APRIL §2 
-tfORKI 
271 
they soon shade the ground so that nothing 
else can grow; but it will pay to run through 
them with a cultivator as soon as they are 
large enough and after each heavy rain until 
they shade the ground. In an ordinary 
season two cultivations will be enough, while 
in some seasons they may need three or four 
workings. 
The crop will ordinarily mature in from 
eleven to twelve weeks, and the earlier they 
are gathered the brighter and more valuable 
the crop. If beans are pulled and cured in the 
shade before the pods have turned yellow 
they will be of the very best quality. I would 
always advise harvesting the crop as soon as 
the pods are half 3 T ellow, and the safest way 
is to •‘stake” them. To do this you want 
stakes three inches in diameter, perfectly 
smooth and sharp at both ends. 'With an 
iron bar make a hole and set them in the 
ground deep enough so that there is no danger 
of their blowing over. There must be some¬ 
thing at the bottom to keep the beans from 
the ground, and for this purpose some sticks 
of wood will answer. Pull your beans and 
let them wilt or partly cure, and then slip 
them upon the stakes from the top, and press 
them down firmly. Iu this way you can 
build up a small, compact stack, that will 
shed water perfectly, and so narrow that it 
will dry out without any danger of molding. 
These sta kes should not be more than six feet 
high and when they are full to the top, take 
pains to arrange the last hills so that the end 
of the stake will be covered, or the water will 
run down it. When beans are bandied in this 
way the weather must be very bad to prevent 
their curing out without loss. 
I think about 12 bushels to the acre an 
average crop, and I have grown 10 bushels 
on laud that was too poor to grow corn. In 
favorable seasons I think SO bushels, or more, 
might be grown on good laud. The best and 
speediest way to thrash beans is to tramp them 
out with horses. You must be careful, how¬ 
ever, to keep the floor well covered with vines, 
or the beans will split, but with care there 
will be no trouble. It is best to store them iu 
the barn and thrash in sharp cold weather 
when they will become very dry. If there is 
any point which 1 have not made clear, I shall 
be glad to auswer questions. W. f. b. 
Best Vegetables for Parts of Massachusetts. 
Of the several kinds of sweet corn, the Mar¬ 
blehead is the best with us. 
For squashes, the Crook Neck is the best for 
Summer, and tbe Boston Marrow or Hubbard 
for Winter. 
For an early pea, we like one the seed of 
which came from Washington through the 
Congressman from this District, better than 
any I huve yet seen; it is equal to tbe Cham¬ 
pion of England. 
1* or beaus, the -Lima in this climate is not 
the one to raise for profit, but a white bean 
similar to the Lima. 
As regards cucumbers, the Early Cluster and 
White Spine are the two best. 
In lettuce, the Bronze and Crimson, the seed 
of which came from the Rural New-York- 
kk's Seed Distribution, is the best, from the 
fact that the leaves can be gathered without 
injury to the plant. w. b. b. 
Berkshire Co., Mass. 
-»— *- - 
Seed Germinating in Cold Weather. 
A neighbor tells me he has seen seed peas 
sprout on a snowbank. I once so wed Timothy 
seed late iu the Fall, and the next day the 
earth froze up; snow followed, drifted deeply 
over it, and when it disappeared in March the 
Timothy was up beauti fully, 
Ou March 15, iu examining some Manches¬ 
ter strawberry plants covered with wheat 
straw late in November, I fouud a kernel of 
wheat had sprouted and taken root during the 
open Winter. It would uppear that some seeds 
will germinate with less w’armth than is gene¬ 
rally supposed. Chas. A. Green. 
Monroe Co., N. Y. 
Sljc Sbiarktt, 
“DOLLAR QUEENS.” 
\V itu the exception of his remarks about 
“dollar ” queens, I entirely agree with Profes¬ 
sor Cook in his excellent article upon “ Light 
or Dark Italians" iu a late Rural.. I have for 
some time been acquainted with the Profes¬ 
sor’s idea in regard to “dollar”queens, and I 
presumo that it will be no surprise to him, 
when I say that my views are somewhat at 
variance with bis. 
