232 



GLEANIiNGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 15. 



would po to get stable manure. In the first 

 place, there are no stables; second, there are 

 not any horses anywhere within miles, and 

 there are no roads on which to travel, even if 

 there were horses. Neither are there any wag- 

 ons. Every house is planted by the river, and 

 in front of the door there is a wharf or landing 

 where one or more boats are tied up. People go 

 everywhere in boats. They ship their products 

 in boats. The oranges and pineapples are all 

 wheeled down to the landing in wheelbarrows; 

 and, by the way, the manufacturers of wheel- 

 barrows will please take notice right here. 

 They are to make some with a light steel tire at 

 least four inches wide. Furthermore, this steel 

 tire. and. in fact, the whole wheel, is to be gal- 

 vanized so it will stand the salt sea-water. 

 There are miles and miles of country down here 

 where wheelbarrows are almost the only vehi- 

 cles used in gathering crops, and they should 

 be made so they can run over the soft sand, and 

 go clear down to the beach and into the salt 

 water. 



A LETTER TO MT SUNDAY-SCHOOL CLASS; WHAT 

 I FOUND IN THE SALT WATER. 



It was the last day of February that I stepped 

 on board a little steamer to ride from Punta 

 Gorda to Fort Mvers. Our route lay down 

 through Charlotte Harbor, around Pine Island, 

 and finally up the Caloosahatchee River. While 

 most of the passengers proceeded to pass the 

 day reading papers, talking politics, etc.. I de- 

 cided to find out what I could of the inhabi- 

 tants of the tropical deep. I felt sure that, by 

 practice and study. I could learn to see fish in 

 the water, like the old veteran fisherman, and 

 in a little time I was rewar led by seeing great 

 numbers of a round light-colored fish which 

 the captain said were "needle-fish," a species 

 of gar. These dart about with incredible 

 rapidity, and one must get his eye trained be- 

 fore he can follow them. They have a long 

 ducklike bill, and the fish are from one to two 

 feet in leneth. As the boat comes along, they, 

 in their fright, often run right in front of it, 

 and sometimes even jump out of water. Very 

 soon I thought I could in many places see the 

 bottom, and the captain told me I was rieht.* 

 The sea-water is often very clear and clean, 

 having only a greenish tinge; and the pure 

 white sand at the bottom makes it very easy to 

 see any object. Think of looking overthe side 

 of a steamboat, and seeing the bottom as yon 

 go along, and seeing also almost every object 

 quite plainlv. I soon found crabs and turtles; 

 and finally I started back in fright, for a hide- 

 ous creature as big as a cooking-stove, with 

 spotted wings, came almost up to the surface, 

 and seemed to care very little for me or the 

 steamboat. His tail stuck out like that of a 

 turtle, and his wings were painted as gay as if 

 made of curtain calico. The captain said it 

 was called " whippera," and is near akin to the 

 order of devil-fish. 



A school of porpoises came next, and they 

 evidently proposed to give me a better chance 

 to get acquainted. They rolled and tumbled 

 partly out of the water until I became very 

 anxious to .see the whole of one at once: and 

 just about then one of them seemed to say, 

 "All right; we will do almost any thing to 

 accommodate 'brother Root.' since he has come 

 clear down here to see us." And. suiting the 

 action to the word, he hopped clear out of the 

 water, going out head fir<!t, and going back 

 in head first. Now, boys, think of a fish as big 



*Tt mav be well to mention that our little steam- 

 er is made for shallow water, and draws only about 

 six feet; therefore, when the water is from seven 

 to ten feet deep, and cf^ar, I can see almost every 

 flsh, little and big. 



as any one of ^o« doing that, and you get some- 

 thing of the idea. About this time I said to 

 the engineer I would give a silver dollar to see 

 one of these chaps up close; and almost as soon 

 as I had spoken, two of them turned summer- 

 saults so close to me I could easily have touched 

 them with a common fish-pole. Well, now, 

 even this was not all of the "show," for I had 

 hardly taken my position again at the prow of 

 the boat, down near the water, when I saw two 

 beautiful cream -colored fish, just before the 

 boat, scudding along like a nicely matched 

 pair of colts; they were almost as large a» 

 horses, and one could easily imagine they wer& 

 pulling the boat exactly ashorses pull a buggy. 

 I thought they were running in front of us, as 

 cows get frightened and run before a loco- 

 motive; but the mate of the boat said they 

 were only big porpoises "at play." and he say* 

 they often run in front of the boat and play in 

 just that way. Pretty soon the captain asked 

 me to leave my fish and come to dinner; and 

 then the cook of the boat said he had prepared 

 some " speckled trout " expressly for " Mr. 

 Root's dinner;" so you see I had a nice time all 

 around. For dessert the cook brought us some 

 very fine guavas. If you don't know what a 

 guava is, just imagine a nice strawberry as big^ 

 as a large peach, and you will have ili pretty 

 nearly. They grow on trees, and the trees bear 

 fruit almost every month in the year. 



I spent the whole day in the way I have told 

 you, and enjoyed every hour of the trip. One 

 secret of the enjoyment was, that 1 made 

 friends with every one of the five men who run 

 the boat. Some of the passengers came to see 

 the wonderful things I was finding down in the 

 " briny deep," but they said they couldn't see a 

 thing. You see, they hadn't the patience to sit 

 down to learn how. If we only look carefully 

 we shall find- 

 Sermons in stones, books in running brooks, 

 And God in every thing. 



Everybody is catching fish down here. The 

 mate told me a party of "women " who stood 

 on the dock and threw in their lines caught two 

 hundred " big ones " in about two hours. 



A. I. R. 8 NOTES OF TRAVEL; DOES HE PAINT 

 THE PICTURES IN TOO ROSY COLORS? 



Mr. Ernest J?oof;— Excuse my freedom in of- 

 fering a few words in regard to the last travels 

 through Alabama. Georgia, and Florida. I am 

 surprised to see that country so enthusiastically 

 — yes. " eccentrically " palmed olT. It is "just 

 slick." that "Dixie Land," etc.: and this, too, 

 notwithstanding the disastrous drouth, hard 

 freezing, poor and sandy soil, poor houses, no 

 windows, etc. It is ridiculous. I have seen 

 houses in the South made of bnrrel-stdves. and 

 many other things according. I am sorry that 

 your father started out in such high "tune," 

 "big-bug like." He has forgotten all about 

 the thousands in Florida who lost nearly all 

 they had by the last disastrous frost, when he 

 speaks of Jacksonville. That's all right for 

 rich men; but how is it for those whose means 

 are limited, who are encouraged by such writ- 

 ings? I could send you letters from Florida, 

 from men who live there, that would open your 

 father's eyes. One of my neighbors sold his 

 nice home here, on account of just such re- 

 ports, and went to Florida last fall, and is now 

 back again, after spending nearly all he had. 

 I have also seen the same thing through Texas 

 this winter, and that is why I write this, not to 

 find fault with your father, for he has written 

 many good articles, from which I have learned 

 much. 



I was at the midwinter convention at Mrs. 

 Atchley's, at the time of the hard freeze. The 



