1900 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



409 



seng culture, Morris C. Kains, who has fur- 

 nished bulletins for *he United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, gives us a short talk on 

 the subject in the Mayflozver for May. We 

 copy it below : 



SHADING MIDSU<tIMER LETTUCE. 



In this climate it is seldom that the gardener can 

 raise lettuce during the summer months without the 

 development of a marked bitter flavor, and without 

 great risk of loss from the plants going to seed. The 

 cos varieties are less liable to these faults, and it is, 

 therefore, somewhat singular that they have not come 

 into more general u.se, particularly since they are nat- 

 urally of finer flavor and texture. It has been found, 

 however, that growing the plants under lath screens 

 during the hot months has a :narked influence for 

 good upon flavor and texture. Grown in this way, the 

 ordinary good market varieties compare very favor- 

 ably with the crops raised at more congenial seasons. 



The best screens are made of laths nailed at their 

 ends to single strips, and made firm by weaving a lath 

 across the middle. Spaces an inch or so wide are left 

 between the laths so as not to exclude the sun's rays 

 wholly. These screens, which are made in four-foot 

 sections, are placed upon posts over the beds as soon 

 as the seed is sown, and, if exposed to the action of 

 severe winds, are tied or wired down. In even the 

 most unfavorable seasons the seed will germinate far 

 better than in the open ground, and superior lettuce 

 can be grown under them when the plants unshaded 

 will be a total failure. The same remarks may be 

 made as to the cultivation of spinach and Swiss chard. 



SCABBY POTATOES — HOW SHALL WE GET RID 

 OF THEM ? 

 In view of the fact that scab may knock off 

 half the value of a crop of potatoes, it is ex- 

 ceedingly important that we know how best 

 to avoid it. Treating the seed with corrosive 

 sublimate is a perfect cure so far as my expe- 

 rience goes — that is, with the seed. Formalin 

 may answer as well, but it has not with us ; 

 but we have tried it only once — last season. 

 My impression is, that scabby potatoes are just 

 as good to plant as any if treated with corro- 

 sive sublimate ; but if your ground has pro- 

 duced scabby potatoes in former years, you are 

 likely to have them so again, no matter what 

 seed you use, unless you use some precaution. 

 At the present writing, plowing under green 

 crops, especially rye, is the best remedy I 

 know of. From a recent number of the Rural 

 New-Yorker I extract the following : 



THE SCAB ON POTATOES ; CURIOUS AND CONFLICTING 

 RESULTS ; WAS IT THE LIME? 



Two pieces of ground were planted with potatoes 

 last season, both of which had been previously used 

 for growing onions. One of these pieces had been 

 somewhat heavily manured with stable manure an- 

 nually for the last five years, growing a crop of onions 

 every year. The other had grown two crops of onions, 

 and, previous to the first crop, had grown a crop of 

 cabbage, at which time a light dressing of stable 

 manure was applied, and also a coat of lime. The 

 two crops of onions following this crop of cabbage 

 had been grown by the aid of fertilizers alone. Last 

 spring those two pieces were planted with the same 

 variety of potatoes. New Queen, from Aroostook 

 County, Me. The soil was perfectly free from scab, 

 but at digging time the discovery was soon made that 

 on the piece manured with stable manure for five 

 consecutive years the tubers had no trace of scab 

 while the other piece, with only one light dressing in 

 that time, had scarcely a bushel of good potatoes, free 

 from scab, in the whole field. The seed and .soil were 

 the same in both cases ; in fact, there was only a 

 12-foot driveway between the two fields. How are we 

 to account for the great diff'erence in results, if, as 

 generally supposed, stable manure is such a great pro- 

 moter of scab ? I present the facts as they are. in the 

 hope that abler minds than mine may solve the prob- 

 lem. I will only add that the manure used was the 

 same in both cases having been got from the same 

 source. My own conviction is, however, that the 



dressing of lime applied in the rotation had probably 

 neutralized the acid conditions of .soil to such an ex- 

 tent that the development of such germs became a 

 possibility ; for it appears to be an established fact, in 

 the minds of those best informed on such matters, 

 that an acid condition of soil is fatal to the scab germs. 



A GREEN CROP HELPS. 



I have in a .small way experimented with green 

 cr ps plowed under while still green, and, as far as I 

 have gone, it seems highly encouraging, inasmuch as 

 the litmus test shows decided acid conditions. We 

 think a crop of 300 bushels, once ia two years, more 

 profitable than half that quantity every year. The 

 area of available soil being somewhat limited, we sow 

 a potato-field with rye as soon as the crop is removed, 

 say during the month of August. The following 

 spring, the latter part of May, after planting is done, 

 this crop is turned under and cow peas sown, two bush- 

 els per acre, with sufficient fertilizer applied to growr 

 a crop of potatoes. The variety of cow peas sown is 

 the Wonderful. I have wondered why it is that the 

 people at Hope Farm prefer the Black, when the 

 Wonderful makes so much more growth to turn 

 under. Just before the frost cuts the vines, the whole 

 crop is turned under with an Oliver Chilled No. 70, 

 and a rolling coulter and chain. Rye is sown at this 

 time, and turned under the following spring for pota- 

 toes. As I have already stated, the experiment, as far 

 as I have gone, promises to be highly successful in 

 more respects than one. An immense supply of hu- 

 mus being formed in the soil that last season, enabled 

 us to harvest a fine crop without a soaking rain from 

 start to finish. Another season I shall be able to 

 speak more positively regarding the matter. The sul- 

 phur cure has been a disappointment with me. 



M. Garrahan. 



The above indicates that stable manure is 

 not necessarily productive of scab, provided 

 plenty of green rye is plowed under ; and it 

 indicates, too, that lime is almost sure to en- 

 courage the production of scab. From what 

 experience I have had I am inclined to think 

 that ashes act very much as lime does. Our 

 wood-working rooms now furnish almost fuel 

 enough to run our boilers. The result is, we 

 have toward a ton a month of wood ashes to 

 be applied to fifteen or twenty acres. I am 

 afraid to use them all, even if applied to clo- 

 ver, to be followed by potatoes. 



Can anybody who sees this tell us more 

 about it — that is, whether ashes applied to clo- 

 ver would produce scabby potatoes ? Perhaps 

 if we plow under as much rye as Mr. Garrahan 

 does it might be all right. 



CIGARETTES AND THE WEATHER BUREAU. 



You may be sure that I said right out loud, 

 " May God be praised ! " when I found the 

 following in our Cleveland daily a few days 

 ago: 



MUST NOT SMOKE CIGARETTES. 



AN ORDER TO MEN IN THE U. S. WEATHER SERVICE. 



AN ORDER ISSUED BY THE CHIEF WHICH, HE SAYS, 

 MUST BE OBEYED. 



Washington, March 25. — A death-blow was given 

 cigarette-smoking in the weather service Saturday 

 when Chief Willis L. Moore issued an order prohibit- 

 ing persons connected with the service from smoking 

 cigarettes during oflfice hours, and stating, further, 

 that those who smoked cigarettes at any time would 

 be mentioned in the confidential reports, which are 

 made quarterly to him by chiefs of the several offices 

 and divisions throughout the entire service. 



The order is plainly worded, and the chief evidently 

 means that it shall be obeyed. 



Chief Moore said to day : " The order was issued aft- 

 er careful consideration and a thorough investigation 

 of the evils resulting from cigarette-smoking. In this 

 service we are compelled to maintain a verj^ strict dis- 

 cipline in order to secure satisfactory service. Some 



