32 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Jan. 1 



floors below, entirely of cement, without a 

 supporting timber in the whole structure, or 

 any thing that can burn and let the building 

 down in case a fire should start inside. 



It looks to me just now as if the chestnuts 

 were not only a substitute for the meat I 

 have been in the habit of using, but perhaps 

 better than meat — yes, a good deal better; 

 and this comes exactly in line with what 

 Terry has been trying to teach — that the va- 

 rious nuts that can now be purchased in the 

 market may supply the elements that make 

 up a balanced ration without using any meat 

 at all. If you can enjoy them as much as I 

 do you can certainly thank God for the nuts; 

 and it looks as if there might be several rea- 

 sons for so doing, instead of one. 



Now, friends, there are fierce passions that 

 assail everyone of us — more fierce by far 

 than the appetite for something to eat or 

 drink; and, what is of equal importance (I 

 do not know but I should say of more impor- 

 tance) we should be evenly balanced and 

 well spiritually as well as physically. The 

 loving Father has laid the responsibility on 

 all of us to hold these passions m check; and 

 we can not be at all worthy of being called a 

 creation in his own image unless we do ex- 

 ercise this self-control. Sometimes we are 

 inclined to think it is "pretty tough" to be 

 obliged to put up with our environments 

 when others have so many things, and seem 

 to do as they please. But remember the 

 promise, "He that is faithful in few things 

 shall be made ruler over many things. '\» It 

 may seem to you that your life is rather 

 monotonous, and that you are having a hard 

 time of it. But do not be in a hurry. Study 

 God's holy word; come to him often and tell 

 him your troubles, and ask him to guide 

 your footsteps, and you will surely have 

 your reward. 



TEMPERANCE. 



There are two particular things I am very 

 much in sympathy with — the present war 

 against the liquor-traffic and the speedy ' ' ex- 

 pose "of all swindles and humbugs on an 

 honest and unsuspecting public. Now let 

 me explain that, while I am heart and soul 

 in favor of prohibition, I am not at present a 

 member of the political Prohibition party. 

 God seems to have called me, at least just 

 now, toward pushing and helping the Anti- 

 saloon League. Nevertheless, I wish every 

 one of you would send for a sample copy, if 

 nothing more, of the National Prohibitionist 

 (of Chicago) and see what it is doing to show 

 up the outrageous humbugs and frauds of 

 the liquor people of the present time. I wish 

 especially you could all see the "cold-chisel- 

 ed facts " furnished by the department at 

 Washington, D. C, as given in the Prohibi- 

 tionist of Nov. 25th. Editor Ferguson may 

 not always be exactly right; but he is tremen- 

 dously correct this time, and may God be 

 praised that the manufacture of liquors is fall- 

 ing off. 



HIGH-PRESSURE 

 GARDENING 



By A. I. Root 



THE WONDERBERRY, AGAIN; A LETTER FROM JOHN 

 LEWIS CHILDS. 



Mr. A. J. Root: — I notice in your issue for Nov. 15 

 that you say editorially that the wonderberry was not 

 created by Mr. Burbank, and that it was already known 

 as the " garden huckleberry." I do not suppose you 

 wish to make any misstatements, and will, therefore, 

 be glad to be corrected; and I would say that Mr. Bur- 

 bank did create the wonderberry, which is a hybrid 

 between two species of Solarium. I do not think any- 

 body doubts that. It is entirely different from the gar- 

 den huckleberry or the wild nightshade, which you 

 must know if you have grown the two and compared 

 them. It had never been grown anywhere before Mr. 

 Burbank originated it, and I introduced it last year, 

 notwithstanding all reports to the contrary. 



I have run down every claim from any part of the 

 country that has been made that the wonderberry was 

 growing there wild or otherwise, and I found in every 

 case that it was an entirely different plant. 



My reputation as a seedsman is worth more than any 

 thing I could make out of the wonderberry or a dozen 

 novelties like it; and it is not idle talk when I tell you 

 positively from my own knowledge that the wonder- 

 berry is a new, distinct, and very valuable fruit. 



John Lewis Childs. 



Floral Park, N. Y., Nov. 29, 1909. 



We are certainly glad to get and give place 

 to the above letter; but I would beg leave to « 

 suggest that this matter is not to be settled ■ 

 by Dr. Britton, the botanical gardens, nor ■ 

 even Dr. Galloway (of the Bureau of Plant 

 Industry of the United States), but by the 

 great public who have purchased seeds and 

 grown the plants. In answer to our call, 

 and that of the Rural New-Yorker, great ■ 

 numbers of reports have come in, and ber- ■ 

 ries and plants have been mailed us grown ■ 

 from the seeds purchased of Childs. Now, 

 please note. These berries and plants from 

 the wonderberry seeds have produced, I might 

 almost say, quite a variety of plants and ber- 

 ries — some blue, some black, some large, 

 some small, etc., all the way from the wild 

 nightshade to the garden huckleberry. See 

 Galloway's letter, already given in Glean- 

 ings, p. 585, Sept. 15. Childs says in his let- 

 ter given above, "It has never been grown 

 anywhere before;" but what does the great 

 public say (through Gleanings and the 

 Rural), from north, south, east, and west? 

 Again, Childs says, "Burbank originated it," 

 and both Childs and Burbank advertised it 

 as a new thing; but has this same great public 

 agreed that it was not known before? 



At least some of the seeds Childs sent out 

 produced the old well-known garden huckle- 

 berry. 



If the general verdict of the great public 

 at large who have purchased seeds of the 

 wonderberry of friend Childs is that they 

 have found it a new fruit not known to them 

 before, I humbly beg pardon of both Childs 

 and Burbank. 



I know how customary it is for seedsmen 

 introducing novelties to exaggerate, and, 

 perhaps, thoughtlessly misrepresent. May 

 God help me that, after my past years of ex- 

 perience, / may be more careful in every 

 way lest I use extravagant expressions. 



