1903 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



975 



is, I tried growing' potatoes two j'ears in 

 succession on the same ground. The bugs 

 were bad, and I was not there to look after 

 them, and the blight was bad. A near 

 neighbor who used the Bordeaux mixture 

 faithfully, mixing his Paris green with it, 

 escaped the blight, while mine went down 

 perhaps when they were half grown. My 

 Carmans and King of Michigan did the 

 best of an}' of them. A few Six Weeks po- 

 tatoes that were planted early in April 

 made a splendid yield of beautiful nice tu- 

 bers. They ripened up before the bugs 

 and blight got around. My main crop was 

 planted, contrary to friend Hilbert's advice, 

 about the middle of May. Mr. Hilbert's 

 great crop was planted about the middle of 

 June. Probably this made a great differ- 

 ence. 



The new kinds that I tested from the Ohio 

 Kxperiment Station all suffered more or 

 less. They were planted about the middle 

 of Maj'. Baker's Extra Early is a very 

 nice potato, but it looks so much like Six 

 Weeks I can hardly tell them apart. They 

 are both a variety of the Early Ohio — at 

 least I should call them so. They look very 

 much like the Early Ohio, and ripen about 

 the same time. Admiral Dewey was re- 

 ported in a potato number of the Practical 

 tanner b\' quite a number of persons as 

 being one of the very best early potatoes. It 

 very much resembles Carman No. 3. Early 

 Fortune gave a great 3-ield at the Experi- 

 ment Station, and a fair yield with us. It 

 verj' much resembles a long Early Ohio. 

 Earl}' Norwood is also a large yielder, with 

 not much tendency to blight; also after the 

 st3'le of the Early Ohio. Quick Crop is an- 

 other one that I could hardl}' tell from the 

 Early Ohio in color, shape, or time of rip- 

 ening. Northern Beauty much resembles 

 the Early Kose. It gave the largest yield 

 of an}' potato tested at our Experiment Sta- 

 tion. Hammond's Sensation, for which 

 much has been claimed, especially in re- 

 gard to being a handsome potato, gave a 

 very moderate yield, and did not compare 

 in looks with the Freeman or Carman No. 

 3; and, like most of the above earlies, it 

 seemed to be so nearly like the Early Ohio 

 that I could hardly tell one from the other. 

 It, however, resembles the long- Early Ohio 

 instead of the varietj' that is round like the 

 Triumph. 



In reg^ard to our old varieties. Red Bliss, 

 like Six Weeks, gives a very g-ood crop when 

 planted in the fore part of April. Early 

 Trumbull probably gave the best 3'ield of 

 any of the earlies when planted in the mid- 

 dle of May. Bovee gave a good yield, with 

 a qualitj' superior to the averag-e early po- 

 tato. New Queen gave a fine crop, even 

 though planted on the same ground that 

 bore a heavy crop the year before. Free- 

 man gave us a fair crop of extra-nice hand- 

 some potatoes as usual. Lee's Favorite gave 

 perhaps the best yield of all, and the qual- 

 ity is equal to any; but there are a good 

 many crooked and prongy potatoes, and the 

 deep eyes are an objection for table use. 



State of Maine, Carman No. 3, and King- of 

 Michigan all did well. 



After our potatoes were all dug ^ind ship- 

 ped back to Ohio we had some more hard 

 work in taking care of a crop of five acres 

 of Japanese tiuckwheat. I think I never 

 got so tired before in my life — that is, in 

 any kind of farmwork — as I did in tying up 

 that buckwheat. As I never learned the 

 trick of tying up bundles by making- a band 

 of the straw, I get along faster by using- 

 twine — the same kind we use for tying up 

 bags. Of course, the modern way is to 

 harvest buckwheat with appropriate ma- 

 chinery. We did not have the machinery, 

 and so we had to do it the old-fashioned 

 way; and the old-fashioned way gave health 

 and strength, and its attendant happiness 

 and contentment.* I very much fear that, 

 with our modern machinery, and our mod- 

 ern way of living-, we are going to lose the 

 health, strength, and enjoyment that our 

 forefathers had. In fact, I am told already 

 that employers in our great cities are 

 obliged to go back into the country con- 

 stantly to get boys and girls who amount to 

 any thing-. Those brought up in the cities 

 are " no g-ood." As for me, I do not know 

 but I shall all my life prefer the " cabin in 

 the woods," wiih its good old-fashioned 

 ways, with health, strength, and happiness 

 thrown in. 



OUR ADVERTISERS, 



HATCHING THE EARLY BIRD; A YEARLY IMPROVE- 

 MENT IN PRICE AND MARKET FOR EARLY SPRING 

 BROILERS. 



It is coniine to be more the case with each succeed- 

 ing year that the cream of poultry profit is obtained 

 by hatching, raising, and sending to maiket the chick- 

 ens that have come to be commercially known as 

 "broilers." This term includes, in a general way, 

 birdsthat weigh from 1 to 2;^ pounds at an age of from 

 two to four months. Of course, the highest prices are 

 obtained during the early part of the season, say from 

 March to May For this reason fully 90 per ct nt of 

 poultry men use the incubator exclusively, as it enables 



♦Perhaps I should mention right here that T. B. Ter- 

 ry has been giving us, through the Piaclual Farmer, 

 some good talks on the importance of outdoor air, 

 day and night; and he i.s cjming down strong on the 

 modern ways of heating — such as .steam and hot wa- 

 ter in place of open grates. Nothing can insure plen- 

 ty of outdoor air like the old-fashioned stove with its 

 big open fireplace or grate. Well, that cabin in the 

 wo ds is warmed with a drum stove that draws like a 

 little steam engine; and pure air comes through the 

 cr.icks in the floor. "We have not put in a tight floor, 

 because we are contempl;Uing a good house or a little 

 cottage, tight enough .so the n)ice can not gttin. Mrs. 

 Root can not stand a house where mice have access. 

 You may think our cabin a pretty cold p'ace to sleep 

 in during October nights but, wait a minute. That 

 drum stove will lake a log of wood two ftet long and 

 eleven inches in diameter. We cut dowti a tree and 

 saw it up in o lilocks bke the aVove. When they are 

 thoroughly s-easoned they are kept in a nice little 

 wood-honse. Or;e of these blocks holds fire all ni,ght, 

 and keeps the cabin quite comfortable, especially with 

 lots of woolen blankets. .So we have lieen living up 

 there in the woods very much a-; the patients do at the 

 modern sanitariums, w here they keep them outdoors, 

 practically, day and night, summer and winter. You 

 see I have beeii getting all this health and .--trength 

 and happiness by tiking God's medicine; and he has 

 prescribed it in answer to my repeated prayers of 

 many years. Blessed be his holy name! When su- 

 gar making time comes we expect to go back again 

 to the cabin in the woods. 



