©£© S 
842 
fHE ftURAL MEW-Y@MEfi. 
were intended to produce"a little of every¬ 
thing. Two or three rows of early string- 
beans yielded, the same year, $49.44. The 
rows were 400 feet in length. Beans, unlike 
peas, cannot endure frost. 
Peas may be sown in March or as early as 
the ground may be worked. There is, how¬ 
ever, some danger that a protracted wet spell 
will rot the seed before it germinates. 
One day a gentleman from a distance, a 
farmer, said to John, “I have often heard tell 
of raising $200 worth of crops on a single 
acre. 1 have never seen it done. I am com¬ 
ing to see how you do it.” John replied that 
it was accomplished by using a great deal of 
manure, hiring a great deal of help, doing a 
great deal of work, selling to the best advan¬ 
tage and growing two or more crops on the 
same land. All things are easy to those who 
know how to do them. Mrs. John often 
laughingly refers to her lettuce patch. A 
plot of rich ground, less than a rod square, 
was observed, in the very early spring, to be 
sending up volunteer lettuce, where the lettuce 
bed had been the previous year. Mrs. John 
spread some sheets over the plants, to pro¬ 
tect them from the frost, and to keep the 
heat in, and pegged the sheets down, and 
she sold 10 dollars’ worth of the very ten- 
derest lettuce from there that season. Four 
rows of seed lettuce, sown quickly with 
a seed drill, last year yielded $60.41. The 
rows were 14 inches apart and 400 feet long. 
The rhubarb patch, occupying perhaps an 
eighth of an acre, has always proved quite 
remunerative, and the crop is much more 
readily bunched and prepared for market than 
celery, peas or strawberries. The crop of 
1883 sold for $60.69, that of 1884, for $84.43 
and that of 1885, for $86.95. That of 1888 was 
probably a little less, but the account is not 
yet completed. 
The truth cannot be denied that market 
gardening is hard work during five months of 
the year. It is rush and hurry, now to the 
town and now to the train, early and late. 
But all good results come from hard, persist¬ 
ent work. It is so everywhere. The least 
contented man is he who has spent his time 
trying to find a “soft job.” 
The novelty of any occupation soon wears 
away, and downright pluck has to come to 
the rescue. Many attempts have been made 
to explain why farmers’ sons flee from the 
farm. It is a natural law. We all desire 
change. Little children play at one game 
only a short time, and for men and women 
to do only one kind of work all their lives is 
an insufferable grind. How tired and hope¬ 
less little boys come to look in factories and 
machine shops. It is pathetic beyond ex¬ 
pression. How weary young girls become of 
“the everlasting dish-washing.” Who can 
tell how tired the good “shepherd” is of his 
weekly sermonizing? All over the world men 
and women are openly "or secretly desiring a 
change of occupation, which means rest. 
John says this holds true of his helpful chil¬ 
dren. They cannot forever be washing and 
bunching radishes, dressing the fragrant 
onion, or picking beans, peas, currants and 
berries. The remedy is not to confine them 
too closely, or the remark will be heard more 
emphatic than polite: “Well, when I’m a man 
I won’t have any nasty old market garden!” 
There must be, at least for the children, a 
refuge from the garden,—swimming parties 
and ball clubs, horseback riding and drives, 
fishings and huntings; pigeons, chickens, 
colts, calves, goats and lambs to care for or 
play with. Children have to have pocket- 
money or they will become dishonest, or know 
nothing of the use of money. John has a 
theory that is not all theory, that the chil¬ 
dren should share in the^garden, so he lets 
them earn money by doing extra work. One 
little fellow of nine was told he might have 
one row in the garden for his own, and plant 
it as he liked. 
“All right!” said the boy with a happy 
skip, “il’ll plant a little of everything in my 
row.’ 
“If you do that,” said his father, “ you will 
have so little of each kind that it will amount 
to almost nothing. Let me advise you.” 
“All right,j” said the boy with another 
skip. 
“I have just bought some splendid late cab¬ 
bage plants. They cost me 35 cents per 100. 
You may have them for the same. Plant the 
whole row to them. I will help you, and you 
may sell them off the wagons. ” 
“ Good enough,” said the boy still skipping 
in spite of himself. T wo hundred plants were 
set in the row, the boy taking an unwonted 
interest. Then he skipped into the house and 
fetched out seventy cents. “Here, Pa, I want 
to pay for them now. I’d rather. How 
much do you think I’ll make out of ’em. Pa, 
if they do well?” 
“You must be prepared, little fellow, for 
partial loss. You will not have 200 cabbage 
heads from those plants.” 
“Why not, Pa?” 
“ Some will die. The worms may cut down 
some, and the wind some. It is always so. A 
great hail-storm may come and ruin nearly 
all.” 
