March, 1919 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



159 



coinmaiidinents. Gray when dry, black when 

 it is wet, soft and friable at all times, it 

 must be a delight to work in it. Surely 

 Eden had just such soil. 



In addition to the main crop of potatoes' 

 there were green peas, string beans, lettuce, 

 onions, and radishes in their prime with a 

 promise of green corn, tomatoes, and other 

 good things, providing Jack Frost is merci- 

 ful, and he usually is on that favored penin- 

 sula. And there were other things growing 

 in that garden, cacti that bear fruit and 

 other strange plants which Mr. Eoot de- 

 lights to test, and the whole garden bears 

 the stamp of his originality. If I ran across 

 an A. I. Eoot garden in Africa I think I 

 should recognize it. 



The children had the delightful task of 

 picking their oranges and tangerines right 

 off the trees. While the grapefruit in Mr. 

 Eoot 's garden were gone they could be 

 bought in Bradentown for 20 cents a dozen 

 — think of it. We each ate a whole one 

 every morning for breakfast. And when 

 we were only an hour away from Braden- 

 town we could have ordered them on the 

 diner, but didn 't, for 20 cents a half a 

 grapefruit, a nice little prolt for some one. 



If flowers are a fitting accompaniment to 

 food on a dining table it is all right to talk 

 about them on a food page, isn 't it, Mr. 

 Managing Editor? I am going to any way. 

 Here in Ohio we cultivate and spray and 

 guard our hybrid tea roses and there is 

 great rejoicing over a perfect bud. In Mr. 

 Eoot 's garden there are buds in abundance 

 that you couldn 't buy for $10.00 a dozen " 

 in the North at this time of year, and 

 grown with almost no care. They seem en- 

 tirely free from the aphids that I fight all 

 summer, and the foliage is remarkably free 

 from disease. The next time that a nursery- 

 man tells me that roses are at their best 

 on a clay soil I shall tell him to go to Flor- 

 ida and see the roses growing in the sand. 



To return to the subject of Florida as a 

 food-producing state, we were taken to visit 

 the largest producing grapefruit grove in 

 the world at Manavista, across the wide 

 Manatee river from Bradentown. It is 

 said to contain 94 rows of grapefruit trees, 

 100 trees in a row. Most of the trees were 

 large, like apple trees in an old orchard, and 

 as the manager told us their yield this year 

 was the largest ever known I infer that the 

 fruit part of many northern breakfasts 

 came from that grove. 



Here is where I saw an apparent waste 

 that pained my Food Administration trained 

 conscience. I saw another in the cotton 

 fields of Georgia, but cotton is not a food, 

 altho I do believe that land which has borne 

 a crop of cotton too poor to harvest might 

 better be put to raising food crops. 



As I was about to remark when interrupt- 

 ed by myself, in this grapefruit grove and 

 in other grapefruit and orange groves in 

 other parts of Florida there are quantities 

 of fruit on the ground. When I asked why 

 it was not gathered I was told that it never 



was, that it would not do to ship altho it 

 tasted all right if used at once. I believe 

 an attempt to bottle the juice has been 

 made, and it was not altogether a success. 

 Surely it could be used for marmalade. Do 

 you suppose some Floridian will read this 

 and suggest that we Northerners may take 

 care of our windfall apples and leave the 

 windfall grapefruit and oranges to them? 



A pleasant surprise to me was to see acres 

 and acres of thrifty-looking truck gardens 

 on our way to the grapefruit grove and in 

 other directions in Manatee County. I never 

 before saw such quantities of fine head let- 

 tuce, cabbages, beets, and celery. Later, 

 tomatoes and green pepper plants will take 

 their places. 



Honestly, I am ashamed to mention an- 

 other attraction to a Florida winter, as the 

 list is so long as it stands, but I just can- 

 not omit strawberries. And it is not alone 

 that strawberries may be had in winter but 

 the fact that they may be had practically 

 all winter, nearly a six months ' season, I 

 believe. It makes me feel like accusing 

 Mother Nature of partiality when you think 

 that she grants Florida a six months' sea- 

 son of our favorite berry while we do well 

 if the season lasts four weeks. 



Maybe Florida is doing as much to pro- 

 mote good health thruout the country by her 

 citrus fruits and fresh winter vegetables as 

 in affording a health resort and winter play- 

 ground. She is certainly doing her part to- 

 ward feeding a hungry world. It was a sur- 

 prise to me to learn that the corn crop of 

 the State had brought more money than the 

 orange crop. And the Florida pigs had 

 grown so plump that we had difficulty in 

 finding a real razorback to show the chil- 

 dren. While cattle are becoming quite plen- 

 tiful in Florida, just between you and me 

 they /lo not look like the ' ' contented cows ' ' 

 of a Carnation milk ad., but I suppose they 

 give milk. 



Dear me, after writing all this about Flor- 

 ida foods I have omitted fish, oysters, sweet 

 potatoes, bananas, sugar-cane syrup, and 

 honey. Well, they are all there, and in 

 abundance. I was certainly glad to have a 

 chance at last to sample the cane syrup with 

 all the sweet nature put in the cane left in 

 the syrup. It is indeed a very different 

 product from the molasses which is left 

 after extracting all the sugar possible. 

 Southerners tell me they like it quite as 

 well as our maple syrup. Possibly that is 

 because the best maple syrup is seldom on 

 the market except in its native states. To 

 me maple syrup is the second finest sweet 

 in the world. I believe beekeepers general- 

 ly will agree with me if I put honey first. 

 * * * 



ORANGE MARMALADE. 



1 lemon honey or sugar 



3 oranges water 



Quarter the fruit, rejecting the seeds and 



any tough membrane at the core; put thru 



tlie food chopper, measure, and for every 



pint of fruit pulp add three pints cold water 



(Continued on page 195.) 



