1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



497 



a hill, and you may find yourself in a worse 

 predicament than you have ever yet been in all 

 your wheeling adventures." 



Now, I intended to do exactly as Ernest sug- 

 gested, but it was overlooked. In going down 

 a hill near Ghent— sure enough, off went the 

 chain. At first I felt a good deal distressed to 

 find the cranks of my wheel turn loose, and 

 give me no control whatever over its motions 

 or speed. The chain, however, seemed to keep 

 out of the machinery until I almost touched 

 the bottom, then it caught; but as it was soft 

 sand, the rear wheel slid like a sled-runner un- 

 til the machine slacked up so I could get off. 

 I felt like calling myself a good many names 

 for my stupidity and neglect. I hunted a 

 shady place, then began feeling in my pockets 

 for my wrench. The pump and oil -can were 

 all right, but "' nary a wrench." I rarely carry 

 my tool-bag, because I try to dispense with 

 every ounce in weight, especially during a very 

 hot day. Then I remembered laying the 

 wrench down on the window-sill at the factory, 

 15 miles away. I pat the chain back in its 

 place, however, and concluded it would prob- 

 ably go all right if I walked down steep hills. 

 I went down several hills of moderate decline, 

 and every thing seemed to be safe and sound 

 until I ventured on one that I felt on the start 

 was a little bit risky. When half way down, off 

 went the chain again. With no back pedaling, 

 of course the wheel began to go faster and fast- 

 er. I dodged innumerable rocks, set my teeth, 

 and held the handle-bars with a grip of iron. 

 All this time the chain was clattering; but final- 

 ly it caught in the sprocket-wheel, and there 

 was a zip, and a rattling of steel, then I heard 

 the chain fall to the ground. It was broken. 

 It made me think of a fractious colt that had 

 succeeded in kicking loo*e from sulky, whiffle- 

 tree, and even the traces. I felt like yelling to 

 somebody to " stop us." But there was no one 

 in sight. My IS-lb. Rambler seemed to be a 

 "rambler" indeed; and even when it got on 

 level ground it would not stop. It went up an- 

 other hill and down on the other side. I began 

 to think of Darius Green and his flying-mo- 

 chine. Finally the vvhsel gradually slacked up, 

 and I got off. I had been thinking thatmorning 

 that I needed a good sweat; and I got it that 

 time. It was not the sweat of physical exer- 

 tion, however, as much as it was mental anxi- 

 ety; and then I found I should have to walk 

 the rest of the way during that terribly hot 

 sultry noontime. I could not ride up hill with- 

 out a chain; and I could not ride down hill— at 

 least if it was very much down — because I was 

 afraid. But I did sail along nicely down all 

 gentle inclines, and even on a rather level road; 

 , and with a brisk wind behind me I made pret- 

 ty fair speed. At one point I came down a long 

 gradual hill. At the bottom was a bridge, but 

 the way was blocked by a peddler's wagon and 

 a farmer. As I could not slow up I yelled at 

 them all the way down hill to "clear the 

 track." They evidently, however, could not 

 see any reason why I should not slack up. But 

 when I got near to them I explained to them 

 that my wheel was broken, and that I had no 

 control over it. Doubtless it seemed to them a 

 little strange that I should be coming up hill at 

 such speed as that without doing any pedaling. 

 They moved, however, just in time to let me 

 squeeze between the two vehicles by the pretty 

 sharp guiding of my steed. 



Beyond the hill I found a blacksmith shop, 

 and we two — the blacksmith and I — managed 

 to mend the Rambler chain by taking out one 

 link. He was a little slow on deciding just 

 what price he ought to charge. Finally he 

 said he guessed the use of his tools and his time 

 might be worth a dime. I gave him a quarter. 



and thanked him besides, and went away with 

 the pleasant refiection that there were at least 

 &few people in this vorld who do not want all 

 they can get in every little deal. Yes, I was 

 cheered by another pleasant reflection too: An 

 18-lb. Rambler wheel, without any chain or 

 crank, swould help me quite a little on my jour- 

 ney. But after you have ridden a mile or two 

 without them, then you can realize as never be- 

 fore what a .s?//>crb luxury it is to make the 

 little light machine fly up hill and down, either 

 slow or fast as you choose. 



Friend Crawford was fixing a posy-bed in the 

 shade of a tree, for Mrs. C. He is just about 

 my age, and he said he had lately been decid- 

 ing that he wanted to take life a little easier 

 than he had been doing during the years past. 

 I told him that was my sentiment exactly. 

 Then we went out where three bright muscular 

 young men were taking care of the strawber- 

 ries. Two of them were his sons. My eyes soon 

 caught a glimpse of the new Zephaniah Breed 

 weeder. With this machine one of the boys 

 had actually gone over two acres of strawber- 

 ries newly set, fined up the earth in the most 

 beautiful manner, and had not. so far as I 

 could see, torn up a single plant. Why, if a 

 couple of men with cultivators and hoes — yes, 

 and rakes too— had worked two or three days 

 on that two acres of strawberries they could 

 not have fixed them any better than young 

 Crawford did in perhaps two hours. And then 

 the boys had got hold of some new-fashioned 

 hoes which I greatly admired. You can make 

 one by taking a common hoe and cutting off a 

 portion of the steel in a line from one of the 

 corners back toward the shank. It leaves an 

 acute angle of steel at the corner that will go 

 in between the plants, and mellow up the soil, 

 or yank out a little weed. The hoe is just as 

 good for all ordinary purposes as ever, has a 

 sharp corner like a trowel, to get in where a 

 common hoe could not. The frost had spoiled 

 the greater part of their crop of berries; but 

 they are going ahead with new plantations all 

 the same. 



I'a Irunnerless strawberry 

 attracted my attention. The plant just keeps 

 growing in great clumps or crowns; and if you 

 make the ground rich enough, and have the 

 plants far enough apart, you can, no doubt, get 

 a quart or two from each plant. To get new 

 settings you dig up the old plant and divide it 

 up. I saw a row of nine young ones just made 

 by splitting up one old plant. Another thing, 

 you can put your strawberries of this variety in 

 rows so as to cultivate both ways. I think this 

 variety has never yet been offered for sale. 



Friend Crawford finds it quite convenient to 

 combine onions and strawberries. I don't mean 

 that he mixes them up on the table, but just in 

 growing them out in the fields; and. stranee to 

 tell, he has sort o' settled down on White Mul- 

 tipliers and White Top onions, just exactly as 

 I have, and here he is only about 30 miles 

 away, and we were sold out and seeking every- 

 where, while he was selling his crop for less 

 than half what it was worth because he did not 

 know where to dispose of it. Don't you see, 

 friends, that it pays to be neighborly? Go 

 around and see what others are doing in your 

 line of business, and talk matters over. 



THE ONION-MIDGE OF NORTHERN OHIO , OB 

 rrJI^ NORTHERN THRIP OF TH E WEST. ^" J 



CMr. A. I. Root:— I wish to say that'your'talks 

 on gardening, etc.. are very interesting to me. 

 It was through your note on the onion-midge 

 that I learned what ailed my crop last year. 

 My onions began to die during the drouth early 

 in the season, that I thought were all right. I 



