1911 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



231 



thought; but next morning we found he 

 had gotten out during the night through a 

 hole about as large as a good-sized stovepipe. 

 Wesley thinks he was about six feet long. 

 Several days have passed; and as the re- 

 maining four ducks are unmolested, we 

 hope he has gone to other "hunting- 

 grounds." I felt the loss of the one oldest 

 duck the most, for he and I had been devot- 

 ed friends ever since I tapped on the shell 

 and he responded, a week before he had 

 even broken the shell. We have now a cou- 

 ple of dozen of younger ones, but none of 

 them just take the place of "my first 

 born." 



It is now nine or ten weeks since we have 

 had rain — the longest drouth for several 

 years in this region; and as the lettuce we 

 have been getting from neighbor Rood is 

 gone, our chickens are suffering for lack of 

 green fo.d. It is no use sowing oats in the 

 lanes I have mentioned, for they don't come 

 up, at least to amount to any thing, with- 

 out moisture. Well, down where we laid 

 those irrigating-tiles, perhaps a foot or 18 

 inches below the surface, oats and other 

 things grow just beautifully. We sowed 

 some sandy vetch with the oats, and I think 

 I never saw any plant grow faster. We 

 have used no fertilizer on this ground, not 

 even poultry manure; but under the influ- 

 ence of just the artesian water alone, every 

 thing seems to grow with wonderful luxuri- 

 ance. The tiles were laid as nearly on a lev- 

 el as we could lay them, and have the water 

 run; and, in fact, the water was running 

 through them while they were being laid; 

 and, as a consequence, the ground is pretty 

 well soaked for several feet each side of the 

 tiles, and vegetation of all kinds is flourish- 

 ing most luxuriantly. 



The largest and finest of my two ducks is 

 still furnishing a large nice egg every day, 

 and she has now come pretty nearly an egg 

 every day /or 75 days. The other of the 

 two ducks has done almost as well except 

 that she missed three days about two weeks 

 ago, and has not laid for two or three days 

 past. I am putting all the duck eggs under 

 sitting hens, and expect to have quite a 

 flock of Indian Runners out in the big creek 

 by the time we go back north, say toward 

 May 1. Besides the moss I have mention- 

 ed, there is a kind of snail or shellfish in the 

 stream in great plenty; and I notice the 

 ducks go for these with great avidity as soon 

 as they are let out in the morning. I don't 

 know what ducks and duck eggs will bring 

 in this market. When I enquired they said 

 they had never had any duck eggs offered, 

 and all the green ducks ttiey had ever sold 

 were sent in on ice, by express, from Georgia. 

 What do you think of that? I suppose the 

 reason is that nobody has as yet got around 

 to the task of developing the possibilities of 

 this southern clime. There are two differ- 

 ent parties near here who have the Indian 

 Runner ducks, and I am told they are do- 

 ing quite well with them. One of them is 

 advertising eggs at $1.50 a setting. 



Health Notes 



By A. I. Root 



NUTS, BERRIES, ETC., IN " ABANDONED " NEW ENG- 

 LAND. 



My dear Mr. Root: — You ought to have been here 

 In chestnut time. We have none right on my own 

 farm; but by walking a mile I could find an abun- 

 dance. My six-year-old boy and I went nutting 

 three or four times, and gathered over a bushel ol 

 fine large sweet chestnuts, and more than that of 

 hazelnuts, the latter in the hulls. Hazelnuts we 

 can gather within a few steps of our front door; and 

 we have a dozen or more different kinds of wild 

 blackberries, dewberries, red and black raspberries, 

 blueberries, strawberries, salmonberries, spike- 

 nardberries, wintergreenberries, cranberries, huck- 

 leberries, and elderberries. About a third of a 

 mile from the house we can gather all the cranber- 

 ries two or three families could use, and as fine as I 

 ever saw. Elderberries are very plentiful, and large 

 basketfuls may be gathered within a few minutes 

 at any time in season, ar^d we use many of them. 

 Did you ever eat an elderberry pie made with about 

 one-eighth or one-tenth finely cut Maiden Blush or 

 Porter apple mixed with the berries? If not, you 

 have something to look forward to. Elderberries 

 are so quickly and easily gathered, and (with the 

 proper proportion of apple; make such delicious 

 pies, that we use them liberally in season, and can 

 many with the apple for use the rest of the year. 

 The idea is worthy of being more widely known. 



I have always eaten my baked potatoes "skins 

 and all;" but usually, at hotels and restaurants, 

 the patrons discard the crusts — to my taste by far 

 the better part. A few years ago I read that the 

 more valuable mineral elements were lost when the 

 skins were not eaten, and since that time we have 

 eaten the skins, even of boiled potatoes. Probably 

 they are not so pretty; but, "pretty is that pretty 

 does," and we like them. Polished rice, as sold al- 

 most universally in this country, has the better 

 part removed, just as white flour has. The Asiatics 

 know better than to polish theirs, and we ought to. 

 You will find the higher-priced unbroken rice that 

 you can buy of Montgomery Ward & Co. of better 

 quality than that usually sold for highest quality, 

 and far better than the broken rice. I will enclose 

 directions for cooking rice. 



HOW TO BOIL KICE. 



Wash one cup of rice thoroughly. Bring to the 

 boiling-point three cups of water. Add a scant tea- 

 spoonful of salt, and, when the water is boiling 

 briskly, add the rice gradually. Don't stir while 

 boiling. In about 15 minutes the rice will have ab- 

 sorbed the water, become soft, and puffed to three 

 times its original size. Place cooked rice on the 

 back of the stove or in the oven to dry out. Serve 

 hot, every grain separate, with soups or gravies. 



An excellent cook told me a short time ago that 

 she had never known how to cook rice properly un- 

 til she saw this, but had thought she did. 



I would deem the use of bran too harsh a treat- 

 ment for constipation except in desperate cases. 

 Phosphate of soda is a mild laxative, and will not 

 only relieve but cure constipation. I have known 

 good physicians to advise its use in teaspoonful 

 doses three times a day, until cured, and have 

 known several severe cases entirely cured. It is not 

 as effectual in relieving stomach acidity as the bi- 

 carbonate of soda, but as a laxative it is of the best. 

 It does not dissolve readily in cold water, so I have 

 used it in cocoa, and it improves the flavor greatly. 

 I always use salt and baking-soda In my cocoa 

 when not using phosphate of soda, as they improve 

 the flavor and also make it darker in color. 



You mention Philo's advice to use an old cock 

 with thirty or forty pullets in order to beget pullets. 

 I have understood that the stronger and least taxed 

 in strength sexually would be inclined to beget the 

 opposite sex. Thus it would seem that a strong 

 cock with/eit' hens or pullets would be apt to beget 

 what he needed — more hens, while an overtaxed 

 cock with many hens would not. And many hens 

 with a cock weak sexually, or overtaxed, would be- 

 get plenty of cocks, as that would be what they 

 were needing. I trust you will follow up the matter 



