1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



797 



beefsteak for breakfast if we could get it with- 

 out paying a dollar apiece; and when the por- 

 ter announced that breakfast was ready I ask- 

 ed him what they charged. I really felt happy 

 when he said they charged for what a man 

 called for, and nothing more. You see, this hit 

 the doctor and me to a dot, for we wanted just 

 beefsteak and hot water— at least I did, and we 

 did not want to pay for a lot of things we 

 '• didn't want!" In a twinkling we were seated 

 at a very pretty dining-table. At an expense 

 of only 40 cents each we had just as nice and as 

 large a tenderloin steak as either could have 

 asked for. By consulting the bill of fare I 

 found that one could make a very decent meal 

 at an expenditure of only 35 cents, and enjoy 

 the luxuries of a beautiful dining-room car at 

 the same time. I do not know whether this 

 European plan is a special feature of the C, B. 

 <S: Q. or not; but I hope that other railroads 

 that do not fall into line of letting a man dine 

 cheap if he wants to will have their reward — a 

 beautiful dining-car without any patrons. 



Now. it is worth something to me to eat my 

 breakfast leisurely and in comfort while I am 

 wheeled along at the rate of almost a mile a 

 minute. It is worth something to me to have a 

 great large plate-glass window, spotlessly clean, 

 where I can see our broad country as 1 leisurely 

 masticate my steak. Through Indiana, Illi- 

 nois, Iowa, and Nebraska, we saw more corn- 

 fields than almost any thing else; and the 

 fields are so large that the rows are long 

 enough to please even Terry in the way of lo7ig 

 rows. May be I am a little conceited in regard 

 to my own State; but it did seem to me as 

 though the farming through the West was not 

 as well managed as it is in Ohio— at least along 

 the lake shore between Elyria and Toledo. 

 This fact impressed me forcibly both in going 

 out and coming home. For instance, I saw not 

 only men but women digging potatoes with a 

 hoe all through the Western States. To make 

 the matter more aggravating, there were so 

 many weeds in the potato-fields it was a very 

 hard matter to get out the potatoes with a hoe 

 or any other implement. Why! I saw w;omen 

 chopping away with a hoe when I fairly ached 

 to take one of our nice bright potato- forks and 

 go into that field and get all the potatoes out 

 on top of the ground from a dozen hills while 

 they were working at one. I think we should 

 have some missionaries sent out. equipped with 

 nice bright potato-forks. These missionaries 

 should instruct the people how to use a fork in 

 place of a hoe. 



Then, again, it is not only the potato-fields 

 that were weedy, but the cornfields were, as a 

 rule, terribly weedy. You may say we can not 

 expect clean corn-fields when corn brings only 

 10 or 15 cts. a bushel. May be I am wrong, but I 

 do not aeree with this sort of reasoning. If I 

 were obliged to raise corn at lO'cts. a bushel I 

 think my chances would be better for getting 

 out whole with clean culture; and clean cul- 

 ture does not cost very much nowadays. Per- 

 haps thev do not cultivate their corn out west 

 at all. Same of the fields looked as if they 

 didn't. But then there are other fields, and we 

 found them occasionally all along the way, 

 that showed evidences of clean culture and nice 

 farming. I do not know how many bushels of 

 corn these people get to the acre: but on my 

 own ground I have succeeded in getting at the 

 rate of 200 bushels of ears to the acre. 



A good deal of plowing that I saw done did 

 not suit me. Now, I am not very much of a 

 farmer, and may be these people know their 

 own business best; but after I had raised a crop 

 of weeds I should certainly want a plow, and a 

 man to manage it, so as to get all of the weeds 



under the ground and out of sight. Let me di- 

 gress a little: 



A neighbor wanted to hire our team and tools 

 to get in a piece of wheat. Our price for man, 

 team, and tools, is 35 cts. an hour. He thought 

 he could not afford to pay that, so he got a 

 cheaper man to do the plowing. Then he de- 

 cided he had better have our man to finish the 

 job; and as he went away he remarked that 

 the harrowing would have to be done all i7i one 

 direction, because the plowing had been done 

 so poorly the trash would all be pulled up again 

 if it were dragged in the usual way. Our team 

 finished the job and put in the grain; but it 

 cost more to do it than if we had taken the job 

 in the first place (plowing and all) at our price, 

 and we should have had the job from beginning 

 to end in very much better shape. Now, I 

 leave it to you whether cheao hurried plowing 

 pays after all. 



The great prairies of the Western States 

 offer wonderful advantages to improved farm- 

 ing, and I was told again and again that no 

 manure was needed, nor fertilizer of any sort. 

 They grow corn on the same ground year after 

 year, and get big crops— sometimes big crops of 

 weeds too, along with a big crop of corn. 



As we got near the end of our trip, the 

 prairies began to grow wider and wider; and 

 sometimes the scenery reminded me so strongly 

 of that wonderful irip across the deserts on the 

 Southern Pacific that I felt as if I ?mtst go on, 

 not only to the great deserts but to the land be- 

 yond those wonderful mountains. 



Lincoln. Neb., is beautifully situated. Its 

 buildings are as fine as any I ever saw in any 

 city of its size — perhaps finer. A mile or two 

 out of the city there is a wonderful salt lake 

 that I longed to investigate. This salt lake 

 rises and falls like the waters of the ocean, so I 

 am told. At a certain time of the day there is 

 quite an expanse of water; but a few hours 

 later the salt basin is almost empty. I wanted 

 to know more about it, but lack of time did not 

 permit further investigation. 



During the intermission, I heard some talk 

 about the beet-sugar industry. The general 

 impression seemed to be that there was not 

 very much encouragement in it for the farmers. 

 One lady, however, thought differently. A 

 great amount of money has been expended in 

 developing beet sugar, and I hope the result 

 may be that it has not been expended in vain. 



ON THE WHEEL AMONG THE POTATO-GROWERS. 



Yesterday, Oct. 23, it was my pleasure to see 

 Wilbur Fenn, of Tallmadge, O., dig and store 

 his potatoes. You will remember that he is the 

 man who plants his potatoes late— in fact, as 

 late as the last of June and from that into the 

 first of July; therefore he is always late about 

 digging. I reached his place about 9 o'clock in 

 the morning. There had been a severe frost 

 the night before, and the crust on the surface 

 was hardly thawed out enough to start. I 

 found him, however, with four horses on the 

 digger, just ready to go ahead. T. B.Terry 

 places one team ahead of the other; but Mr. 

 Fenn has four horses abreast, each horse walk- 

 ing in the furrow between the rows of potatoes. 

 In this way his horses are all close to the driver, 

 and there is but little trouble in keeping them 

 in place. The digger is the Hoover, illustrated 



