1903 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



349 



nary trees, ready to set out, of the latest 

 and best sorts, run from 30 to 40 cents. Let 

 us now change the subject a little, if you 

 please. 



My friend, did you ever see a time when 

 it was worth a dollar to be permitted to 

 look at some beautiful sight for just a quar- 

 ter of a second f I remember one such ex- 

 perience. On mj'^ return from Cuba I got 

 on an electric car at Cleveland to go home. 

 It was just about sundown, on Saturday 

 night, and I was ver}^ anxious to get home 

 that night. Out in the west part of Cleve- 

 land there is a sort of market right along- 

 side the street-car line. This market seems 

 to be in full blast Saturday evening — at 

 least it was that evening. Of course, I 

 was looking for fruits and vegetables on 

 sale about the first of March. The car was 

 running swiftly ; but all at once my eye 

 caught a glimpse of something on the broad 

 sidewalk that almost made me shout in 

 admiration. I do not think my eye rested 

 on it more than a quarter of a second, but 

 it thrilled every fiber of my being. Shall I 

 tell you what I saw ? First there was a 

 group of azaleas — perhaps a dozen. They 

 were in five or six inch pots, and set in 

 squares, say 3X4, may be a foot apart. 

 There was just room enough between the 

 plants so the spherical mass of bloom that 

 covered each pot did not quite touch its 

 neighbor. There were different colors, all 

 looking their very best. Next was a simi- 

 lar show of cinerarias. By the way, there 

 is a startling brilliancy in a pot of cinera- 

 rias that wakes up a love for flowers as 

 almost nothing else can do. Last, there 

 was a similar show of primulas, every 

 plant a perfect mass of bloom, and all three 

 — azaleas, cinerarias, and primulas — were 

 all shades of color. I should gufss that 

 such azaleas might bring from 75 cents to 

 Si. 00 each ; cinerarias perhaps from 30 to 

 40 cents each ; primulas from 15 to 20. 

 There was a crowd on the street looking at 

 them ; and it was a wonder to me that every 

 man, woman, and child did not grab for 

 one of those beautiful plants and lug one 

 home to beautify their own domicil. I did 

 not say it out loud, but I kept thinking to 

 myself, "Oh, I want a beautiful little up- 

 to-date greenhouse, and I want to grow 

 such plants as those. I would rather do it 

 than any thing else in the world." But 

 Mrs. Root would tell me, and mj' own con- 

 science would tell me, that it would require 

 days and perhaps nights of careful watch- 

 ing and attention to make a real success of 

 such things; and I rather think just now 

 at this time of life God calls me elsewhere. 

 But I am glad, dear reader, that it is my 

 privilege to give you this glimpse of the 

 possibilities that lie in the way of support- 

 ing a family on a quarter of an acre, or, if 

 you choose, ftit^fi pressure-garde?ting. 



THE STATE OF MAINE AS A HEALTH RESORT ; 

 FREAKS OF ONIONS. 



Mr. A. I. Root:— I am about your age; and as we 

 jewelers say, " Borax Brothers." I carried on business 



.^s a manufacturing jeweler at Of) Fifth Av.. New York, 

 for some 25 years. 1 have lived here .some lo years and 

 can say I like Maine almost as well as you .-eem to the 

 cabin in the woods. Yes, I read Gleanings (after I 

 read your intere.-tins talks and exptrien' esi. I have 

 ju.st finished your manly expose oi the Giant Gibraltar 

 onion. I had some experience a few vears ago with 

 onions. I had sent rie a barrel of onions from New 

 York for home consumption. Thev were nice, but 

 medium in size. Not need ng so inany for use we 

 planted part of them; and such a crop oneseldom sees. 

 They grew larger than the omon planted, and from 4 

 to 10 to each onion phinted, all in a cluster. I saved a 

 good supply of these and planted them the following 

 year, thinking to get a fine crop. Well, I had all 

 'scullions" as you call them. Bei^g interested and 

 also disappointed at such doings of Dame Nature I 

 proceeded to investigate. I found the original onions 

 sent me came from Egypt, and were evidently grown 

 direct f^om seed. This seems to be an oni n trait (such 

 as produce cluster onions). You first plant the .'•eed, 

 and then, planting //lese onions, they produce the clus- 

 ters and your large crop. Planting the onions from 

 the clusters only, produces the big-neck t^op rseed), 

 and no bottom. An old Maine farmer told me this had 

 always been his experience. 



You are correct about county fairs. I always visited 

 all the fairs about New York, solely to see the ma- 

 chinery, etc. I often get an invoice of tools, good.s, etc. 

 as the storekeepers here charge the Dutchman's "one 

 percent." I approve of fewer small dealers, larger 

 sales, and not such exorbitant prices by the retailer. 

 I sell such potato-hoes as you tell about (and not known 

 here, as you have told), for 40c each. You say .55 cts. 



We have five orchards on our farms here. The one 

 on our home farm yielded .several thousand bushels 

 of apples this year. The fruit was the finest, and of 

 many choice varieties; but for all that we made no 

 sales -no home market, and barrels to ship such a 

 crop are oi t of the question, with freight added. The 

 situation may improve in the ntar future. We feed 

 about half a barrel of apples to our poultry daily, and 

 they can eat a nice Seek No Further, Northern Spy, 

 M ine Baldwin Fatnonse, etc., .-such as I see on sale in 

 New York at 2, 3 and 4 cents each. 



North Hancock, Maine. I,, p. Austin. 



Friend A., the onions you mention were, 

 without question, the York State potato on- 

 ions. Our five-cent onion pamphlet, now 

 in press, describes this onion fully; but I 

 am puzzled to hear you tell about its going 

 to seed. The potato onions we have worked 

 with never sent up seed-stalks at all. I be- 

 lieve, however, an onion we call shallots 

 sends up a seed-stalk bearing black seeds. 

 If these are planted they produce onions 

 that multiply like multipliers of potato on- 

 ions. Now, we did not try growing them 

 from the seed; but our shallots, after three 

 years, got so they sent up seed-stalks, and 

 were no good. Your hint might help us 

 out in the matter. By the way, the freaks 

 and queer things about the onion-plant 

 would fill a book. I have thought several 

 times about writing it up, but I concluded 

 to wait until I knew a little more; but the 

 more I look into the matter and talk with 

 others, the more I am impressed with the 

 fact that there is a great deal yet that no- 

 body knows — I mean about this matter of 

 sporting, and exhibiting new traits and 

 peculiarities. 



If you can sell a potato-hook with taper- 

 ing tempered tines for 40 cents you ought to 

 do a big business among potato-growers, I 

 should think. 



In regard to the apples, is it not possible 

 you are so situated you could barrel them 

 up and send them to the large cities, where 

 they bring two or three cents each? Thanks 

 for your suggestions. 



