260 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Apr. 15 



pings for two or three years past have had 

 much to d© with it; and right where these 

 trees stand is where Wesley has sown oats, 

 raking them in for the chickens to scratch 

 out, until the ground is in the highest state 

 of tilth. 



In our May 15th issue for last year I wrote 

 up the Northey blackberry at considerable 

 length. At that time the vine or mound of 

 vines had never failed to give a crop; but 

 this spring, on account of the severe drouth 

 we have had, the croi^ on my neighbor's 

 vines is pretty nearly a failure. Our own, 

 on plants set out right in fruiting time last 

 May, are very much better;* and our neigh- 

 bor Raub, who carried water for his plants, 

 has great luscious berries, and much earli- 

 er than those I have mentioned. His also 

 had the poultry manure, for he too, as you 

 remember, is a "chicken man." This se- 

 vere drouth has enabled us to demonstrate 

 most conclusively that watering pays on al- 

 most every thing. 



As it is a big task to pump and carry wa- 

 ter by hand, we have been discussing either 

 a windmill or a little pumping-engine. The 

 windmill saves the expense of gasoline, it is 

 true; but when you consider that you must 

 have a tank to hold water when the wind 

 doesn't blow, it is a question which is better 

 and cheaper. Another thing, the windmill 

 must be out in the weather the year round, 

 and take its chances, while a very small 

 engine which would supply our moderate 

 wants could be easily taken in and housed 

 during our absence in the sumraer, and it 

 could also be inside out of the way when 

 there is plenty of rain so its services are not 

 needed. As water is so near the surface all 

 over our premises, it is an easy matter to 

 sink a well where water happens to be need- 

 ed, and to move the little engine over to it. 

 This would be very much cheaper than go- 

 ing to the expense of iron pipes to carry the 

 water where wanted, even where one has an 

 artesian well. I am speakine now of the 

 wants of old people like Mrs. Root and my- 

 self, and not considering the truck-garden- 

 er who wants water in great quantities for 

 his immense crops. 



CHUFAS, OR EARTH-ALMONDS. 



As you may remember, I gave the above 

 quite a write-up in our Dec. 15th issue; and 

 this write-up, or something else, has sent 

 the price away up. A letter from The Cren- 

 shaw Seed Co., Tampa, just at hand, reads 

 as follows: " There are no chufas to be had 

 that we know of in the country, and the 

 last we sold we got $2.00 per peck for." You 

 may remember their seed catalog claims 

 that ordinary Florida soils will give 50 to 100 

 bushels to the acre with very little cultiva- 



* We have used some of the Northe.v berries for 

 making sauce, before they were dead ripe : and 

 Mrs. Root, who, you know, is not given to extrava- 

 gant statements (like myself), says she really be- 

 lieves they make the finest sauce of any berry, or 

 fruit of 4ny kind, that she ever came across before. 

 Just think of it — setting out a few roots while the 

 fruit is in full bearing, and gathering a crop from 

 these same plants set out, in less than one year! 

 We hope to give- you a picture of our "blackberry- 

 patch " very soon. 



tion. My experience would indicate that 

 you might get something like the above 

 with good ground well fertilized; but the 

 biggest job is to harvest the crop. What 

 do you think it would cost to harvest a crop 

 of potatoes if they were only about as large 

 as white kidney beans? I grew chufas when 

 a boy, more than sixty years ago, and they 

 have been advertised more or less ever since 

 by different seedsmen. All the seed I have 

 to spare is promised, but I think you will 

 find them offered in the seed catalogs. They 

 will grow all the way from Maine to Flori- 

 da, and I have been told that in some 

 places they get to be a bad weed. 



In closing I might mention that egg- 

 plant has been sold as high as $10.00 a bas- 

 ket, during the past winter, in New York; 

 and neighbor Rood also informs me that it 

 is no unusual thing to get as many as 1000 

 baskets from an acre of ground. Now, mind 

 you, I have not said that anybody ever got 

 $10,000 from a single acre of egg-plants, yet 

 my first statements are probably true. 



I think this may be a good stopping- 

 place for my talk on " high-pressure gar- 

 dening in Florida." 



SWEET CLOVER IN KENTUCKY, ETC. 



Please note that the writer of the follow- 

 ing, which we clip from the Ohio Farmer, 

 is not a bee-keeper, and does not even men- 

 tion sweet clover as a honey-plant: 



Most of the writers to your valuable paper reside 

 in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York — too far 

 north to be of much practical value to us here 

 south of the Ohio River, the most valuable being 

 articles on alfalfa. While alfalfa is well adapted to 

 our soil, is easily started, and, under nearly every 

 circumstance, does well, yet It Is to Its twin broth- 

 er, sweet clover, that I desire to call the attention 

 of your readers. This is a biennial that will grow 

 in any kind of soil, no matter how poor, washed, or 

 stony. Where there Is enough soil to sprout the 

 seed it will flourish. 



This clover has come to be considered of great 

 importance by the farmers of Robinson, Pendleton, 

 and Bracken counties, Ky. Here we raise sheep, 

 cattle, corn, and tobacco; and around this part of 

 Pendleton Co. we do a great deal of dairying. In all 

 of which sweet clover plays an Important part. We 

 have bluegrass, alfalfa, red clover, and timothy; 

 yet we have more acres In sweet clover than all the 

 other grasses put together. It Is fine pasture, ei- 

 ther alone or mixed with other grasses — bluegrass 

 often growing spontaneously along with It. It Is 

 among the earliest grass In the spring, and lasts 

 until killed by the frost In the fall. In the spring, 

 young lambs will get rolling fat where permitted to 

 run upon It. Horses and mules become as slick as 

 moles when they run upon It. No grass is superior 

 to It for milk production. 



When It is sown In washes It soon levels up the 

 ground. I have seen washes on a hillside, that a 

 horse could not cross, fill up and plowed over In 

 four years. It often piles upon the ground In great 

 heaps, the finest of fertilizer. The roots grow to be 

 large, and are covered with nitrogen nodules which 

 in a few years make the poorest soils yield a boun- 

 teous crop. For hay It Is second to none, yielding 

 several cuttings a year of hay on which horses will 

 do as much work as on good timothy. 



It seems to be as well adapted to wet sandy soils 

 as to our clay hills, growing upon land where alfal- 

 fa runs out. Its roots, which rot every second year, 

 form rich humus, thus distributing the fertility 

 evenly through the ground. A. E. Howe. 



How does the above look to the crowd 

 that, only a short time ago, were trying to 

 make out that sweet clover is a "noxious 

 weed "? 



