482 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 15. 



coagulate, it will be taken up by the absorbents, 

 and conveyed directly to tiie blood without 

 going through the process of digestion. I have 

 known persons very near fainting, and persons 

 very weak, to receive great benefit from using 

 milk prepared as above. It must be taken as 

 hot as possible: and while at first it does not 

 taste as good as milk without water, in a short 

 time one acquires a decided relish for it. 



For gems of entire- wheat flour, take one pint 

 of new milk, one pint of entire-wheat flour; 

 stir together, and add one well-beaten egg. It 

 can be baked in any kind of gem-pans. I use 

 the deep iron ones, and have them very hot 

 before filling; do not use any salt nor baking- 

 powder. They are as light as sponge cake, and 

 will not hurt the little folks. The entire-wheat 

 flour makes very nice gems, made as you do 

 graham, but I use three cups of flour, two cups 

 of cold water, one-half cup of sweet milk, no 

 salt, and use the small deep iron pans. Heat 

 very hot on top of the stove; fill about half full, 

 and have the oven very hot; bake ten minutes 

 on the top grate, then thirty minutes on the 

 bottom of the oven. They will not fall when 

 cold if you get them just right, but are nice 

 and light. It makes splendid raised bread also. 

 The bread must not be kneaded more than can 

 be helped to put the loaves in shape. I use half 

 milk and half water, but raise the bread once 

 and have the dough soft. I think one-third 

 fine flour is better for the raised bread. I hope 

 you will try the entire-wheat flour, and let us 

 know whether you find it as good as every one 

 does who has tried it in this partof the country. 



I have written this to you because I know 

 that fine flour is largely to blame for the poor 

 health of our people, and because you can do 

 and are doing much to help the readers of 

 Gleanings, by your health-talks, to a better 

 way of living. 



The seeds we bought of you last fall were the 

 best we ever planted. They all came up, every 

 seed, I think. We have bought seed of a good 

 many Eastern seedsmen, but never found any 

 as good as yours proved to be. 



Mrs. John Collins. 



Elsinore, Cal., April 39. 



[My good friend, we used entire-wheat flour 

 for several years. It is mentioned in Glean- 

 ings, and at one time there was quite a trade 

 in it. We had it shipped in ten-barrel lots from 

 Chicago. The reason why we gave it up was 

 because the proprietor sold out, and his suc- 

 cessor finally gave up the business, if I remem- 

 ber correctly. Another thing, it did not keep 

 like common flour. The latter is better when it 

 is old; but for some reason which I can not 

 understand, entire-wheat flour spoiled by being 

 kept several months, and this gave it a backset. 

 Now, if you can tell us of a miller, or anybody 

 else, who will furnish us with entire-wheat 

 flour, prepared in such a manner that it will 

 not sp6il, say under a year, we shall be under 

 great obligations to you. Yes, there was an- 

 other objection. A good many people who 

 thought at first it was the nicest thing in the 

 world, got tired of it after a time, and went 

 back to common flour and graham. 



Many thanks for your kind words; but I am 

 afraid you give me more credit than I deserve 

 in regard to seeds. A great part of the seeds 

 we sell are bought of eastern dealers. How- 

 ever, we are careful of whom we buy; and 

 about as soon as we make a purchase we plant 

 some of the seed, either in the greenhouse pr 

 outdoors; and in this way we manage to have 

 our seed generally reliable. I tell you, though, 

 my good friend, it takes a deal of' watching and 

 care, and, a good many times, much exhorta- 

 tion to the clerks who have our seed depart- 



ment in charge. There are more kinks, and 

 chances of loss, and mistakes, in the seed-busi- 

 ness, than one would believe who "' hadn't been 

 there." 



I am glad to hear what you say about milk. 

 The more experience I have with it, the more I 

 do believe it is the one stimulus, if milk can be 

 called a stimulus, prepared by God's own hand 

 for his children. A few days ago, when it 

 rained almost three days without stopping a 

 "minute" (in spite of the Weather Bureau), 

 some of our While Wonder chickens were out 

 in the rye; and before we knew it they were 

 stiff and cold. They were not quite dead, how- 

 ever, but I think they would have been had not 

 the writer got around and prescribed warm 

 milk in doses of a drop at a time, repeated 

 often. They were so far gone that they did 

 not seem to want it; but I insisted they must 

 have it, whether or no. In an hour or two 

 Mrs. Root reported that they were " able to sit 

 up and talk." Of course, the talk was rather 

 feeble, and Huber and Carrie were inclined to 

 poke fun at mamma because she talked about 

 chickens "sitting up." We took their incon- 

 siderate mother and shut her up in the middle 

 of the tool-house, where the ground was as dry 

 as a chip, in spite of the pouring wetness out- 

 side. Here they weathered the storms as 

 " chirpy " as could be. Say ! can't some of you 

 poultry-men give us a race of mother-hens that 

 will not lead their chicks right oiT through the 

 wet grass when it I'ains both day and night? 

 I declare! I almost forgot that we were talking 

 about milk as a stimulus; and here I am. away 

 off in the chicken-business — almost as bad as 

 the silly mother who led her chicks oft' through 

 the wet rye. J 



Heads of Grain 



FROM DIFFERENT FIELDS. 



A KIND WORD FROM A. E. MANUM. 



I am very much interested in your articles on 

 gardening and fruit culture. They have been 

 of much benefit to me. I should enjoy a visit to 

 the Home of the Honey-bee, and may be I shall 

 some of these fine days, and then call on friend 

 Terry, and continue on west, and tickle that 

 doctor's nose with some of his " Stray Straws." 



We are having a very backward spring here. 

 To-day my bees brought in the first pollen of 

 the season, and hardly a showing at that. I 

 hear that bees have wintered very poorly in 

 this county. My own loss is greater than ever 

 before, being 14|'', with about 1% more that are 

 light, and may dwindle yet. 



Bristol, Vt. A. E. Manum. 



A SUGGESTION FOR PREVENTING AFTER- 

 SWARMS. 



Would it not be a safe and certain plan of 

 preventing after-swarms to place the parent 

 colony on lop of the supers on the swarm, with 

 a Ijee-escape between super and parent colony, 

 so that every bee leaving it would be added to 

 the swarm, removing parent colony on the 8tb 

 day? 



Should the parent colony be left till a queen 

 was hatched, would she be allowed to pass out 

 through the colony below to mate — the queen- 

 excluder being removed, of course? 



Willmar, Minn. Helge Nelson. 



[The plan might work very satisfactorily, but 

 we would suggest destroying all cells, save a 

 few choice ones, if the old queen is a good one, 

 and letting said cells hatch in nuclei for the 



