40 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



of dasheens to each ridge. He says the soil is moist, 

 and there lias been water in the furrows nearly all 

 summer, and tubers were then forming rapidly. Mr. 

 Root adds that dasheens are fair eating before ma- 

 turity, but not at their best until fully matured, 

 although the young shoots and tender leaves are all 

 right, and make a good substitute for mushrooms or 

 oysters, with a few crackers added. 



As experiments indicate that the dasheen is going 

 to prove prolific in South Florida soil, information 

 about it is interesting at this time, though limited 

 to experimental planting. 



Later. — A mammoth dasheen is on exhibition at 

 the office of Messrs. Wyman & Green, the largest 

 that we have had the pleasure of inspecting. It is 

 true that we have seen only two, the other being the 

 one that was recently placed on exhibition at the 

 Journal office; but this one is so large and well de- 

 veloped that we conclude it must be the limit. The 

 hill weighed 19% pounds when first taken out of 

 the ground, and removing the small tubers it weighed 

 n V2 pounds. They were grown by the Mr. Ault 

 already mentioned. The largest before reported was 

 18 pounds grown up near Brooksville at the Govern- 

 ment plant. 



Mr. Ault's yield of dasheen, as given 

 above, would be just about 1000 bushels per 

 acre, which is more than the Department of 

 Agriculture has ever mentioned, even on 

 small areas. Perhaps 1 should explain that 

 he put on the plot quite a liberal dress- 

 ing of stable manure which his chickens 

 scratched into the ground quite thoroughly. 

 He also worked ashes in between the rows. 

 Aside from its great value as a table vege- 

 table, it will pi'obably be valuable for stock. 

 Our chickens eat the large center corms with 

 avidity. Mr. Ault's place is just over the 

 fence from our own five acres. 



The dasheen grown here on our place 

 needs no sal-soda nor soda of any kind (to 

 (oun'eract the "acridity" mentioned), ei- 

 ther in washing or cooking. The tubers for 

 baking need only a brushing with a stiff 

 brush before they are put into the oven, and 

 for stews the stalk and stems, with small 

 green tubers, need only rinsing and pouring 

 the water off, as mentioned on p. 740, Oct. 

 15. 



l^arcel post. I mailed 3 lbs. to Mec^ .la, and 

 below is Ruber's report in regard to them. 



The package of dasheens reached me safely yes- 

 terday morning. No danger of any frost, for the 

 weather has been very warm here for the last week 

 or so. We baked some to-day. I ate five, and we all 

 liked them very much. They remind me of roasted 

 chestnuts, although a little drier, and flavor some- 

 what less pronounced. 



DASHEENS IN THE GREENHOUSE OR IN A BOX } 

 IN A AVINDOW. 



Our friends who are anxious to test the 

 new food-i^lant can start them any time in 

 the winter as they do tomato, cabbage, and 

 other plants; and when spring comes, put 

 them out when danger of frost is past. As 

 they will grow with proper care higher than 

 your head, they need a long season. Re- 

 inember they are delicious food from the 

 time they are an inch high until they are 

 above your head, and every bit of the plant 

 is edible, both above ground and under 

 ground. My impression is, after the tubers 

 are well seasoned they can be mailed safely 

 all winter. We are testing the matter now, 

 and will report. I hope some seedsman or 

 some one else will soon advertise them by 



EOSELLE^ ANOTHER OF " GOD'S GIFTS." 



Some time in the summer our good friend 

 Reasoner, of the Royal Palm Nurseries, On- 

 eco, Fla., sent over to our place about a 

 dozen Roselle plants which Wesley planted 

 and cared for until we arrived in November, 

 when we found them covered with " fruit." 

 You might not call it fruit by the look; but 

 we recently had cranberries and roselle both 

 on the table at once, and, although they 

 taste and look very much alike, I much pre- 

 fer the roselle. I am sure they can be grown 

 in the North if started in a greenhouse 

 like tomatoes, for some of our plants are 

 full of fruit when less than a foot high. 

 See clipping beloAV from the Florida Grow- 

 er. 



Roselle, or Jamaica sorrel, or lemonade plant, as it 

 is often called in Florida, is one of the hibiscus family. 

 The flowers are solitary with a red and thick calyx. 

 Theee calices, when cooked, make an excellent sauce 

 or jelly, almost identical in flavor and color with the 

 crani erry of the North. The leaves make an excel- 

 lent and refreshing di'ink. It is hardly necessary to 

 give recipes for the above. The calices are removed 

 from the ovary and used in the usual way, same as 

 northern cranberries. A salad may be made of the 

 stems, leaves, and calices just as a turnip salad. A 

 syrup that can be used for coloring purposes can be 

 made of calices or stems and leaves, boiled in the 

 ordinary way and sealed in bottles for future use. 

 To make the jelly, use less than the ordinary propor- 

 tion of sugar; it is excellent for cake, but is not as 

 firm as guava jelly. 



I think you can get seed, and perhaps 

 plants, of Reasoner Bros., Oneco, Fla. If 

 you want to know about the wonderful 

 fruits and plants that can be grown in 

 Florida write for their beautiful new cata- 

 og. 



SHALL WE WIN BY " FIELDS OF BLOOD " OR BY THK 



"sweat" or "honest labor"? 

 Here is an extract from an Armenian paper which 

 states a truth that those who clamor for vast arma- 

 ments .should try to absorb into their belligerent 

 minds : " It is an old and dead belief that a nation 

 is as strong as the powerful army she possesses, and 

 that she is as vital as her cannon is large. The fate 

 of nations is built, not on the field of blood, but on 

 that of sweat. It is formed in factories, in the depths 

 of mines, on farms, in temples of art and science, 

 through reformed and just administration, through 

 the creative desire which runs after perfection, and 

 which leads the nations toward moral greatness and 

 material prosperity." 



A hearty amen to the above, which we 

 clip from the Farm Journal. 



