1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



311 



er of long experience his opinion of tlie Rural. He 

 said tliat, thoujrh he had grrown many varieties 

 wliich, in a favorable season, would yield as heav- 

 ily, he had found none that would stand "g-rief" 

 as well as they. This quality makes them pre- 

 eminently a potato for the farmer's garden, as the 

 majority of farm gardens can offer Ihe potato little 

 hut "grief " in the way of culture; and the ordinary 

 varieties, when so treated, too often reward the 

 farmer with disappointment only. 



Through the Missouri River counties of Potta- 

 watamie, Harrison, and Monona, the acreage of po- 

 tatoes will be much increased this year. 



Frederick M. Crane. 



Kiver Sioux, la., March 25. 



My experience agrees almost exactly with 

 what you tell us, friend Crane. Farmers who 

 have always thought they could not make it 

 pay to raise potatoes, succeed almost invariably 

 with the Rural; but on our ground the new 

 Craig outstrips the Rural in almost every one 

 of its iron-clad qualities. 1 am watching anx- 

 iously to see if it's going to succeed everywhere 

 as the Rural does. 



WHITE BLISS POTATO, AND ALL ABOUT IT. 



The White Bliss grows to a good size for an extra 

 early potato. I have often seen them weigh from 1 

 to V-2 lbs., possibly more. It is not unusual for our 

 more eastern truckers to ship 80 to 100 bbls. per 

 acre, spring crop, of tliem. It is the "roundest" 

 potato 1 ever saw, and has red or pink blotclies on 

 it, and pink eyes. With us the potato-bug does not 

 eat it as badly as other kinds. I have heard quite 

 a number of our farmers mention this in favor of 

 White Bliss. Hope you will especially notice this 

 feature, and see if it holds good in Ohio. I presume 

 you know the red Buss Triumph is a seedling from 

 Earlj' Rose, fertilized with Peerless. It was certain- 

 ly a happy nick. T. B. Parker. 



Goldsboro, N. C, Mcr. 38. 



MINNESOTA FOR POTATOES, TURNIPS, ETC. 



I have a big potato yarn for A. I. Root. One of my 

 neighbors, Mr. C. Cheely, a subscriber to Glean- 

 ings, raised 900 bushels of Burbanks and Beauty of 

 Hebron pototoes on one acre, ivithoiit fertilizer or 

 without special cultivation — great potatoes you 

 could carry in your arms like stovewood; and our 

 postmaster raised a, single specimen Burbank 

 weighing 6' Ih,^.; also 60 bushels of Freemans from 

 one bushel planted. Just imagine a turnip weigh- 

 ing 25 lbs. 



1 am greatly in love with Gleanings. In fact, I 

 always have been. I was pleased to see pictures of 

 Lewis. Falconer, and Leahy. I have dealt with the 

 G. B. Lewis Co. since coming to Minnesota. 



Morrill, Minn., Mar. 7. A. T. McKibben. 



Friend M., hadn't we better all sell out and 

 go to Minnesota? By the way, however, al- 

 most everyboay had big crops last season, and 

 turnips, too, for that matter; but I do not think 

 very many of us saw such a yield as you men- 

 tion, nor potatoes and turnips of such size. 



A SMALL GREENHOUSE IN CONNECTION WITH 

 THE DWELLING. 



I am intending to build a new house, and desire 

 to have a small greenhouse in the southwest side of 

 the kitchen, on the second flat. I should like to 

 have your opinion in the matter of healing. I use 

 a coal-range in winter. By attaching an ordinary 

 water-front, the same as they use for heating water 

 for sinks and bath-rooms, could I not run the 

 water-pipes through tlie greenhouse and thus keep 

 it warm? or would an ordinary water-front supi)ly 

 heat enough to kcev) the greenhouse warm enough? 

 The greenhouse will face the southwest. Would it 

 be practical to make a cement floor on top of the 

 ordinary greenhouse floor, so that any drip from 

 watering the plants would not be liable to soak 

 through on to the ceiling below? 



