1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



275 



it just enough to give it a good flavor; then wt 

 grind it in a hand mill and cook it in a double boil- 

 the same as you would cook oatmeal. It is better 

 than any food you can buy, besides being so much 

 cheaper. I have tried to get my neighbors to use it. 

 They all like it better than any thing else of the 

 kind. Some have used it for awhile, but do not fol- 

 low it up, because it is so much easier to buy some- 

 thing already prepared. This wheat prepared in 

 this way is too hard to eat without cooking. I 

 should like to have something of the kind I could 

 eat dr.v; and one object in writing this letter is to 

 ask you to have your people manufacture a machine 

 (to use by hand) to crush wheat like the Pettijohn 

 breakfast food. A pair of smooth foundation-rollers 

 with a hopper on top to hold the wheat and let it 

 run down on the rollers would do the work. The 

 wheat could be soaked so it would crush easily, 

 and dr.v after it has been run through the mill. If 

 you would get up such a mill you could sell hundreds 

 of them. It always seemed foolish to me for farmers 

 to sell wheat for two cents a pound and then buy it 

 back at ten to fifteen. 



I ana what you might call an old-timer. I started 

 in the bee business about the time you did; read 

 your writings in the American Bee Journal before you 

 started (tLkanings, and then took that when you 

 first started it, and have taken it much of the time 

 since. I got one of the first extractors you sent out. 

 and 1 have it yet, but do not use it, I sold you 

 Quite a lot of bees by the pound one year in the 70's, 

 and some queens too I think. I contemplate going 

 down to Florida next fall and buy little place, and 

 go every winter as you do. This winter is pretty 

 hard here in Northern Michigan. The snow Is over 

 two feet deep, and keeps blowing in the roads so the 

 track is built up three to four feet high. 



Freesoil, Mich., Feb. 23. L. D. Allen. 



I heartily agree with friend Allen, and find 

 scorched ground or crushed wheat more 

 wholesome and more delicious than any 

 breakfast food or cereal on the market. 

 After the wdieat grains are steamed or boiled 

 a little, only a little force is required to crush 

 them, so they will be about the same thing 

 as the Pettijohn rolled wheat in the market. 

 Will our folks in Medina let us know how 

 cheaply such a pair of metal rolls can be 

 gotten up? 



High-pressure Gardening 



By A. I. Root 



HIGH-PBESSURE GARDENING, ETC.. IN 

 FLORIDA IN MARCH. 



With the good prices during the past win- 

 ter, celery has been the great money-mak- 

 ing crop, and, indeed, I might say during 

 the past two winters. The celery industry 

 has been crowding more and more into this 

 part of the State, for two reasons — first, the 

 frosts that we have are lighter because we are 

 so far south, and also because of our nearness 

 to the warm waters of the Gulf; secondly, 

 because of the wonderful flow of artesian 

 water in almost every part of Manatee Coun- 

 ty. Now, when I tell you what is being 

 done here do not imagine every one can do 

 it. Almost all the time I get letters asking 

 if the writer can come here and make a liv- 

 ing; and quite a few ask if it is true that a 

 man can get rich on ten acres, etc. Any 

 one of fair ability should be able to make "a 

 living here; and there are a few who really 

 do get to be fairly well off on ten acres or 

 less. My neighbor Rood is. or perhaps was. 



an educated lawyer; but he likes gardening 

 and bees so well he has given up his office 

 in town and become a farmer. Well, 3fr. 

 Rood seems to make every thing pay that 

 he touches. When he got the celery fever 

 a year ago I cautioned him about droi)ping 

 (or at least partly) his strawberry and let- 

 tuce that were j)aying so well, and ventur- 

 ing on something he had never tried. Rut 

 this is what he did: He went all over this 

 region, used his eyes and ears, and asked 

 (questions; read the books and i)apers, and 

 finally made a success the very first time 

 trying. He has promised to give (tLEAN- 

 INGS some figures in regard to what he has 

 done and what it cost; but he is such an ex- 

 ceedingly busy man I fear he won't get 

 around to it. On his best ground the crop 

 sold for something like at the rate of SlBoO 

 per acre. 



A hive of bees on the scales gathered last 

 Sunday, March 20, 9X lbs. of orange-blos- 

 som honey, and this one hive has stored al- 

 ready over 100 lbs. of this beautiful white 

 honey, almost if not quite equal in looks 

 and taste to any honey anywhere. Xow. if 

 I should give the above, and nothing more, 

 very likely a great lot of you would "swarm" 

 down here with your bees. The truth is, 

 this is one of his best colonies, built up three 

 stories high. Another truth is, this is al- 

 most the first good flow of orange honey for 

 about three years, and the yield is probably 

 confined mostly to localities l^elow the dan- 

 gerous frost-line. 



Even in fliis county you see deserted 

 orange-groves, gardens, etc., where a lot of 

 money has at some time been expended and 

 then given up. A few days ago I said to 

 Mr. Rood: 



"Why doesn't this man go around among 

 his neighbors and see how they do things 

 instead of trying to farm and grow the same 

 (:'ro])s he did up north?" 



He replied: "Well, I declare, I don't know. 

 He just stays right here at home, and doesn't 

 go anywhere or see any thing. His land is 

 just about as good as mine, but he hasn't 

 yet even ditched it to get the water off." 



I have spoken several times of our mul- 

 berries. Two years ago they were little trees 

 perhaps a yard high. Now they are great 

 spreading trees as large as api:)le-trees in the 

 North, and are loaded with great luscious 

 fruit. After breakfast and after dinner I de- 

 vour them by the quart. They are so dead 

 ripe that when a little breeze comes, they 

 drop all over the ground; but there are more 

 of them than 25 hungry Leghorn hens can 

 take care of. They are so large you would 

 say a common hen could never swallow one; 

 but they manage to "make it," probably 

 because they have practiced on oat-stalks 15 

 inches long. When a neighbor calls we in- 

 vite him out to see the mulberries; and it's 

 just fun to see each one utter exclamations 

 of surprise at their size, abundance, and 

 beauty, and, still more, when they taste 

 one. We have now only six trees, but we 

 are planting them in each one of our eight 

 poultry-yards. If you want cuttings or 



