1196 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 15 



UNCOOKED FOOD. 



It is now just about three months since I 

 visited friend Terry and talked to you about 

 uncooked foods. My health at present is 

 about as good as it ever was in my life, and 

 yet I am pretty close on to 67 years of age. 

 i can do any work, physical or mental, about 

 as well as I ever could. While I have not 

 adhered strictly to uncooked food I have 

 used more or less of grains, nuts, and fruit, 

 at every meal. Let me tell you once more 

 how simple a matter it is. I always find be- 

 side my plate a pi-etty little liowl that will 

 hold perhaps two or three teacupfuls of 

 grains and nuts. In this bowl there is al- 

 ways first Pettijohn's rolled wheat. i;ncook- 

 ed: then there is the same quantity of what 

 we buy as puffed rice, and about as much of 

 salted peanuts. The rice and nuts are. of 

 course, cooked: but they are not cooked Ijy 

 the good wife. She has no cooking whatever 

 to do in preparing this simple meal. The 

 bowl containing my grains and nuts does not 

 even need to be washed at every meal. The 

 spoon I use, and a cup in which I have about 

 half a cupful of milk, are all. Now, this 

 milk is not to be used to soften up the 

 grains. Yoii are to chew the nuts and grains 

 drv, letting nature furnish saliva for the 

 purpose. This is the most important matter 

 of all, I think. Chew them \\i\t\\ they are 

 like cream and can be swallowed easily, tak- 

 ing plenty of time. I would take my milk 

 mostly with my fruit. The fruit part "of this 

 "balanced ration" may be any fruit that 

 comes handy: but I think I like nice ripe 

 mellow apples better than any thing else. 

 Just now I am having Early Harvest. Yellow 

 Transparent, and Red Astrakhan. The lat- 

 ter are rather tart, and I think I like the 

 Yellow Transparent best of all. They grew 

 on some young trees that have just "begun 

 l)earing. You do not know how I enjoy 

 seeing them grow and gradually ripen up: 

 and I do not think I ever enjoyed any of 

 God's gifts in the way of food as I enjoy my 

 fruits. The greater part of my lifetime I 

 had a notion I could not eat bananas: but 

 after my grains and nuts, a good-sized ripe 

 lianana seems to suit nature's craving Ijetter 

 than almost any thing else. I generally 

 drink my milk while eating my banana: anil 

 as the rest of the family have regular cooked 

 ]ueals I frequently eat some other things 

 with the rest. But pie and cake always 

 riiake trouble more or less, and so does any 

 thing else that contains sugar. A little hon- 

 ey occasionally does very well: but when 

 nature admonishes me to cut off all sweets I 

 am ol)liged to heed it: and I am rejoiced to 



know that my appetite for sugar and sweet 

 tilings is pretty nearly gone. When I hail 

 apple-sauce (as I was obliged to have befori^ 

 the apples were ripe enough to be eaten 

 raw) Mrs. Root made some for me without 

 any sugar whatever. The sugar not only 

 disagreed with me, but it utterly spoiled it 

 for my taste — that is, after I had been in the 

 haljit of getting along without sugar. Now, 

 some of you may think I am making a lot of 

 fuss, and may be wasting a lot of paper by 

 having so much in print in regard to this 

 matter of diet: but I tell you. friends, it is a 

 matter of tremendous importance — not only 

 because it will help you to get back to your 

 youthful strength and vigor, but because it 

 saves the good wife and other women-folks 

 a mountain of hai"d work, especially in hot 

 summer time. 



One more point: If you have not discover- 

 ed it already, you can easily find it out for 

 youi'self, that good health depends very much 

 on regular habits and regular hours. If you 

 listen to Nature's promptings you will very 

 soon see that she keeps j^^'-'cdifW for regular 

 habits. If you change the hour of your 

 meals, good old Dame Nature will be put 

 out a little at first. Pretty soon she will 

 seem to say, ••Oh I this fellow wants us to 

 get used to having breakfast at 8 o'clock in- 

 stead of 6. All right. If we only know 

 what to depend on we can arrange our af- 

 fairs so as to have it that way." 



It sometimes takes quite a little spell for 

 the good old dame to fix her plans and cal- 

 culations: but when she iloes it. be careful 

 how you neeillessly iipset them. Now. then, 

 when it comes to traveling it is almost una- 

 voidable that your meals l)e either earlier or 

 later; but with my plan you can accommo- 

 date Nature by taking your nourishment 

 light on the dot. A stout jjaper bag will 

 hold your wheat, rice, and nuts, and you 

 can almost put the ration for a meal in your 

 vest pocket. You can carry along the friiit 

 in your coat pockets or in a very small 

 hand-bag. or you can buy them of the fi'uit- 

 boy on the train. This will keep you in 

 g<K)d health, and you will save dollars that 

 otherwise might go to the dining-car. In 

 our recent trip across Lake Erie, when it 

 came dinner-time I found out there were no 

 meals served for less than 75 cents each. 

 AVell, each of the boys had some money of 

 his own — money he had earned. I went 

 and sat down by them and said: 



•'Boys, it is dinner-time. We ai'e all hi;n- 

 gry. 1 shall have to confess to you that I 

 entii'ely forgot to get a lunch this morning 

 before we boarded the steamer. Now. if 

 you want to pay 75 cents apiece for dinner 

 out of your own money, all right. 1 will do 

 as you do. But I will tell you what I pro- 

 pose. You know when we left the caliin 

 there was some bread and butter left. In 

 my valise there are four slices of bread and 

 butter. At the news-stand on the boat thern 

 are bananas and salted peanuts. Now. / 

 can make a very good dinner of one pier.' 

 of bread and butter, some peanuts, and a 

 couple of bananas. What do you say ': " 



