621 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 15. 



things: 1. The care with which Mrs. H. fol- 

 lows up every report of loss of money ; 2. The 

 mistakes that often happen in mailing letters. 



A. I Root Co.: — On Apr 5 r inclosed you $1.00 for a 

 Corneil smoker, and asked you to send it by return 

 mail. I have not received either smoker, reply of any 

 kind, nor anv satisfaction whatever. Kindly give this 

 your immediate attention, and send it at once, as I 

 need it badly. I am engaged in the bee business, and 

 my smoker gave out. Please send it at once. 



Greencastle, Pa., Apr. 24. E. F. Hess. 



You see our cl-rk did not drop the matter, 

 even if the sender of the money did. She 

 wrote again, asking him what he had found 

 out in regard to the lost money ; and I myself 

 offered to send him a smoker at half price, 

 under the circumstances, if the money could 

 not be found, and here is his reply : 



A. I. Root Co.: — In reply to your letter regarding 

 my lost monev, I will say that, after waiting a reason- 

 able length of time for my smoker, and it failing to 

 come. I investigated the matter (as I did not mail the 

 letter containing my money myself}, and found the 

 party to whom 1 gave my letter to mail n- ver mailed 

 it at all, but carried it in hi . pocket for several weeks, 

 and finally discovered it, and gave me my letter and 

 money back again. So 1 will release you from all 

 blame. Many thanks to you for investigating the 

 matter so thoroughly. I procured a second - hand 

 smoker in the meantime, which seems to answer our 

 purpose fairly well. E. F. Hess. 



Greencastle, Pa., May 2. 



Humbugs and Swindles. 



I inclose you circulars. Kindly look the same over, 

 and let me know if this is not the Arctic Co. I always 

 believed them to be the same. They defrauded me of 

 $5.00 for a freezer. ] could obtain no satisfaction. I 

 always intended to g"ve them a free advertisement, 

 but have neglectel it. O. L,. Smith. 



Grand Coteau, I_a. 



The circular inclosed hails from 109 East 

 Sixth St., Cincinnati. It is entitled "The 

 Alaskan Refrigerating Co." It is a little sin- 

 gular that the swindlers should send any ma- 

 chine at all, especially as the machines are of 

 no use whatever after people get them. Their 

 plan of getting money, however, is that the cir- 

 cular persuades the victim that he can, by- 

 taking the machine and exhibiting it, take 

 orders almost everywhere. One person saw 

 our notice in Glhanings after he had paid 

 for his machine, and then wrote us, asking 

 whether we thought it would work, without 

 even having tried it. We told him to test it 

 according to directions, by all means, and then 

 report ; but we have not heard from him since. 



Special Notices by A. I. Root. 



DWARF ESSEX RAPE. 



East fall, on one of my wheelrides, I passed a field 

 of the above that stood two feet high or more, where 

 it was sown in corn at the last time of cultivating. 

 There was an immense sight of it in the field, and it 

 was just a " sight." I think this was toward the first 

 of November. During this present month and next is 

 the time to sow it. We have a lot of very nice seed. 

 Per pound, 12 cts.; 50 lbs or more, 9 cts.; 100 lbs., $8.00. 

 If wanted by ma 1, add 8 cts. per lb. for postage. As 

 with sweet clover, stock must be taught to eat it; but 

 when they once learn what it is, you will have to be 

 careful about letting them get too much of it at once. 

 For sheep and lambs, peihaps there is nothing else 

 equal to it. See leaflet, mailed free on application. It 

 is so hardy that it will stand frosts and freezes, fre- 

 quently clear up till Christmas. 



CRIMSON-CLOVER SEED— ADVANCE IN PRICE. 



Some prominent agricultural writer said a short 

 time ago that thousands of dollars had been wasted by 

 farmers in the North in experiments on crimson clo- 

 ver. This may be true, but at the same time more 

 and more people are succeeding with it, both north 

 and south and east and west. The best evidence of 

 this is that just row, when it is time to sow the seed, 

 the price has rapidly advanced from $2 50 to $4.50 per 

 bushel. At the present price it will pay well to grow 

 the seed right here in our locality, aside from the tre- 

 mendous value of the crop to the soil where it is 

 grown. Seed can be sown among trowing corn so as 

 to produce a heavy crop of clover to turn under before 

 corn planting time again next spring. The best 

 prices we can possibly make now are, bushel, $4.50; 

 peck, $1.25; pound, 15 cts.; 1 lb., by mail, 25 cts. 



