1402 RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
Garden Notes From New England 
Cellar Tomatoes. —Although the gar¬ 
den is black as the result of hard frosts, 
we are still eating fresh tomatoes. Just 
before the frosts were due I carried sev¬ 
eral large plants, loaded with fruit, into 
the cellar. I simply piled them on the 
floor, but in that pile we are continually 
finding nice ripe tomatoes in abundance. 
Many people believe that tomatoes must 
have the sun in order to ripen well, and 
spend considerable time pruning their 
vines with the thought of letting the sun¬ 
light in. Yet it is a fact that if tomatoes 
are picked when just beginning to turn 
and put under a blanket they will color 
up even quicker than outside. Perhaps 
it is the warmth which is responsible. 
At a farmers’ meeting in the West the 
statement was made by a well-known to¬ 
mato grower that many times when in a 
hurry he has put half-ripe tomatoes in 
the oven of a kitchen range that was not 
very hot and shut the oven door, leaving 
the fruit there 12 hours or more. He de¬ 
clared that with this treatment they rip¬ 
ened up so that they were fit for market 
the next day. This is a wrinkle that 
might be experimented with at home when 
the minister is coming and early tomatoes 
are wanted as a special treat. I suspect, 
though, that the fruit would be rendered a 
little soft, and would not keep long. 
Growing Tomatoes in Pots. —I tried 
out the Burbank tomato this season, as 
it has been pretty widely exploited, and 
got very good results with it. I cannot 
say that it was more prolific than any 
other kind, but it certainly gave me fruit 
very early, being beaten out only by some 
plants which I bought in large pots and 
set into the ground without any disturb¬ 
ance of the roots. Without question this 
use of pots is the way to get fruit early, 
especially if the plants are started by 
Washington’s Birthday and kept growing 
rapidly. The average amateur hasn’t the 
facilities for handling young plants, how¬ 
ever, which probably accounts for the 
remarkable success of a New Hampshire 
man in selling potted plants each Spring. 
This man gets $2 a dozen for his plants, 
and disposes of many thousands, sending 
them all over New England. He handles 
only potted plants, shifting them to paper 
pots before they are expressed. A bay 
window on the sunny side of the house 
is used for starting the plants, the seed 
being sown in flats. When the plants get 
large enough to be handled, they are given 
a shift and set in hotbeds, of which 
there are several hundred feet. The 
frames are not heated with manure in 
the usual way, but by means of steam 
pipes along the back. A special boiler 
has been installed to supply the steam. 
After the weather gets warm enough so 
that the glass can be left off a part of 
the time, the plants are watered with an 
irrigation system. One strain of plants 
which has been improved by careful selec¬ 
tion in the field for several years is grown, 
and a special planting for the production 
of seed is made each season. The owner 
of this establishment has recently put up 
an elaborate potting house, with glass on 
three sides. With many thousands of 
plants to be handled, the potting is quite 
a task, and is done by women. A travel¬ 
ing table distributes the earth at each 
potting bench, while a similar device car¬ 
ries away the potted plants. The nots 
are then loaded onto a miniature freight 
car and carried on a tiny railroad to the 
frames, in which they are kept growing 
until almost ready to bioom, when they 
are put on the market. 
Yellow Tomatoes. — My own family 
has developed a special fondness this sea¬ 
son for yellow-skinned tomatoes. These 
tomatoes seem less acid than most of the 
red varieties, and,make an attractive ap¬ 
pearance when served with lettuce. One 
point in favor of the Burbank tomato is 
the readiness with which the skin comes 
off. I think that there are few crops 
which respond better to irrigation than 
tomatoes. If they can be watered freely 
in the dry season the yield will be in¬ 
creased to a remarkable extent. The rea¬ 
son that tomatoes crack and develop end 
rot is because a dry spell is succeeded by 
wet weather. When irrigation is prac¬ 
ticed this trouble is avoided. 
The Table Queen .Squash. —Another 
vegetable which has come out of the West 
is the Table Queen squash, which has 
been grown to some extent in New Eng¬ 
land this season. It is not likely to prove 
a commercial squash, because of its small 
size, but it is admirable for planting in 
the home garden. Each squash is about 
the size of a muskmelon. They may be 
cut in half, baked and served in the shell, 
constituting something of a novelty. 1 
believe that this little squash first came 
to popularity in Gentral Iowa, but lately 
has been groAvn in other sections as its 
high quality has become known. It is 
green in color and in shape somewhat like 
a pear, but the skin is ridged. It is a 
good squash for the family garden, apart 
from its size, because it matures early, is 
productive on good soil and keeps well. 
