1889 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



147 



other at an oblique angle. Other moun- 

 tains were decked all over with great clock- 

 shelves, with nicely rounded corners. These 

 wondrous changes in the mountains and 

 desert remind me of the way the women- 

 folks used to make different patterns of 

 patchwork. They were always'studying up 

 something new and different, and then 

 holding it up to see if we didn't think it 

 pretty. Well, dame Nature has been hold- 

 ing up lots and lots of things to me in just 

 that way, and I want to respond, tl Yes, they 

 are all very pretty indeed.' 7 How wondrous 

 are thy works, O Lord ! 



Dec. 16. — Last night we passed the cele- 

 brated Black Canyon. It was in the night 

 time, and no moon ; but I got permission to 

 stand on the platform, and, with a little ex- 

 planation, I got a glimpse of most of it. It 

 is about 15 miles in length, and the most of 

 the way the Gunnison River has a path 

 straight through solid mountains. We can 

 not say the river cut it, for I am told that, 

 on each side, the ragged edges of the preci- 

 pices are so near alike no one can escape the 

 conclusion they were once united. How, 

 then, did this great rent come, separating 

 them from 50 to 100 feet or more ? The 

 books tell us it was probably a " season 

 crack," or " check," in this earth of ours. 

 The water then flowed into the chasm, filled 

 it up, then wore it more or less by using it 

 as a water-course. Just about half way 

 through the canyon is Curreeanti's needle, 

 apparently a slice, or splinter, that stood 

 almost between the two at the time of the 

 great crack. Some of the cliffs are said to 

 be 2000 feet high, or nearly half a mile. 



Just look at some object that you know is 

 about half a mile away, and then imagine 

 the rocky cliff in the picture that distance, 

 almost straight up, and you have some idea 

 of the scenery through the Black Canyon. 

 When you stand in front of the needle, and 

 look at it, you might be somewhat disap- 

 pointed, for it looks more like a great moun- 

 tain than a needle ; but, do not be in haste 

 to condemn the guide-books ; wait a little 

 until the locomotive takes you around the 

 curve so you can look at it edgewise, and 

 then you will find that, at the proper spot, 

 it looks more sharp and splinter-like than it 

 does in the picture on the opposite page. A 

 single sentence from one of the guide- 

 books, called " The Crest of the Continent," 

 describes it better than any language of my 

 own would do : 



In the very center of the canyon, where its bul- 

 warks are most lofty and precipitous, unbroken 

 cliffs rising two thousand feet without a break, and 

 shadowed by overhanging cornices, —just here 

 stands the most striking buttress and pinnacle of 

 them all,— Currecanti needle. It is a conical tow- 

 er standing out somewhat beyond the line of the 

 wall, from which it is separated (so that from some 

 points of view it looks wholly isolate) on one side by 

 a deep gash, and on the other by one of those nar- 

 row side-canyons which in the western part of the 

 gorge occur every mile or two. These ravines are 

 filled with trees, and make a green setting for this 

 massive monolith of pink stone whose diminishing 

 apex ends in a leaning spire that seems to trace its 

 march upon the sweeping clouds. Straight as a 

 plummet's line, and polished like the jasper gates 

 of the Eternal city, rise these walls of echoing gran- 

 ite to their dizzy battlements. Here and there a 

 promontory stands as a buttress; here and there a 

 protruding crag overhangs like a watch-tower on a 

 castle-wall. 



Gleanings in Bee Culture, 



Published Semi- Monthly . 



-fi^. I. HOOT, 

 EDITOR AND PUBLISHER, 



IvIEIDIiT-A., OHIO. 



TERMS: $1.00 PER YEAR, POSTPAID. 

 1 » ♦ ■ } 



For Glutting Bates, See First Page of Reading Matter. 



TMLJEnDT?<T *£>. , FEB. 15, 1889. 



Tin- statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart : the 

 commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. 

 Psalm 19: 8. 



"METHOD op rearing early queens." 

 This is the title of an 8-page pamphlet, written 

 by G. M. Doolittle, and published by E. L. Pratt, 

 Marlboro, Mass., editor of the Queen Breeder's Jour- 

 nal. The plan is succinctly stated, and will pro- 

 duce good queens. The price is 5 cts., and the work 

 can be obtained of the publisher. 



ANOTHER ENGLISH BEE-BOOK. 



The " Book of Bee-keeping" is the title of a new 

 work by W. B. Webster, and published by L. Pi- 

 cott Gill, 170 Strand, VV. C, London, England. The 

 book contains 98 pages. The matter is well ar- 

 ranged and illustrated, and fully up to the times. 

 It is sold at the very low price of one English 

 shilling, or 25 cents of our money. It can be ob- 

 tained of the publisher, as above. 



DEATH OP WILLIAM RAITT, EDITOR OP THE BEE- 

 KEEPERS' RECORD. 



Our good friend laid down the cares of this life, 

 in obedience to the call of the Master, Jan. 9. An 

 extended notice of his death should have appeared 

 in this issue, but it is unavoidably left out. Friend 

 Raitt was not only widely known and loved in Eng- 

 land, Ireland, and Scotland, but, by his genial writ- 

 ings, to a considerable extent throughout the 

 United States. He loved bees, but he loved his 

 Maker and his fellow-men more; and while we feel 

 sad to lose him from among us, we can rejoice that 

 what is our loss is his gain. 



THE GOVERNMENT SEED BUREAU, AND THE PROS- 

 PECTS OF ITS BEING ABOLISHED. 



We notice by the Boston Herald of Feb. 1 an ex- 

 pose of some of the frauds connected with the mat- 

 ter to which I have alluded on page 000. We ex- 

 tract as follows: 



Mr. Burnett showed that, through the members 

 of the House, there were distributed last year 

 253,739 packages of turnip seed, and of other seeds 

 the following number of packages: Tobacco, 89,107; 

 grass seeds, 9679; cotton, 4023; corn, 39-13; sugar 

 beet, 2992; sorghum, 2750; oats, 2(198; quarts wheat, 

 354; quarts millet, 26. 



Turnip seed was the cheapest in the lot. That 

 was the reason why it has been in such quantities. 

 Millet, one of the most valuable of the fodder 

 plants, which has only within the past few years 

 attracted attention, was scarcely used at all. 



We also take the following: 



Unless the action of this morning is rescinded at 

 a future meeting of the committee, or the bill 

 amended in the house, there will be but one more 

 year of the present bad practice of distributing 

 seeds through the medium of members of Congress. 



Now, I want to call attention to the matter of dis- 

 tributing seeds of tobacco; and I also want to take 

 our agricultural papers to task for publishing ar- 