Stratford, Ont., Can. John Myers. 



Your plan is all right, friend M.. and the ar- 

 rangement you mention for heating will answer 



nicely if your greenhouse is not too large— say 

 10x15 feet. It might be 10x30 or 12x20, if your 

 hot-water coil is of pretty good size. Both 

 John and Ernest have a coil water-pipe set in 

 their hot-air furnaces. These pipes are kept 

 full of water by means of a rain-water cistern 

 in the attic; but in both cases the apparatus 

 furnished too much heat — the water would get 

 to boiling. It depends upon the size of the 

 heater you are going to put in your house. 

 I suppose any practical plumber familiar with 

 hot-water heating could advise you in regard 

 to the size of pipe, number of coils, etc. 1 am 

 afraid a cement floor would hardly be safe un- 

 dfr the circumstances; and if much water is 

 allowed to get on such a floor it will get through 

 the cement to the wood, and make bad work. 

 So far as my experience goes, any arrangement 

 to hold water inside of a dwelling should have 

 a metal bottom— zinc, galvanized iron, or sheet 

 copper; then have an outlet always open, so if 

 any large quantity of water is spilled, instead 

 of soaking up the floor, ceilings, and carpet, it 

 will run outdoors out of the way. The rain- 

 water tanks in our attics are all placed in a 

 shallow pan. Should the tank, by any acci- 

 dent, run over into the pan, the water goes out 

 through an escape-pipe into the open air. 



Health Notes. 



A NUTRITIOUS HEALTH-FOOD. 



Friend Root:—! am interested in your "Health 

 Notes," and want to call your attention to some 

 things which I have been foiced to learn. 1 am 

 very fond of oatmeal, and also of prepared wheat, 

 but have had so much trouble with indigestion of 

 the lower bowels that it was not safe for me to eat 

 them until I made the discovery which I am about 

 to relate. I tried "granola," but I did not like it 

 very well. I also tried the "zwieback " fixed up as 

 Mr. Ames suggests, but made up my mind some 

 time ago that it was not the thing I was looking for. 

 By the way, if it is well browned and then ground 

 up, it makes a very good drink made like tea or 

 coffee, and sweetened with honey, but it will not 

 take the place of oatmeal with me. 



I tried an experiment by mixing a good quality of 

 prepared oats with Eli Pettijohn's best wheat. I 

 mixed them half and half, but I now think one of 

 oats and two of wheat will be better. I put them in 

 a double roasting- pan, and put them in the oven of 

 the stove, and let them brown slowly for several 

 hours until they were an even brown all through. 

 Care must be taken not to let any of the grains 

 hum. as this will spoil it. When it is thoroughly 

 hrowued and dry and crisp, 1 run it through my 

 meat-cutter. The cutter should not be set too close, 

 or it will clog up. This makes a tine dark flour. 

 Out of this 1 make mush. The water should be hoil- 

 ing hot when the flour is stirred in; and when it is 

 thick enough, set it on an asbestos mat and let it 

 cook slowly for about thirty minutes. Sweeten with 

 line extracted honey— I prefer alfalfa— and serve 

 with cream, and you have a dish good enough for a 

 king. The best of all is, I can eat all I want of it, 

 three times a day, and it never hurts me, and I do 

 not think it will hurt any one. On the contrary, it 

 will tend to make them fat and healthy. Try this 

 and .see if it does not beat your wheat as you pre- 

 pare it. This is very cheap food, as I get the best of 

 oats here for 5 cts. per package of two pounds, and 

 the wheat costs only 10 cts. per package. Of course, 

 I do not live on this, but mix it with other food 

 which I have found healthy and nutritious for me. 



St. Joseph, Mo., April 6. Emerson T. Abbott. 



[Oatmeal is a strong food— too strong and 

 irritating on the bowels for many. It is good 

 in the case of those who do hard manual labor; 

 but for persons of sedentary habits it should 

 generally be avoided. In the proportion you 

 use it and prepare it, it is probably all right. — 

 Ed.] 



