5.00 a bush- 

 el for the dry beans; and I do not know what is to 

 hinder somebody growing an acre and making "big 

 money," unless it is the first cost of the seed. Of 

 course, sell all you can for green beans. There is sel- 

 dom a time they can not be sold at a good price in any 

 town or cit\ . If the people do not want them all 

 green, just let them get dry and thrash them out. 



If you have horses or cattle \ou can grow all kinds 

 of beets. Sell them green if you can ; if you can not, 

 feed them to stock. Ingrowing roots for stock, how- 

 ever, we have had rather the best success with carrots. 

 These always sell for enough to pay quite well for 

 growing; and although there may be horses and cat- 

 tle that will not eat sweet clover when it is nice and 

 green, I do not think you will find one that will not 

 eat carrots with avidity, and thrive on them. Mix 

 the carrots in with the dry feed along in winter and 

 spring, and see if you do not call it a good investment. 



Sweet corn can also be fed tj horses and cattle if 

 you can not sell it all green. 



And you want to grow some onions. W'hen they are 

 just right to pull, give great big bunches for a nickel. 

 Astonish people by the big lot of handsome ones you 

 give for a s'nall amount of money. Also grow some 

 sets. Every little while onion-sets are worth from 

 13 (0 to S5.00 a bushel. Get a variety you can handle; 

 learn how to grow them, and then have some on hand 

 every spring, and you will hit it once in a while, sure. 

 And Hubbard squashes. Did anybody ever know a 

 time when nice Hubbard squash would not sell for 

 enough to pay a big profit on the investment? But 

 you must have the ground rich Clean out the poul- 

 iry-h uise and the pigpen, and w< rk the contents into 

 the ground thoroughly Spread your compost-heap 

 where you are going to have your squashes. Then 

 wherever you plant a hill, dg down a foot or a foot 

 and a half, and make the hill a yard across, and dig it 

 over every little while till it is time to plant the seeds. 

 Then use the squash-boxes with a pane of glass on 

 top. You must meet the first bug more than half way, 

 and so on with the second and third. Scare them so 

 badly to begin with that they wil think the locality is 

 not healthy ; then after every thing else is off the 

 ground put in some turnips and manage in the same 

 wav. 



Meanwhile do not forget potatoes. Have them on 

 the market before any one else in your neighborhood 

 has thought of such a thing. Then when everybody 

 else is bringing them in, get ahead < f them all by 

 showing some nicer ones than anybrdy else has seen. 

 Then have potatoes coming along ready to dig clear 

 up till fros\ If they do not bring a g. od price in the 

 fall, have some in the spring a little nicer and a little 

 better than anvbody else. 



Now. if you want seeds of all these things look over 

 our list in our last issue or send for our complete seed 

 catalog. Please note our exceedingly low prices on 

 beet seed, carrot seed, parsnip seed, squash seed, etc., 

 in 5 and 10 pound lots. 



