1893 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



61 



must beware of using them to excess. During 

 the eighteen weeks that I lived almost entirely 

 on lean beef, I became so tired of it that I ate 

 just enough to give me strength to do my out- 

 door work and no more. It has many times 

 occurred to me that moderate eating, even of 

 other kinds of food, might answer almost as 

 well. There is a trouble, however. The juices 

 of fruits and most vegetables ferment quite 

 rapidly. Vou can not get up a fermentation 

 with just lean meat and water. There has got 

 to be some sugar, or something containing 

 sugar. While with Dr. Salisbury I was per- 

 mitted to drink coffee without a particle of 

 sugar or milk in it. Either one would start 

 fermentation, or keep that beer-plant growing, 

 to express it in another way. He said I might 

 drink new milk, right from the cow; but I tried 

 it and did not like it. I thought it would do 

 well enough for babies, but I did not propose to 

 be a baby. Does it begin to occur to you that 

 hot tea and coffee, with plenty of milk and 

 sugar, are just about the best things in this 

 world to feed a beer-plant?* I use the word 

 " plant " in two senses. A boy heard some men 

 talking about an "electric plant" recently. 

 He asked his father what kind of fruit grew on 

 electric plants. The reply was, "'currents'" 

 (currants). Now. many of us have — not an 

 electric plant, but a beer-plant inside of our 

 bodies. It is sometimes a pretty big plant, too, 

 I am inclined to think, for it has been years in 

 getting under way. It was probably started by 

 eating too much: and I think I may say right 

 here, without making a mistake, " Thus saith 

 the Lord. " Eat less.' " 



I have been getting some good points from a 

 dentist lately. He dropped a remark, some- 

 thing to the effect that many people are dys- 

 peptic because their teeth are too poor to chew 

 their food properly. Is it not better to pay a 

 dentist's bill and be well, than be sick and pay 

 a doctor's bill too? In making nice maple 

 syrup, it has been recently discovered the one 

 ijreat secret of success consi-ts in boiling the 

 sap just as soon as possible after it runs out of 

 the tree. Fermentation commences more or 

 less, even in cool weather, within an hour or two 

 after the tree yields its saccharine treasure. All 

 agree to this. Well, after we take the food 

 into the stomach, if we are inclined to dyspep- 

 sia, it is of the utmost importance that the 

 gastric juice proceed to digest it befonMt can 

 ferment in ihe least. If the machinery is all in 

 trim, nature does the work. Hut. my dear 

 friend, the food should be tliorouulily masticate 

 ed. It should be chewed up and mixed with 

 the saliva of the mouth until it is a sorr, of 

 creamy paste. If you want to see how quickly 

 the digestion of even a dyspeptic can work, if it 

 has the right material, just have some graham 

 gems for breakfast, then eat slowly and chew 

 every mouthful until it is like cream, before 

 you swallow it. The gastric jnice will then 

 take hold and make food and sti'ength for your 

 disordered nerves, in no time. It is just like 

 taking the maple syrup and boiling it before it 

 can spoil. Just try it and see. Many kinds of 



*The following- fact was g-iven me by a former 

 president of tlie Cleveland & Pittsburg: Kailrond. 

 He drank his coffee without either sugar or milk, 

 and g-ave tliis as an explanation: " When I was a 

 youiis mail I liad a queer sort t)f lit'ad.iclie tliat at 

 times disabled nie from woi'k. The doctors tried 

 different reniedie--, witliout avail. PMnally some 

 one said. ' Stop using- sugar and milk in your coffee." 

 I told liim that it w;is the suf^ar and milk mostly 

 that I di'aiik it fof. and that I would almost as soon 

 g-ive up the cott'ce eiiiirely. I ti-ied it, however, and 

 ray headaclies disappeared, and even to this daj' I 

 can not drink coffee well sug-ared and creamed, as I 

 used to have it, witliout a reciu-rencc of tiiose same 

 headaches." 



food vvill answer just as well as the gems; but 

 I think they show the truth of what I am try- 

 ing to teach, the plainest of any thing. While 

 in Portland, Oregon, last winter, in such a 

 fearfully disoi"dered state, with nervous fever 

 and indigestion, that high-priced doctor, you 

 remembei", cut off grapes, oi"anges, lemonade, 

 and every thing of that sort, with a sharp veto. 

 He said. " Not even a bit of meat nor any solid 

 food." When I looked up at him appealingly 

 he said, '"My friend, you just drink for the 



F resent— straight milk: not another thing until 

 see you."' I did not crave it, and I did not 

 drink very much of it; but it began at once to 

 fetch me out of my troubles. Dr. Salisbury 

 recommended new milk quite vehemently, years 

 ago. but I thought I could not drink it. Well, 

 within the last few days I tind I can drink it. 

 Now listen: The milk right from the cowls 

 like the maple sap when it first comes from the 

 tree. There is no fermentation about it: and 

 the quicker you get the milk from the cow. and 

 into your stomach, the quicker can the gastric 

 juice take hold of it; and. better still, if you 

 are dyspeptic. Why. just now I love new milk, 

 just as it comes from the cowl I suspect cows 

 will be my next Held of investigation. Every 

 family should have a row. Please notice how 

 long I have been in learning this thing. Why. 

 it took me 20 years to learn that I must have 

 sleep more than once in 24 hours. Then it took 

 me almost ?5 years to be taught that I could 

 drink new milk, and would like it. if I only got 

 in the habit of drinking it. Whyl one so stupid 

 and slow, and dull of understanding, does not 

 deserve good health. 



I am now going to say someihing that may 

 not be in the Pible, and yet it in(ty be there, in 

 a little different wording, after all. It is this: 

 Thus saith the Lord. '" When you feel sick or 

 run down, or out of sorts, do not try beer or 

 alcoholic tonics or health invigorators: but at 

 least make a good thorough trial of new milk, 

 just as it comes from the cow." Like spring 

 water from the hills, it is a beverage of (iod's 

 own furnishing; and it contains just exactly 

 the elements that are needed for the nutrition 

 of a weak stomach, better than any thing that 

 man has been able to fabricate, for it is (rod's 

 own gift, provided by his merciful love and 

 providence, for a sick and suffering world. 

 When you eat your graham gems, chew them 

 up to a creamy mixtiu'e, and then take; a sup of 

 new milk. If two teacupfuls distress you. take 

 one cupful, a little at a time, while you fire 

 chewing your food. I think you can take two 

 cupfuls or more after a while. Vou won't be 

 likely to take too much. A word more about 

 chewing your food tine. For some time back I 

 have noticed that I can not eat apples without 

 their giving me much distress. I said some- 

 thing of the kind to the dentist. He told me 

 that, if I would take a knife and scrape the 

 apple up very fin(\ as we sometimes do for 

 babies, it would not distress me, and I found it 

 triH'. On the same principle, one can eat a 

 baked apple when' he can not eat raw apples. 

 But bakid apples an- u. little more troubh^ than 

 nice appl(5 sauce. Select some apples that will 

 cook up very tine: leave out the sugar, and you 

 can eat quite a dishful with your gems and 

 new milk, and not fet-l disti"essed. 



It is of the utmost importance that a dyspep- 

 tic have plenty of sleep. This ""beer-plant"' 

 will l)e very apt to keep you awake nishts. It 

 is very di'sirable to have the w ork of digesting 

 your food done before you go to bed : therefore 

 you should have an early supper. If five o'clock 

 does not answer, have your supper at four: or. 

 better still, do not have any supper at all. If 

 you can have your dinner at two or one. it will 

 be very much bcttei-. He jiatient. and wait 



