1809 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



583 



and comes in to help the sick baby, and ex- 

 plain to the poor mother what has probably 

 made the little one sick, they find an open 

 door to the mother's heart. Our mission- 

 aries tell us that in foreign lands nothing 

 wins the heart of the stranger like the abil- 

 ity to heal the sick. When they see the little 

 bodies made well and strong, then they are 

 willing to listen to the words of the Savior, 

 "In heaven their angels do always behold 

 the face of their Father which is in heaven." 

 Some of us have money that we would like 

 to invest where it would be perfectly safe, 

 and brinw us at least a moderate interest; 

 and I thinlv, too, we have considered placing 

 it where it will do good. Now just consider 

 a moment the dear Savior's words when he 

 said, "Lay not up for yourselves treasures 

 on earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, 

 and where thieves break through and steal; 

 but lay up for yourselves treasures in hea- 

 ven, where moth and rust doth not corrupt, 

 and where thieves do not break through nor 

 steal." Now, then, is there any better or 

 surer way of laying up "treasures in hea- 

 ven" than by investing it in these institu- 

 tions that care for babies? In the great city 

 of Cleveland there have been during the past 

 summer seven different asylums for babies; 

 and, so far as I can gather, they are support- 

 ed and kept up by contributions from good 

 people who not only love babies but God and 

 their fellow-men. Haven't you, my friends, 

 a little something to deposit or invest in this 

 sort ol practical Christianity? 



HIGH-PRESSURE 

 GARDENING 



By A. I. Root 



THE "WONDERFUL" WONDERBERRY. 



Well, friends, I have a "wonderful " story 

 to tell you; but I do not believe I can tell it 

 all this morning, because we have not yet 

 got down to the bottom of this wonder of 

 wonders. We will start in with the follow- 

 ing letter: 



I see you want reports from those who have tried the 

 wonderberry. Some of my neighbors tried it, and I 

 have one vine istaik or weed', and I find it what we 

 call nightshade here. The nightshade grows " in any 

 old place " where it can get a chance. 



Sonora. Ky., Aug. 28. T. PHELPS. 



.\ccompanying the above letter was a box 

 of berries shipped with the stems, leaves, 

 etc. With the same box with the wonder- 

 berries was a plant labeled "nightshade." 

 I think the label said it grew out by the hog- 

 pen. W^ell, we were unable to distinguish 

 any difference whatever between the night- 

 shade and the wonderberry; but I took them 

 over to Mrs. Root and she made sauce of 

 them, adding a little sugar. There were 

 differences of opinion in regard to the fruits. 

 But I liked them pretty well, and ate the 

 whole of them to see whether I would get 

 "pizened" or not. My decision then was, 

 that, where fruit is scarce, they might be 



used to a considerable extent by people who 

 like them. 



A day or two afterward I received another 

 box of berries labeled "wonderberry." As 

 soon as I opened the box I uttered an ex- 

 clamation of surprise and pleasure. They 

 were twice as large as the former lot, and of 

 a beautiful glittermg steel blue. I began to 

 wonder if very rich soil and excellent culti- 

 vation could make so much difference in the 

 fruit of the plant. Some of these last ones 

 were nearly as large as small cherries. They 

 were shaped so much like a potato-ball that 

 I remarked t'.at the green ones looked very 

 much like small-sized potato-balls; and when 

 I ate the beautiful-looking berries they also 

 tasted like potato-balls. And, by the way, I 

 have frequently tasted potato-balls, and won- 

 dered if they might not sometimes be devel- 

 oped into something like a tomato that might 

 be cooked, provided they were not fit to eat 

 raw. I took these over to Mrs. Root, and 

 she cooked them as before; and my verdict 

 was that they are a beautiful fruit when 

 cooked. She did not quite agree with me, 

 and neither did the children in the different 

 homes in Rootville. Here is what our good 

 friend Nydegger says about them: 



WONDERBERRY, ETC. 



Mr. Root.— In Gleanings for August 15 I noted your 

 comment on Luther Burbank's wonderberry. For that 

 reason I am sending you a little boxful so you can see 

 them for yourself and make a report on them. These 

 were grown here in Danville at the Soldiers' Home. 

 This noon we had some cakes made of these berries, 

 and they were very good. I will plant some myself 

 next year. The plants are rather large, with many 

 large branches which hang very full of berries. They 

 are also very beautiful in appearance. 



Danville, 111., Aug. :30. John Nvdegger. 



Well, while we were discussing these 

 /oro'er wonderberries Mrs. Root said, "Why, 

 I have seen those very same berries growing 

 somewhere around here in our own door- 

 yard. It must have been out in the weeds 

 somewhere, I think." 



I replied, "Why, no, Sue; you can not 

 have seen these berries growing here. It 

 was up in the woods in Michigan where you 

 saw them growing around our cabin." 



But she stoutly maintained that she had 

 seen them within a few days. After dinner 

 I went out into the greenhouse to get some 

 ripe tomatoes; and over beyond the tomato- 

 vines I was startled to see some large beau- 

 tiful clusters of wonderberries exactly like 

 those big ones in the last box. And now 

 comes another wonder. 



Some four or five years ago I saw in Miss 

 Mary Martin's seed catalog. Floral Park, N. 

 Y., a description of the "kudzu " vine, or, 

 as it was called, "Jack's beanstalk." It 

 sends up vines so as to cover a summer- 

 house in one season. It makes a growth of 

 30 ft. in one year, etc. Well, I had good 

 luck with the kudzu seeds. Apparently ev- 

 ery one of them grew. As they were such 

 a rarity I put them in little pots, and when 

 children's day came I carried toward a hun- 

 dred potted plants to the Sunday-school and 

 gave them away to whoever would promise 

 to care for them. I was greatly disgusted, 

 however, later in the season, to find tnat the 



