1901 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



551 



[This is the last of a series of articles on 

 the subject of bottling honey. We believe 

 we have now covered every detail of the ino- 

 dus operandi of some of the largest bottlers ot 

 extracted honeJ^ Mr. Weber is in the very 

 field so successfully filled by Mr. C. F. Muth. 

 In consequence of the educational work done 

 by him years ago, there seems to be in the 

 Cincinnati market a strong demand for bot- 

 tled honey, and Mr. Weber is now taking ad- 

 vantage of the situation. 



This we consider one of the best articles of 

 the series, and those who contemplate em- 

 barking in the business will do well to lay 

 this journal aside. — Ed.] 



NOTES OF TRAVEL 



A Vi>it wiih J. M. Jenkins ; among the Black Peo- 

 ple of the Cotton Belt ; the Bloody Shirt, etc. 



BY E. R. ROOT. 



J. M. Jenkins, of Wetumpka, Ala., quite to 

 my surprise, met me at Montgomery, from 

 which point I expected to take another train 

 to his home. After we had exchanged greet- 

 ings he asked whether I would prefer to wait 

 and go by train or drive across the country 

 through the cotton-plantations with his pony. 

 I chose the latter ; but before leaving we took 

 a stroll through the city. We visited the 

 State Capitol, in which was held the constitu- 

 tional convention to consider the question of 

 granting to or withholding the right of fran- 

 chise from the illiterates of the State. We 

 stood on the very spot, on the stone steps 

 marked by a star, where Jefferson Davis stood 

 when he took the oath of office of the Con- 

 federacy ; saw the house which he occupied 

 with his cabinet ; took several snap shots, and 

 then started on our drive overland through 

 the cotton-plantations occupied and worked 

 by the black people. This ride was to me one 

 of rare interest. As we passed field after field 

 and cabin after cabin with its inmates out in 

 front, I fairly rained the questions upon friend 

 Jenkins. I presume — yes, I know — that I ask- 

 ed many a silly question in regular Yankee 

 style, for I was anxious to know and under- 

 stand the problem of the colored race from a 

 truly Southern standpoint ; for I was sure 

 that we of the North, with our prejudices, did 

 not have all of right on our side. While I 

 can not go into the matter fully here I'll give 

 a few incidents : 



After we had gone about a mile out of the 

 city Mr. Jenkins stopped his horse in front of 

 an old colored woman hobbling on crutches. 

 As he did so he said, " Howdy, Aunt Carrie? 

 Stop a minute ; we want to talk to you." 



She seemed neither surprised nor pleased. 



" How old are you? " said Mr. Jenkins. 



" Dunno, boss." 



" What do you do for a living ? " 



"Nufun. Gits what I can find." 



' ' How long have you been here ? ' ' 



" Since 'mancipation." 



' ' When was that ? ' ' 



" Dunno." 



With this Mr. Jenkins handed her a dime, 



which she received with the same blank look, 

 without a show of surprise, pleasure, or thanks. 

 As we drove on Mr. Jenkins explained that 

 a large majority of the "old timers" among 

 the colored people knew no more of their his- 

 tory than this old black woman. The young- 

 er generation, having the advantage of schools, 

 are much better off ; but in the matter of 

 thanks for favors received, he said they are 

 on about a level vdth their parents. 



Mr. Jenkins, in this connection, told how, 

 one winter, when it was quite cold, he sent 

 around a load of wood to each of his colored 

 tenants free. When the wood was all gone, 

 with one exception they would come back and 

 talk after this fashion : 



" Say, boss, that wood you sent is all gone. 

 When you gwine to send some mo?" And 

 this came from able-bodied men who had the 

 privilege of going to his woods and cutting 

 for themselves as much as they liked. 



We passed by many and many a cabin where 

 the "man of the house" was loafing, lazing 

 away in a listless sort of fashion in the shade 

 during the best part of the day, when he 

 should have been at work. The cotton-plants, 

 full of weeds, were just at that time needing 

 attention. I fairly ached to spank some sort 

 of ambition into them. Not all the colored 

 men that I watched were thus indolent, but it 

 seemed to me over half that I saw in that 

 stretch of 14 miles were, and those that did 

 work did so in a lazy way. 



I saw on many of the plantations trees that 

 were girdled, dead, and standing up like great 

 black shafts. 



" Why don't they cut the trees down in the 

 first place, and then dig up the stumps? " 



" Because," said Mr. Jenkins, with a smile, 

 "the other way is easier." 



About this time we got into the vicinity of 

 one of Mr. Jenkins' out-apiaries ; and, as we 

 neared the yard, we could hear the roar of the 

 black bees overhead, busily at work, and in 

 delightful contrast to the way the other blacks 

 worked, and which I have just been describ- 

 ing. Presently we came up to the apiary lo- 

 cated in the midst of a thick woods, and bear- 

 ing the name of Hallonquist yard. It con- 

 tains 100 colonies run for extracted honey. 

 The hives are well made, neatly painted, and 

 well laid out. The annexed engraving gives 

 a partial view of the yard. The building 

 shown in the foreground is the extracting- 

 house ; and the novel part of it is that it is 

 made up of panels so that the house can be 

 taken down at any time, and its panels loaded 

 on to a wagon whenever it becomes necessary 

 to move the yard to some other location. The 

 panels are so neatly joined together that a 

 careful scrutiny of the engraving will scarcely 

 show where the one begins and the other ends. 

 The bees seemed to be working well, but 

 apparently did not like to have me point my 

 camera in a threatening manner. While I 

 was engaged in picture-taking Mr. Jenkins had 

 found a big snake. I suggested that he put it 

 in front of a hive and see what the bees would 

 do with it. I, was not sure but that the act 

 would be one of cruelty to animals ; but I 

 eased my conscience by thinking that it was 



