606 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



FETERFTA FOR CHICKEN FEED. 



The following from our good friend 

 Aiilt, of Bradentown, will explain itself: 



Your feterita is great. Wesley has been cutting 

 the ripe heads, and wherever a head has been cut 

 one, two, or three more are putting out. The fet- 

 erita will, no doubt, greatly reduce your feed bill. 



JABOTICABA, THE " GRAPE OF BRAZIL." 



As this new fruit-tree is receiving consid- 

 erable attention, not only in Florida, Cali- 

 fornia, Texas, but in other warm climates, 

 I have thought best to give the clipping 

 below, taken from the Florida Grower; but, 

 as I understand it, the article was written 

 by a Mr. Popenoe, sent out by the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture to hunt up new and 

 valuable plants. On page 473, June 1, I 

 spoke of the two little trees we have in our 

 Florida garden. 



Among the many indigenous fruits of Central and 

 Southern Brazil, few create so strong an impression 

 on the new comer as the jaboticaba, not only because 

 of its habit of producing its deciduous fruit on the 

 trunk of the tree from the ground up, but also be- 

 cause of the unusual beauty of its symmetrical, 

 dense, umbrageous head of light-green foliage, which 

 entitles it to a place among the best ornamental trees 

 of the region. 



The tree is generally considered the handsomest of 

 all the Myrtaceae. Under favorable conditions it 

 grows to a height of 35 or 40 feet, the trunk nearly 

 always branching close to the ground. The leaves 

 are opposite, ovate-elliptical to lanceolate, acute at 

 the apex, generally glabrous, with the margins en- 

 tire. They vary from three-fourths of an inch to 

 over three inches in length, their size being one of 

 the characters by which the different horticultural 

 forms are distinguished. The flowers are small 

 v/hite, produced in clusters on the bark from the 

 base of the trunk to the ends of the smaller branches, 

 sometimes so thick as almost to hide the trunk from 

 view. In form they resemble those of the myrtle, 

 with four small petals and a prominent cluster of 

 stamens. The normal season of flowering is said 

 to vary with the diflferent species, although it is quite 

 a common occurrence for the trees to flower and 

 fruit several times during the year, when they are 

 in cultivation and supplied with an abundance of 

 water. 



Tlie fruit, which develops rapidly, and ripens 

 within two or three months after the time of flower- 

 ing, is round or slightly oblate, half an inch to an 

 inch and a half in diameter, deep, glossy maroon- 

 purple in color, crowned with a small disk at the 

 apex. White, sessile, or nearly so, in some varieties, 

 in certain others the fruits are produced upon slen- 

 der peduncles, not over one inch in length. Between 

 the two extremes in size there are many gradations, 

 those considered the largest usually found in the 

 m'arkets, averaging about an inch in diameter. The 

 skin i.s thicker than that of the grape, and consider- 

 ably tougher. It contains, besides coloring matter, 

 a large amount of tannin. The translucent, juicy 

 pulp, white or tinged with rose, is of a most agree- 

 able vinous flavor, suggestive of the rotundifolia 

 type of grape. This similarity to the grape is not 

 confined to the flavor alone, the external appearance, 

 character of the flesh, the size and number of seeds, 

 as well as the flavor, all bearing such a striking 

 resemblance to the grape as to have earned for the 

 jaboticaba the title of the "grape of Brazil." A good 

 jaboticaba is so thoroughly agreeable as to tempt one 

 to keep on jiicking and eating the fruits indefinitely. 



a temptation to which strangers as well as Brazilians 

 often yield. 



The fruiting habits of the jaboticaba are some- 

 what unusual. When heavily laden the tree is a 

 curious sight. Not only is the trunk covered with 

 clusters and masses of glistening jaboticabas but 

 the fruiting extends to the ends of the smaller 

 branches, which all produce their share of the crop. 

 Wlien one stops to consider the small size of the 

 fruits and their abundance all over the tree, it is 

 apparent that the numbers produced by a tree of 

 large size much be enormous. While the fruit is 

 adapted to a number of different uses, at present 

 most of it is consumed in the fresh state, frequently 

 direct from the tree. 



In Brazil, propagation seems to be exclusively by 

 seed, although the foreman of one of the principal 

 nurseries in Rio de Janeiro stated that he had suc- 

 cessfully inarched young trees, and considered this 

 a desirable way to perpetuate choice varieties. 



' SUGAR AND ITS VALUE AS A FOOD." 



The above is the title of Farmers' Bul- 

 letin Ko. 53.5, containing 32 pages, written 

 by Mrs. Mary Hinman Abel. From it I 

 make the following extracts: 



The addition of sugar to an ordinary or to a 

 meager diet also considerably increased the capacity 

 for work, the effect of the sugar being felt about a 

 half hour after eating it, and its maximum effect 

 showing itself two hours after eating. The coming 

 of fatigue was also found to be considerably delayed 

 on this diet, and taking 3 or 4 ounces of sugar a 

 short time before the usual time for the occurrence 

 of fatigue prevented the appearance of it. 



It is true that the harvester, lumberman, and 

 others who do hard work in the open air consume 

 great amo\(nts of food containing considerable quan- 

 tities of sugar, such as pie and doughnuts, and ap- 

 parently with impunity ; but it is equally true that 

 people living an indoor life and that undue amounts 

 of pie, rake, and pudding, with highly sweetened pre- 

 served fruit, and sugar in large amounts on cooked 

 cereals, almost always bring indigestion sooner or 

 later. 



Sugar is a useful and valuable food. It must, 

 however, be remembered that it is a concentrated 

 food, and therefore should be eaten in moderate quan- 

 tities. Further, like otlier concentrated foods, sugar 

 seems best fitted for assimiliation by the lx)dy when 

 supplied with other materials which dilute it or 

 give it the necessary bulk. 



You will notice it comes in very nicely 

 with what I said in the Home paper's in 

 this issue. 



NO BKES, NO HOME, VET WANTS GLEANINGS AND 

 THK HOME DEPARTMENT. 



I am both a librarian and a social worker, with 

 little spare time, no home, and no bees; but I have 

 loved bees and wondered at them as far back as I 

 can remember; and it was a joy to stumble across 

 such a completely satisfactory current study of bees 

 as Glkanings one day in a seedsman's store. How- 

 ever, what has made me really mixs the little mag- 

 azine is the warm friendliness and good comradeship 

 that makes itself quite evident in spite of the im- 

 personality and coldness of print. They have often 

 been an inspiration and a comfort to me. I shall be 

 very glad to be back in the circle around the edito- 

 rial easy chair of Mr. Root's Home department and 

 Dr. Miller's Stray Straws, Mr. Doolittle's Conversa- 

 tions, and the other good editor-friends, as well as 

 among the interested listeners of the words of the 

 occasional article-writer friends. 



Helen M. L. Folk. 



Philadelphia, Pa., June 25. 



