OUR ALLIES 165 



Alas, for the rarity of human charity, we have by law 

 at last abolished him! In Florida he will hence- 

 forth have no more rights than common folk. 



Around the farmhouse there is always a certain 

 measure of waste, and it is the judicious use of this 

 waste that makes the difference between success and 

 failure. Suppose it to be divided in this way: to 

 fatten one pig, to feed twenty hens, and a warren 

 of rabbits, while the cow gets a pail of slops at night 

 making a grand return in the way of milk for the 

 pig and for the hens. A pan of sour milk is one 

 of the luxuries for the chicken yard. 



Bees always call out my enthusiasm, because from 

 fifteen hives I am accustomed to take up nearly a 

 thousand pounds of honey in a year. This varies 

 somewhat according to the flora of the year, but it is 

 always a fine addition to the product of the farm 

 or country home. You can easily use a hundred 

 pounds in your family, taking the less perfect cakes, 

 while you sell five or six hundred pounds or more at 

 a welcome profit. 



However, one must remember that as with hens 

 it is possible to have too many. Fifteen or twenty 

 hens are enough for a common country home of a few 

 acres, and from ten to twenty hives of bees must be 

 the limit for the same homestead. If you undertake 

 one hundred hives, you must make a specialty of bee- 

 keeping and bee-feeding. What you want is just 

 about that number of colonies that can be fed from 

 your own raspberries and lindens and mountain ash 



