232 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Apk. 1 



of experiments in getting a large percentage of pul- 

 lets by crossing, for it is a matter of very great im- 

 portance, and a boon to the egg-producer, to avoid 

 raising young cocks. 



Have you noticed the Government report on av- 

 erage yields of corn per acre in the diflferent States 

 for 1910? Again this State heads the list with a yield 

 of 53.2 bushels — more than ten bushels above the 

 yield of any State in any previous year. Ohio and 

 Iowa stand 12th and 13th, with 36.4 and 36.3 bushels 

 respectively. The farm value for Connecticut and 

 Iowa on Nov. 1st averaged 75 and 39 cents respec- 

 tively. Thus an average acre of Connecticut corn 

 this year was worth at farm i39.90. and an Iowa acre 

 $14.16. And the Iowa acre will sell for from five to 

 ten times what the Connecticut acre will — I mean 

 the land. 



My own yield I am half ashamed of — only sixty 

 bushels; but we had, and still have, the worst drouth 

 ever known in this part of the State. Nearly all 

 farmers have been hauling water lor their stock, 

 and even for house use, since July and August, and 

 it is now frozen tight with wells, springs, brooks, 

 and ponds empty. A yield of only seven bushels 

 above my State's average is surely not one to be 

 proud of: but I could have done better, I believe, if 

 I could have had help to cultivate it once or twice 

 more. It was cultivated only twice with a 14-tooth 

 harrow, once in a row, «nd hand-hoed once. It 

 should have been cultivated about haying time; 

 but all my neighbors were too busy lo spare me the 

 time, and I have no work team of my own. I sold 

 the crop in the field for just$!50.00 per acre, standing 

 in shock, unhusked. It cost me less than SIO.OO per 

 acre, allowing myself liberally for my own labor. I 

 used no manure nor fertilizer. Quite a difference 

 in profits — in Iowa the land worth twenty times the 

 yearly profit, and here the profit three or four 

 times the value of land. 



You speak of a gasoline dog. I wish to go on rec- 

 cord as prophesying the early appearance of a gaso- 

 line cidtivalor, or call it an " auto " cultivator. One 

 ought to be made that would sell lor less than the 

 price of a good work team, and it would be used but 

 a few weeks yearly, and at a season when there is 

 plenty of work for the farm teams. 



I enclose herewith an advertisement clipped 

 from one of the January magazines, offering chufas 

 for planting: 



"grows from seed four months from planting. 



"A few ground almonds (chufa) growing in your 

 garden this year will give you a great deal of plea- 

 sure. Plant in the spring, and you will get a crop 

 In about four months. The nut is of fine flavor, re- 

 sembling the cocoanut or almond: meat is snow- 

 white: shell thin, and great producer. One nut 

 planted will produce from 100 to 200 nuts. Will grow 

 in any soil or location." 



I have looked over my 1910 seed catalogs, and find 

 only two that offered them — Vaughn's and Ford 

 Seed Co., of Ravenna. Ohio. Neither firm makes 

 any mention of their use for human food, but say 

 they are good for pigs and poultry. I expect to give 

 them a trial, but think it strange they have never 

 made any more headway, as I have seen them cat- 

 aloged more or less for many years. 1 hope you 

 have found something that will prove of great val- 

 ue. 



Vaughn's catalog directs to soak chufa seed be- 

 fore planting if it is dry. Nuts generally will not 

 germinate after having been dried: but sometimes 

 they may be made to do so by soaking well. 



Packerville, Conn., Dec. 24. E. P. Robinson. 



Temperance 



The following, received with a letter from 

 the superintendent of the Michigan Anti- 

 saloon League, is right to the point. By the 

 way, Michigan now has forty dry counties. 



LIQUOR-DKINKING DECREASING AS SHOWN BY REV- 

 ENUE COMMISSIONER'S REPOKT. 



The beer and whisky interests are trying hard to 

 squeeze some comfort out of the preliminary report 

 of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue for the 



fiscal year ending June 30. 1910. Because this report 

 shows an increased withdrawal from bond of 12,007,- 

 611 gallons of distilled spirits and an increase in the 

 amount of revenue paid for beer over 1909, there Is 

 a great effort made to grow hilarious and to declare 

 the former decrease was due to hard times and not 

 to the spread of prohibitory laws or the widening 

 of "dry" territory. The liquor journals are making 

 much of these figures, and so are those daily papers 

 which lend or sell themselves to the liquor inter- 

 ests. 



