Dec. 5, 1901. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



777 



ass a goolofiist wouUi make of himself trying to mal<i' every- 

 body use the term " roclv '' preeisely as he uses it 1 Call out 

 the police and the ambulaiici>. Dear Boss; I'm going to throw 

 the imposinir stone ! 



In some things the ric-h man has more riffhts than tlie 

 poor man : and the learned man has more rights tlian the un- 

 learned. That may sound shocking to some, but 1 will grant 

 it freely. But— the right to have a language to exjiress his 

 ideas — a language in which he can express his i<leas, without 

 distress, and without annoyance, and without beini; calh'd a 

 fool — that does not by any means go with the above. That's 

 one of the inalienable rights of man. like --life, liberty, etc.'" 

 When it comes to that, the college professor is only 1 divided 

 by 1UO,OUO,000— same as all the rest of us. He can take his 

 chances with the language as the millions make it: or he can 

 have a private dialect for hi? own little company — either one ; 

 but he can't impose his little dialect on the millions — too big a 

 dog for so small a tail to wag. It would, indeed, be nice if 

 everybody knew everything, and used terms in accordance 

 with his knowledge: but I honestly think it might be well to 

 accept less for awhile. And possibly the command to "Conde- 

 scend to men of low estate'' may reach even to the campus 

 where hats are seen with mortar-board tops. Pages 730 and 

 698. 



UNCAPPING AND RENDERING. 



Quite an idea, that of J. H. Hall's — have the basket of the 

 uucapping-can fit the solar wax-extractor also, and render the 

 wax at once. But I, for one. hardly believe that shadinj;: the 

 lower dish will prevent the sun from spoilinu- the honey. 

 Page 6 HO. 



FLOWER.S INTOXICATING -VND HOLDING BEES. 



When only few and rare plants were accused of holdinu- 

 bees by some sort of intoxicant the case sounded strono-cr 

 than it does now that the attempt is made to accuse the bass- 

 wood of the same thing. " Don't believe fish-story, too. now,"' 

 is the frame our minds incline to take. Without much assur- 

 ance, I rather think that all that the visible facts show is that 

 bees will sometimes ••board around'' among the flowers. So 

 diiing, they save the honey which would be used if they took 

 their meals at home. This, of course, when there is nothing 

 on the range from which a load can be secured. If it is found 

 that some bees spree it while others are brinu:ln<j' loads rapidly, 

 that. I suppose, would be fatal to my suggestion. There is no 

 intoxicant — nothing but smell — when they spend hours at the 

 screens of the honey-house. May it not be that flowers hold 

 them by smell alone, sometimes '.' Page 6H 1 . 



^ ^ The Home Circle. ^ 



Conducted bij Prof. fl. J. Gook, Glaremont, Calif. 



THE COW. 



Is any home circle quite complete without the cow ? I 

 would never consent to be without this important adjunct 

 in every home. In this day of food adulteration it is hard 

 to know just what we are eating', but if we have our own 

 cow, and do our own milking, we may be pretty sure on this 

 point. 



We are very fond of milk at our house, and none of us 

 complain if a good proportion is richest cream. I take 

 great pleasure in my glass or bowl of milk, and, I believe, 

 as much in seeing the other members of the family as they 

 quaff this pure and unobjectionable beverage. We are cer- 

 tain that in milk there are no impurities. In it, too, we get 

 perhaps as balanced a ration as we can obtain anywhere. 

 It is Nature's own concoction. We never grew so fast as 

 when in our babyhood. Then milk was our exclusive diet. 

 I suppose in milk we have just about the right amount of 

 sugar which has no taint of glucose in it ; just the proper 

 proportion of fat, which is certainly one of the most appe- 

 tizing and wholesome of all the varieties of oleaginous 

 material : and in the caseine or cheese of the milk we have 

 enough and most wholesome albuminoid. 



I also like to take care of my own cow and to do my own 

 milking. So many people are content to keep their cows 

 covered with tilth, and are so scrupulously careful not to 

 brush or clean them as they commence to draw the milk, 

 that I hnd it not at all agreeable to patronize the milkman. 



