.Ti'uv, 191' 



G T. E A N I N G S' IN BEE C U L T U K E 



561 



first year, ;^4 1 iislu'ls tlic seiuml ytar, unci 42% 

 lushels-tlie tliird \i'ar. 



Well, I was not satislied e\tMi tlien, and 

 so I sent a postal card to a beykeeper in 

 Kansas City, Mo., a ijood reliable man, aiul 

 asked him for a brief report which 1 could 

 use before this journal goes out. Kelow is 

 his reply : 



In aceordiuue with your riMiiK'st I made a trip 

 to I\. E. Hendricks, and will rei)ort more fully on 

 the potatoes about August 1, this leina; the first trial 

 in Missouri. .Vbout -41) years ago, in North Carolina. 

 Mr. H. tried it. G. P. St.vrk. 



Kansas City, .Innc 14. 



As we go (o press there is some mystery 

 in regard to this whole matter. Everybody 

 reading- the newspaper clippings took it for 

 granted that Mr. Hendricks' wonderful re- 

 sults were made at his home in Missouri 

 during the jiast three years. In fact, you 

 will notice on \). 558 the statement that he 

 succeeded in getting 421/2 bushels (worth 

 today, here in Medina, $204.00) during 

 1916, and he gives as a reason why some 

 of his near neighbors knew nothing' about 

 it was that he gave a promise of secrecy to 



the man wlio originated the plan.* With 

 tlie |)resent high ])rice of i)otatoes, no doubt 

 such a plan will pay. 



The concluding paragraph of tlie U:vg- 

 clipping 1 have given above suggests grow- 

 ing- i)otatocs under glass; and this in turn 

 suggests the idea to me that, should a fr(>st 

 come, either in the spring or fall, it would 

 not be a difficult matter to protect the jjo- 

 tatoes by means of blankets or something- 

 similar to a tent. I hope good will come 

 of it, even if we do not get " 40 bushels " 

 from a bed not much larger than an ordi- 

 nary dining-table. In the Youth's Com- 

 pamon for Ajiril 19 we found a picture and 

 description of a sort of mound made with 

 sides sufficiently sloping so potatoes can be 

 grown down the sides as well as on top. 

 This is, no doubt, possible; but all such ar- 

 rangements will require an abundance of 

 fertilizers, either well-rotted stable manure 

 or chemical, and the best of soil. As soon 

 as any of tlie friends can furnish me reliable 

 information in regard to the result of this 

 potato-pen I shall be very glad to get it. 



HEALTH NOTES 



ALFALFA AND SWEET CLOVER TO ' REDUCE 

 THE HIGH COST OF LIVING." 



A single paragraph of a letter that I now 

 hold in my hand lias taken a mighty hold 

 on me. Read it and you will see why: 



Mr. A. I. Root: — My object in writing to you i,s 

 to call your attention to a substantial milepost in 

 the high cost of living — that is, to the new trick 

 your friend Alfalfa has played on us out here. We 

 find it makes the finest greens of almost anything 

 we have ever tried. Just pick the tender ends of 

 the plant and cook them like any other good green.s 

 with hog's jowl or otherwise to suit, and you will 

 not want anything better along that line. It beats 

 poke and many other kinds of greens people use in 

 this country, and is as good as if not better than, 

 mustard or turnifi greens, and (I will guess) more 

 nutritious. Any way, try it and report. 



Morristown, Tenn., April 9. .1. .1. Koger. 



After reading- the above I went out in 

 the garden and cut quite a bundle of shoots 

 of alfalfa, just about a foot high, and 

 asked Mis. Root to cook them like spinach. 

 She objected to the weedy stalk, but I told 

 her they were all right. Well, like our 

 friend in the above I decided alfalfa really 

 does make the finest kind of greens ; but 

 Mrs. Root strongly objected to the stalks 

 and stems; so the next time I just stripped 

 off the leaves along with the tender " ends 

 of tlie plant," as mentioned in the above. 



and they weie just tine. When I was in 

 California many of the friends there told 

 me they kept their cows and horses in good 

 condition with just alfalfa and nothing else 

 — no grain of any sort; and I think (of 

 course without an extended trial) that alfal- 

 fa cooked as above would largely take the 

 place of corn, wheat, or oats for human food. 



After testing the alfalfa it occurred to 

 me that the rank shoots, of sweet clover 

 growing- close by w^ould make good greens 

 in a like manner, altho I was pretty sure 

 beforehand the bitter taste of the cumarine 

 might be an objection until w'e " acquired 

 the habit," just as the cows and horses 

 object to it at first. Well, Mrs. Root did 

 object right awaj' to the strong clover taste; 

 but I ate the whole dishful without a bit of 

 trouble ; and I am not sure but I shall event- 

 ually get to like the sweet-clover taste just 

 as the horses and cattle do. 



Well, now, dear friends, if our grains get 

 to be so high-priced that we cannot afford 

 to buy them, especially wheat, let us have 

 some alfalfa or sweet clover growing near 



* I clip as follows from the coal company's circular : 

 Claims he promised man from whom he got idea years 

 ago to keep it secret, and that may account for fact 

 neighbors reached bv us by telephone had never seen 

 pen in actual operation. 



