194 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 1. 



cloth rolled up over the same beds where you 

 use glass earlier in the season; but you have 

 got to have rafters across the bed to keep the 

 cloth from sagging down on the plants. These 

 are all the more needed here in the North 

 when you are liable to have quite a fall of snow 

 on the cloth. If the cloth comes flat down 

 on the plants it is but little better than noth- 

 ing at all. Well, these crossbars I have de- 

 scribed are just the thing to hold the cloth 

 from sagging down when the weather is wet, 

 or with the weight of snow on top. With 

 these movable rafters you can have them 6, 9, 

 or 12 feet apart according to circumstances. 

 When the cloth is rolled up, if you find the 

 rafters in the way they can be taken off in a 

 second. 



Another objection to the cloth covering here 

 in the North is, if they are rolled up wet, or 

 are allowed to become wet after they are rolled 

 up, they are very quickly spoiled by rot. I 

 am planning this season to have a suitable cov- 

 ering on the north side of each bed to protect 

 the cloth from wet when it is rolled up. In 

 this way it would last ever so much longer. 

 With most plants there is no need of any cloth 

 covering if the temperature is below freezing, 

 or at any time when it is raining. Whenever 

 it is raining I would rather have plants of al- 

 most every description uncovered than not ; 

 therefore if you could roll up your cloth cov- 

 ers, and have them in the dry just before every 

 rain, it would save your cloth and benefit your 

 plants. If the rain turns to snow I would still 

 let all the hardy stuff remain until the snow 

 commences to be dry snow; then roll down 

 your cloth covering. 



GROWING STRAWBERRIES IN THE SHADE. 



Ever since my visit to Florida, where I saw 

 such beautiful gardens in the shade of the pal- 

 metto-trees, I have been studying the matter 

 of partial shade for plants during the intense 

 heat of the summer in our northern localities. 

 Some of the friends may remember that I paid 

 $2.50 for a leaflet containing wonderful se- 

 crets of value to farmers. One of the secrets 

 was planting corn and potatoes in alternate 

 rows so the corn would shade the potatoes dur- 

 ing the intense heat of the summer. I have 

 often thought I would give this matter a test, 

 but have not yet got around to it. Since then 

 I have had an opportunity of noticing, once 

 or twice, that strawberries seemed to do better 

 where shaded a part of the day than where 

 they were exposed to the full blaze of the 

 noonday sun. In the last Practical Farmer, 

 in their symposium from strawberry-growers, 

 I find the following, which you may be sure 

 arrested my attention very strongly: 



I have been growing strawberries for 30 years, and 

 have tried various plans for overcoming difficulties, 

 such as cost, winter-killing, frosts, and drought. I 

 have succeeded in overcoming the first two, and, to 

 quite an extent, the remaining ones. I prefer land, in 

 corn-stubble, plowed as early as possible in spring, 

 and well prepared. Mark rows 4 feet apart by drag- 

 ging a heavy chain on the land. Vigorous runners 

 like Jessie and Crescent I give four feet in the row; 

 Wilson's Albany and Parker Earle, 8 to :\ l i feet. 

 Plant a hill of corn between each strawberry-plant, 

 and cultivate for corn and strawberries too. Straw- 

 berries thrive better in the shade of the corn than 

 without it. The corn is gathered, and the stalks left 



standing where they grew. With the first fall of 

 snow you have your winter cover, and every wind adds 

 to it. I have often had two feet of snow over my 

 strawberry-beds, when 20 rods away the groun dwas 

 bare. I do not disturb the stalks until after I harvest 

 the fruit, as they help to modify the frosts during 

 blossoming time, and in resisting evaporation during 

 fruiting time. The crop of corn largely pays cost of 

 production, and an acre of strawberries ready for the 

 pickers should not cost over $10. No damage from 

 winter-killing, danger of frosts and drought diminish- 

 ed; and when the last fruit is gathered, summer-fal- 

 low the field, and it is ready for wheat in September. 

 I am growing strawberries for profit and not for style 

 or pleasure. Wilson's Albany, Jessie, Crescent, Ha- 

 verland and Beder Wood are my favorites. 



Ribble, Mich. O. P. Chapin. 



Now, friends, has any one of you tested ei- 

 ther potatoes or strawberries shaded by alter- 

 nate hills or alternate rows of corn ? I am 

 sure the cornstalks would be a most excellent 

 protection, for winter, even if other mulching 

 were used; and when the berries get ripe the 

 cornstalks could be made to be of good ser- 

 vice in keeping the fruit out of the mud and 

 dirt. I do not know that I ever had any more 

 satisfactory mulching for keeping the berries 

 out of the dirt than dried-up cornstalks. The 

 greatest objection was it was a good deal^ of 

 work to place them around the plants. 



HOW TO GROW THE LARGEST NUMBER OF 

 PLANTS FROM A SINGLE STRAWBERRY- 

 PLANT IN ONE SEASON. 



M. Crawford, in his new catalog, devotes a 

 page to the above. He says that, with proper 

 arrangement, we may raise several hundred or 

 may be a thousand. Of course, it will depend 

 on the variety. If you want a fair description 

 of all the new strawberries on the market, 

 write to M. Crawford, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio f 

 for his new catalog. I suppose you know 

 that friend C. has been for years authority on 

 every thing pertaining to strawberries. There 

 is one thing about his catalog that is refresh- 

 ing. He does not praise every new plant he 

 describes. 



HEAVIER TESTIMONY STILL IN REGARD TO 

 SWEET CLOVER AS A FORAGE PLANT. 



Mr. Root: — I have been reading in Gleanings for 

 and against sweet clover. Well, I have had a good 

 deal of experience with it myself, and consider it a 

 valuable plant as a forage for cattle and horses. If 

 cut and allowed to wilt, cows eat it readily and thrive 

 upon it, giving finely flavored milk and butter. Many 

 acres of it are grown here around the shores of Utah 

 Lake, upon land so heavily charged with mineral 

 (alkali) that other crops will not grow at all, just for 

 the purpose of reclaiming the land. After the clover 

 crop, good crops of grain will grow. In addition to 

 the value of the tops, the roots are also (/consider) 

 more valuable, being one of the best root crops grown 

 for cattle. Why, cows are just crazy for them. How 

 I found this out was, I plowed up a five-acre piece of 

 sweet-clover land in the fall of the year, seven years 

 ago, after the crops had been gathered and the cattle 

 turned into the fields. Imagine my surprise on seeing 

 them all gather upon this piece of plowed land and 

 eat those clover roots down. The cows almost doubled 

 their flow of milk. This lasted for weeks until the 

 land was tramped so solid that they could not get an- 

 other root out of it, and the plowing. I think, didn't 

 do much good. In addition to these values the plant 

 is valuable as a fiber-pro iucing plant. A number of 

 years ago. at one of our county fairs I saw some fine 

 towels made of the fiber of sweet clover. They looked 

 much like linen, and were very strong. So much for 

 sweet clover. I have no seed to sell. 



Provo City, Utah, Feb. 17. Elias Johnson. 



Well, friend J., I am astonished too. Where 

 sweet clover has grown very rank, I have no- 



