24 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 1. 



DOCTORING WITHOUT MEDICINE; MORE 

 ABOUT ZWIEBACK. 



From the inquiries rei-ejved, I feel sure many 

 of the frieuds will b(^ iiiieresied in this wonder- 

 ful new health-food for invalids. One comfort- 

 ing thing aboui it is, it is notonly cheaper than 

 medicine and doctors, but is cheaper, at the 

 present low price of wheat, than almost any 

 thing else one can live upon. Get the very best 

 quality of wheat you can find. If you think 

 the wheat from Minnesota is superior to that 

 in yourown locality, getsome Minnesota wheat. 

 Have it cleaned in tiie most approved manner. 

 Remove not only ail foreign seeds, but all 

 shrunken or broken grains. An expert miller 

 can do it for you. or perhaps add the finishing 

 touch to the cleaning. I do not know how 

 many mills for making whole- wheat flour there 

 are in the couniry. The apparatus is very 

 simple. I have visited the one within four or 

 five miles of u-. and I have asked our miller to 

 tell me something about it. Here i.s his letter: 



Mr. A. I. Root;— The wheat is first thoroug-hly 

 cleaned and scoured, and then ground on a buhr 

 mill with a very smooth face, then bolted on a cen- 

 trlf ug-al reel manufactured by myself. It is clothed 

 with silk clotli. The process is very slow, as it Is 

 necessary to g-cit all the gluten off the bran; and by 

 grinding: too fast you are unable to do this. The 

 gluten is the most essential part of the whole-wheat 

 flour. The buhr mill I am usitiA-' is a 20-inch mill 

 manufactured by Nordyke & Mariuon Manufactur- 

 ing Co., Indianapolis. Ind. 



If there is any thing more you wish to know I 

 should be glad to give you any information I can. 



Abbeyvllle, O., Nov. 29. W. B. McKenney. 



In regard to the price of the mill, he has 

 since written as follows: 



I am unable to give prices on machinery for man- 

 ufacturing whole-wheat flour, but I should think 

 $300 would purchase all the machinery necessary. 



Abbeyville, O., Dec. 3. W. B. McKenney. 



Several have informed me that they have 

 made excellent whole- wheat flour by grinding 

 it fine in one of the large sized coffee mills, or 

 even in the Wilson bone-mills which we offer 

 for sale. That produced by the writer of the 

 above letters is mostly sold in 10 lb. sacks. A 

 10- pound sack costs us 35 cts. It is retailed by 

 the grocers generally at 30 cts. I believe it is 

 considered better to buy a little at a time, and 

 often. Ordinary fine wheat flour can be kept 

 several months, or a year; and, in fact, a good 

 many people buy their year's supply at one 

 time; and the good housewife, when she gets 

 acquainted with a certain brand of flour, knows 

 iust what fo calculate upon for a whole year. 

 Well, for some r(^ason I can not explain, the 

 whole-wheat flour does not keep like the other. 

 Friend McKenney advises all his patrons to 

 make bread from the whole-wheat flour exactly 

 as you would make nice white bread. I have 

 interviewed Mrs. Root. and. as nearly as I can 

 make out, the process is about as follows: 



In two quarts of water and milk* (half and 



*The milk should be omitted in treating people 

 who are very sick; In fact, I have tried to have Mrs. 

 Root omit the milk. She says she can not make real 

 good bread without it, and all the rest of the family 

 very much prefer it, and so I have used It in thut 

 way. I have written to Dr. Lewis In regard to the 

 matter, and here is his reply: 



Dear Mr. Root:— Bread made of whole-wheat flour 

 is more easily digested without the milk or cream; 

 and for dyspeptics it is much better. The milk and 

 cream make it sweeter, and for some persons more 

 palatable. In our own management of all organic 

 troubles, breadstuffs of all sorts are prohibited 

 until they can be taken without injury to the pa- 

 tient. When allowed It should be under the watch- 

 ful care of a physician trained along the line of 

 treatment we advocate and practice. Glad to know 



half) she dissolves four cakes of compressed 

 yeast. If you do not use such yeast, vary the 

 directions I have given, accoidingly. Now sift 

 in your whole-wheat flour until the dough is 

 sufiicienily stiff' lo hf-, kneaded. Knead well, 

 and put it in a bread-pan. Set it away where 

 the temperature will be just right for it to rise. 

 We have a shelf just over the reservoir of our 

 Stewart stove, near the pipe, where the temper- 

 ature is always just about right. When it is 

 ready, which will be in about three hours or 

 less, it is made into loaves, and they are baked 

 in what we call the World's Fair baking tin. 

 We call it '" World's Fair ' because she learned 

 the process during our visit to the World's 

 Fair. It was given in a talk by Mrs. Ewiug. a 

 celebrated teacher on bread-making. These 

 bread tins I am speaking of are about like a 

 section of small stovepipe split in two length- 

 wise— a shallow trough without ends. The 

 advantage is. that the breod bakes much better 

 than where the bottom of the tin is flat. She 

 has made such delicious and toothsome bread 

 ever since that visit to the World's Fair that 

 we as a family have become large bread-con- 

 sumer.-. If you have not tried any of the 

 World's Fair l)read I think you had better have 

 some, for we pronounce it by all odds the best 

 bread in the world. The recipe given above 

 calls for an extra quantity of yeast, and this 

 costs something, I know: but if you can get a 

 family to eating bread largely, instead of the 

 crackers bought at the grocery, or pie and cake, 

 you will save in health and in doctors' bills 

 ever so much more than the cost of a few more 

 yeast cakes at 3 cts. each. In my directions 

 for zwieback, I said hake the slices of bread 

 several hours. Mrs. Root tells me the zwieback 

 is better, and more crisp, to be baked as quickly 

 as you can without having it brown on the out- 

 side before the middle is perfectly dry. In 

 fact, some of the nicest I ever ate was made 

 and all finished the same day the bread was 

 baked. 



Now. for a good while, even while our family 

 was using zwieback to a large extent, I refused 

 to touch it. I said they might eat "dry crusts " 

 if they wanted to. but I hadn't time for so 

 much foolishness. Since I have been under the 

 doctor's care, however. I have become so fond 

 of it that I never know when to stop eating. 

 In fact. I think I could eat zwieback for two 

 hours, and still enjoy it. Sonietimes when hur- 

 ried ] have put a piece in my pocket, and have 

 eaten it leisurely at my work. Or if the women- 

 folks get in a hurry, and want to clear off the 

 table. I sometimes sit down at my desk, with 

 my agricultural papers, and eat zwieback while 

 I read. After it has been chewed up fine I still 

 chew until it is a delicious creamy mixture, 

 made by combining with the liquids of the 

 mouth, produced by nature for this very pur- 

 pose. Now, if yon stop chewing for a little 

 while, because you have got your mind on 

 something else, you will all at once wake up to 

 the fact that you hold in your mouth the most 

 delicious food you ever tasted. In fact. I have 

 often thought, especially of late, that there is 

 nothing in the way of fruits, nuts, fish, or game, 

 that could be compared with it as an article of 

 food; and the very best thing about it is that 

 it never leaves any unpleasant taste after you 

 stop eating— no. not even if you eat zwieback 

 for an hou'r. The same is true with the lean- 

 meat or beefsteak diet; but, in my experience, 

 with a very few other articles of food. For 

 years I have been so accustomed to having a 

 sort of sour or bitter taste in my mouth for 



you are feeling better. Do not digress too frequent- 

 ly or too radically. J. M. Lewis. 

 Cleveland, O., Nov. 35. 



