364 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



MayI. 



ing a spring, quicker than you can scratch a 

 match ; and the arrangement I have described 

 above is of this kind. 



THE NATURAL-HEN INCUBATOR, ONCE MORE. 



I should have mentioned in our last issue 

 (see page 322) the fact that the Natural-hen 

 Incubator Co. promptly returned the dollar I 

 sent them, as soon as they received my letter 

 telling them I thought they ought to furnish 

 a fair- sized book for the dollar instead of in- 

 formation that was all contained on a single 

 sheet of paper ; and I have since learned that 

 Mr. Seims is or has been a bee-keeper. He 

 says he returns the money to everybody who 

 is dissatisfied, and I have reason to believe he 

 does. But even though he does, there is 

 something about the business that is not quite 

 straight — at least that is the waj' it looks to 

 me. From their letter-head I quote the fol- 

 lowing : 



Our agents make as high as So to S15 a day. Exchi- 

 sive territory granted to canvassing and general coun- 

 ty agents. 



I make no objection to agents getting $5 to 

 $15 a day. A good agent may do this in sell- 

 ing agricultural machinery or perhaps bee- 

 hives (in the latter case, however, he would 

 have to be a " hustler " if he furnished goods 

 at regular prices). But how about the " ex- 

 clusive territory"? There is not any patent 

 on the device, and I do not see how agents 

 can sell these pieces of paper for a dollar 

 apiece unless each purchaser signs a contract 

 not to show it to his neighbor. But even sup- 

 pose he does this, the apparatus must be set 

 up outdoors, and the neighbors would natu- 

 rally call around to see how it works. What 

 is to hinder them from going home and mak- 

 ing one like it so long as there is no patent on 

 it? The Incubator Co. gives no deed of "in- 

 dividual right." They simply furnish a piece 

 of paper, with the picture and directions on 

 it. I think there is a stamp across the pic- 

 ture, saying, "Patent applied for." But how 

 can there be a patent on any thing that has 

 been in use for "ten or more years," -and is 

 pictured and described as free to everybody 

 in our agricultural journals — see page 822 of 

 our last issue, above referred to? 



Now, even though their customer gets his 

 money back if he is not satisfied, is not the 

 whole thing worked in a way to obtain peo- 

 ple's money unfairly ? 



TURNING UNDER WHEAT INSTEAD OF RYE. 

 Last season I had excellent success with a 

 small plot by turn ng under wheat instead of 

 rye. I wrote to our experiment station about 

 it as follows : 



By accident I turned under a heavy growth of wheat 

 instead of rye last spring, and from one experiment 

 the wheat seems to be wo th ever so much more than 



any crop of rye I ever turned under. Have you peo- 

 ple ever made an}- e'speriments with wheat as a green 

 crop to turn under for growing potatoes? and can you 

 tell us about what time to turn under either wheat or 

 rye to give the most advantage to potatoes? With our 

 late crops of potatoes we can turn the wheat under at 

 any stage, even when it is headed and filled with 

 grain. You may say this would be extravagant ma- 

 nuring ; but how much more extravagant than to turn 

 rye under when it is well headed out ? Of course, we 

 can get a good crop of rye here after we dig our pota- 

 toes, which would not be so with wheal (in place of 

 rye) so late in the season. Where wheat falls down 

 badly, it can, many times, be turned under and pota- 

 toes put in. 



Prof. W. J. Green replies as follows : 

 Mr. Rool : — Rega ding the comparative value of 

 wheat and rye for green manure, I can give you no 

 information. I have turned under rye a number of 

 times, but I have never practiced this method with 

 wheal, nor have I heard of any experiments along 

 this line. It is possible that the success in turning 

 under of wheat in your case is due to some other cir- 

 cumstances and conditions. It is well known that, in 

 turning under a green crop of manure, much depends 

 upon the weather soon after, as well as the condition 

 of soil and the quantity of straw turned under. If the 

 weather should prove to be very dry soon after the 

 plowing is done, it may happen, and often does hap- 

 pen, that a heavy crop of any kind turned under is 

 injurious to the soil for that season. This is for the 

 reason that the crop just turned under holds the soil 

 loosely, causing it to dry out much more than if the 

 crop had not been turned under. If, however, a heavy 

 rain comes soon after the plowing is done, so as to rot 

 the crop, then the larger the quantity of straw turned 

 under the better. I can not see that there can be very 

 much difference in value as a fertilizer between wheat 

 and rye; but rye is commonly used because it can be 

 grown later in the season than wheat, and, as a gener- 

 al thing, it produces more straw than wheat. I am of 

 the opinion that it is better to turn rye under before it 

 gets to its full height than to wait until it is nearly 

 ripe. This is because of the danger above stated of 

 dry weather occurring soon after the crop is plowed 

 under. Perhaps you know that it is now believed by 

 man}', that, where rye is turned under for potatoes, 

 there is likely to he no potato scab. It will be interest- 

 ing if you will note the effect of the wheat on the scab. 

 Wooster, O., Aug. 8. W. J. Green. 



STRAWBERRIES, CORN, AND BUCKWHEAT j» LL IN ONE 



SEASON. ■ 



Strawberries are blooming here finely. I have five 

 acres of fine berries. 1 gow my berries in half-mat- 

 ted rows. I set them out year beiore last, the first of 

 Apiil, and the first of June (last year) I planted corn 

 between them in the rozv, one stalk in a hill, and made 

 .50 bushels of corn to the acre. I laid it by the first of 

 August, and sowed it in buckwheat that grew waist 

 high to me, and I am a six-foot man. It is all right to 

 grow corn in strawberries if you let the latter get well 

 rooted before you plant the corn. I made 100 crates of 

 berries to the acre. S. M. Campbell. 



Mountainburg, Ark., Mar. 28. 



If I am correct, the above is quite practical, 

 probably, in many localities. The ground is 

 so well manured for the strawberry crop that 

 corn will grow without any trouble, even with- 

 out plowing up the ground. The corn is to be 

 cultivated, I take it, as usual ; then at the 

 proper time get your buckwheat in between 

 the rows of corn. Get off your corn vrithout 

 injury to the buckwheat, and 5'ou are all right 

 for the three crops in one season ; but I think 

 our good friend C. must make his ground pret- 

 t}' rich in getting his crop of strawberries. 



FLOWERS AROUND THE HOME. 



How I should enjoy a visit to that greenhouse ! I 

 am a great lover of flowers. I have had poor health 

 for years, and many times have worked in my kitchen 

 till i was so tired it didn't seem as if I could do any 

 more work ; but when I got to the sitting-room and 

 looked out at my lovely flowers I could not resi?t the 

 temptation. Out into the yard I would go, and goto 

 pulling weeds. The fres-h air and all the loveliness of 

 this beautiful world our heavenly Father has given us 