I also experimented with the New Guinea 
butter bean, so-called. The name is. as 
most people know, a misnomer. I believe 
that the bean is really a squash. It looks 
like a cross between a squash and a 
gourd, but it will grow to tremendous size 
and attract a lot of attention. 
Winter Overcoat for the Garden.— 
It is unfortunate that many garden-mak¬ 
ers have not yet learned that the time to 
cover the beds for Winter is after the 
ground has frozen, and not before. If a 
heavy mulch is applied while the ground 
is still soft, the plants may be badly in¬ 
jured, and in any event the mulch will 
make a most inviting Winter lodging place 
for the mice. When the mulch is ap¬ 
plied to ground which has been frozen, it 
is kept from alternately thawing and 
freezing again, which is what does the 
harm. Sometimes the action of the 
weather will heave plants out of the 
ground. This is often the case with 
strawberries and some perennial flowers. 
Then the wind 1 dries out the roots and 
the plants are killed. I have known 
plants in the flower garden to be dried out 
to such an extent that they lost their hold 
on the earth and were blown away, no 
trace of them being found when Spring 
came. It is a common mistake to put 
on too heavy a covering. Much depends, 
however, upon the kind of material used. 
Leaves, while easily obtained, have a ten¬ 
dency to become water-soaked and form 
an airtight quilt over the beds. For that 
reason leaves should be used rather spar¬ 
ingly. Hay is likely to become packed, 
but straw remains looser. One fruit 
grower in New Hampshire uses pine 
needles on his strawberry beds, and linds 
them satisfactory. He distributes them 
by means of a manure spreader, so that 
the work is done quickly. A good way to 
I enclose picture of the J. II. Hale 
peach (shown above) grown on our farm 
this year; 18 peaches filled the peck meas¬ 
ure. Six years ago we set six acres of 
apple orchard, with peaches as fillers; .T. 
II. Hale, Elberta, Hill’s Chili, Fitzgerald, 
Orosly. Late Crawford. Mountain Rose, 
Carman and Wagar. The row of Hill’s 
Chili bore heavily last year, the first 
peaches we had, and also were loaded 
this year. The Elberta, J. II. Hale, Fitz¬ 
gerald, Carman and Mountain Bose bore 
this year. We sold around 175 bu. at our 
door, and could have sold twice the num¬ 
ber. There seemed to be a great call for 
peaches. The row of Crawfords did not 
have a dozen peaches on the trees. The 
Wagars were also a failure. Hill’s Chili 
will stand more grief and bear fruit than 
any other of the varieties. Our peaches 
were all extra large except Hill’s Chili, 
protect plants, especially in the flower 
garden, is to use boughs from evergreen 
trees. They can be used alone, or have 
a light covering of leaves or straw to keep 
the latter from being blown off. They also 
serve a good purpose when fastened up¬ 
right around Rhododendrons and other 
tall-growing but rather tender plants. 
One reason, by the way, why Rhododen¬ 
drons die as frequently as they' do is be¬ 
cause they are planted in an ooen and 
sunny situation. The result is that they 
start into growth on bright, warm days 
in the Spring, and then are caught bv the 
hard freeze that follows. They will thrive 
much better if located so that the sun 
does not fall directly upon them in the 
middle of the day. 
Bulbs for Winter Blooming. —A few 
days ago I visited a florist who was pre¬ 
paring bulbs for Spring forcing. The 
bulbs, mostly tulips and hyacinths, were 
planted in pots just below the surface, 
and the pots were then set close together 
in a trench out of doors, the tops of the 
pots being perhaps two inches below the 
surface. Afterwards the pots were cov¬ 
ered with earth raised in a mound over 
them. When the weather gets colder hay 
or straw will be thrown over the mound 
to give further protection. In January 
the pots will be dug up. and undoubtedly 
will be found well filled with roots. It 
will be a simple matter after that to force 
the flowers in the greenhouse. Prac¬ 
tically the same method is to be followed 
when bulbs are forced at home. It is of 
vital importance to have a strong root 
growth, and the way to obtain it is to set 
the plants away in a cool, dark place for 
several weeks. It isn’t necessary to have 
a pit out of doors, however. The nots 
may be set on the cellar bottom and cov¬ 
ered with ashes or earth. The covering is 
important, because it keeps the bulbs 
from being forced out of the pots as the 
roots develop. It is practically impos¬ 
sible to get tulips into flower until after 
the first of the year. Hyacinths will come 
along a little faster. Paper White Nar¬ 
cissi will force much quicker, and these 
are really the best bulbs for people who 
are not used to handling flowers. They 
will come along well if simply set away 
in a dark, cool place until roots can be 
seen through the hole in the bottom of the 
pot. It isn’t necessary to cover the pots. 
