552 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 15. 



in the 5'ield ; but very rarely, I think, as much 

 as 50 per cent. We have for years used vari- 

 ous kinds of rubbish in the same way, such as 

 weeds, grass, corn fodder, old straw, grain or 

 corn stubble, or any thing we could scrape up 

 that will rot and produce humus. Put it in 

 the furrow after you have dropped your pota- 

 toes, and be sure it is all well covered up with 

 dirt ; then if you have a big rain afterward, 

 this trash will all be rotted by the time the 

 potatoes need it. This trash need not be dry ; 

 in fact, I would rather have it wet ; and green 

 grass, or even green corn fodder, can be used 

 in the same way. But by all means the cheap- 

 est way to do this is to plow under green 

 crops, such as a heavy growth of clover, before 

 you plant your potatoes ; then the potatoes 

 should be put down so that they get very close 

 to the green clover ; and, in fact, this is the 

 way the great potato -growers of the United 

 States mostly manage. Cutting up dry straw, 

 and handling it in the way indicated, may do 

 for a small garden — not one where potatoes 

 are grown by the acre. And, by the way, 

 these valuable instructions ( ? j seem to be for 

 planting potatoes in the old-fashioned way, 

 three or four pieces in a hill, I had almost 

 forgotten that anybody planted potatoes in 

 that way now. 



OUR POTATOES AT THIS DATE, JULY llTH. 



Our ten acres are looking beautifully, and 

 we have managed this 3-ear so as to keep them 

 almost absolutely clean withoi:t the use of a 

 hoe at all ; that is, there are no weeds except a 

 few at the ends of the rows. These we get out 

 with a hoe ; but in the middle of the fields the 

 rows are almost absolutely clean. This was 

 done by the use of the slanting-tooth smooth- 

 ing-harrow and the weeder. Stirring the soil 

 enough from the time of planting until the 

 weeder could not be used any more because 

 the potatoes are so large is an absolute cure 

 for weeds. When the potatoes get so large as 

 to begin to shade the ground, very few weeds 

 will start. As a rule our potatoes are so far 

 almost free from blight, and bugs have made 

 comparatively little trouble. They seem to 

 pitch on to the poorest and most spindling 

 hills ; whereas the rank strong vines are not 

 likely to be troubled with bugs, unless it is the 

 blister-beetle. These have commenced in a 

 few places, just as they did last season, and 

 we know of no better method at present than 

 knocking them down on the ground with 

 light paddles and stamping them under foot, 

 and in this way driving them out of the patch. 

 During very hot dry weather along the first of 

 July, in many places our extra-early potatoes 

 showed something that might be called blight. 

 The leaves curled up, and finally turned black 

 around the edges. I think this must be in 

 consequence of the heat and lack of rain. My 

 impression is, the heat of the sun on the hot 

 ground has also something to do with this. I 

 will tell you why. The potatoes in our or- 

 chard that I spoke about, planted right on top 

 of a heavy growth of timothy, dandelions, and 

 clover, and then covered with straw, have the 

 most perfect foliage at the present writing of 

 any in the whole ten acres. In fact, there is 



not a leaf that is curled up or turned black 

 around the edges ; and, strange to tell, so far 

 not a bug of any kind has bothered these 

 potatoes under straw. I can account for their 

 rank luxuriant growth by the fact that the 

 ground is damp and almost wet down under 

 the straw, and has been so during all the dry 

 season so far. The groat growth of green 

 stuff that was rolled down there and covered 

 up, rotted so as to make a damp mass of stuff 

 that was for a long time wet and slimy. The 

 sun has never touched the ground at all, on 

 account of the straw ; and until the drouth set 

 in these potatoes seemed rather too wet. So 

 far I am very much pleased with the experi- 

 ment ; and I learn by the agricultural papers 

 that almost all kinds of garden stuff, such as 

 melons, cucumbers, etc., have been grown 

 successfully in a similar way. On a part of 

 the ground where the straw is not quite heavy 

 enough the dandelions got through to some 

 extent ; but a sufficient covering of straw will 

 drown out and rot out even the dandelions. 

 A potato will get up through a mass of straw 

 that would be too much for any sort of weed, 

 if I am correct about it. Of course, we can 

 not tell what the crop will be just yet ; but 

 there are lots of little potatoes the size of 

 hickorynuts, as clean as if they had been 

 washed in water. 



THE WEEES AND SPRINGS OF THE STATE OF 

 OHIO, AND THE WATER WE DRINK. 



I have just been exceedingly interested in 

 quite a good-sized paper-bound book, entitled 

 "The Rock Waters of Ohio," by Prof. Ed- 

 ward Orton, of the Ohio State University. I 

 have before alluded to the fact that we have 

 an Ohio State Board of Health, and that the 

 water furnished the people in any town or 

 city in Ohio has to be examined and passed 

 upon by the State Board of Health before it 

 can be furnished to said town or city. Prof. 

 Orton has gone all over the State collecting 

 facts in regard to the matter of wholesome 

 drinking-water for our Ohio people. The 

 book mentioned tells all about the experiments 

 in drilling, different depths, quality of the 

 water obtained, analysis of the water from our 

 great springs, and a complete discussion of 

 the whole subject ; and last, but not least, he 

 tells us that typhoid fever diphtheria, and 

 other similar diseases, have entirely disappear- 

 ed in families where they used entirely the 

 water from these deep wells after it was ap- 

 proved by the State Board of Health. 



Now, there is not a man, woman, or child, I 

 might almost say, on the the face of the earth, 

 wmo is not interested in this matter. Your 

 letters have told me for years past of sickness 

 and death in your own homes, and many of 

 you have told of these very fevers. Think of 

 giving the innocent children or babes, con- 