My cow must be as neat and clean as my driving horse, and 

 I would not think of commencing to milk until the cow was 

 absolutely clean in all the region about the udder. A pri- 

 vate dairyman, whom I know, gets the creamery price for 

 his butter. When asked why, at one of our Farmers' Insti- 

 tutes, he said, "I never milk without thoroughly brushing, 

 and, if necessary at all, thoroughly washing the cows, all 

 about the udders." Neither would I have any one milk my 

 cow who would wet the teats before or during the milking. 

 Wet milking and neatness never ride in the same carriage. 

 We have just secured a new cow. Five of us — nearest 

 neighbors — share in the milk. Four families own the cow 

 and share equally the expense and the profit. As I have 

 said before, I think such partnership among nearest neigh- 

 bors tends to harmony, and has more to recommend it than 

 simple economy. Our new cow gives «s nearly 20 quarts of 

 milk a day. She does a good lot of eating. I like to see 

 her eat. Of course, she must eat or she could not give us 

 so liberally of her very substance. Where do we have a 

 better example of real, personal sacrifice than we see in 

 the cow ? I fancy our cow has a sort of a benignant look 

 in her very eyes. Mrs. Cook remarked only a few minutes 

 ago, " How kindly our cow looks at us ; and what a pretty 

 face she has.'' I bethought me, " W^hy not ? If any one 

 has earned a right to look kindly it is surely one who gives 

 herself, as does our cow, to add to the pleasure and happi- 

 ness of others." 



Our cow has been giving milk only a few days. The 

 springing into action of the great milk-glands has made 

 the udder tender, so that as I draw the milk the parts are 

 irritated, and she raises her foot, often many times, when I 

 am milking, and not always in gentlest fashion. There 

 are two ways to meet this not wholly agreeable condition 

 of things. I could use my boot or stool, and possibly she 

 might be cowed into quietness. No doubt in doing this, 

 even though I did succeed in quieting her, I should do it at 

 the sacrifice of milk. Rough treatment or unkind words 

 and a full flow of milk never go together. Many times, 

 generally, I think I would fail to check the uneasiness, and 

 if my cow was of nervous temperment, it would very likely 

 ruin her. 



The other course is to milk very gently, and perhaps 

 very slowly, and thus not hurt even the sensitive milk- 

 glands. I hardly need say that this is the way that I have 

 proceeded, and I am very happy to state that it has worked 

 like a charm. lam sure, too, that I am getting the full 

 yield of milk, and just as sure that I am in no danger of 

 ruining the cow. 



I wonder if we all realize that we are never violent with 

 our animals, especially with our cows, except at a great 

 loss. We hardly realize how delicately sensitive our cows 

 are to any disturbance. A large dairyman told ine a few 

 days since that he never changed his cows from one pasture 

 to another without losing several pails of milk : and this 

 even though he put them in a better pasture. The disturb- 

 ance attending the change was what reduced the milk flow. 

 The dog, the milk-stool, and the boot too often bring the 

 same result. 



Apropos to the above is the too common habit of pound- 

 ing a cow because she does not " give down " her milk. 

 The philosophy of yielding or withholding the milk is this : 

 The milk is in very numerous small tubes, which are thickly 

 set in muscular tissue. These small muscles are of the un- 

 striated type, and are entirely beyond the control of the 

 will. Thus, we are absolutely sure that the cow has no 

 direct control of the matter. Rough treatment, which will 

 produce a nervous shock, may effect to press the milk down 

 into the teats. It will just as likely act the other way, and 

 we have made a bad matter worse, and done a beastly, 

 mean thing. In all such cases stooling or kicking are 

 strictly in order ; but the cow should not be the recipient. 



CATS AND DOGS. 



I don't mean cats and dogs in the sense of " scraps '' in 

 the home. Oh : that parents who suffer ill-will, fault-find- 

 ing, family-jars to invade the sacred precincts of the home 

 could realize their terrible mistake I They are bequeathing 

 a frightful legacy to the precious ones entrusted to their 

 care. Divorce has always seemed to me one of the blackest 

 pages in our social history. Separation between the chief 

 partners of the home circle is nearly as bad. Yet, I quite 

 agree with Mrs. Wells, in the October North American 

 Review. " The daily spectacle of a discordant home is worse 

 for the child than the known separation of its parents." 

 Cats and dogs, then, as used to designate fierce word-bat- 

 tles, where word-tights have no business, is not my theme— 

 I mean real cats and dogs. 



