1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



571 



diet, and the cost is almost insignificant. The 

 suggestions in regard to making home-made 

 granola, especially where the housewife has 

 unoccupied time on her hands, are also quite an 

 item. Of course, these readily cooked food- 

 preparations are a great advantage where the 

 mother of the home has her time all occupied, 

 or where saving money is not so much of an ob- 

 ject. In one of my former articles somebody 

 understood me as saying that I would place 

 zwieback next to lean beef, and ahead of other 

 lean meats. Not so. So far as my experience 

 goes, and with the majority of people suffering 

 from indigestion, I would place lean meat of all 

 kinds far ahead of any vegetable food. Then 

 comes the zwieback, the mush made of ground 

 wheat, or whole-wheat flour, etc. 



HOW TO GET UP A DELICIOUS SUPPER IN FIVE 

 MINUTES. AND AT A VERY INSIG- 

 NIFICANT COST. 



Have bread and milk for supper. Do you 

 say that is old? Well, hold on a bit. Substi- 

 tute, for the bread, zwieback made of whole- 

 wheat flour, and scald the milk; then break 

 the zwieback into it while it is smoking hot. 

 You see I am getting so I can use milk once 

 more; but Nature seems to say, " Take these 

 good things a little ata time to commence with. 

 Go slow, and don't clog the machinery." 



HEALTH THROUGH BREATHING. 



Mr. Boot:— Let me contribute a mite for the bene- 

 fit of your readers, especially for those of weak 

 lungs. It is, to urge the cultivation of our breath- 

 ing powers. Tliis seems necessary when we consid- 

 er tliat not one person in ten is in the habit of using 

 an eighth of the breathing capacity with which God 

 has endowed us. I will recommend a plan, free of 

 all cost, and at no expenditure of time, for it can 

 be practiced when not otiierwise occupied, either 

 sitting or standing-, better when out of doors. Fill 

 the lungs full of air through the nose (just here let 

 me say that it is not healthy to breathe through the 

 mouth; the nose was made for respiration, the 

 mouth for eating and for speech). Draw in a full 

 inepiration, and let it pass out slowly through the 

 almost closed lips. Repeat this several times 

 through the day, and follow it up every day as 

 often as is convenient, and you will be surprised 

 how the air goes down into all parts of the lungs; 

 and if you are not dressed loosely about the waist, 

 you will find that your clothes are preventing a full 

 respiration, and consequently your blood will not 

 be fully oxygenized and purified as it should be, 

 a,nd your health will suffer ultimately. Practice 

 this, dear readers, and recommend it to others. 



Hammonton, N. J. A. H. Van Doren. 



CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS; CAN WE AFFORD TO 



USE THEM IN CONNECTION WITH STABLE 



MANURE IN OUR HIGH-PRESSURE 



GARDENING ? 



A few days ago I propounded the following to 

 our Ohio Experiment Station: 



FrUnid Green: — T want to plant about an acre of 

 Thoroughbred potatoes this season, and I want to 

 make the biggest yield possible, regardless of ex- 

 pense. Now, you know something about our rich 

 ground. Will it pay us to use commercial fertilizers 

 in addition to what we liave already? As I expect 

 my crop tf)be worth from f.5.00 to "BIO. 00 per bushel, 

 I can afford to fertilize heavily, even if it does cost 

 me money. I have already tried nitrate of soda, 

 but can not see that it does any good onour grounds, 

 neither do strong ashes have much ifanycftect. 

 T'rof. Thorn once said that our clay soil had already 



potash enough. Guano and stable manure, espe- 

 cially when lime is also used, produces a prompt 

 and unmistakable result every time. I don't be- 

 lieve I should want to try mixing my own fertilizer. 

 I have been thinking of getting Mapes' special 

 potato-manure. Could you or some of your people 

 advise me briefly ? 



You see, our rich creek-bottom land has 

 already been filled so full of stable manure that 

 it will grow 300 or 400 bushels per acre of pota- 

 toes; and from the experiments I have made I 

 felt doubtful as to whether even the potato- 

 fertilizers would produce any result worth 

 mentioning, although I remember to have seen 

 big results from the use of these same fertilizers 

 during my visit at the Experiment Station, 

 Wooster. Below I submit their reply: 



Mr. Boot:— In reply to yours of the 13th, asking 

 my opinion as to the probable proiit in the use of 

 chemical fertilizers on potatoes on your rich soil, 

 I must say that I think under the circumstances 

 you will find profit in using them freely— at th« rate 

 of 1000 pounds per acre, or more. We have often 

 said that here at the station we did not get the 

 money back which was expended for fertilizers; 

 but for all that, the fertilizers have always increas- 

 ed the potato crop, when the right kind was used. 

 This has been true, no matter how rich the soil. 

 Now, I am confident that you can, by the use of fer- 

 tilizers, increase the crop 30 to 30 per cent, even on 

 your rich soil, and this will pay with the variety 

 which you intend to plant; t)Ut it might not with 

 any kind which you had to sell at ordinary market 

 prices. 



In order to put the matter in a nutshell I submit 

 the following propositions, deduced from the results 

 of our experiments on four distinct classes of soil, 

 some of the work having been carried on for more 

 than five years: 



1. Nitrate of soda alone has never increased the 

 potato crop. 



3. Potash, in different forms, has sometimes given 

 an increase, but not always, and has never paid for 

 itself when used alone. 



3. Superphosphate, in the form of dissolved bone 

 black, acid phosphate, and odorless phosphate (basic 

 slag) have always increased the potato crop, even 

 on the richest soil. 



4. When a mixture of the three ingredients above 

 named has been u.sed, the increase has been greater 

 than with superphosphate alone. 



5. The cost (jf the increase with superphosphate 

 alone has usually been 5 to 7 ("ents per bushel; but 

 the greatest profit per acre has usually been when 

 a combination of the three elements was used. 



6. Thus it appears that, although superphosphate 

 is the ruling ingredient, che other elements are 

 needed in connection with it; and this seems to be 

 more esjiecially true as the quantity of superphos- 

 phate is increased. 



I believe that you would find profit in using 1000 

 pounds per acre of Mapes' potato-manure; but that 

 a mixture of your own would be cheaper and per- 

 haps better. Five hundred pounds superphosphate. 

 ;%0 pounds nitrate of soda, and 200 pounds of muri- 

 ate of potash, would cost about $33,00 per ton; and 

 for your soil it is as good as any thing that I can 

 suggest. If you were to add to this 300or 300 pounds 

 per acre of tankage it would be still better, because 

 the latter is slower in acting than the nitrate of 

 soda. Why not mix your own fertilizers? It will 

 pay, and you are more sure of getting what you 

 want. If you investigate the matter you will surely 

 be an advocate of home-mixed fertilizers. 



We do not wish to injure the business of the man- 

 ufacturers of fertilizers. b\it we should not do our 

 duty to the farmers if we did iu)t tell them wiiat we 

 know to be facts; and it is a fact that it will pay 

 them to do their own nuxing, unless they use very 

 small quantities. W. J. Ghken. 



:: Wooster. O., Mar. 14. 



nThe above gives me an idea that I never got 

 before; namely, that, while nitrate of soda and 

 potash used alone on a crop may give no benefit 

 that can be perceived, the two (singly or to- 

 gether), when used in connection with some 

 other fertilizers, may be important and valu- 

 able. Some years aeo I made a heavy applica- 

 tion of Mapes' special potato-fertilizer, and bar- 



