1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1035 



tbat your views are much more in keeping with their 

 surrounding's when they are tiled away wh re the bats 

 and owls abide than those that you want to put there. 

 However, it is a free country, and you are privileyred 

 to think as you like. Yours truly, 



Medina, Ohio, July 6, 1907. Jesse Hill. 



In oi'der that our readers may get a 

 glimpse of some of the encouraging words 1 

 get all along life's pathway I give one of 

 them below: 



Dear Mr. Uoot;—l have wanted to write to you for a 

 long time: and after reading the last two Gleanings 

 I can keep still no longer. I refer to those two letters 

 about your writings in your journal. I have this to 

 say: If your writings stop, my subscription expires 

 right then. I always turn to your writings first, and 

 devour every word; and the good you have done me 

 alone you will never know. It will certainly add one 

 star to your crown. All you write just suits me about 

 religion, health, babies, chickens, and all. I should 

 be afraid to say how much benefit you have been to 

 me; and your prayer, " Lord, help," has become mine 

 also. I have often wished I could see you, but I know 

 I never shall in this world. I hope you will keep on 

 in your good work. If there were more such papers 

 as Gleanings and Farm Journal this would be a bet- 

 ter world. I could not get along without either. J 

 haven't had a doctor in the house since I read what 

 you wrote about lemons being used as medicine. I 

 get lemons instead, and they have answered every 

 purpose so far Please forgive me for taking up your 

 time, and for writing to you; but I wanted you to know 

 how much good you had done in one little home away 

 down here in North Carolina. Your name is a house- 

 hold word with us. Mrs. L. L. Umstead. 



Staggville, N. C, July 10. 



HIGH PRESSURE 



GADDENING 



A.L^pOT 



CUCUMBERS AND OTHER TENDER STUFF UN- 

 DER CLOTH, IN FLORIDA. 



In this Florida land we have a climate that leads us 

 to fear not so much freeze or frost as cold winds which 

 often do quite as much damage, and cause a great deal 

 of vegetation to go to the wall. There is one shed 

 here entirely of cloth, which I think would answer 

 the purpose if the parties only knew how to manage 

 it. This structure was built for raising cucumbers, 

 but has so far been a failure. This first effort, or win- 

 ter before last, the cloths were left off and the young 

 plants were hurt by frost so much they were none in 

 advance of the ones outside. The effort last winter 

 was also a failure because they failed to get a stand, 

 and they just gave the case up and never raised any 

 thing on the ground, but took the cloths in out of the 

 weather, and it now stands as above described. 



There are a few things I wish to know that I think 

 you could give. 1. Is there any way of pollinizing the 

 bloom under the clothy If so, how is it accomplished':' 

 I planted half an acre, in open ground, of cucumbers 

 Jan. 22, this year, and got a fine stand. They grew 

 nicely. I kept the frost off by setting up 12-inch Doards 

 on the north side of the rows, and leaned them to the 

 south. This gave the plants a sun bath 'every day, 

 and soon they led the whole neighbor hood on "cukes;" 

 but I had to lift the boards when they began to vine; 

 but later the cold winds and blowing rains whipped 

 the vines until they were nearly as bad off as if frost- 

 ed. They gave off an odor just as if they had been 

 frosted. The vines withered and died until about 

 half were gone; then ti.ey soon revived (that is, what 

 were left), and began to bear nicely, when still another 

 wind did them nuite as much harm as the first. Upon 

 the whole the yield was good under the circumstances, 

 and brought nearly $300. Now, I think if there were 

 a way to shelter those vines they could be made to 

 pay large dividends. Any thing you would give or 



recommend, or any book on the above that would 

 treat on this subject, would be gladly received. 

 Sanford. Fla. J. W. Hunter. 



Friend H.. you have struck on a matter 

 that interests me greatly just now. Down 

 on our island we had exactly the trouble you 

 describe. In fact, we had a fine lot of cu- 

 cumber-vines that had just begun to bear; 

 but the hard winds and the low temperature 

 used them up almost the same as a frost, al- 

 though 1 have never seen any real frost on 

 our island. My experiments were mostly 

 with stuff such" as Howers near the house. 

 Every time 1 would get a coleus to growing 

 nicely, and looking really handsome, then a 

 cold wind would whip it about and chill it 

 so it would behave almost as if it had been 

 hurt by a light frost. After awhile it would 

 recover and then have the same treatment 

 over again. 



For an experiment I made a little bed that 

 I called my Florida greenhouse, of cheap 

 cotton cloth stretched over frames to protect 

 them from the wind. This answered beauti- 

 fully. They could be taken off and placed 

 up against the house in less than a minute; 

 and the same frames were used to protect 

 my young chickens from the cold winds while 

 they had the full benefit of the sun. Of 

 course, it requires some manipulation in or- 

 der to make a success of the cloth covering, 

 whether it is to protect tender stuff from 

 frost and wind, or the sun when it is too 

 hot. The cloth covering must be made so it 

 can be very quickly put over the plants and 

 taken off. It should be arranged so that one 

 person can with a little care and labor put 

 on the cloth or take it off. Unless you have 

 it arranged in this way the plants will be ex- 

 posed when they should be covered; and, 

 again, they will be covered when they should 

 be exposed to the genial sunshine or to a 

 summer shower. 



Now, our tomato-book, it seems to me, 

 solves this whole problem. I do not believe 

 there is any other way in the world by which 

 a cloth covering can be arranged so as to be 

 secure from being blown off by the wind, 

 and at the same time be easily manipulated 

 by one person. I allude to the plan of hav- 

 ing the cloth rolled up on poles 100 to 200 

 feet long, the rafters across the bed just 

 near enough to keep the cloth off the plants. 

 Friend Day lately informed me that they are 

 now growing cucumbers for the northern 

 markets under the same cloth frames that 

 were constructed primarily for growing to- 

 mato-plants. I know there are large ai'eas 

 covered with cloth in different parts of Flori- 

 da, and I visited several such places. But 

 the difficulty of having the cloth in the way 

 when it should be off, and oft' when it should 

 be on, is, so far as I can learn, the great 

 problem. 1 am glad to know that you suc- 

 ceeded fairly well after all the unfavorable 

 weather of last winter; and I feel sure that 

 you can make a complete success with the 

 cloth-covered frames as described in our to- 

 mato-book. I think that, in your locality, 

 there will be plenty of days that would per- 

 mit the bees and other insects to fertilize your 