As some of the readers of the Rural may 
not understand what is meant by the term 
“ dollar” queens, 1 will explain. Every breeder 
of Italian queens who makes any pretensions 
whatever to honesty and reliability, not only 
clears bis neighborhood of black bees before 
: rears queens for sale, but he keeps it clear 
1 afterwards. Although a breeder may Italian¬ 
ize all of the bees that are owned in bis neigh¬ 
borhood, yet he cannot be certain that he has 
found and destroyed every black colony iu 
i the woods near bis apiary; and, for this rea- 
• son, queens were formerly kept until they 
were “ tested,” t. e., until some of their brood 
had hatched. If tne bees showed tbe three yel¬ 
low bands, it proved that their mother had 
mated with an Italian drone, aiid she was 
then called a “tested” queen. If a queen’s 
progeny showed only one or two yellow bands, 
it indicated that she had met a black drone, 
hence she was destroyed. After a while some 
bright chap conceived and put into practice 
the plan of sending out queens just as soon as 
they were fertilized and had commenced lay¬ 
ing, letting purchasers do their own testing. 
Such queens were and are yet, sold, for one 
dollar; hence the term, “dollar" queens. 
During the last few years a great deal has 
been written and said against untested or 
“dollar ” queens. I wonder if the thought has 
ever occurred to their opponents that every 
queen was once an untested, or “dollar” queen. 
After a queen has been tested, and a good 
round price put upon her, is she any better 
than she was before ? The only difference be¬ 
tween a tested and untested queen, is that we 
know that the former has been purely mated. 
Onj objection brought against “dollar" 
queens is, that they are cheap and, conse¬ 
quently, must be “poor sticks.” As the price 
of a tested queen is about twice that of an un¬ 
tested queen, and as it takes about twice as 
long to rear and test a queen as it does to rear 
one and have her commence laying, I do not 
see that this objection amounts to very much. 
Another objection urged against “dollar” 
queens is, that they are reared in a cheap, 
careless, negligent manner, and a few breed¬ 
ers have goue so far as to “turn State’s evi¬ 
dence” upon the subject. Oue breeder even 
went so far as to say that when he had an 
order for ‘•dollar" queens, he always wsnt 
through his apiary and picked out the poorest 
queens that he had w ith which to fill the order. 
Now, the man who would rear “ dollar” queens 
in a careless, negligent, improper manner, 
would be quite apt to rear tested queens in the 
same manner; and the one who would send 
off his cull queens to fill “dollar” queen or¬ 
ders, v ould not hesitate to fill orders for tested 
queens iu the same manner, if he happened to 
find it convenient to do so. One who would 
act dishonorably in selling “dollar" queens, 
would not deal fairly in selling tested queens 
or anything else, for that matter—and he 
should be set down at once as a fraud. The 
tested queens that he sent out would, proba¬ 
bly, produce three banded bees; but that would 
be no guarantee that they were reared in a 
proper manner, or that they were not old or 
worthless in some manner. I am thankful 
that I can say that nearly all of our queen 
breeders are honorable people, who would 
scorn to take an unfair advantage of any one 
in selling “dolar” queens or anything else. 
Only a few weeks ago I addressed a letter of 
inquiry upon this very subject to several of 
our lending queen breeders. I wrote as fol¬ 
lows; “ Are your dollar queens reared in any 
different manner from your tested queens; 
and do you consider your tested queens supe¬ 
rior to your dollar queens, except that you 
know how they are mated V Each replied in 
substance: “All of my queens are reared in 
exactly the same manner.” I do not think 
that testimony upon this subject should be re¬ 
garded light y, when it comes from such men 
as E. M. Hayburst, Wm, M. Cary, Oliver Fos¬ 
ter, H. Alley, Paul S. Viallon, A. I. Root, and 
Dr. J. P. H. Brown. 
Please allow me to quote a few words from 
Dr. J. P. H. Brown. He says: “Asa few 
apiarists contend, with more imaginary fear 
than judgment, that the sale of untested queens 
is piejudical to the best interests of apicul¬ 
ture b> encouraging the dissemination of im¬ 
pure st( ck, I will take occasion to observe that 
it has been demonstrated that all crosses of 
the Italians with the bPek bee eclipse the 
native bee as honey-gatherers. If so, then it 
must be apparent to a mind of the meanest 
capacity that no harm can arise but, iustead 
thereof, a promotion of the honey interests of 
our country.” I will admit that Dr. Brown 
also says: ‘‘If you wish to improve your 
stock of bees, tested queens are the only ones 
fit to breed from." Of course, / would not 
rear queens from a “dollar" queen (and I pre¬ 
sume but few, if any, would) or any queen, 
for that matt, r, until she had been tested, not 
only as to whether he had mated with a pure 
drone, bnt in regard to the other qualities th t 
go to make up a good breeding queen. 
The majority of us keep bees for the honev 
that they store, and if we purchase Italian 
queens, it is because we expect their progeny 
will gather more honey than will the black 
bees. Now will some deuouncers of “dollar” 
queens ans. er the following; If I should stock 
my apiary with tested queens (that is, tested 
as they usually are, in regard to “stripes,” 
and nothing more), do you think that I would 
obtain any more honey than I would if I should 
stock it with “ dollar" queens, purchased from 
the same breeder ? 
