37 S 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 1. 



that none of them is equal in quality to the Freeman. 

 Quality and quantity do not seem to go very well to- 

 gether in potatoes — at least so far as my experience 

 goes. Mills' Prize comes next to Freeman in quality, 

 and my neighbor who grew them last season says 

 they are almost equal to any in quantity. We are go- 

 ing to give them a good test this year. Manura's 

 Enormous seems to stand almost if not quite at the 

 head with all of our experiment stations where it has 

 been tested for a late potato. 



LARGE ONIONS FOR GROWING ACORN-TOP ONION-SETS. 



As we have quite a few of these on hand, more than 

 what we wish to plant, we will close them out at tfl 50 

 per bushel, instead of catalog price $2.50. 



It is a little late now to send out strawberry plants, 

 for most of ours ate already in bloom. Better wait 

 now until new plants are ready in June and July. 

 We expect to send out plants, potted in jadoo liber, 

 some time in June. 



THE TWO NEW EXTRA-EARLY STRAWBERRIES, EAR- 

 LIEST AND DARLING. 



As I have informed you, we decided not to list these 

 in our spring catalog, because, even though they are 

 extra early, they bore so few berries. Friend Thomp- 

 son, the originator, insisted they bore a large amount 

 of fruit in other localities, or during favorable sea- 

 sins; but I asked for reports from those who had pot- 

 ted plants, but they did not seem to be forthcoming — 

 at least not many of them. Well, just now I feel al- 

 most sorry I discarded them, because at present writ- 

 ing they are loaded with blossoms; in fact, I do not 

 know that I ever had a strawberry on our grounds 

 that made a better show of buds and blossoms than 

 the Earliest and Darling. And, by the way, friends, 

 you can seldom tell in one season nor even in two sea- 

 sons what is to be the future of any new thing in the 

 fruit and vegetable line. 



FIRMING THE SOIL, AND SHALLOW VS. DEEP CULTURE 

 FOR STRAWBERIES. 



At the conclusion of A. T. Goldsborough's new 

 strawberry catalog we extract the following: 



" I have for many years exchanged horticultural 

 ideas with Matthew Crawford, Esq. In answer to my 

 views on this subject he wrote on Nov. 21, 1898: " My 

 faith in a firm soil increases every year. I_,ast spring 

 I had no plowing done, except when I wished to bury 

 rubbish or manure. My best fall-set plants are oh 

 unplowed ground." The editor of the London Gar- 

 deners' Chronicle, in June issue, says: "All the finest 

 examples of the strawberry I have yet seen have been 

 grown on warm, shallow, and rather poor soil." In- 

 stead of letting the roots run down to China, bring 

 them to the surface by a light mulch of any sort. 

 After the fruit is set, you can feed as you would a 

 coop of chickens, a little at a time, but often. 



The whole catalog is certainly worthy of the atten- 

 tion of every strawberry grower. Address A. T. 

 Goldsborough, Wesley Heights, Washington, D. C. 



FORETELLING THE WEATHER A MONTH AHEAD — A 

 SLANDER ON THE WEATHER BUREAU. 



A statement has been going out in the dailies, to the 

 effect that the U. S. Weather Bureau says the month 

 of May will be unusually stormy. You may be sure I 

 pricked up my ears when I saw this. I cut out the 

 clipping, and forwarded it to headquarters. I am in- 

 formed, as I knew I should be, that the Weather Bu- 

 reau had never made any such statement. It never 

 undertook to tell during any month what the weather 

 would be for the ensuing month; for Uncle Samuel is 

 not in that kind of business, and never has been. 



BETTER-FILLED SECTIONS. 



I will give a little of my experience with the fence 

 separator. I was very much taken with them from 

 the start, and bought about sixty of your Ideal supers 

 of Nysewander, of De9 Moines, last season, and I like 

 them very much. I get better-filied sections, especial- 

 ly at the outside row. I sent some to Des Moines and 

 got 15 cts. per lb. They said it was the finest ho- ey 

 they ever saw, and the new deep-entrance hive is just 

 grand. H. J. Chapman. 



Kennedy, la., Feb. 24. 



Advertisers' Department of Short Write-ups. 



Buying for Cash. 



The advantages of the cash-buying principle are 

 much more highly appreciated than formerly. Pres- 

 ent indications point plainly to the fact that at no very 

 distant date the long-drawn-out interest-bearing ac- 

 count will be a thing of the past. Cash buying is a 

 business short cut, it is the little path that leads 

 across the fields. It saves business distance. 



Not only that, it is a money-making principle. Buy- 

 ing for cash s^ves interest; interest — money — saved is 

 money earned. Cash selling and buying has grad- 

 ually led up to another method of conducting business, 

 which is to sell direct from the manufactory to the 

 consumer. This system possesses so many advantages 

 that we can not stop to enumerate them. It is really 

 the carrying out of the cash-buying plan upon an ex- 

 tended and enlarged form. 



Goods are sent upon receipt of cash or are shipped 

 C. O. D. with privilege of examination. Take for in- 

 stance the Elkhart Carriage and Harness Mfg. Co., of 

 Elkhart, Indiana. They sell every thing they make, 

 direct from the factory to the consumer. Their terms 

 are either cash with order or C. O. D. with fullest priv- 

 ilege of examination, and their experience is that the 

 cash-buying principle is growing upon the people. 



CONVENTION NOTICES. 



The Northern Illinois Bee-keepers' Association will 

 hold two sessions of its spring mee:ing — one at Mr. 

 John Wagner's, near Buena Yista. Stephenson Co., 

 under the supervision of the vice-president, and one 

 at Mr. Oliver Taylor's, at Harlem, Winnebago Co., 

 under the president, on Tuesday, May 16, 1899. Every 

 one is cordially invited. B. Kennedy, Sec. 



New Milford, 111. 



A joint meeting of the Colorado State Bee-keepers' 



Association and the Denver Bee-keepers' Association 



will be held in room 33. second floor of the Capitol 



Building, in Denver, on Wednesdav, May 10, at 10 a.m. 



R. C. Aikin, Pres. 



Frank Rauchfuss, Sec. 



J. W. BAILEY, 



PUBLISHER. 



The 



F. I*. THOMPSON, 

 EDITOR. 



Western Bee=keeper 



Is exclusively devoted to apiculture in the 



I LFALFA REGIONS, 

 and to 

 ASSOCIATION WORK 



a: 



of all kinds among bee-keepers; and also gives the 

 main points of what the other bee- 

 papers are saying. 



Monthly, 50c a Year. 



No Supply-house Connections. 



Seeks to Present Both Sides of Issues. 



2341 Fifteenth St., 



Denver, Colorado. 



T. Flanagan, 



Queens, Smokers, 



Sections, Comb Fdn. 



and all apiarian supplies cheap. 



Send for free catalog. 



- - Belleville, Ills 



FREE! FREE! 



A beautiful present with every order. 

 Cheapest place in Michigan to buy your 

 Supplies. Send for a price list explaining. 

 W. D. SOPER. Box 565, Jackson, Mich. 



