OCTOBER 1, 1914 



785 



to ask is, how can I tell when they are fit to take up 

 or use? Does the top show any signs? 



Innerkip, Ont., Aug. 19. J. Alpauqh. 



My good friend, your dasheens are fit for 

 use at any time ; but in order to preserve 

 the old plant I would just dig down and 

 pull those young suckers. They are espe- 

 cially nice for a stew. Cook them as you 

 would oysters or mushrooms; then put in 

 some crackers, and we think you will fiid 

 them a very appetizing and nourishing dish. 

 Very likely they will not mature in Canada 

 —that is to say, the tubers will not keep over 

 winter ; but just before frost comes, or after 

 a light frost, dig them all up and use the 

 tubers for baking as you would bake a pota- 

 to. The stalks are good for a stew at any 

 stage of gi'owth. The tubers can also be 

 stewed with the stalks cut up in pieces, say 

 an inch long. You will soon learn how to 

 use them after you get a taste of them, I 

 think. 



SEED POTATOES FOR PLAKTING IN OCTOBER 



AND NOVEMBER DOWN IN FLORIDA AND 



OTHER SOUTHERN CLIMES. 



Our friends will remember that almost 

 every fall we have trouble in getting seed 

 potatoes to plant in our Florida home. F. 

 W. Gibbons & Co., of Boston, have for 

 years made a business of keeping potatoes 

 in cold storage, to be shipped south for fall 

 planting. Just now we have a postal card 

 from a good friend in their employ. As it 

 may be of some benefit to our Southern 

 readers, we submit it below : 



Friend Root : — Just a line as the thought comes 

 to me. The old crop of potatoes, as you know, 

 closed out at extremely high prices — 3 cts. per lb., 

 so that there are none for Florida planting. Take 

 your new crop. Lay the tubers on burlap or bagging 

 in the kiln where you dry lumber by artificial heat, 

 and keep them there two weeks. This will hasten 

 germination ; also expose them to heat under the 

 greenhouse benches. E. E. Haerington. 



Boston, Sept. 19. 



Last winter, when we were selling our 

 Red Triumph potatoes, there were quite a 

 few that were hardly large enough for mar- 

 ket — say a little smaller than a hen's egg. 

 These we spread out on a cement floor in 

 our wood-shed. This floor was partly un- 

 derground and moderately dai'k. I think 

 we must have spread out a barrel of them, 

 and they seem to have kept all right. When 

 they were beginning to sprout Wesley 

 planted some in September, and will plant 

 more of them this month. If we can keep 

 over our potatoes for seed in this way it is 

 going to be quite an item. I have before 

 mentioned quite a number of our Florida 

 neighbors who kept potatoes (spread out 

 on barn floor) over, say, from March or 

 April until October and November. Of 



course the potatoes shriveled up, and the 

 sprouts are short and stubby; but 1 believe 

 it is generally agreed that this sort of seed 

 is the very best. If they are put out in the 

 sun or in a good strong light just before 

 planting the sunlight kills the scab almost 

 if not quite as effectually as the formalin 

 and corrosive-sublimate solutions. I will re- 

 port further how these kept-over potatoes 

 turn out. 



SQUASH-BUGS, ETC. 



Mr. Root : — I have just finished reading Glean- 

 ings; and in your article on gardening, squash-bugs 

 are mentioned. I have tried a remedy for the bugs 

 which I have never seen in print; and as it proved 

 entirely successful in my case I will send it to you. 



Make a thin batter of fresh cow manure and 

 water, and apply with a whisk broom to the vines. 

 The bugs will immediately decamp. It does not add 

 to the beauty of the verdure for a while ; but later, 

 when they outgrow their covering, they seem to have 

 been fertilized by the application. I have tried it on 

 muskmelon-vines only, first in Wisconsin, and yes- 

 terday on vines in my garden here. 



" HONEY TEA " FOB INDIGESTION. 



While writing to you I will mention another 

 " cure " which I call honey tea. A couple of table- 

 spoonfuls of honey to a pint of water, boiled together 

 for fifteen minutes, removing the scum as fast as it 

 rises. Half or all of it, if desired, is drunk hot, one 

 half to one hour before breakfast, and it can also be 

 drunk cold any time during the day, when thirsty. 

 It relieved me entirely of indigestion and constipa- 

 tion, which had troubled me for many years. 



Westgate, Cal., Aug. 12. Allen Jenkins. 



Thanks for your suggestion, my good 

 friend. Your remedy for squash-bugs is 

 the same as given Sept. 1, p. 626, last year. 

 There is another good thing about it — an 

 overdose would not harm your plants, as is 

 the case with diiferent kinds of poison; in 

 fact, the more lavish you are with the prep- 

 aration the better it will be for the vines. 



TWO CROPS PROM THE SAME GROUND AT ONE 

 AND THE SAME TIME. 



For some time back I have been feeling 

 happy to see the pictures on the outside 

 cover of our great agricultural periodicals. 

 I should gi'eatly enjoy reading all these 

 periodicals all the way through; but there 

 are now so many of them that about all I 

 can do with them is to look at the pictures, 

 especially the pictures on the outside cover. 

 Well, the Iowa Agriculturist gives us a 

 cover picture in the August issue that de- 

 serves more than - passing comment. It 

 shows, first, a beautiful cornfield, many 

 acres in extent, of rank, thrifty, beautiful 

 corn which, at the time the picture was 

 taken, was waist high; and right in among 

 the corn is shown a large group of beauti- 

 ful young girls and women. I do not sup- 

 pose these bright young women (all happy- 

 looking) (jrew all their lives in that corn, 

 but they are certainly an Iowa product. 