They are also readily forced in bowls 
filled with pebbles and water, the pebbles 
holding the bulbs securely. They will 
start readily enough if set under a table 
in any cool room, but one, of course, 
which is above freezing. It isn’t neces¬ 
sary that potted Freesias be put into a 
cellar, as the tops and roots start at the 
same time. It is best to keep them out of 
the sun and in a rather cool place, how¬ 
ever, for several weeks. They start 
slowly, and often take two or three months 
for blooming. It is a mistake to introduce 
any of the started bulbs into a warm room 
or a sunny window as soon as they come 
from the cellar. Let them get acclima¬ 
tized, as it were, by setting them under 
a table or in a dark corner of a cool room 
for a few days before putting them into 
the window at all. Bulbs are such cheer¬ 
ful, happy-looking flowers that they 
ought to have a place in every farm home 
during the Winter months, and there are 
few flowers of any kind which are easier 
to grow. E. I. FARRINGTON. 
Obtaining Honey from Tree 
Can you give me the information 
needed in regard to how one could obtain 
which had too many on a tree. We made 
an exhibit at the Yates County Fair, re¬ 
ceived first on the J. II. Hale. The 
learned judges (?) two experts from the 
Geneva Experiment Station, Geneva, N. 
Y., threw out my Elbertas and claimed 
they were Hale; said the Elberta never 
grew so large, and that the nurseryman 
had “fooled” us. The beauty of it was 
the Hale peaches came from Missouri and 
the other varieties from New York. 
Yates Co., N. Y. L. c. williams. 
R. N.-Y.—We like to have such reports. 
As most of us remember, the .T. II. Hale 
was let loose upon the public with a 
great flourish. We have been curious to 
see if it would make good and prove real¬ 
ly superior to Elberta. It has been hard 
to obtain truthful reports. The picture 
shows the peaches in a peek measure for 
comparison. 
honey from bees in the trunk of a tree? 
We have watched the bees and know it is 
there, and we would like to get it. J. F. 
There is no way to remove honey from 
the trunk of a tree except by the use of 
an ax or saw. If the tree is of little 
value it may be cut down and the trunk 
opened up afterward, or if the storage 
cavity is within reach it may be possible 
to slab off enough of the trunk to give 
access to it without cutting the tree. A 
veil. and a pair of gloves should be used 
until the bees lose their desire to protect 
their stores; this they will do after the 
chopping and destruction of their home 
has well begun and they have filled them¬ 
selves with the contents of the broken 
combs. If a hole can be bored into the 
lower part of the honey cavity before 
beginning operations smoke may be blown 
in from a bee smoker to quiet the bees 
before they are further disturbed. As 
each bee tree will present its own prob¬ 
lems in the matter of cutting and getting 
at its stores, few detailed directions can 
be given. Your own ingenuity will have 
to he exercised upon the particular prob¬ 
lem in hand. Protect your hands and 
face with gloves aud veil and go after 
the honey with your ax. You may need 
a pail or two in which to take up the 
broken combs and oozing honey after you 
have removed its covering, but the family 
wash boiler is not likely to be called into 
service. The mere fact that bees are 
seen going into a hollow tree does not 
prove that there are great stores of honey 
there. Frequently the store are disap¬ 
pointingly small, and a tree of greater 
value than the honey has been destroyed 
to get the latter, m. b. d. 
Rendering Beeswax 
A few days ago I had occasion to try 
to melt some fragments of comb for the 
use of wax in grafting, but although I 
must have melted, or tried to melt, over 
December 3, 1921 
2 lbs, of the scraps, the result in wax 
was negligible, about 1% oz. About 85 
or 00 per cent of the comb was very 
dark in color and had not been in use for 
two years or more; the remainder was 
nearly clear wax in color, and had less of 
a honey smell when melting than the 
darker colored. I put about one-half the 
scraps in pail, two gallons, with about 
one gallon of water, and left it at the 
back of the stove for an hour, and then 
brought it in more direct line of heat un¬ 
til the water boiled. The resulting mess 
looked rather like a lot of hollow, brown 
beads floating in the water, with a slight 
waxy scum on top. The other half I 
tried the same way as I would render 
lard, in an open pan, with about two 
tablespoons of water, blit the net result 
was practically the same. Is there a 
commercial comb not made of wax? Do 
the bees ever make comb of other material 
than wax? What is the best method of 
melting the wax foi use? L. o. d. 
