1885 



GLKAXtXr;S IN UKK CrLTUllE 



per, almost equal to pai-chment, as it is almost im- 

 possible to teai- it. At our county fair last fall were 

 specimens of this plant, some stalks 13 or 1-t inches 

 in diameter, with samples of the pulp, just as it is 

 taken from the stalk, through all tlie different pro- 

 cesses of manufacture, to the finest of paper. 

 Some lath were also shown that v,-ere made from the 

 pulp. This entire display was taken to New Or- 

 leans; and if you wish to take the trouble to look it 

 up, you will find it in the California State Depart- 

 ment. 



Take one more close look at the plant you have 

 shown, and at the photograph, and you will see 

 that, like your Cal. mountain sage, it '•ain't ri{iht-" 

 r was in hopes that you would give your readers a 

 view of this beautiful plant. lam sure that they 

 would all appreciate it, and might help you out in 

 it. 1 will give $1.00 toward it. 



ABOUT THE WHITE SAGE OF CALIFOIIXI A. 



All that ails these white-sage pictures is, that 

 there are several species that very much resemble 

 each other, and some distinct hybrids. One will send 

 a sample, calling it white sage; then you have a cut 

 made from it, then some one says, " It ain't right," 

 and sends you a specimen that " is right." I have 

 not yet seen a correct rejjresentation of the kind 

 we have here in our county. The small branch in 

 the upper right-hand corner of the cut on page 711, 

 Vol. XI., .shows the fiower all right; l)ut in the large 

 plant, the buttons are too large and iirominent, re- 

 sembling the black sage, or the cross between the 

 white and the black. There is a species that grows 

 south of here, called the "San Diego " sage; anoth- 

 er north of here called " Ventura" sage, both difler- 

 ent from the native of this county. All claim that 

 tlie kind that grows in their part of the State is the 

 true white sage. 1 think that it will be well to wait 

 until the "iloctitrx" ihi agree whicii is the white 

 sage. W. W. Hr.i.ss. 



Duarte, Cal., Feb. la, 188."). 



Friend B., 51 nice engraving of tin' plant 

 vou send would probably cost lit'leen or 

 twenty dollars. I will stand half of it, if 

 there "are enough interested to stand the oth- 

 er half, and we will then all have a look at 

 one of your wonderful tropical productions. 

 Some years ago we were told that this plant 

 bore honey by the teacupfuls. It might 

 have been a tablespoonful, however, but it 

 was somewhere along there; and if we get 

 an engraving we want yon to tell what von 

 know about tlie lioney from the yucca. We 

 liave some growing in our garden ; and while 

 they are beautiful flowering plants, we have 

 never seen any bees around tliem. 



alize the market, if it is equal to the lot sent 

 us, unless it created a panic among consum- 

 ers to see who should get a pitcher full first. 

 Bv the vvav. during this cold weather it is a 

 pretty hard matter to get it into a pitcher or 

 other utensil, unless you cut it with a knife, 

 and still it does not candy in the least. 



"THESE FISHES," ETC. 



I am more than delighted with those articles that 

 have appeared in Gi.eaxings on carp and carp cul- 

 ture. It was always a fine sight to me to see a fish 

 swimming in the water, and when, about two years 

 ago, an Ohio paper fell into my hands containing 

 articles on carp T took fire at once, and went out 

 and sat on the fence and studied all over the farm 

 for a site for a pond, but had to give it up. But the 

 fever is running so high now when I learn that 

 these fish grow so quickly, and become so tame, 

 that I believe I will have a pond somehow. I have 

 a spring that affords some water all the year round, 

 and I can catch some off from the barn; and if that 

 will not do I have a supply that I can raise with a 

 wind-mill. I shall begin on a small scale, as we do 

 in bees; then if it works all right we will fix it up 

 nice with evergreens on the west and north sides. 

 Give us all back information quick, for the gravel 

 will have to fly as soon as the frost is out of the 

 ground. I for one have no objections to jour arti- 

 cles on poultry, strawberries, or any thing else of 

 home interest. I should pi-efer something for every 

 issue, for all work and no play makes .Tack a dull 

 bov. A. S. Austin. 



Davison Sta., Mich., Feb. 13, lS8.->. 



Friend A., you can have a carp-pond on 



any farm where it rains any reasonable 



length of time, and where the soil is not so 



saiidv and gravelly that water will leach 



awav. Wherever the soil will permit of 



making a watering-place for cattle, to be 



supi)lied by rain water, you can make a carp- 



' pond. A living spring, even though the 



I amount of water be t|uite small, will be an 



1 acquisition to such a place. 



A BRIEF NOTE FROM FIUENI) WILKIN. 



I was quite chagrined because I could not call and 

 see you on my way home, but I could not help it. I 

 got my ears frost bitten in Kansas, but am here 

 now with my family, amid sunshine and flowers. 

 The winter has been warm, and bees are breeding 

 finely, whilst the fields and mountains look green. 

 1 hope you have the hone.v that my apiarist sent 

 you ere this. It is not with pleasure that T look 

 back at the demoralized state of the extractcd-hon- 

 ey market in the east through adulterations. 



K. W'lMvlN. 



San Buenaventura, Cal., Jan. 27, 188"). 



The honey you mention, friend W., is safe 

 in the lunch-room. and I do not see how 

 your California extracted honey can demor- 



CLEANINO SMOKER-TUBES. 



Let me tell you how I arrange a smoker so the 

 tube can be cleaned quicklj', without getting dirt 

 into the bellows. Bore a "■« or I ; inch hole in bottom 

 of bellows, in line with cold-blast tulie; close it with 

 a Tin slide or button. When tube becomes clogged, 

 turn bellows up, push slide to one side, and punch 

 out dirt with wire. C. G. Knowles, 54—62. 



Portland, ()., Feb. 0, 188.5. 



Your plan has often been suggested, and 

 is a good deal used, friend K. We have 

 sometimes thought of making our smokers 

 in the wav vou mention, but there would be 

 alwavs a liability of leakage of wind where 

 this hole is made in the bellows-board, and 

 the little wires we now send with our smo- 

 kers make it pretty easy to rake out the tube 

 from the nozzle. 



HEDDON'S HONEY-BO.VRD. 



I have just read Jas. Heddon's letter in Gi.ean- 

 iNGS, Feb. 1, page 98, in whicli it seems to me that 

 friend II. lays a good deal of stress on the value of 

 a slatted honej'-board that I saw in use on a Lang- 

 stroth hive si.v years ago. It was an old hive, and 

 looked as though it might have been in use 8 or 10 

 years. This board had the space above and below, 

 vrith the broken joints, all as Mr. Heddon describes. 



Michigan City, Ind., Feb. 1, 188r>. A. S. Vail. 