Let us look at the figures of the internal-revenue 

 commissioner, analyze them, and compare them 

 with the figures of other years. Of course, the fig- 

 ures of the commissioner are compared with those 

 of 1909. 



In 1909 the withdrawals of whisky from bond ag- 

 gregated 116,650,165 gallons. In 1910 the withdrawals 

 were 128,675,776 gallons. According to the commis- 

 sioner's figures revenue was paid on 59,485,117 bar- 

 rels of beer in 1910, against 56 303,497 barrels in 1909— 

 an Increase of 3,181,620 barrels, or 98,630,220 gallons. 



You say that looks bad. You say you thought 

 there would be a decrease. If you are weak-kneed, 

 you say it does not pay to fight the traffic. But if 

 you will investigate you will find this alleged 

 increase is no increase at all, and that Instead of 

 being discouraged there are reasons to be encour- 

 aged. 



Let us make some comparisons. Here are the 

 figures for the years 1907, 1908, 1909. and 1910. these 

 figures covering urithdraicals of distilled spirits 

 from bond and beer on which revenue tax was paid: 



1907.... 2,019.691, 111 gals. 1809. .. .1,935,544,113 gals. 



1908.... 2,006,233, 408 " 1910... 2,045,181,943 " 



Do these figures prove that the people of this 

 country are drinking more liquor ? Not at all. 



Bear in mind that withdrawals from bond 

 and payment of revenue tax does not mean 

 that all these intoxicants have been sold 

 AND CONSUMED. Because of a desire to make a 

 good showing In the report of the internal-revenue 

 commissioner, dealers loaded up heavily, and mil- 

 lions of gallons of spirits withdrawn from bond, 

 and of beer on which the tax has been paid, has not 

 been consumed. Thkre is a difference be- 

 tween WITHDRAWALS FOR CONSUMPTION AND 

 A' TUAL fONSUMPTION. 



Another thing. A large amount of whisky 



AND beer INC I'DED IN THE REPORT WAS SHIPPKD 



ABROAD. Producers are pushing their export trade, 

 and all exports are a part of the aggregate as 

 shown by the report. 



President Gilmore, of the Model-license League, 

 predicted there would be an increase In withdraw- 

 als, or consumption, as he calls it, this year over 

 last. He is not a good prophet. The consumption, 

 using his term, per capita. Is less than last year, 

 and shows a big slump compared with recent 

 years. Here are the figures: 



1907 23.54 gallons per capita 



1908 23.02 



1909 21.86 



1910 21.4 



If the per capita for 1910 was as great as for 1907, 

 the figures of the internal-revenue commissioner 

 would have been increased by 180,000,000 gallons. 

 The per capita consumption slumps as the popula- 

 tion increases. Is there any thing in these figures 

 to discourage temperance people? Is there any 

 thing in them to encourage the liquor interests? 



But this Is not all. The average yearly increase 

 in beer and whisky for eight years preceding 1908 

 was over 96.000,000 gallons. Even though the aggre- 

 gate for 1910 equals that of 1907, there remains the 

 loss of that average yearly Increase for three years, 

 which is 288,000,000 gallons, which, added to the 

 actual decrease of 1908-1909, makes a total loss for 

 the three years of approximately 375,000.000 gallons. 



So what have the liquor men to brag about for 

 the past three years ? They have fallen short hun- 

 dreds of millions of gallons In consumption, while 

 there has been a steady decrease In the use of 

 intoxicants per capita. Even the influx of 1,500.000 

 foreigners a year with their almost universal drink 

 habit fails to bring the per capita use up to what It 

 was a few years ago, or even to what it was last 

 year. 



On the whole it Is encouraging to the opponent 

 of the saloon to know the per capita decrease con- 

 tinues, and that there is a shortage for the past 

 three years of $375,000,000 gallons over the consump- 

 tion In the years prior to 1908. 



