1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



641 



and a half of actual flying to learn the trick. This 

 time was spread over a period of six weeks, more 

 or less, for Mr. Wright never takes his students out 

 in a machine unless there is a perfect calm, and for 

 this we often have to wait weeks at a time. 1 had 

 never flown before. I had no shop training, yet 

 the game attracted me. 



"First, Mr. Wright put me in the passenger seat, 

 and we took a trip, merely an exhibition. I was 

 simply a passenger. The second flight he gave me 

 charge of the front control, which regulates the up- 

 and-down movements of the aeroplane. This was 

 the first practical work I had done. It was easy to 

 learn, and after the fourth trip I was given charge 

 of the lateral balance lever, which is in two parts. 

 One part regulates the angle of the planes and the 

 other the rear rudders, which enable the aero- 

 plane to make curves and circles. After a few trips 

 in which my whole attention was devoted to using 

 this lever, I was given charge of both together, and 

 controlled all the movements of the machine. 



"At no stage of the game was I frightened. I 

 guess I didn't expect to be — at least, the moment 

 we rose in the air on our first trip I experienced a 

 strange feeling of security that can be understood 

 only by actvially experiencing it. The rush of the 

 machine, the whistling of the air about me, and 

 the terrific speed wedged me back into my seat, 

 and I lost all ambition to hold tight to something. 

 Falling is probably what most people fear. Height 

 seemed to cut no figure in my feelings, for I was 

 firm in my seat, and soon all consciousness of the 

 idea that I might be thrown out and go tumbling 

 to the earth below disappeared. 



"One peculiar thing about flying is the after-ef- 

 fects of the roaring of the motor. With open ports 

 the shots are fast and furious, and the roar is deaf- 

 ening. Sometimes, just after a flight, it takes me 

 several minutes to shake off the feeling of deafness, 

 of ear pressure, caused by the roaring motors. But 

 I've come to love that roar. It's like a human 

 heart-beat. You miss it when it's gone. 



" Up in the air I have practically no idea of how 

 high I am. Of course 1 can guess, but the land- 

 scape is so varying and so deceiving that it is al- 

 most impossible to tell anywhere accurately. The 

 time I care most about is the critical moment when 

 the machine speeds up toward a flying clip and the 

 rise is about to begin. It keeps me busy for a mo- 

 ment or two with the levers, then I shoot up, up, 

 up, until I am clear of the earth. The tension caus- 

 ed by the anxieties of the get-away breaks, and I 

 feel like cutting figure eights and doing other 

 stunts. It's the get-away — that twenty feet just 

 above the ground that s full of worries. I tell you, 

 it's a relief to feel that you've mac'.e it all right. 



"Speed ? 1 never can tell— except by the hum of 

 that cracking motor. When I am well up in the 

 sky it often seems as if I were hardly moving. I 

 can feel the rush of the wind as It whips about my 

 face, and the suction of the huge propellors as they 

 race around behind me. As for the feeling— every 

 one will have a different sensation, I suppose. For 

 myself, I never want to come down. When I start 

 at early sunset I like to fly until dark. Of course, it 

 Is business with me; but then, there is nothing that 

 can touch the pleasure of it. And this is not mere- 

 ly because there is an element of risk connected 

 with it. The feeling is intangible. I'm not a writ- 

 ing man, and I don't know how to describe it— but 

 it's ffrcRt ! 



"There is one thing that I never forget, however. 

 That is the simplest thing about the machine, and 

 at the same time one of the most important of the 

 parts of the aeroplane. On one of the cross-bars 

 some few feet ahead of me is tacked a tiny wisp of 

 a rag, light enovigh to let the breeze blow it about. 

 That is my trouble-indicator. When I am making 

 a big circle there is a certain angle at which that 

 rag should straighten out. If it takes another an- 

 gle than the one it should, I know I am drifting— 

 which way, the rag shows. You may be sure that 

 my eyes keep that bit of soiled cloth well covered 

 at the critical moment. 



" The sensation ? Try it ! You'll never know un- 

 til you do." 