Wellington, B. C 
In rendering beeswax an understand¬ 
ing of the character of the material to be 
rendered is an aid to a thorough job. 
Old comb which has been in use for a 
considerable time becomes very dark in 
color, and besides the wax also contains 
the shed skirs (cocoons) of the developing 
bees, also some pollen and various bits 
of hairs from the bees’ bodies. All of 
this foreign matter acts as absorbents 
when the old comb is melted in water. 
This makes pressure necessary to get a 
high percent of the wax. There is about 
40 per cent of wax in old combs, but it 
requires a rather complete apparatus and 
considerable experience to recover this 
amount. However, for a small amount 
of material, fair results can be secured 
by crowding tightly into a coarse gunny 
sack the old comb, tying it and boiling it 
in about four times its volume of water. 
As boiling takes place prod the sack with 
the end of a board in order to work the 
liberated wax through the sack. When 
no more seems to escape, weight the sack 
to the bottom of the vessel and when cool 
the cake of wax will he found on top of 
the water. 
There i« a comb made of aluminum 
which is being advertised by a firm in 
Texas, but from all reports it is not prac¬ 
tical. 
As stated above, bees inadvertently get 
some pollen and hairs into the wax. The 
wax secured by the above process often 
has considerable sediment in it. If it is 
desired to bo rid of this, melt the wax in 
four times it« volume of water, place in 
a flaring receptacle, and place in a fire¬ 
less cooker or wrap with many blankets 
to keep the wax liquid as long as possible. 
When cool the sediment will have prac¬ 
tically settled to the bottom of the cake, 
and may be scraped off, e. g. c. 
Making Man Mosquito Proof 
It is a little late for mosquitoes for 
this year, but I have often wondered why 
some of the scientists did not discover a 
means of inoculation that would make 
animals and humans immune to the poi¬ 
son of fly and mosquito bites. I have 
heard of persons whose blood was sure 
death to mosquitoes. With such a person 
as a starter, some one ought to be able to 
find a serum that would do the work. 
Delaware. w. h. w. 
It is quite conceivable that the indi¬ 
vidual might be inoculated in such a way 
as to keep him from feeling pain when 
bitten by a mosquito. The principle em¬ 
ployed here would be similar to the one 
which seems to operate in the course of 
nature in territory where mosquitoes are 
very troublesome, and in the course of 
nature among men who handle honey 
bees. There is, without question, an im¬ 
munity developed to the swelling ordi¬ 
narily produced by a mosquito bite or by 
the sting of a honey-bee. So far, however, 
as my own experience has gone, this im¬ 
munity does not include an entire freedom 
from pain, although it does involve a dis¬ 
tinct minimizing. 
How any inoculation of the individual 
could prevent the mosquito from biting is 
difficult to see, because such an inocula¬ 
tion would have to change very decidedly 
and perhaps fundamentally the nature of 
the skin secretion and excretion. We 
have data to show that the mosquito is 
attracted to the human primarily by the 
decomposition products of protein secre¬ 
tions and only secondarily by the absolute 
end products of the decomposition of this 
and other types of skin products. In fact, 
to render man unattractive to the mos¬ 
quito by inoculation it would seem to be 
necessary to make apparently impractical 
changes in his skin secretions and excre¬ 
tions. 
Far more practical results are likely to 
come from treating the skin with some 
of the strong repellent essentials oils, 
such as citronella, or better still, clove 
oil. 
The best solution of all, of course, is 
to eliminate the mosquito breeding places, 
and thus make it unnecessary to interfere 
with the metabolism of the human body. 
THOMAS J. HEADLEE, 
New Jersey State Entomologist. 
Harry, who was eight years old, was 
hard at work hoeing the young onions, 
when the woman next door asked, “Harry, 
is your mother home?” Harry stopped 
and, leaning on his hoe, replied: “Mrs. S., 
you don’t think that I would be working 
like This if my mother wasn’t home.”— 
New York News. 
The J. H. Hale Peach 
