21 
Greenwich, Virginia, Sept., 28, 1885. 
Mr. Tillinghast; Dear Sir;— I notice in the Sep¬ 
tember number of Seed-Time and Harvest that bi¬ 
sulphide of carbon will kill the pea weevil. Now T 
would like to know whether it will act in the same 
manner with beans and will it injure either the peas 
or beans should they be wanted for food; that is, 
will it make them injurious to health. 
Most of my customers are very enthusiastic over 
the growing qualities of your seeds, all agree that 
they are the best they ever sowed. 
Respectfully yours, Wallace Wood. 
We have not ourselves experimented with 
the bi-sulphide of carbon but see no reason 
why its action should not be the same upon 
beans as upon peas. W% do not think that 
its use in the manner indicated would ren¬ 
der the beans unfit or unsafe to use for 
food. 
Best Way of Keeping Cabbage. 
In answer to a correspondent who desires 
information on this subject, the Country 
Gentleman says: 
“Cabbages may be kept by any mode 
which nearly excludes the frost, preseeves 
a cool temperature and a slight degree of 
moisture. A pile resting on the earth 
would keep better than if resting on a floor, 
and would require less protection. It would 
not be necessary to have walls of hay six 
feet thick. A common way to keep cab¬ 
bages by the quantity is to leave them out 
in the ground until near the end of Novem¬ 
ber, and then pull and place them inverted 
on smooth ground, packed closely together 
in beds five or six feet wide, with six feet 
spaces between. They may be left for a 
week or two, or till the ground is about to 
freeze, when the earth between the rows is 
dug and placed as covering on the inverted 
heads, about six inches thick, the tips of 
the roots projecting above. With less labor, 
the spaces may b** plowed and harrowed 
until the earth is fine and mellow before it 
is placed on the cabbages, the plow throw¬ 
ing the earth nearest to them upon the 
heads. With this treatment, the work 
must be done earlier than by hand in order 
to have the soil in right condition, and it is 
always best to cover them as late as prac* 
ticable. It is important that the ground 
has very thorough drainage. Joseph Harris 
regards it as of great importance to plow 
the earth many times, and making it mellow 
two feet deep in forming a trench or hollow 
to place them in, and then the mellow earth 
is thrown against the heads with the plow. 
The frost cannot penetrate the mellow 
earth—it only crusts it. If the work is 
done before very cold weather sets in, the 
central part of the row may be left nearly 
uncovered, and when freezing commences, 
the whole covered with the mellow soil. 
For early winter use, caboages may be 
stored in cold cellars packed in large boxes 
of damp moss; or they may be set in their 
natural position in long boxes filled with 
earth, damp moss, or damp sawdust; or 
placed in heaps out of doors and covered 
with a foot of chaff, and with straw. 
In answer to J. N., Glencoe, Ill., the best 
method that I ever tried was to select a 
piece of ground quite dry, and at the same 
time mellow and easy to trench with spade, 
or, if a large number are to be preserved, 
use a plow first and then the spade, or 
round pointed shovel, to shape the bottom 
and sides, and of sufficient width and depth 
to receive the heads so they will not touch 
either bottom or sides of the trench. Now, 
take a piece of 2 by 4 inch scantling and 
place it edgewise over the trench in such 
a position that the heads will not touch 
either sides or bottom, after stripping off 
the coarse, outside leaves; suspend the 
heads under the scantling, roots up, by 
putting a suitable nail through the stump 
of the cabbage, the roots coming up a trifle 
higher than the natural earth; then take 
some short pieces of board or other suitable 
material, just long enough to make a sort 
of rafter reaching from the edge of the 
bank to the scantling, in such a position as 
to give it a slight pitch; place a board on 
these rafters, lengthwise, of course; scatter 
over it a sufficient quantity of straw, or 
other coarse material, to prevent the earth 
from falling in; throw on a sufficient quan¬ 
tity of loose earth which came out of the 
trench, to prevent too much freezing, and 
it will keep the heads cool and sufficiently 
moist. Delay placing the heads in position 
as long as weather will permit. The 
trenches may be in sections of 10 or 12 feet, 
as in opening in spring it would be better 
not to let the air come to all at onee.-& W. 8, 
