1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



615 



real jelly, real fruit-juice, and real honey, is 

 growing at a great rate, and this must ulti- 

 mately redound to the farmers' benefit. 



Some of our farm papers ai'e vei'y slow to 

 catch on to this phase of pure-food legisla- 

 tion. The evil of adulteration is far more 

 widespread than has been generally suppos- 

 ed — it is a far greater evil than "watering" 

 stocks or railroad wrecking, as it affects eve- 

 ry household in the land. 



SPECIALTY vs. MIXED HUSBANDRY. 



To be or not to be a specialist in bee-keep- 

 ing is a hard question to decide. The weight 

 of testimony goes to show that bee-keepers 

 are very far from being mere specialists, for 

 a great proportion of them are expert poul- 

 try-men, while not a few are skillful all- 

 round farmers. Evidently, a thorough 

 knowledge of bee-keeping does not prevent 

 the average American from acquiring a thor- 

 ough knowledge of other rural pursuits. It 

 is an open question whether the farmers who 

 are specialists in some one pursuit, as, for ex- 

 ample, cotton, sugar-cane, cattle or sheep 

 farming, are as well off financially or other- 

 wise as those who pursue a mixed husbandry. 



We note in the South the constant advice 

 is to diversify the crops of the farm, and not 

 rely on one staple. The agriculturist whose 

 pantry is always well tilled is the man who 

 raises his own food supplies. In farming, at 

 least, some think Nature seems to abhor 

 specialism. We like to think that the bee- 

 keeper who excels can raise his own fruits 

 and vegetables, his own chickens, milk, etc., 

 and do it as well as anybody else. 



AN EXTRACT FROM SWEET CLOVER FOR FLA- 

 VORING; WHY CATTLE DON'T LIKE 

 IT AT FIRST. 



The pure-food laws may affect the status 

 of sweet clover somewhat, for an extract 

 known as cumarin has been made for some 

 time from the plant and quite extensively sold 

 as vanilla. It is not considered quite as good 

 as vanilla, not being worth more than half 

 that of vanillin, the artificial substitute for 

 real vanilla. It is the cumarin which this clo- 

 ver contains that causes animals to dislike it 

 at first. The hay is better liked, simply be- 

 cause the cumarin has been rendered less rank 

 by drying in the sun. There is nothing in- 

 jurious about cumarin, being extracted from 

 a vegetable, but there is some chance of va- 

 nillin being ruled out, as it comes from a coal- 

 tar source. 



Something similar to cumarin is also ex- 

 tracted from tonka beans gathered on the 

 Orinoco River. The latter is not a "bean," 

 but the seed of a fruit resembling the mango 

 or peach. The question naturally arises, 

 "Can cumarin take the place of vanilla, or, 

 rather, vanillin, for it is the latter which now 

 rules the market of the United States ? Merck 

 quotes cumarin (wholesale) at $4.25 per lb. 



There has been a good deal said about 

 sweet clover as a food for farm animals; but no 

 one, apparently, has noted its great value as 

 a fodder plant for sheep and goats. 



TREE-PLANTING IN OHIO. 



At present it looks as though tree-planting 

 would become popular even here in Ohio, 

 where nearly all the land is comparatively 

 high-priced. The following, from the pen of 

 a practical farmei', will give a slight idea of 

 the trend of planting opinion: 



Last year I planted 26 acres of my bes: land to ca- 

 talpa-trees, and this coming spring I shall plant 125 

 acres more. I did not commence this large planting 

 of trees as a business until I had satisfied myself by a 

 thorough investigation that I shall make more from 

 the growth of the trees on this land than I could have 

 hoped to make by farming it. This is not poor un- 

 profitable land, but the very best of farming-land; 

 and I am as certain as I can be of any thing that my 

 trees will make me much more than can be produced 

 from the land by ordinary agriculture. Of course, an 

 income like this will have to be waited for — eight, 

 nine, or ten years, possibly; but those who are so sit- 

 uated that they can plant trees and wait for returns 

 will be wonderfully surprised when their harvest 

 comes in. — //. C. Rogers. Champaign Co., 0., in the 

 Ohio Farmer for Feb. 2. 



Remember that the catalpa is ranked 

 among the honey-producers. 



The newspapers have announced the fact 

 that the Pennsylvania Railway had decided 

 to secure large tracts of land for the pur- 

 pose of tree-planting to supply its own wants 

 when lumber will be scarcer than it is now. 



HONEY AS A PERFECT FOOD AND AS A PRE- 

 VENTIVE OF FATIGUE. 



Honey is an excellent food in the preven- 

 tion of fatigue, owing to the fact that, while 

 it builds up the body (or, rather, makes up 

 for the loss of tissue), it does not tax the 

 system. The latter is not called upon to 

 throw off or get rid of a mass of perfectly 

 useless material, for it is undoubtedly true 

 that not ^^ part of honey is actual waste. 

 Not only so, but it is in a state of partial di- 

 gestion before being eaten, and. in addition, 

 the exquisite flavor of much of our honey 

 induces a very free flow of saliva — a very 

 necessary aid to digestion. It is believed 

 that, after passing to the stomach to become 

 natural glucose by the aid of the usual di- 

 gestive ferments, it later becomes glycogen 

 through the operation of the liver. In this 

 manner it is converted into heat and work. 

 It is given off by the body in the form of 

 carbonic acid and water. 



This is the latest theory of the digestive 

 process as applied to honey. 



It differs from sugar in two important par- 

 ticulars — first, it does not require to be "in- 

 verted," or converted into glucose — a pro- 

 cess which frequently leads to diabetes, or 

 kidney troubles, and it also possesses an ar- 

 oma and flavor which sugar does not, and 

 which is so necessary to good digestion by 

 inducing the saliva to flow. It contains oth- 

 er valuable ingredients not found in sugar. 



DOES OUR HONEY GO TO ENGLAND? 



Referring to what we had to say in regard 

 to the prices of English honey in former is- 

 sues a correspondent of the British Bee 

 Journal has this to say (in part): 



Then our folks are ever ready to boast of the high 

 prices they obtain for their produce. Quite recently 

 Gleanings, with a world-wide circulation, was writ- 



