GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



September, 1917 



A 



C 



FEW clays 



a g o t h e 



P u e r d e n 

 family took a 

 rather extensive 

 drive thru some 

 of the residence 

 streets of Cleve- 

 land, and so had 



a chanc? to observe a number of Avar gar- 

 dens. There were many fine ones, and I did 

 net worder that vegetables were more plen- 

 tiful, as W3ll as cheaper and better than ever 

 before known in the city. But there were 

 other gardens, so-called, that made one long 

 to change the signs like this: 



OUR FOOD PAGE 



Stanq' Puerden 



=1 



i 



WAR GARDEN 



HELP ^:i*A^#IT 

 FIND I 



They were plantations of weeds with here 

 and there a sickly vegetable trying to raise 

 its head above the thrifty weeds. The en- 

 thusiasm of some people never lasts long, 

 even in war times. I am hoping that every 

 Gleanings reader with a piece of mother 

 earth in his possession has the finest gar- 

 den he ever had. I should love to take a 

 peep at all your gardens and then another 

 peep at your storeroom shelves and see how 

 much of your surplus you have in cans. 

 Speaking of gardens, may I suggest that 

 M.-A.-O. tell us something about his early 

 potatoes. I understand there was some 

 ceremony about digging his first pota- 

 toes ("?)," an invited audience of neighbors, 

 or something of the sort. Mr. A. I. Root 

 taught me how to start potatoes in a box of 

 rich soil in the house, with the result that 

 since early in July we have been enjoying 

 the finest potatoes we ever had in the sum- 

 mer, so not all of his pupils com? to grief. 

 I am expecting a polite note from the 

 managing editor, suggesting that he did not 

 engage me to conduct a gardening depart- 

 ment; but you must admit, Mr. Editor, that 

 gardens are rather closely related to the 

 food question tliis year. It will be of no 

 use for me to write recipes if there is noth- 

 ing to cook. 



honeyed words. 



Have you noticed that the Food Admin- 

 istration has requested the railroads to serve 

 honey and syrups as far as possible with 

 breakfast cereals instead of cream and 

 sugar. Dietitians tell us that to a certain 

 extent carbohydrates may replace fats in 



the diet, and W3 

 are urged to save 

 fats wherever 

 possible, as the 

 fat shortage in 

 the world is ex- 

 tremely serious. 

 Here is a chance 

 for us beekeep- 

 ers (1 never kept bees, nor do I ex- 

 pect to, but I have been a daughter 

 of a beekeeper for more years than I 

 would confess. I am the wife of a bee- 

 keei^er and the mother of a small bee- 

 keeper) — I repeat, here is a chance for us 

 to do our bit by serving honey with cereals, 

 on bread, and on all of these war breads and 

 wheat substitute dishes. You will have 

 little difficulty in persuading your children 

 to eat more honey and less fat if your 

 children are like mine. Children take to 

 sweet like bees to basswood on a good honey 

 day. Of course, you ought not to attempt 

 to cut out all fat from the children's diet, 

 but it can do no harm to suggest that they 

 spread their bread very thinly with butter 

 when honey is used; and at dinners where 

 there is fat with the meat it is just as well 

 for the family to use no butter at all. 



To illustrate how children like honey, a 

 few weeks ago a lady said to me, "How 

 much honey do you allow your children to 

 eat at a time?" I told her they generally 

 ate as much as they wanted; that I believed 

 appetite w-as a pretty safe guide in eating 

 honey. 



"Well," she returned, "James sometimes 

 eats a whole section at a meal; and while it 

 never seems to hurt him, I wondered if your 

 children ate that much at a time." 



I assured tlie lady that my children never 

 ate that much at a time; and I privately 

 wondered if James, who is a nine-year-old 

 boy, wouldn't some time suffer the pangs of 

 acute indigestion for his gre diness. I was 

 relating the incident to my family when my 

 big boy said, "Why, mother, I absentmind- 

 edly ate a whole section of honey down to 

 grandma's at lunch last Sunday evening, 

 and I felt fin? after it." However, in spite 

 of these two incidents I do not believe a 

 section of honey at a meal is the proper 

 allowance for any one, even if he is a big 

 boy with an appetite to correspond. 



SOME OTHER SWEETS. 



"Variety is the spice of life," so we must 

 have a few jars of jelly, marmalades, and 

 ])reserves in our pantries as well as plenty 

 of honey of all sorts. Another reason is 

 that jais of honey, home-made preserves, or 

 jelly make the nicest little gifts to ^end the 

 boys in training-camps. You see I do not 



