1%H 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1013 



knife to handle the butter. It you want an egg, 

 it can be cooked quickly and easily and nicely 

 on one of the cheap oil-stoves. Terry uses Pet- 

 tijohn's whole wheat in place of the shredded 

 biscuit, and I have used it until lately. 1 may 

 go back to that again; but just now the biscuit 

 seems to " hit the spot " better than any thing 

 else. After putting on a liberal supply of butter 

 I chew it a long while, just as Terry directs with 

 raw wheat. By the way, sometimes when I can 

 not get Pettijohn rolled wheat I have tried eating 

 regular wheat, of course picking it over carefully, 

 and then it is all right; but it takes too long to 

 chew it. The wheat grains must be crushed or 

 roUed or ground up in someway to save the labor 

 of chewing. I prefer skimmed milk rather than 

 new milk, because I do not seem to nee'd the 

 cream.* While at my sister's in Manistee I was 

 pleased to find Mr. Gardner was also using the 

 shredded biscuit. His plan was to cover it with 

 cream and mash it down with a spoon. Now, I 

 think it is better for my health to chew the bis- 

 cuit and butter, without mixing it with either 

 milk or cream, until it is reduced to almost a 

 liquid by the action of the saliva. It is only 

 after a thorough chewing in this way that you 

 get the delicious flavor of the wheat. Terry says 

 he enjoys eating his meals more than those people 

 do who eat a great lot of every thing, including 

 elaborately prepared delicacies, and I can say the 

 same. I always feel happy nowadays when it 

 comes mealtime; and I thank God for the enjoy- 

 ment that my meals afford more than when I had 

 meat and potatoes, cake and pie, strawberries and 

 ice-cream, to top off with. The strawberries are 

 all right, as I will tell you when I get to it; but 

 the pie and cake and cane sugar are all wrong for 

 me, and I honestly believe it is so with thousands 

 of others. We have a neighbor who makes beau- 

 tiful salt-rising bread, and I usually have a half 

 a slice of that with my biscuit. The older it is, 

 and the drier, the better I like it; for I can chew 

 it up then just as I do the shredded biscuit. By 

 the way, zwieback answers very well, especially 

 if it is made of whole-wheat bread. If in very 

 poor health, very likely the rolled raw wheat that 

 Terry uses, --le/l c/ie-ived, will be the best thing 

 for you; but as people differ, we can doubtless, 

 each one of us, make the selection which suits us 

 best; but do not try to eat too many different 

 things at the same meal. If I am correct, Terry 

 finishes up each meal with law or uncooked fruit. 

 Now, I do not particularly care for fruit in the 

 morning. I do not think I need it; and if I eat 

 it during the day, and eat as much as I want, it 

 someway seems to make a disturbance. I have 

 also heard that Terry recommends only two 

 meals a day. This might be all right for him; 

 but as our people have long been accustomed to 

 three meals, for the sake of sociability, if for 

 nothing else, I have three light meals instead of 

 two larger ones. We have for years had our 

 supper at 5 o'clock. My supper includes about 

 what I have described — shredded biscuit and a 

 cup of milk. But about 7 o'clock in the evening 



'A friend of mine who is connected with a sanitarium at Clif- 

 ton Springs, N. Y., says a good many of their patients can not 

 take milk regularly unless it is skimmed. Milk just from the 

 cows, or with all the cream stirred in it, seems to be too rich for 

 such people, and I am sure skimmed milk is better for me than 

 the other. 



I have what might be called a fruit meal — fruit 

 and nothing else. I have told you about how I 

 eat apples every evening just before going to bed, 

 and I can heartily indorse what I said some time 

 ago, to the effect that apples are "the best medi- 

 cine in the world " for me, and I believe they are 

 also the best fruit in the world for me. 



Some eight or nine years ago I became enthusias- 

 tic over the Yellow Transparent apple. I bought 

 two dozen trees, and not only planted some of 

 them on my own premises but on the grounds of 

 each one of the children; and now we all have 

 those beautiful Yellow Transparent apples on all 

 of our premises. I can not tell you how I enjoy 

 watching our apples grow, and looking forward 

 to a time when they will be ripe and ready to 

 drop. To have an apple just right, you want to 

 get it so it will almost drop from the tree if you 

 just look at it. It is understood around here that 

 we are not to pick the apples from the trees of our 

 neighbors; but after the apples drop on the ground 

 everybody is at liberty to help himself before the 

 chickens get them. I told Mrs. Boyden (Blue 

 Eyes) the other day that her early apples were dead 

 ripe, and that she must gather them. I said to 

 her that one great big beauty of an apple dropped 

 off just because I looked at it. I do not know 

 but some of the grandchildren thought grandpa 

 gave the tree a little shake when he looked at it. 

 Well, when these beautiful apples get so ripe that 

 you can sink your thumb into them easily, or so 

 you can almost peel them as you would a peach, 

 it is perfectly safe for me to eat just as many as I 

 ■-vatit or care for. Our people used to worry 

 when they saw me with a great plate of apples in 

 the evening; but they have got over worrying 

 now. With a sharp knife I take off the peeling, 

 but I greatly enjoy eating cores and all. Some- 

 body told me years ago that apple-seeds and the 

 meat from peachstones have a special virtue in 

 helping digestion, and I have reason to believe 

 it is true. They are like nuts, you will notice. 

 By the way, I am not using nuts very much just 

 now. I do not seem to need them; but I do 

 crave and enjoy good rich cheese. When I am 

 eating great quantities of apples, as I am now, 

 the cheese somehow comes in to make a balanced 

 ration. The acid of these apples I have men- 

 tioned seems to have a very beneficial effect, 

 especially in warm weather. 



A great deal has been said about the value of 

 lemons, and no doubt they are a great medicine; 

 but these rather tart apples, I think, answer the 

 same purpose, and I find they are pleasanter to 

 take. Besides the Yellow Transparent apples, 

 we have the Early Harvest and the Red Astrakhan. 

 The latter, when grown to perfection, is not only 

 a beautiful apple but a most wholesome one. 

 Three years ago I purchased a little tree of Storrs 

 & Harrison, and this summer it bore a good 

 heaping half-peck basketful of beautiful apples. 

 I think I have been eating a great lot of apples 

 every evening for the last four or five years; and 

 if they were deleterious in any way I should cer- 

 tainly have found it out before this time. They 

 are certainly preferable to any kind of physic sold 

 in the drugstores or that grow in the woods or 

 fields, and I find them more pleasant to take. 



Last, but not least, I have for some time back 

 made it a point to drink just as much pure water 

 as I can without feeling uncomfortable. I drink 



