,nn.y, 1917 



GLEANING S IN 1^ V- 10 CULTURE 



557 



Well, my impression is there was no failure 

 ill growins^' an abniulanee of German ear]) 

 at very small ex}>ense ; but the general de- 

 cision was that the* quality of the fish was 

 not quite equal to the food fishes on the 

 market. But my opinion is just now that 

 if these fish were fed on grain, like cattle, 

 swine, and poultry, we should find that 

 " corn-fed " pi<h is very much like corn-fed 

 beef, etc. If German carp are now .so 

 plentiful, as mentioned jn the clipping 

 above, that tliey have to be shoveled aAvay 

 by the thousands, we can certainly use them 

 to prevent starvation if such a thing should 

 ever happen in our own country. 



Well, during all these hobbies of mine in 

 years past, every little while something has 

 come up in the line of poultry - keeping, 

 high-pressure gardening, etc., to stir the 

 world. You may remember how enthusi- 

 astic I was about .Indian Runner ducks 

 that laid such a tremendous lot of great 

 big eggs, and went down in the canal and 

 almost boarded themselves. Well, it was 

 with duck eggs as with German carp. When 

 fresh hens' eggs could be bought for 20 to 

 25 cents a. dozen, nobody wanted the duck 

 eggs at an[i price; but just now I think 

 hungry jiei'ple would be very glad to get 

 the duck (^ggs. And, by the way, I would 

 just as soon have duck e^g?> for myself as 

 hens' egg's, especially if the ducks have 

 plenty of corn any time during the day, 

 when they want a little to make up a " bal- 

 anced ration." 



1 wonder if you eviM- thought of it, my 

 good friend, that when there comes a scarc- 

 ity of some particular article of food that 

 sends the price away up, then the busy 

 world pays a lot of attention to improved 

 methods and sliort cuts in jnitting on the 

 market this special commodity. Potatoes 

 we are having on our table now, at least 

 twice a day, cost $1.20 a. peck; and this 

 extravagant jirice is turning' the attention, 

 I think I might almost say of the whole 

 wide world to the possibilities of intensive 

 agriculture along the line of growing -po- 

 tatoes; and it is going to do a lot of good; 

 for these improved raetliods that are largely 

 brouglit out by such high prices \<*ill often 

 be such a tremendous improvement tliat they 

 will not be entirely dropped, even if pota- 

 toes should g'o away down again; for in 

 this present age every improvement, 

 especially in the line of agriculture, very 

 soon gets into print. 



The other evening, by some misunder- 

 standing there was no leader for our prayer- 

 meeting. After the audience had waited 

 for about fifteen minutes somebody sug- 

 gested that I should lead. I remarked that, 

 not having- expected anything of the kind, 



of course I was unprepared; but, until the 

 leader canie 1 would take that i)art of the 

 Lord's prayei' which reads : " Give us tliis 

 day our daily bi'ead ;" and I reminded the 

 good friends that before this war is ended 

 we as a nation, and as a people, might have 

 more reason to put emphasis on tliat ])art 

 of the Lord's prayer than we ever did be- 

 fore. When the meeting was about half 

 O'VQr, a good brotlier suggested that what the 

 Savior said after the feast of the loaves and 

 fishes, " Gather up the fragments that noth- 

 ing be lost," would come in very appropri- 

 ately right here. 



The Department of Agriculture at Wash- 

 ington has been telling us that the good 

 wholesome food thrown into the slop-pails 

 right along- all over the Unlited States 

 amounts to something like 700 millions of 

 dollars a year. And this reminds me that 

 one summer T took a trip up to a pleasui-e 

 resort in northern Michigan. A beekeeper 

 had located not far from one of the great 

 fashionable hotels; and, as is often the ease, 

 oiie of his side lines was poultry ; and he 

 got the privilege of taking the waste from 

 the dining-tables to feed his chickens. But 

 as there was very much more than the 

 chickens could use he branched off into the 

 pig business; and when I was 'there he had 

 a great bunch of pigs, little and big; but as 

 the season got up to its height the refuse 

 from the tables got to be so large that the 

 pigs could not use it all, and the stuff ac- 

 cumulated had begun to decay so as to make 

 a bad smell for the whole neighborhood. 

 Now, this refuse from the tables was com- 

 posed of the richest and most expensive 

 food that money can buy. I think our 

 friend quit the business and let somebody 

 else take the garbage as a gift if he wauld 

 cmly haul it away. 



When traveling I often keep an eye out 

 in regard to this matter of waste around 

 hotels, restaurants, and sometimes in private 

 families. I have often remonstrated ; but 

 generally the excuse is to put the blame up- 

 on the average hired girl; and one of tl.e 

 troubles is the difficulty of getting- compe- 

 tent hired girls (and they know it) ; and 

 if the good wife ventures to find any fault 

 she is very apt to hear, '^ Well, if you do not 

 like my way of doing-, perha]is you liad 

 better try somebody else." 



Now this whole thing- indicates a wrong 

 state of affairs. Many times the mothers 

 and the children woulcl be far better off if 

 they did their own work instead of ha\dng 

 hired help. And, by the way, this same 

 hired girl, when she gets married to a man 

 of small sahiry, will be obliged to leai-n, by 

 " g-athering up the fragments." 



A great deal of the fault comes about, be- 



