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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 15. 



planting corn and other seeds as well. Of 

 course, the horse planters are the thing for 

 large areas. Friend Hilbert says the Robbins 

 planter is not so much quicker, but it is a good 

 deal easier for the tired farmer, or somebody 

 who is not very strong, to sit on the seat and 

 drive a team than to carry a load of potatoes 

 and carry a planter. Now, I expect to plant 

 at least a part of that 40 acres (it may be 

 a very small part) with a chain marker and a 

 hand planter. 



Perhaps I had better head it " High-pressure 

 Fruit-growing." Ever since my directions in 

 the tomato-book have gone out about " How 

 to S ipport a Family on One-fourth of an 

 Acre," there have been calls for facts to sup- 

 port my claim. A few days ago Mrs. Root 

 showed me a peck of beautiful prunes, as 

 handsome as those that come from Oregon 

 and California. When she said they grew in 

 Mddina I said she must be mistaken, and I 

 was afraid the man who sold them did not tell 

 the truth. As he happens to be our iceman 

 she told him about it, and he invited me to go 

 down and see his fruit-garden. It belongs to 

 Mr. J. A Fretter, who lives in the outskirts of 

 the town. On a piece of ground just 40 by 

 100 feet, or nearly a tenth of an acre, he 

 planted, eleven years ago, 24 plum-trees. 

 They were purchased from J. Austin Shaw, 

 Rochester, N. Y. The trees were planted 12 

 by 14 feet. The varieties are as follows : Two 

 Moore's Arctic ; two Guii ; one each of Beauty 

 of Naples and Prunus Simoni ; two each of 

 Imperial gage and Lombard ; six Bunker 

 Hill; four German prunes ; one Hungarian 

 prune. The Hungarian prune is perhaps the 

 finest and largest of all. They are so sweet 

 that no sugar is needed, and they are certainly 

 as luscious as any peach. Two years from the 

 time of setting the trees he began to have 

 plums and prunes ; and he has had more or 

 less of a crop every year for nine years. He 

 sprays three times every season with Bordeaux 

 mixture and Paris green. He does no bumping. 

 The plum orchard is surrounded by poultry net- 

 ting, and he winters about 24 laying hens in 

 this inclosure, and every season he raises from 

 100 to 150 chickens. These chickens are con- 

 fined under the plum-trees. The ground is 

 kept worked over soft and mellow from early 

 in the spring until near fruiting-time. Now 

 for the result : 



He has, during the past season, sold about 

 50 bushels, or an average of about two bushels 

 to the tree, as you will notice^ — some more and 

 some less. Well, some of the finest brought 

 $2 00 a bushel, the average price being 11.75, 

 making $87.50 from the tenth of an acre, or at 

 the rate of $875.00 from a whole acre. I do 

 not know what he received for the eggs and 

 chickens, but certainly enough to pay for the 

 care of the plum-trees. I asked him if there 



was any reason why he could not manage a 

 whole acre so as to get as good results as he 

 did from the tenth of an acre, and he said he 

 thought there was no reason in the world. 



Now, friends, what is there to hinder every 

 one of you from doing likewise with any little 

 spot of ground in your dooryard ? In connec- 

 tion with this you want to read Terry's re- 

 marks in regard to owning some ground, see 

 p. 819. While 1 am about it, let me mention 

 a plum orchard I saw in the Traverse region. 

 It belongs to A. S. Dobson, of Traverse City, 

 Mich. Mr. D lives about 4)^ miles from the 

 city ; but after going over the hills to his 

 place on a hot day I should call it a good ten 

 miles. Some of the hills, he tells me, are 700 

 feet high. Well, right on these hills he has a 

 pretty little home. I think he has only ten 

 acres of land, or a little more. The greater 

 part of it is put out to plum-trees ; and there 

 are certainly no handsomer trees in California, 

 Oregon, or anywhere else. From the ten 

 acres, if I remember correctly, he has sold 

 something like $1000 worth of plums. One 

 block of trees, occupying only a small part of 

 an acre, gave a crop that sold at the rate of 

 $160 per acre. 



One fact that comes out strongly with all 

 these successful stories of fruit-growing is that 

 clean cultivation between the trees until the 

 fruit is nearly mature is the principal point in 

 success. Where stable manure was applied, 

 at least in large quantities, it had the effect of 

 making the trees make too strong a growth 

 late in the sea.son, and rendered them more 

 liable to winter-kill. I believe all agree that 

 spraying is important, and I had supposed 

 there was no success without bumping to get 

 rid of the curculio ; but Mr. Fretter has done 

 no bumping at all. The hundred or more 

 young chickens kept among the trees all the 

 time seem to have had the effect of keeping off 

 the curculio. I am greatly pleased to know 

 that the German and Hungarian prunes can 

 be grown both in Michigan and Ohio, and 

 probably almost everywhere. Mrs. Root pre- 

 fers them to the finest peaches ; and they will 

 keep longer, so far as I know, than any other 

 fruit known. We have had them shipped in 

 from Oregon, and have kept them two weeks 

 after that, without spoiling. They seem to 

 have a tendency to dry and shrivel up before 

 they show any symptoms of rot. The Hun- 

 garian prune especially is a most beautiful and 

 luscious fruit. 



LIKE PRODUCES LIKE. 



When the greater part of our Carman No. 3 

 potatoes had the vines all dead and dried 

 down I noticed two rows at the side of the 

 patch, green, rank, and luxuriant. These two 

 rows stood out sharp, distinct, and clear from 

 the rest of the patch, and I thought they 

 must be a different variety ; but when Frank 

 said they were Carman No. 3, like the rest, I 

 replied : 



" Why, what in the world should make just 

 two rows so green and thrifty, while all the 

 rest, with only a hill here and there, are all 

 dead and dried up ? " 