“Yes,” said the boy thoughtfully. Then 
after a pause, “ How much do you guess I’ll 
get ?” 
“ I cannot tell. That depends on how well 
you hoe them, and tend them, and the price 
of cabbage in the fall.” 
“Make a guess, Pa.” 
“ O, perhaps five dollars.” 
“That would be pretty good, Pa, for 70 
cents.” 
“ No, it is not all for 70 cents. The land 
has been plowed and manured, and taxes 
have to be paid on it; and you have a good 
deal of work to do yet, and the trouble of 
gathering and selling them will be consider¬ 
able.” 
“Yes,” said the boy “lam going to buy 
chickens with the money.” The little boy 
took a great interest in his cabbages, not do¬ 
ing all the hoeing, to be sure. But in the fall 
he cut off the heads with a long knife and 
manfully tugged them to the house from time 
to time in a sack. The crop sold for $4.50. 
“ I shall plant more things next year,” said 
the little gardener. 
other purposes than honey. We seem to have 
some evidence that shows that this is at least 
a debatable question, even if it does not prove 
that these gentlemen are quite in the wrong. 
Last year—1887—the honey crop was al¬ 
most a falure in most parts of Wisconsin; yet 
in certain districts where basswood was 
abundant, the bee-keepers secured a large 
crop of that very delicious honey, the linden. 
If every lane and roadside of the State could 
have been lined with these beautiful shade 
trees we have reasou to believe that the 
honey crop might have been universal. The 
same year Mr. Freeborne of Richland Centre, 
Wisconsin, moved his bees a few miles to a 
locality where Dotted Horse-mint—Monarda 
punctata—grew by the acre. He thus secured 
a splendid crop of most excellent honey, 
whereas other bee-keepers a little removed 
from this mint, obtained no harvest at all. 
This argues that a few acres o horse-mint in 
the region of each bee-keeper in the State, 
would have produced a general crop and so 
would have substituted rejoicing for discour, 
agement. This year Mr. A. C. Tvrrel, of 
Madison, Nebraska, reports that from two 
acres of Melissa, or bee balm, he secured 1,500 
pounds of honey. I have some of this honey, 
and can testify as to its excellence. I can also 
easily believe Mr. Tyrrel’s report. I had this 
ROCKY MOUNTAIN BEE PLANT. Fig. 398. 
PLANTING FOR HONEY. 
ROCKY MOUNTAIN BEE PLANT. 
PROF. A. J. COOK. 
Will it pay to plant exclusively for honey 
production ? General opinion adverse ; 
basswood, horse-mint and bee-balm as 
honey plants: a needed experiment begun 
with four plants for honey production 
alone; following nature in planting. 
One of the most serious objections to bee¬ 
keeping, especially as a pursuit for specialists, 
is the fact that often—now for two success¬ 
ive years in many parts of the United States— 
there is a honey dearth, and as a result, there 
are no returns and sometimes even the bees 
have to be fed to prevent their starving. 
I have long felt that by careful experi¬ 
mentation, we might discover some plant that 
would produce nectar irrespective of weather, 
and thus secure a crop of honey each season. 
Most of our most able bee-keepers, indeed I 
think nearly all, have argued that special 
planting, solely for honey, would not pay. 
Such apiarists as Taylor, Hutchinson, and 
Dr. Miller are fully persuaded that it will 
never pay to plant exclusively for honey; to 
pay we must plant Alsike clover, buckwheat, 
or some other plants which will be useful for 
below upwards, and so -are in bloom from 
early August, when they first open, till frost. 
I have grown small buds of this for at least 12 
years, and never has it failed to attract bees 
constantly while in bloom. Of course I do 
not know how bounteously it yielded, as from 
so few plants it is not possible to determine 
this matter; yet I think we have reason to ex¬ 
pect much from this beautiful Cleome. It is 
indigenous to Colorado, and thrives and 
yields great quantities of beautiful honey on 
the dry, parched plains of that arid country. 
Surely, then, this is a plant that has been 
brought up on drought, and does not fail to 
yield nectar generously, where other plants 
would utterly die out. It yields much fine 
honey in Colorado and Nebraska. So hope¬ 
ful am I of this species that I have sown 
eight acres—enough to prove its value or 
worthlessness as the case may be. 
In growing this plant here at the college, I 
have earned that to succeed we must plant 
it in autumn. I suppose that the seed is so 
hard and dry that it needs the damp soil of 
winter to swell and soften the shell so that 
the germ can be unloosed. I would suspect 
as much, for the seeds drop from the pods in 
autumn. In planting any seed it is wise to 
note how nature does it, and then to follow 
her example. Thus I would plant basswood 
and maple in autumn, not in spring. 
Ag’l College, Lansing, Mich. 