Friend Cook, although the above is plain 
and outspoken, yet it is given with a kindly 
spirit. W. Z. Hutchinson. 
Genesee Co., Mich. 
TOBACCO-GROWING NOTES. 
Farmers who would be successful in raising 
profitable crops of tobacco should understand 
fully the importance of raising an abundant 
supply of strong, healthy plants. It will not 
answer to depend upon the liberality of one’s 
friends or neighbors or upon buying plants, 
because very few persons as yet raise tobacco 
plants expressly to sell, and growers are not 
willing to part with plants until their own 
wants are first supplied, after which the best 
time for planting is passed and plants, if they 
can be secured, are small and weak. 
The only safe and proper way is for every 
pei'soD who undertakes to grow tobacco, to 
raise his own plants and to be certain of hav¬ 
ing enough of them and to have them early. 
To insure success in this part of tobacco 
raising, it is necessary to give almost constant 
care and attention to the young plants for the 
first month after sowing the seed in the seed¬ 
beds. The soil must be kept moist, and the 
weeds must be pulled as fast as they become 
large enough, otherwise they will crowd the 
plants and prevent them from making rapid, 
healthy growth. On very warm days the 
sashes must be raised or the plants will scald 
or burn. Sprinkling the beds with liquid 
manure will promote rapid growth and make 
them earlier. There is nothing better for this 
than the leachings from the barn-yard. Soap 
suds is also an excellent application for the 
plants and will often prevent the ravages of 
the fleas or worms which sometimes make 
their appearance iu tobacco beds, and to the 
destruction of the plants unless destroyed 
themselves. A good motto for the tobacco 
farmer is: “ Eternal vigilance is the price of 
success,” and it applies particularly to the 
work of growing the plants. 
It Is highly desirable to have a succession 
of plants—some early, some intermediate and 
some later. I am not in favor of setting the 
plants earlier than June 15, only as it gives 
succession and better opportunity for perform¬ 
ing the various steps well and in season. If 
the whole field or acreage or the larger part 
of it is to be plauted iu a single day a good 
deal of hired help is required and much of the 
work will be poorly done, and, besides, the 
tobacco will all need topping, suckering and 
harvesting at the same time. I cannot better 
express my .views on this point than by 
quoting the words of a member of the Che¬ 
mung Valley Tobacco Club at a late meeting: 
“ I think, as a general thing, that the earliest 
tobacco is of the poorest colors. I usually 
commence setting in the latter part of May. 
I do not believe in getting a crowd in a field 
to set tobacco plants. I prefer to do the heft 
of the setting myself, and then I know it is 
well done. I think the best results, both in 
yield and quality of tbe crop, come from 
plants set from the middle to the last of 
June ” G. a. G.,Jr. 
Elmira, N. Y. 
- 4 « ♦- 
THE BURBANK POTATO. 
Like the Early Ohio and many other popu¬ 
lar potatoes at the present time, Burbank’s 
Seedling came from a seed ball of tbe Early 
Rose. It originated in Massachusetts, was in¬ 
troduced in 1870 by J. J. H, Gregorv, has 
been extensively cultivated iu Central New 
Hampshire and is every year growing more 
popular. Its skin is white and smooth. Tbe 
eyes are little indented. The shape is oblong 
and one end is usually smaller than the other; 
especially is this true of the Larger tubers. 
The flesh, when cooked, is fine-grained, white 
and dry, but in neither of these essentials of 
an extra potato is it the equal of the Snow¬ 
flake, Pride of America or Compton's Sur¬ 
prise. It is more productive than these va¬ 
rieties, and in this respect is the peer of Mam¬ 
moth Pearl and that very desirable sort, the 
Campbell. It matures later than Clark’s No. 1 , 
Suowflake, Beauty of Hebron, Pride of 
America, and at about the same time as the 
other varieties named above. 
I can indorse all that has been claimed for 
it in its yielding capacity, but it has not been 
free from disease when harvested or after be¬ 
ing stored in tbe cellar. For two Winters 
previous to the past one it has been the poor¬ 
est beeper of the fifteen or more varieties that 
I have cultivated. Tbe cause of the decay, 
the skin turning black and the hollow hearts 
in many of the tubers, is attributed to the wet 
and heavily manured soil in which the crop 
was grown, and here I will repeat the Rural’s 
suggestion for the purpose of making it more 
emphatic, that Burbank’s Seedling should be 
grown only in dry soils. G. R. d. 
