1900 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



63 



*' cooked " every one of them. The ants left 

 the orange-tree, but went to burrowing in the 

 pot of a chrysanthemum. We dropped the 

 plant out of the pot and removed most of the 

 dirt, then dipped the plant, roots and all, in 

 the hot bath, and that was the last of the ants. 

 You see, hot water is my old remedy for grip, 

 toothache, and earache. Oh how I do love to 

 find remedies for our troubles in pure soft 

 water, instead of being obliged to turn to 

 drugs or physic ! 



My colei are now just radiant. Here is 

 something from one of our old friends in re- 

 gard to their care and culture : 



Dear Fiie>id : — We notice with a great deal of pleas- 

 ure that you have at last got to where we expected you 

 would, sooner or later — into the flower business. We 

 had often wondered that your love of flowers had not 

 induced you to build a greenhouse for decorating your 

 own grounds. 



We notice you are specially interested in colei. We 

 g^o^v a great many of them ; and if we were on your 

 side of the boundary line we would try to sell you 

 some of our choice varieties, but you \vould no doubt 

 be able to get them better and more conveniently in 

 the United States. We, however, are getting some 

 colei seed from Italy, and shall be glad to send you 

 some. We grew .some of it last year.and found it very 

 good, producing same of the large-leaf varieties, very 

 striking and very beautiful. 



We wonder if you have tried any of the beautiful 

 ornamental foliage plants used for carpet - bedding, 

 known among florists as alternanthea. With the.se 

 you can make beautiful designs, colors ranging from 

 yellow to b ight red. They can be clipped to any 

 shape We have a man who at one time worked for a 

 very Irrge establishment in Philadelphia, where they 

 expended over fiftv thousand dollars a year on such 

 bedding-plants. Since coming here the party I refer 

 to has made some of the most beautiful beds for our 

 customers in Toronto that I have seen anywhere. 



A few hints on the culture of colei might be helpful. 

 They require a high temperature in winter. They are 

 very easily propagated by cuttings, and can be in- 

 creased very rapidly toward springtime when the tem- 

 perature is more favorable than it-is at this time of the 

 year. They do not thrive very well in a temperature 

 lower than 60 degrees. The colors come out much 

 better in a very much higher temp.rature. The worst 

 enemy of the coleus is the mealy bug, which you no 

 doubt have already discovered. The only remedy 

 which seems to be effectual is constant syringing. If 

 the plants become very badlv infested, a tooth-brush 

 and a great deal of patience is the only remedy. 



The alternanthea are generally propagated from 

 cuttings. They are placed in .shallow trays of sand in a 

 freshly made hot bed. They de'ight in bottom heat, 

 and will root in a day or two. It is just fun growing 

 this kind of plant ; and for carpet bedding and decorat- 

 ing there is nothing else so beautiful. The only draw- 

 back in connection with these plants and colei is that 

 the first frosts usually nip them and spoil their beauty. 

 They are rather tender. Kdwin Grainger. 



Toronto, Ont., Dec. 29. . .^:^ 



By the way. the forcing-bed I have mention- 

 ed (it is a bed inside of a greenhouse, covered 

 with a hinged .=ash) is proving serviceable in 

 many ways. When I get in some new plants, 

 and some of them are disposed to wilt when 

 exposed to the full open air of the greenhouse, 

 all I have to do is to put them into the forc- 

 ing-bed or "hospital," &•>■ I call it, for half a 

 day, or sometimes a whole day or more, until 

 they take root enough to stand it. A coleus 

 that I prized a good deal was snapped oflF 

 short. I took the whole stalk, without any 

 roots, and put it in the wet sand in the forc- 

 ing-bed, and it is now sending out roots, and 

 is a good plant again. The stem where the 

 top was broken off is sending up shoots so 

 they will be all right again. 



My little salvia that I told you about has 



now got its little pot full of roots, and in its 

 eagerness for air and moisture the roots are 

 sticking out into the air between the soil and 

 the sides of the pot. Perhaps this is because 

 I still keep it in the damp atmosphere of the 

 forcing-bed. And this reminds me, these lit- 

 tle fine fibrous roots with eager mouths to take 

 in air and moisture are the .same thing, or 

 pretty much so, that we find pushing into tiles 

 for underdraining — that is, whenever said 

 tiles carry a stream of water all summer long. 

 Now, has any thing ever been done in the way 

 of inducing roots of valuable plants to run 

 into tiles so as to have the best sub-irrigation 

 in the world? So far as I can learn, almost 

 every plant pushes out these little fine fibrous 

 roots, especially when it is making its first 

 growth ; and when a plant begins to bloom, 

 these little roots are tenfold more active. It 

 makes me think of the bustle of a sitting hen 

 when she leaves her nest for a few minutes for 

 refreshments. At this period she is not an or- 

 dinary individual ; and so with the plant when 

 it pushes out flower-buds. One of my golden 

 salvias had been in bloom, or at least I called 

 it in bloom, for several days. One morning I 

 noticed one of the scarlet buds opening its 

 mouth and thrusting out something that look- 

 ed like a blood-red tongue. An hour later the 

 tongue had protruded quite a piece ; and by 

 night this fiery-red tongue was out almost an 

 inch. Just about this time I decided it was a 

 honey-plant, and one of the mint family. 

 Not long afterward the ants seemed to have 

 come to a similar conclusion, for they were 

 ducking in and out at the tip of that tongue at 

 a rate that showed they had found something 

 good. 



MUSHROOMS AND GRAND RAPIDS LETTUCE. 



Almost every year we have more or less 

 beautiful mushrooms in among our lettuce. 

 In a recent number of the Practical Fanner 

 friend Greiner recommends planting mush- 

 rooms in with the lettuce when you make the 

 bed. The conditions of temperature, soil, 

 and moisture that suit the Grand Rapids let- 

 tuce are just about right for mushrooms. You 

 can get the best of mushroom bricks for only 

 a few cents a pound ; and if you break them 

 up into pieces the size of a walnut, and plant 

 them one or two feet apart in the lettuce-bed, 

 you will have lettuce and mushrooms together 

 after a while, and your mushrooms will keep 

 coming up more or less winter and summer 

 wherever the soil may be thrown, outdoors or 

 in I think it was one of our government bul- 

 letins that said mushrooms are an excellent 

 substitute for beefsteak — that is, when the 

 price of the latter is away up. At the present 

 price of steak there is now an additional in- 

 centive to grow mushrooms. In our family 

 one mushroom in a kettle of soup not only 

 takes the place of meat, but of oysters also ; 

 and with a little pains the mushrooms should 

 not cost nearly as much as either of the others. 



WHAT CAN BE DONE WITH CARROTS ON ONE SQUARE 

 ROD. 



We had a piece of carrots one rod square, and got 

 12 bushels from it, and sold them at 30 cts. a bushel. 

 The Craig potatoes didn't do very well here. We 



