1898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



857 



growing on the Island of Jersey ; and we can 

 add that, after testing the matter for several 

 seasons, it is the plan for growing tremendous 

 crops of extra nice potatoes. It is true, it 

 takes more seed, but there will be no missing 

 hills:'' and, if the work is done properly, every 

 hill will give a big yield. I may add that, in 

 our practice, we use our potato-boxes slatted 

 all around, placing another temporarj^ bottom 

 of slats half way up. Each box then holds 

 two tiers of potatoes. After danger of frost is 

 over we store them on the barn floor with the 

 double doors on the north side wide open. 

 Where seed is scarce and valuable the potatoes 

 can still be cut to one eye, or, better, to two 

 eyes. Now is the time to pick out potatoes of 

 the proper size, and save them for next year's 

 p an mg. economic grasses. 



The above is the title of a very valuable 

 bulletin from the Department of Agriculture, 

 Washington. It describes, sometimes at con- 

 siderable length, 252 grasses of more or less 

 value, and 91 of them are very accurately pic- 

 tured, so that any farmer would recognize 

 them at a glance. It tells where they are 

 valuable, and where they are found to be per- 

 nicious weeds. It tells what kind of grasses 

 you want for haj', pasture, lawn, for wet lands, 

 for embankments, and for holding shifting 

 sands. In my travels I have studied consid- 

 era\)ly the grasses for different purposes. 

 Since looking over this book I shall always 

 look at them with still more interest. This 

 family of grasses includes many things we 

 might not suspect; for instance, millet, wild 

 barley, broom-corn millet, chicken corn, 

 Egyptian corn, Kafir corn, pampas grass, rice, 

 sorghum, sugar cane, chess, teosinte, wheat, 

 and, in fact, I do not know but pretty much 

 all the famil}- of grains come under the head 

 of grasses, especially the wild uncultivated 

 grains. If you want the above, write to the 

 U. S. Dep't of Agrostology, calling for Bulle- 

 tin No. 14. 



KIND WORDS FROM OUR CUSTOMERS. 



THE ANTI SALOON LEAGUE, ETC. 



Deal- Mr. Root: — I have just read your article in your 

 issue for Sept. 15, on the saloon problem as it presents 

 itself in Medina. It was especially interesting to me, 

 as the Anti-saloon Leagiie work has just been brought 

 to my notice this summer. I am working at present 

 to get a local league established in our township. If 

 we do, our first work will be to enforce the Sunday- 

 closing law, and it is high time somethhing were done 

 to stop the abominable work. Saloons in our vicinity 

 treat this law with contempt, and the township offi- 

 cers haven't "man" enough about them to check 

 them. 



I was surprised and glad to know that you were so 

 intimately connected with the Anti-saloon L,eague, 

 and pray to God that it may do as grand a work here 

 in Michigan as it has in Ohio. I wish to be always 

 identified with it. I thank you for the article in yoiir 

 journal, and hope you mav have abundant success in 

 keeping rid of saloons in Medina. E. M. Hunt. 



Bell Branch, Mich., Sept. 18. 



A KIND WORD FROM ZULU LAND; SUPERSTITION AND 

 FRAUD NOT CONFINED TO AMERICAN SHORES. 



Deal- liiothey Root: — In your noble fight against 

 superstitions and humbugs it may encourage you as 

 well as strengthen >our cause to know that you have 

 sympathizers in such a far-distant land as Natal, 

 South Africa. It may be expected that the Zulus 

 should have some absurd notions as to pathology, and 



we can easily see the uselessness, not to say harmful- 

 ness, ofthe nostrums which they suppose to have a 

 wonderful efTect on the human body. We pity their 

 ignorance and superstition; but, judging by the hum- 

 bugs which you are continually exposing, it appears 

 that many people in Christian lands are not far be- 

 hind the Zulu as to super.stition. 



