110 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 1. 



the other towns. When I reached the end of 

 the shell road, at one point I tried my hand at 

 wheeling through Florida sand. I was obliged 

 to give it up: but a lady informed me that the 

 sand here \vas not a circumstance to what I 

 should find in South Florida. On a pinch I 

 could make better speed than to walk; but it 

 was pretty hard work, if followed any length 

 of time. 



THE ARTESIAN WELLS OF JACKSONVILLE. 



As I Started out early one morning to make 

 explorations I noticed a place for watering 

 horses; and as the water came out of the iron 

 pipe it seemed to be steaming. On touching 

 the pipe I found it quite warm. The water, 

 too, seemed to be toward 70°. Later in the day 

 I visited the artesian wells. Thi-re are three of 

 them. The two first that were drilled were put 

 down to a depth of (500 or TOO feet. The last 

 one, which gives the largest volume of water, 

 is down to something over 1000 feet. The con- 

 stant temperature of the first two is about 70°. 

 while the deepest is a little over 80°. Now this, 

 you see, is warmer than we need our living- 

 rooms; and, in fact, warm enough for tropical 

 plants in a greenhouse. IJut no one has ever 

 yet, that I know of. made use of this great 

 storehouse of heat, lo warm buildings, to grow 

 plants, or any tiling of this sort. Why, I should 

 regard it as a mine of wealth for the purpose of 

 giving an absolutely even temperature; and, 

 by the way. I have not as yet found any thing 

 around Jacksonville, in the way of market-gar- 

 dening or growing vegetables, worth mention- 

 ing. There is just one little dilapidated green- 

 house, and this is used only for flowers. Why 

 don't people make gardens where the bees are 

 buzzing in the soft maples, and the tempera- 

 ture seems to be just exactly right for many 

 hardy vegetables? I said to the engineer of 

 the waterworks, " Why, where does this water 

 come from ? It's awav up above the ocean, and 

 away above the St. John's River. Is there no 

 elevated body of waier anywhere around that 

 could furnish a supply of water for these wells 

 that have been running for so many years?" 



•' Well, sir, this is a secret that no man has 

 ever yet found out. There is no elevated body 

 of water, and, for that matter, scarcely any 

 elevated land anywhere near. There have 

 been conjectures by scientific men that this 

 water stratum extends clear up to the Cumber- 

 land Mountains; but this, of course, is mere 

 guesswork." 



This water as it comes from the wells is like 

 that at Clinton, Mo. — sulphurous; and the bot- 

 tom of the reservoirs and overflow streams is 

 decorated with all the colors of the; rainbow. I 

 supposed it was from the minerals it contained; 

 but my friend the engineer explained: "Not 

 minerals, Mr. Root, for this is almost absolute- 

 ly pure water. These beautiful colors are the 

 result of a species of moss, or alg;v, and this 

 vegetable growth takes place only where the 

 water is exposed to the sunlight. See here; we 

 have one reservoir roofed over and bricked up 

 so as to make it dark like a cellar. There is 

 none of this growth in this reservoir at all; but 

 where it is exposed to tiie full sunlight it grows 

 very rapidly. It commences on the stone or 

 sand at the bottom, where the sun can strike, 

 and gradually iircaks loose and floats away, 

 the warm temperature, 70 or 80°*, greatly facili- 

 tating this vegetable growth. Here at the 

 wells the water has a strong, sulphurous taste; 



♦AnotVier tliinjr, whci'e does this S0° of lieat come 

 from, 1()(H) feet below the surface? Is ii. possible 

 tliis hiKh tcmpeniiuie iind the elevation of the wa- 

 ter are in 80I1U' way coniH'cted ? If tlie water weri' 

 forced up by .xfro hi, however, would it be possible 

 for the water-pressure to lemaiii so perfectly even, 

 year in and year out ': 



but after exposing it to the air as it pours over 

 through the fountains, this odor at last disap- 

 pears. You will notice, when drawn from the- 

 hydrants in the city, it seems to be pure water, 

 with scarcely any taste of the sulphur at all." 

 Now, you see we have at least a partial explan- 

 ation of the wonderful mossy covering of the 

 ponds of spring water in Castalia, Erie Co., O.; 

 and here is a solution, too, of the cause of the 

 mossy giowth and covering surrounding the^ 

 watering-troughs and streams from springs 

 throughout our land. Put a box or tub around 

 your spring, either of stoue, brick, or wood, 

 then have a hinged cover over it to lift up, and 

 you won't have any of this slimy moss or scum. 

 All you have to do is to keep away the sunlight, 

 and it can't grow. One of the agricultural pa- 

 pers recently stated that wliitewashing a wa- 

 tering-trough, or even placing a lump of lime 

 in the water, would keep away the moss. You 

 see the idea is, that the moss is a vegetable 

 growth, and propagates itself, and grows in the 

 spring water, simply because this water fur- 

 nishes the desired temperature, especially 

 where it flows out into the sunlight. And this 

 slimy moss, then, really is not found at all, nor 

 even the elements that go tomake i<p its growth, 

 in the water itself, as it comes from the ground 

 or rocks. I am glad to know this, for I had a 

 sort of notion that the water was not pure 

 where this sort of deposit was all along the out^ 

 lets of the spring. And, by the way, may not 

 this mossy substance be utilized? At Castalia 

 great quantities of snails breed in it as it floats 

 on the surface of the still water in the ponds; 

 and ducks may be reared in immense quanti- 

 ties, getting almost their en tire sustenance from 

 the snails on the water. Feter Hendersoii' 

 speaks of cocoanut fiber being a valuable ma- 

 terial for mulch, and for incorporating with 

 certain soils in raising crops. I am of the opin- 

 ion that this mossy substance floating on the 

 ponds would be still more valuable. In Cas- 

 talia there was not only wagonloads but car- 

 loads of it, which I presume the people would 

 be glad to get rid of. If thrown upon the banks 

 until dried out it certainly would be a splendid 

 absorbent to be used in stables, making our 

 ponds and streams look more tidy besides. 



.JACKSONVILLE. 



This is a very pretty city of nearly 30,000 in- 

 habitants, and is the largest in the Stale. At 

 the present time there is a very general activity 

 all over the place in putting in good substan- 

 tial street pavements. The cedar- block pave- 

 ments are being removed, and either vitrified 

 brick or cement put in its place. The cement 

 pavement is made of material found only about 

 25 miles away, and brought in by boats. It 

 seems to be a sort of limy marble; and whea 

 mixed with sand it resembles hard putty, and 

 pounds down into material that is something 

 like hard wax. They claim that, when once 

 packed and rolled, it will turn off rain; and I 

 should think that, with some attention to keep^ 

 it in shape, it might do this. 



There are plenty of churches here; and,, 

 judging from the sermons we iiave heard, their 

 ministers are educated and able, and fully up 

 to the times. Their audiences are made up also 

 of people of intelligence and culture. For once 

 in my life I have attended chtirch where the 

 ventilation seemed proper, especially for such a 

 climate. There were very large windows, 

 which were opened so that the church seemed 

 like a great airy veranda; and those who were 

 tempted to stay away from the service because 

 of the enticing air and sunshine out of doors 

 had certainly no reason to call the church close 

 or confining. Endeavor Societies and Sunday- 

 schools also seem to be doing effective work. 

 The city is very quiet and orderly on Sunday- 