AMERICAN PEARL AND PRIZETAKER ONION-SETS. "}. 



Our crop of these is small this season, but they are 

 extra fine. What we mean by this is, they are small- 

 sized sets, from the size of a pea up to half an inch in 

 diameter. These are worth ever so much more, be- 

 cause you get more of them in a quart, and they are 

 not liable to send up seedstalks. Either kind may be 

 planted out now, and with good underdrained ground 

 they will, as a rule, winter over all ri^ht; but with our 

 present short crop we can make no better price than 

 25 cts. per quart; by mail, postpaid, 35 cts. We have 

 any quantity of the Egyptian or winter onion sets at 

 10 cts. a quart: 50 cts. a peck; $1.50 a bushel. Of these 

 latter we can give you either large or small sets as 

 you choose. 



TRANSPLANTED POTTED STRAWBERRY-PLANTS. 



As a rule I do not like to complain of others who are 

 in the same line of business as myself; but I do think 

 that people who are buying strawberry-plants in the 

 fall ought to be kept posted in regard to the improve- 

 ments that are being made in this line of business. 

 For instance, several growers are advertising potted 

 strawberry-plants by mail ; and I have taken pains to 

 order from some of those who send out magnificent 

 catalogs especially devoted to potted strawberry-plants 

 for fall planting. I have just received some potted 

 plants from one of the largest seedsmen in the United 

 States : and when I came to unwrap them and see the 

 poor wilted things with little bits of roots, I really felt 

 sorry for the great seedsman ; and I think I feel still 

 more sorry for his customers if he sends to them such 

 plants as he sends us. I am sending him trial orders 

 every year, so I feel sure he is not making any im- 

 provement. I am forced to believe that neither he nor 

 his brother-seedsmen know anything about strawber- 

 ry-plants potted in jadoo. Let me tell you again how 

 we do it. 



Two-inch pots are filled with jadoo, sopping wet. A 

 runner that has just begun to make root in the soil is 

 pushed down into the middle of this ball of jadoo, 

 and the pot. runner and all, is set by the mother-plant 

 clear under ground. If it is a dry time the large 

 plant is kept wet, and the ground around it. In five 

 or six days the white young roots will be clear to the 

 outside of the pot. The runner is then cut off, the 

 plant is removed from the pot, and carried to the nur- 

 sery. This nursery is a vat made of galvanized iron, 

 any size that the business requires. I would have it so 

 the usual shutters (or sash)u?ed by gardeners will 

 cover this nursery, say 3x0 feet, if for one shutter; 

 and if you want it larger, twice that size or three 

 times', that is. so as to hold one, two, or three shutters 

 or sashes. This tank will hold water; but there is an 

 opening with a plug so you can let the water off when 

 it rains hard. This nursery is filled with rich com- 

 post — old stable manure, rotted sods, etc. These little 

 plants are put in. say. 3 inches apart, each way, and 

 are watered by sub-irrigation, which I suppose you all 

 understand. Now, when new white roots have started 

 out from the ball of jadoo, into the soil surrounding 

 them, the plant is ready to send off by mail or ex- 

 press; and, oh my! what a contrast when the purchas- 

 er takes his plant out of the neat little mailing-box 

 made of basswood ! Why, the plant is so handsome 

 after its long trip in the mails that it is just fun to car- 

 ry one around and show it to people. We send out a 

 good many plants with runners already started, so the 

 purchaser may have a new plant from the one he pur- 

 chased, in a week or two, providing he catches on to 

 the plan described above, and keeps the new plant 

 well watered if it does not rain. Any one who likes 

 to fuss with plant-growing, as described above, may 

 grow his own plants at a very insignificant cost after 

 he once gets a few for a start, and the most severe 

 drouth does not hinder a particle. Keep your plants 

 in the nursery until the fall rains come on, and put 



