1899 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



695 



but I finally let him take them. He first said 

 they were not good ; but a man who stood 

 near him offered me a dollar apiece for them. 

 I finally told them, as I was in a hurry, they 

 might have the two for 81.25 each. At this a 

 third party offered me 81.50 apiece for them, 

 and pushed the money right over toward me. 

 The man who first got hold of the tickets in- 

 terposed. " Look here, gentlemen, this is my 

 trade. The man offered them to me for $1.25 

 each and he can not sell them to anybody else 

 until I accept or reject his offer." 



Then I became a little rattled, and foolishly 

 assented to this proposition. I forgot that it 

 takes two to make a bargain. If you offer a 

 piece of property for a certain price, until this 

 offer is accepted you are at liberty to recall 

 it. The man who held the tickets finally de- 

 clared that he accepted my offer, put his hand 

 in his pocket, and fished out a dollar which I 

 took while he was feeling in his pocket for 

 the rest of the money; but finally, as quick as 

 a wink, he slipped into the crowd and twisted 

 around so I almost lost sight of him, keeping 

 my tickets and the 81.50 due me. I got my 

 eye on him, however, and demanded the 81.50. 

 He finally gave me another dollar, and said in 

 a low tone that he was just trying to evade a 

 policeman who was going to arrest us both, 

 as it was against the law to sell tickets on the 

 street. He had taken my dimensions, or at 

 least thought he had, and I came pretty near 

 letting him go ; but I finally decided that, if 

 it was against the law to sell tickets on the 

 street, I would take the consequences. Finally 

 somebody called to him from a distance to 

 " give that man the rest of his money, and do 

 it quick;" then he gave me $1.25 more, and 

 slipped off. The person who had interfered 

 in my behalf then came up and informed me 

 that he was a constable, and was watching to 

 catch that very chap, for he had been told 

 that a new dodge of theirs was to get posses- 

 sion of the tickets, and then get away with 

 them and with the money too. He explained 

 to me that if I was inside of a ticket-office I 

 could safely let the man behind the counter 

 examine my tickets. " But," said he, " when 

 you are out on the streets, especially in a 

 crowd, never let anybody take your ticket out 

 of your fingers. If you wish to sell it you can 

 show it to them all they need to see ; but just 

 keep it in your own hands." 



I have thought best to give this little inci- 

 dent, because it may be of benefit to those 

 whose experience, like my own, may be quite 

 limited. 



THE POTATO CROP FOR 1899. 



Although potatoes started out very fairly 

 (and, in fact, the early ones did very well un- 

 til half grown), during the latter part of the 

 season there have been a good many troubles 

 for the potato-grower. First, the blister- 

 beetles came in our locality worse than they 

 ever did before, and a good many growers 

 just gave up and let the beetles eat up every 

 thing. We fought them inch by inch, and 

 killed them by the bushel by shaking them 



into a pan with a little water, and a little coal 

 oil on the surface. One day we had four men 

 at work all day, and they worked hard. Some 

 questioned as to whether the potatoes would 

 be worth the expense and trouble. Well, we 

 got rid of the pests, or pretty much so, and 

 the potatoes started to leaf out again. Then 

 came the very hot weather and the drouth, 

 and many varieties succumbed to the blight. 

 The Triumph was first, perhaps, to die down 

 completely ; and that is the great trouble with 

 this extra-earl)' potato. The Bovee did very 

 much better. In fact, our Bovees, planted 

 after strawberry-picking on the strawberry- 

 ground, are still green, and are growing finely. 

 The Thoroughbreds stood the blight and heat 

 better than the Triumph, but they are now 

 dead, considerably before the crop was fully 

 mature. The Early Ohios, planted late, arc 

 still green and growing. Burpee's Extra 

 Early held out longer than any of. the other 

 earlies, but finally went down. Mills' Prize is, 

 part of it, green and growing now ; but the 

 blight hurt it ; the same with the Rural New- 

 Yorker, Carmans 1 and 3, and Sir Walter 

 Raleigh. The two latter are going to give us 

 a magnificent crop in spite of the drouth. 

 Manum's Enormous, much to my surprise, 

 has pretty much died down. The crop will be 

 only fair. But the new Craig (as it has always 

 before on our grounds) stands head and shoul- 

 ders above every thing else so far as blight is 

 concerned. It is now green and growing, and 

 the ground is puffing up with great handsome 

 smooth potatoes. 



To tell the truth, I have not tried the Bor- 

 deaux mixture for the potato blight. The 

 greatest reason why I have not tried it is be- 

 cause so many who did try it, and who seem 

 to have followed it up faithfully, report so 

 little advantage. On the island of Bermuda it 

 was really a question as to whether any appli- 

 cation of chemicals did any good at all ; and 

 yet there are certain places, both in the Ber- 

 mudas and in our own country, where the Bor- 

 deaux mixture seems to be a perfect remedy. 

 I can not explain why there should be so many 

 failures. Now, it may be that our potatoes are 

 not affected by the genuine blight ; but I call 

 it blight ; and this kind of blight is certainly 

 produced, at least to a great extent, by a hot 

 sun and a lack of rain. Potatoes that were 

 shaded by large trees, or even partly shaded, 

 especially in the afternoon, in every case kept 

 green a great deal longer ; and the potatoes in 

 the orchard, that were covered with straw, al- 

 though they were Early Ohios and Early Ver- 

 mont, were never touched by blight at all 

 until the drouth was so severe that the ground 

 was dry and hard, even down under the straw. 

 We did not put on straw enough. Where it 

 was applied, say two or three feet in thickness, 

 potatoes are now green, and growing with 

 rank luxuriance. 



One thing more : Where a very heavy 

 growth of crimson clover and wheat was 

 plowed under, the blight did not affect nearly 

 as much. Heavy manuring I have always 

 found to be a remedy for this sort of blight ; 

 but it may be that it is because so much hu- 

 mus in the soil collects moisture and holds it. 



