764 



QUESTIONS ASKED AND ANSWERED. 



2654. Large Potato Yields. It is not a difficult task 

 to grow 150 pounds of potatoes from one pound of seed, 

 as plants can be propagated from sprouts and cuttings 

 to an almost unlimited extent. Begin propagation early 

 under glass. Cut tlie seed to single eye ; plant shallow 

 in sand in a moderate hot-bed or greenhouse, rather close 

 together to save space; carefully break off the sprouts 

 as soon as well rooted, and plant in small pots, thus 

 giving the seed-pieces a chance to produce the largest 

 possible number of stalks. Keep the pots in a moder- 

 ately warm, sunny place, and as the stalks grow, cut 

 them freely for slips to be rooted in the regular way in 

 sand, and then potted, and if need be, again worked for 

 propagation in the same manner. There is hardly a 

 limit to the multiplication of plants by this method. 

 The cuttings root as easily as geranium slips. At the 

 proper time in spring, knock the plants out of the pots, 

 and set them in good potato soil — of course after that 

 has been carefully and skillfully prepared and enriched, 

 in about the same fashion as you would tomatoes, with 

 rows three feet apart, and the plants in the rows about 

 two feet apart. Under otherwise good management, 

 you can raise 150 pounds of potatoes from one pound of 

 seed, and even much more, quite easily. — G. R. 



2658. Fruit Jellies for Market. The attempt has 

 repeatedly been made by individual growers to utilize 

 surplus fruits for the manufacture of jellies in a com- 

 mercial way, but thus far it has invariably resulted in 

 failure to make the undertaking a success in a financial 

 sense. The manufacturers of grocery-store jellies have 

 learned to produce from apple skins and cores, and 

 other cheap materials and coal-tar flavors, an article 

 which closely resembles the genuine fruit jellies of the 

 various kinds, and is found acceptable to popular taste 

 and demand, and this at so low a cost that the fruit- 

 grower's genuine fruit jellies have no chance of success- 

 ful competition. At present the whole business of com- 

 mercial jelly manufacture seems to be antagonistic to 

 the interests of the fruit-grower, simply because it is in a 

 large measure based upon adulteration, and upon the 

 use of artificial rather than natural raw materials. 

 Later on we will try and give an expose of the methods 

 of jelly manufacturers, which usually are held as trade 

 secrets. — G R. 



2656. Hot-Bed Making-. In the first place you 

 should select a well protected situation for the bed, with 

 a full exposure to the sun. Have a building, a tall board 

 fence, or a close screen of tall evergreens, on the north 

 side, and if possible on the west side also ; or make the 

 bed against a steep bank facing south or southeast- 

 Our most satisfactory hot-bed last year was made in 

 the barnyard, directly south of the stables. It was an 

 ordinary frame placed upon an eighteen-inchlayer offresh 

 horse manure, and was surrounded by manure on all 

 sides. This was used for starting tomato, pepper and egg 

 plants, and gave entire satisfaction. Ordinary hot-bed 

 sash, three feet wide and six feet long, can now be 

 bought reasonably cheap. Fit the frame to the sash, 

 whatever size you may happen to have or be able to 

 get, making the back part about four inches higher than 

 the front. Have everything tight and snug. Usually an 



excavation is made to receive the layer of heating 

 manure, so that not more than six inches of the frame 

 in front, and ten inches at the back, are above the sur- 

 face of the ground. The aim should be to secure a 

 moderate but lasting heat in the manure. For this pur- 

 pose select fresh manure from grain-fed, and if possi- 

 ble, hard-worked horses, leaving in it all the urine- 

 soaked litter, but removing dry straw, all the better if 

 forest leaves are used as bedding, or mixed with the 

 manure afterwards. Throw all into a heap and let it 

 come to a heat. Fork over repeatedly, at intervals of a 

 few days, and you will have a most excellent material 

 for the production of a steady moderate heat under the 

 soil of the hot-bed. Pack it tight, especially in the 

 center of the bed (where the manure is always most 

 liable to settle and form a depression). Under average 

 circumstances a layer of eighteen inches in thickness is 

 all that is required ; but in a very cold climate, or if the 

 bed is started in mid-winter, or with manure not any too 

 good, a thicker layer may be safer. Often twelve inches 

 of manure will answer. Next adjust the frame, if this 

 is not permanent, and put on the sashes. The manure 

 will soon come to a lively heat. Wait until this subsides 

 and you are ready for work. For starting plants of all 

 kinds, we prefer the so-called " flats," of which one cart 

 get almost unlimited quantities at nominal cost by ar- 

 ranging with the nearest grocers to save the boxes in. 

 which they receive canned goods. These are of con- 

 venient size, and of just the right depth, four or five 

 inches. They are filled with good loam ; and after the 

 seed is sown in them, and labels adjusted, they are 

 placed upon the manure layer which has previously been 

 covered with an inch of sand, or sifted coal-ashes. Now 

 a word about the loam to be used. We should get this 

 before the ground freezes up solid. If we put it off until 

 the time we want to start the hot-bed, we may have a 

 deal of trouble to find what we want. More than one 

 gardener is compelled to let the best time for starting, 

 his plants pass over, and to be a week or two later than 

 his competitor or neighbor, simply because everything 

 is frozen up, and he cannot get the soil needed for his- 

 hot-beds. Our way is to gather up the loam from the pre- 

 vious season's hot-beds and cold-frames, a load or two 

 of old decayed sods, or of black mucky soil from the 

 bottom lands, some sand and fine old manure, and 

 throw these together on the floor of a warm empty shed 

 near the horse stable. Here it is kept surrounded by 

 fermenting horse manure, litter, and dry forest leaves, 

 and kept from freezing until spring. It is then in con- 

 dition for use any time when wanted. 



2660. The Ventilated Barrel. We saw a sample of 

 this barrel exhibited at a recent meeting of the Ontario- 

 Fruit Growers' Association. L. Woolverton, secre- 

 tary of the society, whom we asked in regard to the 

 merits or demerits of the barrel, writes us as follows : 



" I have used the new ventilated barrel this season 

 for the first time, shipping Red Astrachan apples and 

 Bartlett pears in it to Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa 

 markets. It is a capital invention. Summer fruits, such 

 as early apples and Bartlett pears, when packed close 

 ripen too rapidly, and arrive at their destination soft and 

 wasted; but when packed in the ventilated barrel, they 



