560 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Junk 15 



enough so one could stand up and push a 

 wheelbarrow, and then turned a corner un- 

 der the barn, so that it would be dark and 

 cool, even if the outside door is wide open. 

 I stored in this cellar under the barn twen- 

 ty bushels of potatoes, of different varieties, 

 and the most of them in potato-boxes; and 

 as I was afraid of its freezings, the boxes 

 were set in on the ground i3oor, one tier 

 deep. Old boards were laid on top of the 

 boxes, and then a layer of corn- fodder, care- 

 fully removing" every nubbin of corn so that 

 we might not bait rats and mice. On the 

 corn-fodder we placed two or three inches 

 of dry dirt; then a lot of bean straw, per- 

 haps six inches deep; over this a large 

 sheet of enamel cloth which we used to 

 spread over piles of potatoes in the field. 



I took all this precaution because the 

 barn is a rather open structure. I put on 

 the bean straw because I did not want my 

 enamel cloth to lie on the ground, for fear 

 it might injure it. The potatoes wintered 

 beautifully. When opened up during the 

 last of May they were just as dry, and the 

 late varieties were almost as free from 

 sprouting, as when they were placed there 

 in November. The extra-early varieties had 

 pushed out sprouts, especially those around 

 the outside edges. For table use, June 1, 

 they were just perfect; and as I did not 

 plant all of them, the five or six bushels 

 still there will, I think, keep till the first of 

 July in the same way. This plan is bet- 

 ter than burying them outdoors, because 

 the barn shades them, and keeps all water 

 off. The year before, we had some buried 

 outdoors; but they got to sprouting quite 

 badly by the last of April. I am satisfied 

 that, where potatoes are buried outdoors, 

 they will keep ever so much better if pro- 

 tected by some kind of cheap roof so heavy 

 rains can not soak down to the potatoes. 



At the present writing (June 13) we find 

 it here a very hard matter to keep potatoes 

 in good order for table use. My impression 

 is, it is next to impossible to have potatoes 

 keep here as they do in Northern Michigan. 

 I do not know exactly why, either; but if 

 this is true, potatoes had better be wintered 

 over in the northern regions, and kept there 

 until they are wanted, and then shipped to 

 our large cities, say in Maj^ June, and 

 July. Why, just look at it. As we go to 

 press, old potatoes are quoted in the Cleve- 

 land market at 90 to 95 cents per bushel; 

 new potatoes, SI. 50 to Si. 75. Nice old po- 

 tatoes may go still higher before new ones 

 get low enough to let them start the other 

 wa3^ Of course, the recent floods in the 

 South have had much to do with cutting off 

 the usual shipments of early potatoes for 

 the Northern cities; and this accounts for 

 the shortage and high prices on both old 

 and new potatoes. Well, now, if a grocer 

 had a few barrels of old potatoes like those 

 I have described, wintered in Northern 

 Michigan, to set outdoors on the sidewalk 

 by the side of the new potatoes that he is 

 obliged to charge 50 or 60 cents a peck for, 

 I think the average buyer would take the 



nice firm old unsprouted potatoes, even if 

 the price were the same. Why, there is 

 here a tremendous margin and a tremen- 

 dous profit. 



I suppose cold storage would be a great 

 help in keeping old potatoes in nice order. 

 I have been watching the market for years 

 past, just at the time when new potatoes 

 and old were beginning to compete with 

 each other; and I am sure there is a good 

 chance right here, not only to make money, 

 but to furnish the world with a good whole- 

 some quality of this great staple food prod- 

 uct. If you take notice, new potatoes are 

 held at a dollar a bushel or more for quite 

 a long while after they first make their ap- 

 pearance in the market. At S2.00 a bushel 

 I could almost grow potatoes profitably, 

 started under glass. But keeping old po- 

 tatoes in a good state of preservation along 

 the lines I have mentioned will be much 

 easier than growing new ones extra early. 



AN AUTOMOBILE TRIP THROUGH MICHIGAN. 



Michigan is a big State, and there are 

 lots of good people in it. I judge so from 

 the fact that over 800 of 'them are taking 

 Gleanings. I was about to say they were 

 reading Home Papers, but that may not be 

 true. While I have greatly enjoyed the 

 glimpses of the great State while riding 

 through on the cars, I have for several 

 years considered the matter of taking a trip 

 with a horse and buggy, all the way from 

 Medina to the cabin in the woods. But no 

 horse could hold out the way I want it to 

 do; for when I get reallj' started I want to 

 be up about four in the morning — that is, 

 when the da3's are long enough, and travel 

 until seven or eight at night; and when it is 

 moonlight, perhaps do some traveling in 

 the evening. The horse would need rest; 

 but the automobile, with plenty of gasoline 

 knows no fatigue. Perhaps I am mistaken 

 about this; and if so, my visit with you may 

 be a little longer. But I was planning to 

 visit a great many homes in the course of a 

 day, stopping, say, fifteen or twenty minutes 

 and get a glimpse of your home and its en- 

 vironments. If you have any beautiful 

 springs near by, flowing wells, or, say, 

 " happy surprises " in the way of high- 

 pressure gardening, I may decide to stop 

 an hour or two. Just now I am reminded 

 that, years ago, I decided I would be very 

 careful about telling what I am going to do, 

 because so many times the thing I had 

 planned did not come to pass. Well, the 

 only reason I mention the matter now is 

 that you who are located somewhere near 

 the line between Toledo and Traverse City 

 might, if you feel like it, say on a postal 

 card that j^ou would be glad to see the ed- 

 itor of the Home Papers. Now, I can not 

 promise to call on alloi you; but I will try 

 to look in on as many as possible. I may 

 go one way one trip and back again on a 

 different route. Will Mrs. Root go? No. 

 She says she knows by experience that she 

 never could stand flying about from one 



