AUGUST 1, 1912 



499 



have made a bare estimate on what the crop would 

 be if it were all like a portion of an acre that they 

 have dug. 



Some newspaper articles have been going the 

 rounds giving a yield of something like two hundred 

 bushels of chufas to the acre. I can not say just 

 how these results were obtained, as it is quite im- 

 possible to follow up even a small percentage of 

 these reports of extremely large yields. 



So far as the printed matter from the Florida 

 Experiment Station is concerned, it has been ex- 

 tremely mute on the question of chufas. I can not 

 understand, therefore, to what Mr. Hastings referred 

 when he states that they are highly recommended 

 Ijy the Florida Experiment Station. 



Gainesville, Fla., June 15. P. H. Rolfs. 



Well, friends, how does the above com- 

 pare with Hastings' advertisement in his 

 catalog and in our farm papers, of 1000 

 bushels per acre? By the way, would it 

 not be a gTand plan if our different experi- 

 ment stations would scan the seed catalog's 

 each 3'ear, and call down extravagant and 

 misleading advertisements'? See page 388, 

 June 15. 



REDBUGS ; MORE ABOUT THEM. 



I saw an article in Gleanings (p. 769, Dec. 15) 

 on redbugs that is overdone. I have lived in Ohio, 

 Illinois, and now in Texas nearly four years, and 

 redbugs are not evert/where in Texas ; and I think 

 likely it is a mistake that they rear any offspring in 

 flesh. Grease helps somewhat, but often fails com- 

 pletely to be of any benefit whatever ; but if you 

 use grease beforehand, all right. 



I know several native Texans who are just as 

 susceptible as myself to redbugs, poison oak, cow- 

 age, and vine poison. I am immune just so long 

 as I stay away from them. Some people have an 

 idea that Texas is what Sheridan said war was, 

 which is a mistaken idea. 



Bloomington, Texas, Dec. 26. L. A. Cameron. 



I think very likely the above is correct. 

 During the past winter we were so free 

 from any annoyance from redbugs and 

 other insects that I was inclined to tliink 

 they were disaiDpearing or that we were be- 

 coming immune; but along in March and 

 April, after the rains had ceased that we 

 had been having quite freely all winter, the 

 redbugs came back, and I think they were 

 about as bad as I ever saw them. A few 

 days ago I happened to ask my neighbor 

 Rood if they were troubled with redbugs. 

 He replied that they had not been troubled 

 at all, and added that, if we would clear off 

 the scrub palmetto from our ground, as he 

 had from liis whole farm, we would have 

 no more redbugs. I think tliis is probably 

 true ; but in caring for my ducks and chick- 

 ens it is almost impossible for me to keep 

 from biiishing the palmettos more or less. 

 And, by the way, I am greatly inclined to 

 think that the greatest part of our troubles 

 are from poisonous vegetation such as the 

 writer mentions in the above. I am sure it 

 is true, because I have had at times a 

 breaking-out that nearly covers my body, 

 sometliing like what we used to call "hives" 

 here in the North, during hot summer 

 weather. Redbugs are bad enough; but I 

 do not believe they are the cause of all this 

 breaking-out and itching. The lady wi'iter 



in our issue of Dec. 15, referred to, thinks 

 that, when these bugs get a foothold, they 

 may remain for two weeks. This, certainly, 

 is a mistake, I tliink; for when we come 

 back North all annoyance ceases in two or 

 three days. It is a week to-day (April 23) 

 since I left Florida, and I can say that al- 

 most all traces of I'edbugs have disappeared 

 entirely. Perhaps I should add that people 

 who live in towns and do not go out into 

 the woods are seldom troubled with any of 

 these pest*. 



SELLING RECIPES FOR DOING THINGS, ETC. 



One of our subscribers sends us the ad- 

 vertisement below, which he clipped from 

 the Mississi2:)pi Commercial Appeal: 



Send $1.00 to-day for recipe to make gallon good 

 honey for 50c without bees. May not appear again. 

 W. J. Green, Rienzi, Miss. 



Of course we have wasted many dollars 

 in times past in sending for recipes ; but 

 here goes one more. 



After five days comes the recijie as fol- 

 lows : 



One and a half pounds of bees' honey ; six pounds 

 light brown sugar ; one and a half pints water ; two 

 ounces cream of tartar. 



Dissolve cream of tartar in a little water, then 

 put all articles together and boil in a copper vessel 

 until well mixed, usually twelve to fifteen minutes ; 

 stir while boiling; skim off froth that arises while 

 boiling, which eats well. Now ready for use, but 

 improves with age. 



Can make again, using what you have made in- 

 stead of honey. 



Here is the letter accompanying it: 



Mr. Root: — Your letter containing $1.00 came 

 to hand, and is duly noted. Enclosed find receipt 

 for making one gallon honey without bees. You 

 will make as nice honey as you ever eat. The longer 

 it stands, that is, the older it gets — the better it is. 

 Thanking you for the order, I am yours truly, 

 Rienzi, Miss., May 15. W. J. Green. 



In the first place, it is practically the 

 same old recipe that was in the papers at 

 least forty years ago. Second, he claims 

 to make honey without bees, and yet it takes 

 a pretty good dose of bees' honey to make 

 the stuff. We are glad that such things 

 now are not as common as they used to be; 

 but I am going to submit tliis whole matter 

 to the proper authorities, and ask them if 

 this man is not making a fraudulent use of 

 the mails. 



PARCELS POST CHEAPER TO FOREIGN COUN- 

 TRIES THAN TO OUR NEXT-DOOR 

 NEIGHBORS. 



I clip the following from the Rural New- 

 Yorker; and after you have read it I hope 

 you will do something more than to "think 

 and think and think." 



Going through the busy corridors of the New 

 York postoffice one sees a placard announcing in 

 large black letters, "Parcels post to foreign coun- 

 tries, 12 cents a pound." And then the meek 

 American citizen affixes 16 cents to a pound of mer- 

 chandise for transmission through domestic mails, 

 and thinks and thinks and thinks I 



