1889 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



145 



of Salt Lake itself ; and it is so accommodat- 

 ing as to come right up close to the car win- 

 dow. We are to ride along its margin for 3 

 hours, for it is about 90 miles long and 30 or 

 40 wide. It is so heavily saturated with 

 chemicals, principally common salt, that no 

 fish has ever been found to live in it, nor, in 

 fact, any kind of animal life. One of the 

 passengers said it was reported that two 

 pails or water will make one pail of salt; 

 but this is, of course, an exaggeration, as 

 the water of Salt Lake is but 24 per cent salt. 

 Bathers say it is almost impossible to keep 

 under water, as it is so dense. After the 

 bath you must be rinsed in pure water. 



Dec. IS.— When I first arrived in Salt Lake 

 City I did not at once get hold of the bee- 

 men, and began to feel almost homesick ; 

 but when I hunted up one or two, and real- 

 ly let them know that A. I. Root was 

 " here," it has resulted as many times be- 

 fore, and I have had a wonderfully pleasant 

 time. In this region, where irrigation has 

 to be depended on for every thing, they get 

 good yields of beautiful honey nearly every 

 season. The story of its source is really 

 wonderful. Just listen : Much of the 

 ground here is so strongly alkaline that 

 nothing can be made to grow on it ; in fact, 

 the grass and whole surface of the ground 

 is white with the alkali. I said nothing 

 would grow ; but there is one exception to 

 the rule. Sweet clover will grow rank and 

 strong, and the farmers have actually been 

 sowing it for years, and plowing it under to 

 get rid of the " saleratus " as they call it. 

 This has scattered the sweet clover far and 

 wide, and this is what gives them their 

 beautiful honey, with a flavor that is exqui 

 site to me, and, at the same time, unmistak- 

 ably sweet clover. This plant is among the 

 very few that will live through the long dry 

 season. 



The hives used here are the Kidder and 

 crosswise L., mostly ; but one friend, Mr. 

 George Woodmanse, is succeeding beauti- 

 fully with the new Heddon hive. He makes 

 them himself, however, and he is a remark- 

 ably fine mechanic. The sample hive sent 

 him by the inventor was not as accurately 

 made as his own. 



Dec. 14.— Although it rains, I have had 

 the pleasure this morning of seeing a snow- 

 storm on the mountains while it rained in 

 the valley. How kind and friendly every- 

 body seems ! It was some time before ' I 

 found any of the bee-men in Salt Lake, and, 

 as I have just said, I began to get a little 

 homesick. Mr. Swaner we found putting 

 up a stovepipe — at least, that was what 

 was told us. We sent word for him to 

 finish his job and then come out in the apia- 

 ry. When introduced to A. I. Boot he said 

 he wasn't going to be mad about the stove- 



Eipe a bit longer, and he was now very glad 

 e didn't swear when it bothered him. We 

 found Mr. Taufer laying a stone wall 

 for a cellar ; but he too dropped his tools, 

 got leave to lay off, and we then went for 

 all the rest of the bee-men. We got to 

 friend Woodmanse's just at supper time; 

 and when 1 mildly protested because they 

 commenced to make a change in their sup- 

 per arrangements he replied, " Please don't 



be anxious ; we don't have A.I. Root here 

 every day." When his mother asked me to 

 give thanks, 1 tell you I got over being 

 homesick entirely. Now, please don't feel 

 hurt, dear friends, when I say it has been a 

 great privilege, during this visit, to hear a 

 blessing asked at the table. If no one else 

 is near to ask it, I am glad to do it in my 

 own way and after my own fashion. I like 

 to thank God for our daily food, and I like 

 to ask him to let his blessing rest on every 

 household where I am entertained ; and I 

 like to ask it out loud too. Just a simple ac- 

 knowledgment to the great Creator of the 

 universe, it seems to me, can offend no one. 



Well, during this visit it is not the people 

 only who have been friendly, but the great 

 sun, the clouds, and the mountains— yes, the 

 winds and the rain too, seemed pleased to 

 see me. I got interested in the clouds and 

 mountains in New Mexico, you remember. 

 Well, they got up a cloudburst for my 

 entertainment. Then at Glendale the sun 

 and rain seemed to have planned together 

 to get up that beautiful rainbow when I 

 was hunting that Methodist Sunday-school. 

 Well, this morning, after I got on the cars, 

 and was admiring the snowstorm on the 

 mountains, the old sun seemed to say : 



" I wonder if I can't lend a hand so as to 

 please brother Root ; " and in a twinkling 

 he looked through a rift in the clouds and 

 illumined the snowstorm, and made the 

 mountains glitter like frosted silver; then, 

 by way of contrast, he shone on the grass in 

 the valley, and then skipped to the other 

 side of the car and made Provo Lake shine 

 so like molten silver that I almost jumped 

 from my seat in astonishment and surprise. 

 This is a most beautiful fresh-water lake of 

 perhaps half the size of Salt Lake. Now, to 

 go back, did any photographer or artist ever 

 "• take " a mountain with the sun shining 

 through the clouds, during a snowstorm ? 



I have not seen a snowflake (close by) 

 since I left home ; but just now the cars 

 have taken a turn and started through a 

 pass in the mountains. As soon as we got 

 partly in, I knew of another reason why 

 snow is on some mountains and not on oth- 

 ers—the wind has a hand in the matter. In 

 fact, wherever the east wind came through 

 the gap, and struck, the ground was frozen. 

 A range of mountains makes winter on one 

 side and summer on the other. When we 

 got through, the ground was all white; and 

 as we ascended the canyon the streams be- 

 gan to be frozen over. Well, we have been 

 several hours running up this canyon to the 

 summit ; that is, to the point where the 

 mountain stream ends and a new one com- 

 mences on the other side of the range. You 

 can scarcely imagine with what interest I 

 watched the whole matter. When we 

 started up the canyon the stream was al- 

 most a river ; but it gradually dwindled 

 down until I saw it disappear entirely, and 

 nothing: was left but some willow-like bush- 

 es. While I was watching for another 

 stream and canyon to start down the oppo- 

 site side of the mountain, the cars ran into 

 a snow - shed and stopped observations. 

 These snow-sheds were almost as tight 

 and dark a? a tunnel. The conductor said 



