1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



187 



if consistent with his will, permit me to eat 

 such food as other people do. The next morn- 

 ing, and for almost a week afterward. I ate 

 what I pleased, and enjoyed better health than 

 I have enjoyed for years, doing hard severe 

 mental labor in the office right along every day. 

 Now, let us go slow in this matter, and bn fair 

 ■about it. I said I ate " what I pleased." Well, 

 what I "pleased" was two-thirds or three- 

 fourths lean meat as heretofore. The oiher 

 was zwieback and breakfast food well cooked, 

 with a very little very nice new white maple 

 sugar. I hope friend Byrum will forgive me 

 for my want of faith when I say the pure sugar 

 from the maple inay not have harmed me at 

 any other time. If so, then, in answer to my 

 prayer, I had made a most pleasant discovery. 

 At the end of the week I ventured to eat some 

 hot bread, or gems, made of whole-wheat flour 

 and baking-powder. In a few hours I was back 

 again with one of my worst experiences with 

 indigestion and headache. I can only guess it 

 was the hot cakes. Friend Byrum would 

 doubtless say it was a lack of faith; for, to tell 

 the truth, I was a little backward in confessing 

 to my friends that, in answer to prayer, I was 

 even using sugar three times a day, absolutely 

 without injury or any bad symptom whatever.* 

 You know one naturally feels a little delicate 

 about telling spiritual experiences like these. 

 The family wondered at my eating these things 

 with impunity, but I had not explained it to 

 any of them as I had to Mrs. Root. I am happy 

 to say this morning that I have ray full health 

 and perfect digestion once more; but for the 

 last three meals I have eaten pure lean meat, 

 nothing else. Now, has God answered my 

 many prayers in regard to this matter of diet 

 by making known to me that a diet containing 

 neither starch nor sugar will relieve these 

 troubles? or am I lacking in faith because I do 

 not stand out boldly and eat what other people 

 do, trusting God, and him alone, to keep me in 

 health? You see, this matter about using 

 tobacco, and asking God to heal, may be carried 

 a little farther, and have it include tea and 

 coffee, fat meais, rank vegetables that you 

 know do not agree with you. etc. You see. we 

 are but JiiDiian in all these things. Again and 

 again T am reminded of that oft-recurring sen- 

 tence in my prayers of late: 



I am weak, but thou art mighty. 



VEGETABLES, ETC., UNDER GLASS, IN THE 

 Mf)XTH OF FEBRUARY. 



1 do not know ju«t why it is, but there is 

 soraeihins wonderfully fascinating to me in 

 raisins stuff during thp latter part'of the win- 

 ter, under protection. I^et me give the follow- 



* I suppose Dr. Lewi« would say sug'ar was the 

 cause of all the raiscliief, or nearly all; that the 

 trouble hud been cumulative, as when medicines 

 are taken repeatedly, without producing- any effect ; 

 the miscliief had been piling up without my being 

 sensible of it, and the result was as given. I do not 

 think, however, this can be true. Until I ate the 

 liot cakes, my liealth had been perfect. Even dur- 

 ing- this zero weather that we liave l)een having for 

 a week, I could stay in tlie open air, right in the 

 wind, and work without mittens or any thing else 

 on my hands; and day after day there seemed 

 to be a spiritual uplifting so that I could say almost 

 continually, " Praise God, from whom all blessings 

 flow." 



ing as an illustration : Yesterday, Feb. 13, the 

 Weather Bureau predicted rain and warmer 

 weather. I told the boys to be ready in the 

 morning to pull all the sashes off from every 

 thing, especially if it was a KKtrrn rain; By the 

 time I had finished my breakfast, there were 

 the plants looking happy, and doubtless feel- 

 ing happy, under the influence of what might 

 be called a summer shower in the winter time. 

 The long bed of onion-plants, that had been 

 shut up under a freeze when only five degrees 

 above zero, were just hungry for fresh air and 

 fresh soft water, so they looked smiling. The 

 Wakefield cabbage were just out of the ground. 

 The radishes, being a little more hardy, were 

 somewhat ahead of them. Cold-frame cabbage- 

 plants had brightened up and really made quite 

 a little growth since the last time they were 

 uncovered. The Marshall strawberry-plants, 

 set just a foot apart in the fall, were full of 

 buds and blossoms. Many of the blossoms 

 were just opening. Our transplanted lettuce 

 got through the freeze all right, and every 

 plant was alive. Spinach, onions, and other 

 things, were also happy. The pie-plant that I 

 wrote about in our last issue, instead of vainly 

 trying to push up the glass sashes had stretch- 

 ed out their broad leaves, and they too looked 

 grateful for the rain, and for the room to grow. 



After the plants were all uncovered, a new 

 bed was prepared with nice fresh dirt. On top 

 of it we put an inch or so of fresh sifted horse 

 manure: on top of this, half an inch of tobacco 

 dust. Then the ground was marked out with a 

 marker similar to the one shown on page 76, 

 exceot that the knobs were 7 inches apart, and 

 some nice lettuce-plants were hastily taken out 

 of the greenhouse and put in. Before the bed 

 was half-filled, however, the weather had be- 

 come snowy and sleety. Then was when my 

 enjoyment came in, bv taking great care and 

 pains to cover every thing tight and snug for 

 another siege of winter. By the way, how 

 strange it is that so few can be found who will 

 do a simple thing like covering plants with 

 sashes, and do it well and thoroughly! Many 

 a time valuable plants have been lost just be- 

 cause the boys did not crowd the sashes up 

 tight. A crack big enough to let a knife-blade 

 through will let in frost. 



During the recent mild weather we have been 

 covering the outside board of our beds with 

 tarred paper. To protect the tarred paper, we 

 nailed on some cheap shingles. This makes 

 the bed look tidy, and keeps out all the frost. 

 Now see that the top edge of the bed is planed 

 so flat and level that the sashes, especially the 

 end ones, shut down almost air-light. As a 

 precaution to see that the sashes are "tight 

 up." as I remarked above, it is a good idea to go 

 to one of the beds, after they are all on. and 

 crowd against the outside sash hard enough to 

 move the whole 14 say half an inch. This ef- 

 fectually shuts up any little crevice: and if a 

 high wind comes, each sash is pinched so tight 

 between its fellows that there is little prospect 

 of even a small hurricane getting a sash loose 

 unless it commences with the end ones. Put a 

 hoard across the end ones, with a big stone on 

 top. and they are all pretty secure. 



Now, perhaps you do not see where the en- 

 joyment comes in, of covering up plants out in 

 the sleet and storm. Tf so. it is because you do 

 not Love the plants. The great secret of success 

 in any of these rural industries is in having a 

 genuine love for the things you handle and are 

 trying to make grow. As I look out of the win- 

 dow now. and see the snowy sleet that is accu- 

 mulating over the sashes, t think of my pets 

 underneath, so warm and comfortable; and I 

 verily believe they are happy, after their fash- 

 ion, and that makes me happy, especially when 