FLYING-MACHINES IN FRANCE UP-TO-DATE; 

 1000 SOLD ALREADY, AND ANOTHER 1000 

 TO BE DELIVERED BEFORE THE END OF 

 1910. 



We clip the following from the Journal 

 of Agriculture for Sept. 22: 



Next year French aeroplane manufacturers ex- 

 pect to .sell 11,000 machines. More than 1000 aero- 

 jilanes have been sold in France since the first of 

 the year, and another 1000 will be turned out and 

 delivered before the ead of the year. Three hun- 

 dred Bleriot monoplanes and 200 Farnam biplanes 

 have been .sold this year, these two types being the 

 most popular. 



SOUTHWEST FLORIDA; MORE ABOUT THE 

 DISCOURAGING THINGS, ETC. 



The letter below comes from an Ohio bee- 

 keeper who has been in Manatee Co. for 

 about a year. My impression is that he has 

 not met with the success that he expected, 

 and I do not know but he is a trifle home- 

 sick. I think, however, that what he says 

 is mostly true. I can not agree, however, 

 that it is a bad place to earn money. If I 

 am correct, carpenters are getting $4.00 a 

 day, working eight hours; and some of these 

 carpenters are not first-class, either, as I 

 happen to know. Now, I did not mean to 

 find any fault; but the above may sound a 

 little like it; but I offer it as an illustration. 

 But let us read the letter: 



Mr. A. I. Root: — Your description of Florida in 

 your writings, 1 am afraid, is altogether too flowery, 

 and its disagreeable side is made too tame, which 

 may induce many Northern people to come here 

 who would do better to stay where they are. About 

 the only disagreeable thing you seem to see is the 

 redbugs, and they are pretty bad, sure enough. 

 Mosquitoes are also bad. and have troubled us 

 since you left for Ohio, although just now they are 

 not troubling us much. Since the rainy season 

 seems to be about over they have left. 



The worst feature about this section is, to my 

 mind, the slim chances a man has for making any 

 money. What I have seen leads rae to believe 

 Florida is a grand place to spend money, but an aw- 

 ful poor one to earn it. Take the truck-growers 

 about here, for instance. Very lew of them got any 

 thing out of their crops last season. Many of them, 

 as you probably know, came out away behind — 

 thousands of dollars in some instances — and year 

 before last was said to be no better. This is making 

 hard times, for money is scarce. Bradentown is as 

 dull as can be, and no building of any account is 

 going on. nor has been in the past year. 



The trend of your writings is altogether too rosy. 

 Wouldn't it be better to give the public a little 

 more of the d irk side? Don't tell them of the fine 

 hard and oiled roads all about Bradentown, when 

 the fact is there is only one hard road, which is 

 Manatee Ave., leading from Manatee to P'orgarty- 

 ville. All others drop you into sand except the 

 woods just a little way out of town. 



My business of bee-keeping has taken me over the 

 country on both sides of the river some 15 to 20 

 miles; and although having traveled over much of 

 this country from Massachusetts to California, 

 Washington and Oregon, etc., I must say that, for 

 downright barrennes.s, I have not seen any country 

 like this. Yes, tell the good people of Ohio and 

 elsewhere that Florida has a US per cent climate: 

 but where one has to pay out more for fertilizer per 

 acre than it would take to buy a good improved 

 farm up there, what's the use of trying their for- 

 tunes here? I remember along about 1895 a colony 

 was started at Green Cove Si>rings, through the in- 

 fluence of the Farm, Fiehl, and Fireside, of Chicago. 

 Quite a little settlement was started about three 

 miles from the town. I happened to land there In 

 the winters of 1896 and 1897, and stayed there most 

 of the two winters. Well, it didn't take long for 

 those Northern people to starve out, and I don't 

 think there are more than two or three fam- 

 ilies left now. All had to go back to make a living. 



The land about here is somewhat richer than 

 about Green Cove Springs; but freight and commLs- 

 sion charges in mcst cases eat up all the profits, 

 and leave the grower worse off than when he start- 

 ed in. 



I have written of a few drawbacks onl.v. There 

 are many more I could tell about — the land sharks. 



