976 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 15 



Now, I presume it is next to impossible to 

 get pure air without an additional expense 

 for fuel, and especially in many homes in the 

 North. But, dear friends, which is most im- 

 portant—a little saving in fuel or a saving in 

 doctors' bills besides the chances and incon- 

 venience (if you will pardon the expression) 

 of sickness and death? Well, there is anoth- 

 er remedy, or another outlet, if you choose, 

 but it may cost money, also, to most of us. 

 You can go to Florida, or some similar place, 

 during the winter time, where the outdoor 

 air has a comfortable temperature, and is al- 

 ways, or pretty nearly so, literally "as free 

 as air." And this is one reason why I have 

 decided to pass my winters — the I'emaining 

 ones that I may be peimitted to live — in a 

 climate where I can have pure air without 

 stint or cost, aside from the expense of 

 getting there and back again. More than 

 all, as I have hinted before, I want to be 

 where I can exercise every day outdoors in 

 God's pure air and sunshine, without being 

 cumbered with an overcoat, mittens, etc. 

 Young people may stand it, passing a great 

 part of their live^ in close rooms where we 

 must (or a great lot of us, at least), breathe 

 the same air over and over again. But el- 

 derly people, with few exceptions, can not 

 stand this continued strain on their vitality. 

 Therefore, let us ventilate, even if it does 

 cost some money. And along the same line 

 I would say to those who can manage it, let 

 us "migrate," even if it does cost some mon- 

 ey. Just one more thing: Outdoor air is not 

 always pure and invigorating. In my home 

 here in Medina a great deal of the time the 

 air is more or less impregnated with coal 

 smoke — smoke from our own factory chim- 

 ney, and the smoke from two railroads that 

 cross each other close to our home. I am 

 pretty well satisfied that my health is im- 

 paired by being obliged to breathe a smoky 

 atmosphere. Perhaps the smoke from burn- 

 ing wood would do but little harm. Smoke 

 from bui'ning coal, either hard or soft, is cer- 

 tainly injurious to my digestion; and I am 

 forced to think this is one reason why my 

 health is invariably better, either in North- 

 ern Michigan or down in Floi'ida. Of course, 

 one must remain several weeks or months in 

 any particular locality to be sure that such 

 locality is a more favorable one for that par- 

 ticular person. We earnestly hope the time 

 will soon come when smoke-consuming de- 

 vices will be used, not only in all our facto- 

 ries, but in dwellings and on railroads as 

 well. 



THE GREAT WHITE PLAGUE AND FRESH AIR. 



A distinguished physician. Dr. Baker, says 

 in an address to tubercular patients: 



It is an outrageous shame that so many people die 

 needlessly of tuberculosis. Tuberculosis is generally 

 nothing short of suicide. People coop themselves up 

 in the stuffy, vitiated air of living-rooms all day and 

 night, and then wonder why the " white plague " slow- 

 ly chokes them to death. Get out into the fresh air 

 that God gave you. You have no excuse for breathing 

 poison when for a few dollars modern devices make 

 it possible to fill your lungs with the breath of life. 



niGH PRELSSURL 



GADDENING 



A.LI^OT 



ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS FOR ONE LEAF OF 

 A SINGLE PLANT; THE NEW THORNLESS 

 OPUNTIA; SOMETHING THAT BELONGS UN- 

 DER THE HEAD OF "HIGH-PRESSURE GAR- 

 DENING," THIS TIME FOR SURE. 



Luther Burbank has just sent out a new 

 descriptive catalog of opuntias, or what has 

 been called "prickly pear" by the women 

 who have had them for years as house- 

 plants. While I was down in Florida the 

 opuntias were a bad weed in my garden. 

 There is a great variety of them, and they 

 are found all over the island. When they 

 are in bloom they make the ground look yel- 

 low, and the bees work on them to some ex- 

 tent. Not all bear fruit, however. At one 

 time when we were out of fruit I picked a lit- 

 tle pailful from a single plant I found out in 

 the woods. On account of the thorns the 

 only way we could eat them was to stick a 

 fork through them and peel them with a 

 sharp knife. While in South Dakota I had 

 one of my pleasant surprises in finding a 

 prickly pear that grew outdoors, and winter- 

 ed over safely in the open air, or in a locali- 

 ty where it is sometimes 30 to 40 degrees be- 

 low zero. I found a similar opuntia out in 

 the fields in the Black Hills last fall. Bur- 

 bank's catalog gives us some very important 

 information in regard to opuntias through- 

 out the world. For instance, what do you 

 think of the following statement which I copy 

 from page 3? 



The fruits of these and the thorny ones have long 

 been used extensively as food, and are the principal 

 source of food for millions of human beings for about 

 three months in each year. 



Also the following one from page 4? 



The small, hard, wild thorny cactus has been a com- 

 mon every-day food for horses, camels, mules, oxen, 

 growing and beef stock, dairy cows, pigs, and poul-* 

 try for more than fifty years. Though millions have 

 died froom the thorns, yet no systematic work for 

 their improvement had been taken up until some fif- 

 teen years ago. 



You who have never had experience with 

 the thorns should read the following, page 5: 



Though the wild cactus is generally prepared for 

 stock by singeing the thorns with fire, yet this never 

 destroys the numerous bundles of innumerable nee- 

 dles imbedded in the leaves, and can not always re- 

 move even all of the larger thorns. Those who have 

 fed the wild cactus extensively, acknowledge that cat- 

 tle are often seen with blood dripping from their 

 mouths, and that their throats and tongues become at 

 last inflamed, very painful, and hard like a piece of 

 sole leather. 



The wild, thorny cactus is and always must be more 

 or less a pest. Millions of cattle, sheep, goats, hogs, 

 ostriches, and other animals have been destroyed by 

 it. The best newer thornless ones will withstand 

 frost, flood, drouth, heat, wind, and poor soil as well 

 as the wild ones, and will produce ten tons of fairly 

 good food where the average wild ones will produce 

 one ton of poor food. 



In regard to the ease of culture, see this 

 extract from page 7: 



