614 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 15 



half a mile out of town, however, I found a 

 guideboard that said 22 miles; and right here I 

 had my first evidence of the practical value of 

 a cyclometer. Just a few days ago the boys at- 

 tached one to my wheel, so as to see how much 

 I covered In running around town and through 

 the gardens in the course of 24 hours. I was 

 greatly astonished to find that some days I 

 make from five to ten miles j list running around 

 home. Well, until now I have always had an 

 opinion that a cyclometer was more of a play- 

 thing than a thing of any real practical value. 

 When the guideboard told me 23 miles I looked 

 to see where the cyclometer stood, and then I 

 was master of the situation. By glancing at it 

 at any point on the route I could lell just how 

 far along I was. I still kept asking people, 

 however, when opportunity offered, just to test, 

 not the cyclometer, but the average person. 

 When you ask about something only four or 

 five miles away, he is tolerably accurate; when 

 you get up to ten miles he is a good deal confus- 

 ed, and at twenty miles he has only a dim idea 

 of things — that is, generally speaking. But, 

 didn't I rejoice when I reached the upland, and 

 got on to the graveled pike along the canal ! It 

 is not only the gravel that makes these main 

 turnpikes so nice, but it is the fact that the hills 

 are graded down so it is an easy matter to run 

 up any of them without slacking your speed to 

 any extent; and it is also an easy matter to run 

 down, even if you have no brake on your wheel. 

 When you get away from the pikes, however, on 

 the country roads of Central and Southern Ohio, 

 as a rule you have to work up the hills; and 

 without a brake on your wheel you will also 

 have to walk down a great many of them. 

 Some of the points are beautiful and romantic. 

 More than once a line of an old song that I 

 heard in my childhood came to mind: 



And we'll settle on the banks of the pleasant 0-hi-o. 



One thing that made the trip pleasant to me 

 was the luxuriant gardens and the amount of 

 fruit that grace the roadside, especially where 

 the road passes over a hill. The peach-trees 

 everywhere were bending and breaking down 

 with their loads of fruit. At friend Nicodemus' 

 we found beautiful peaches in the grocery at 

 only 15 cts. a peck. Before I went away, I 

 found an old farmer who was anxious to bring 

 me a wagonload, or several of them, at only 40 

 cts. a bushel; and these were good-sized, fine- 

 looking peaches at that. At our home in Me- 

 dina they were retailing at 50 cts. a peck. I 

 figured on getting some of them by express. 

 But they would have to go over two lines; 

 there was a chance of delay at the transfer; 

 baskets must be bought, and tarleton or some 

 substitute would have to be fastened over the 

 baskets to prevent pilfering; and I was sorry 

 to have to give it up, because the different ex- 

 penses would bring them up so high that it 

 might not pay, especially if we shouM have very 

 hot weather during transit. Let me pause a 

 little to suggest that there is still a wrong 

 somewhere. 



Before I reached home I stopped for breakfast 

 at a little inland town, ten miles from any rail- 

 road, where they wanted me to agree to take 

 their peaches at 10 cts. a bushel — after the late 

 ones were rioe. This is not anew thing. Almost 

 every year in Southern Ohio peaches are sold 

 for 25 cts. a bushel at inland towns; and at this 

 time, only a hundred miles away, or less, they 

 sell for from one to two dollars a bushel. Sev- 

 eral times I have tried to make arrangements 

 to benefit both producer and consumer, but I 

 have had to give it up. Let me tell yon one of 

 the drawbacks. While off on this tri p I repeat- 

 edly saw boys and loafers around the railroad 



stations grabbing peaches out of the baskets. 

 Friend Nicodemus told me they had it at their 

 station almost every day. Said I: 



" Why, friend N., is it possible that your ex- . 

 press agent can see this thing going on, and not ' 

 do any thing about it ? " 



" Why, Mr. Root, his own boy was doing the 

 same thing, and setting the example for the 

 other boys." 



Where peaches are only ten or fifteen cents a 

 peck, perhaps they think this is a small matter, 

 and that it is not worth making a fuss about; 

 but when I pay a dollar a bushel for peaches, 

 and get scant- measure baskets at that, it makes 

 me feel like fighting to see that more or less 

 fruit has been abstracted from each scant 

 basket. If any express agent sees this, I hope 

 he will make a move for reform in this matter 

 of pilfering fruit. 



Friend Nicodemus has certainly a wonder- 

 ful show of vegetables in almost every line. 

 Why, he had Surehead cabbage almost as large 

 as a bushel basket. In their own town every 

 thing goes by so much apiece. He says he can 

 not sell any thing by weight at all, so these 

 great cabbage-heads have to be retailed for a 

 nickel apiece — just the same price as those that 

 weigh only three or four pounds. He said 

 what troubled him just then was the fear that 

 he might not be able to get even a nickel apiece 

 for all he was going to have. Beets, cucum- 

 bers, etc., sold for 10 cts. a dozen or a penny 

 apiece. Monstrous heads of cauliflower brought 

 only a nickel. My impression is that he, like 

 other expert market-gardeners, would probably 

 make more money during a drouth than during 

 this season of abundant rain. Although he had 

 plenty of almost every thing, he happened to 

 be out of green corn. I think I never knew a 

 season yet out that some one or more commodi- 

 ties would be out, and a good price offered for 

 the lucky man who had a supply. His soil is a 

 beautiful loam close to the Tuscarawas River. 

 By the way, said river, during my visit, was on 

 a rampage, and it made my heart sad to see 

 whole fields of corn not only knee-deep in 

 standing water, but in some places just the 

 tassels were sticking out. The people along 

 my route told me they had had a thunder-show- 

 er every afternoon regularly. 



I was greatly interested in Newcomerstown 

 in going through the immense establishment of 

 James B. Clow & Sons, their business being 

 mainly manufacturing cast-iron water-pipes. 

 What pleased me especially was to see a manu- 

 facturing plant employing two hundred or 

 three hundred hands, where power is transmit- 

 ted entirely by electricity. My fn'piid secured 

 a permit from the otHce, and we were first ush- 

 ered into the power-building. A beautiful 

 steam-engine was propelling a power dynamo. 

 Now, although this dynamo was not much 

 larger than an ordinary cooking-range, the 

 man in charge informed us that it produ'ed 2.'iO 

 horse- power. A needle on a dial close by the 

 dynamo told every instant just how manv horse- 

 power were being used. Sometimes a, piece of 

 ponderous machinery would be suddenly stop- 

 ped, and the needle would drop back instantly; 

 then some other machine would be started, or 

 perhaps three or four at once, and the magic 

 needle would spring forward to indicate The 

 amount of power suddenly called for. By an 

 ingenious piece of mechanism, steam from the 

 range of boilers was turned on or oft' in propor- 

 tion to the power required. Every thing was 

 so still that one could hardly believe that such 

 a tremendous force was passing out through 

 the medium of those little copper wires. But if 

 you listened intently near the cylinder of the 

 engine you could hear the opening and closing 