Pittsfield, N. H. 
-■*--*-♦- 
Barn-Yard Grass—Panicum Crus-galli. 
The U. S. Agricultural Report for 1878 says 
this grass is common to all parts of the coun- 
try, and makes hay of excellent quality. I 
sowed some broadcast last year on less than 
one-fifth of an acre, and cut two tons, which I 
fed to my cattle to help oat pasturage, and 
they ate it in preference to green-corn fodder. 
A neighbor says that when sown in drills 2^ 
to S feet apart, and cultivated, it will yield 
upwards of 30 tons to the acre, green. Why 
would it not make a good ciop for the silo ? 
It grows three to five feet high, each seed send¬ 
ing out from five to twelve stalks or more. 
According to the U. 8. Agricultural Report 
for 1878, the analysis of the grass is* 
oil....,. 154 
Wax. „ 
sugar.;.w's- 
Gum and Dextrin. sn? 
Cellulose. . 
Amylaceous Cellulose..2i 37 
Alkali Extract. ' . 
Albuminoids. am 
Ash .. 10.14 
E. A. H. 
[In the Rural of May 8 , 1880 , is an excel¬ 
lent illustration of this grass. It thrives well 
and yields heavily on the lowlands of the 
Rural Farm.—E ds.] 
Spring-Sown Winter Wheat. 
V bile I cannot give a direct answer to tbe 
inquiry of H. M. Youngblood, Ark., in tbe 
Rural of March 11, I may say that it is the 
universal result of those experiments made in 
this locality that the Winter varieties of 
wheat, when sowed in the Spring, will pro¬ 
duce no grain. Spring-sown Winter wheat 
germinates, grows and tillers as well as Spring 
wheat, but does not head. Although 
fair crops of "W inter w'heat have been 
grown here, it is an exception rather than 
the rule for us to have Winters sufficiently 
favorable to enable this grain to make a four¬ 
fold yield. G . D . 
Pittsfield, N. H. 
- -*■ ♦ ♦- 
The Mammoth Pearl Potato. From three 
pounds of this variety bought from J. J. H. 
Gregory, I raised last year three bushels of 
splendid potatoes. j t R 
Rockville, Ill. 
farm flames 
PASTURING WHEAT. 
That too much or too close pasturing of 
wheat will injure it, and that quite seriously, 
the appearance of different fields this Spring 
shows conclusively. I do not think that where 
wheat is sown early and gets a good start in 
the Fall pasturing to some extent does any 
damage, but when sown late, so that the plant 
does not have sufficient time to get firmly 
rooted and well started, pasturing injures it 
quite seriously. Aud where sheep are allowed 
to crop it ail Winter it will seriously affect 
the yield, if not quite destiny the crop. This 
ris the case especially in au open Winter where 
the ground is bare and wet, and in a loose, 
sandy, loamy soil. I have examined fields of 
wheat this Spring,that have wintered sheep on 
this kind of soil, aud find the best of the wheat 
pulled up by the roots, and all seriously dam¬ 
aged by close cropping. The sheep bite close 
to the ground and take off a bite with a jerk 
that, where the ground is loose, is almost sure 
to start the mots, and a few pulls or jerks will 
bring it out to the surface. They may leave 
a few roots that will keep the stalk alive, but 
the wheat will be of such a sickly growth that 
it will never amount to much. Then sheep or 
stock of any kind tramping over plowed or 
sowed ground at all times are sure to injure it 
especially if the ground is wet. I believe 
where the ground is frozen hard and the wheat 
has a strong, healthy growth, pasturing to 
some extent does not injure wheat; but under 
ordinary circumstances, if the Winter is open, 
as has been the past, wheat may be and is 
injured so much that it really is not a profita¬ 
ble crop, simply because it is pastured too 
closely during the Winter. The loss incurred 
in this way is greater than the gain made by 
the sheep being wintered on the wheat. 
A good man., farmers claim that they were 
obliged to pasture more thau they would have 
doue on account of scarcity of feed; but this 
does not help the wheat, which this year in 
such fields is sure to be very light. 
Miller Co,, Mo. N. J. Shepherd. 
--»•«•-»- 
Foxtail for Milch Cows —In answer to 
O. E. D., Hampton, Iowa, in Rural of Feb¬ 
ruary 4th, I would say Foxtail seed is valuable 
for milch cows; ground with one quarter oats 
it has increased the amount of butter one- 
third; or, to be exact, from 10 pounds to 1(1 
pounds per week from one cow. We call it 
No. 1 feed in Kansas. w . h. t 