3 
ts, tic. 
MACHINERY AT OUR STATE FAIR. 
I * 1 airs good places for bargains', improve¬ 
ments constantly going on; merits and 
faults of new potato harvesters , and po¬ 
tato plows. 
season a small area of this excellent mint. It 
bloomed for a long period, and dry as was the 
season, it was constantly visited by bees. Of 
course we do not know whether all or any of 
these plants produce nectar each year, let the 
season be what it may; nor do we know how 
large an area of bloom will be required for 
100 colonies of bees. 
Right here it seems to me is a very promis¬ 
ing field for experimentation. Is there any 
plant that will produce nectar in all seasons? 
If so, how many acres of such plant will be 
required for an apiary of 100 colonies of bees? 
Such an experiment if it should prove that 
there is such a plant, and that five or 10 acres 
will supply a large apiary, wiil be a boon to 
our bee-keeping fraternity. If it should show 
that Messrs. Hutchinson, Taylor, etc., are 
correct, and that it will not pay to plant es¬ 
pecially for bees, it would still be valuable, as 
it would restrain from private experiments 
many who would otherwise waste time and 
money in such investigations. 
I have, in connection with our Experi¬ 
ment Station, commenced a series of experi¬ 
ments with this end in view. I have started 
with four plants: the Rocky Mountain Bee 
Plant (Cleome integrifolia) Melissa or bee- 
balm, Pleurisy root, one of the species of 
Asclepias (A.tuberosa) and Chapman’s honey- 
plant (Echinops sphserocephalus). Of the 
first of these I have great hopes. This Rocky 
Mountain Bee Plant—See Fig. 398, is a very 
handsome plant bearing a globe of very 
beautiful pink blossoms. They blossom from 
The exhibit of machinery at our fair has 
been one of its prominent features. I have 
made this department a special study, and 
some of the best implements I use on my place 
I bought at our fairs. Indeed, I have found 
them good places to get a good bargain in an 
extra well-finished implement, as many ex¬ 
hibitors, after a few days’ stay, get anxious 
to sell and leave, and a great many will sell a 
good plow, harrow or seeder at a bargain rather 
than pay the expenses of transporting it back 
home. With every year come new labor-sav¬ 
ing devices. Then improvement in all classes 
of machinery is constantly going on. In 
everything, from engines down to a common- 
sense potato washer, there is constant im¬ 
provement. Wagons are made stronger and 
more attractive. Mowing machines are made 
lighter; in fact, there is progress everywhere. 
In the machinery for handling hay there has 
been a vast improvement in the last few years. 
I note a new combined hay and hog rack for 
a wagon, which is a great convenience as well 
as a labor-saving arrangement. It can be 
changed instantly from a hog box to a hay 
rack, and saves lots of time and heavy lifting. 
In all our garden seeders, weeders and hoes, 
either hand or horse, there are constant im-. 
provements, and every year we feel like 
throwing the old ones down and buying the 
improved new ones. 
Among the new implements are two potato 
harvesters that were on exhibition. One is 
manufactured in Ohio; the other at Prairie 
City in the great potato-growing section of 
Iowa. These machines are both constructed 
with endless chain belts which carry the po¬ 
tatoes up on an apron which drops the tubers 
over behind the plow, after separating them 
from all dirt and weeds. They are made 
heavy and it will take lots of horse power to 
pull one of them, especially if the land is a 
little wet. My opinion is that only under the 
most favorable conditions could either of 
these potato harvesters be made a labor-sav¬ 
ing device. New potato plows are also 
brought out each season, and I do not think we 
are ready to lay aside the plow for these large 
expensive harvesters, though our potato 
plows are far from perfection, and there 
seems to be a better opening here for me¬ 
chanical skill, and I am sure a fortune awaits 
the man who will make a perfect working 
potato plow. 1 have tried quite a number of 
potato plows, and find the great trouble is 
that when the fingers are let back low enough 
to allow the trash and dirt to pass over, 
they let too many potatoes go over which get 
covered up with the dirt. If the fingers 
are raised high enough to hold or catch all 
the potatoes, the plow catches two much 
trash ana is too easily clogged up in wet or 
weedy land. A potato plow manufactured 
at Hamilton, Ohio, comes nearer a perfect 
potato-bar vesting implement than any I have 
tried,and my only objection to it is that the fin¬ 
gers are set too low, and let too many potatoes 
pass over them. It has something similar to 
an old-fashioned coulter, with a roller attach¬ 
ed. which works between the beam and plow 
and rolls all the trash off out of the way of 
the plow and potatoes. With the best machin¬ 
ery that can be made, there will be plenty of 
heavy hand work in potato harvesting. 
Polk Co. Iowa. f. S. WHITE. 