You remember that wonderful ''Hall's remedy" 

 which you showed up .several yeai^s ago. Before I 

 had seen what you had said about it I was then in 

 America, and. visiting a brother-minister, he was 

 very anxious to sell me that wonderful .secret. He 

 said the usual price was ?f8.00, but he would let me 

 have it for 84.00. But I did not take on at all. I told 

 him, in the first place, it did not look rea.sonable. 

 " If Dr. Hall is a Christian, as he professes, why does 

 he charge $8,00 for a book which could be sold for five 

 cents at a large profit?" That was not my idea of 

 Christian benevolence. But my friend hung on to me 

 so persistently that I finally took out $4 and laid it on 

 the table, and told him, " I do not want the remedy 

 for myself; but if it is as good a*; you claim take this 

 money, and, when you find some needy person whom 

 you can help by this remedy, you may give it to him 

 in the name of the Lord." He would not take my 

 money, and I suppose he did not carry out my scheme 

 of benevolence; but he did not bother me any more. 

 The next number of Gleanings I received after that 

 contained your criticism of this remedy. I sent the 

 magazine to mv friend, with the article marked. I 

 have not heard from him since. 



You would think educated men and ministers of the 

 gospel ought to have more sense, not to speak of hon- 

 esty. But then, there are so many testimonies of 

 cures. Yes, so there are for all the medicines of the 

 witch doctors here. Let me tell you what some of 

 these medicines are: Snakes' bones, hyena fat, croc- 

 odile claws, roots, and bones of all sorts hung about 

 the neck or on the wrists. One kind of medicine is 

 made of the swi at and dirt ."-craped from the body of 

 the doctor. Another is made of the vitals of human 

 victims waylaid for the purpose. Of course, the Eng- 

 lish government is supposed to prevent practices of 

 this kind; but the police officer can not account for 

 every mysterious disappearance. I know of one very 

 sad case of this kind. A farmer's child was missing 

 one day after a little rarty which had been made for 

 one of the children. Days and nights were spent in 

 search by the agonized parents, assisted by their 

 neighbors. That was many vears ago, and nothing 

 has ever been seen of the child since; but it is the 

 firm conviclion of the father, corroborated by differ- 

 ent circumstances, and the testimony of a dying na- 

 tive, that the child was murdered by a native doctor 

 in the vicinity, to be used as medicine. This is all 

 very horrible; but the strangest thing about it is, that 

 these medicines do seem to have a powerful effect, 

 and it is impossible to convince our most intelligent 

 native converts that they do not. I once had a long 

 talk with one of our most advanced native preachers 

 on the subject. I tried to show him that it is all in 

 hisminr; that snakes' bones and hyena fat, and all 

 that sort of trash, can not have the effect that he sup- 

 posed, "Yes, ma.ster," .said he, "I know it seems 

 very absurd to you; but I mu.st believe what I have 

 seen." Then he went on to tell me of cases which 

 had come to his knowledge. One was a letter that 

 had been doctored. He first looked at it himself, not 

 knowing that it had been doctored, and it made his 

 eyes as red as blood. Then two more members of his 

 family looked at it, and each in turn, as his eyes 

 gazed on the fatal page, fell down in a fit. Nevenhe- 

 le.ss, this letter which had such a powerful effect on 

 those who looked at it had been handled and carried 

 twenty miles, and did not affect the messenger at all. 

 Another case was that of a young lady colonist. 

 She had been sick for a long time, and tried many 

 doctors and medicines without relief. Then in a 

 freak she called a celebrated native docto-. He ex- 

 amined her, and said, " I do not know that you are 

 like the black people; but if you were a Zulu girl I 

 should say your trouble is from a lover. It is just like 

 what I have seen when a disappointed lover revenges 

 himself on his mistress with evil medicine." 



" Why," said the lady, " I believe you have hit the 

 case exactly. I did disappoint a lover and I believe 

 he is now using medicine to make me sick in this 

 way. But can you do any thing for a complaint of 

 this kind ? " 



"Oh, yes! if that is what is the trouble, there is 

 medicine to counteract the evil influence of the one 

 who is trying to punish you." 



So she was treated for this complaint, and in a very 

 short time she was restored to perfect health. 



