792 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 



the star to come out on the bright side. 

 Our proof-reader, who watched it with his 

 telescope, says it took between 68 and 71 

 minutes; but so much interested was I in 

 studying the machinery of the universe that 

 I did not feel sleepy one particle ; in fact, I 

 enjoyed every one of those 71 minutes 

 iu looking at the beautiful bright moon 

 through the opera-glass, and thinking it was 

 more than a hundred times as far away as 

 the furthermost point I reached while in ( !ali- 

 fornia. The immense distance seemed to 

 be easier to realize than ever before; and the 

 very thought of the vast expanse rilled my 

 soul with wonder and reverence for the 

 great Father .who rules over all. Our proof- 

 reader suggests that, when one considers 

 how much further off Jupiter is than the 

 moon, one might consider the moon as al- 

 most in the next dooryard ; for although it 

 is a quarter of a million of miles to the 

 moon, it is 832 millions of miles to Jupiter 

 when the earth and Jupiter are both on the 

 same side of the sun ; from which we see 

 that Jupiter was probably 1328 times further 

 than the moon on this night. It was agreed 

 that I should signal the neighborhood when 

 the star came out. It was not visible for 

 some time to the naked eye ; but through 

 the opera-glass I caught the first glimpse of 

 the planet as it began to emerge. It looked 

 something like the half of a pea stuck on 

 the side of a great pumpkin. It moved so 

 slowly, however, for some time that I 

 thought it was my imagination instead of 

 the real planet. And just then I enjoyed 

 through the opera-glass seeing Jupiter as a 

 little round ball, or a little globe of lire, if 

 you please, perhaps not much larger than 

 one of the periods on this printed page. 

 Although it seemed so small compared with 

 the moon, it is in reality as large as 60,150 

 moons all jumbled together in a heap. 

 While it was near to the bright moon, the 

 globular snape was very clear and distinct; 

 but when it got off on its pathway away 

 from the moon, strange to say my glass did 

 not show the globular form at all. It was 

 only a bright, blazing, twinkling star. Now, 

 ever since that night I enjoy looking at the 

 moon and Jupiter as I never did before. At 

 this date, Sept. 18, Jupiter is away off on 

 one side of the heavens, while the moon is 

 clear on the other side. They have thus 

 traveled thus far apart in a little over two 

 weeks, although they are both going in ap- 

 parently the same direction. 



If you get up in the morning before day- 

 light, or before there is any glimpse of sun- 

 rise in the east, you will see another star of 

 wondrous beauty. It is brighter, and makes 

 more of a blaze, than does Jupiter, for it is 

 at least ten times nearer to us. This is 

 Venus, the twin sister of our own beautiful 

 planet. Now, one who has never become 

 acquainted with the stars, nor studied their 

 wonderful movements, has, as it seems to 

 me, lost one great part of the enjoyment of 

 life. Well, the things I have mentioned are 

 about the hundredth^ part of the glimpse we 

 may get of the workings of the machinery 

 of the universe, if we use our eyes and ears 

 and intellects that God has given us. In 

 the Orange Judd Farmer of a recent date. 



our old friend O. Judd tells us by the 

 statistics that the oil product is rapidly de- 

 creasing, and suggests that it will probably 

 fail entirely in a few years. He says, how- 

 ever, that we need not feel bad about it, or 

 even troubled, even if our coal-oil lamps are 

 soon to be relegated to the garrets or corn- 

 cribs as useless truck. Electricity is com- 

 ing fast on the heels of kerosene. Yes, it 

 is chasing it up just as that star chased the 

 moon, and went ahead. Our county fairs, 

 conventions, and expositions, while they 

 give glimpses of the machinery that man is 

 building, at the same time give us also 

 wonderful glimpses of some of themachine- 

 rv of the universe. 



SPECIAL DEPARTMENT FOR A. I. ROOT, AND HIS 

 FRIENDS WHO LOVE TO RAISE CROPS. 



TRANSrLANTINU-TUUES. 



TT is my impression that the valueof these 

 M has not been fully realized. In taking 

 jll the place of potted plants for strawber- 

 •*■ ries alone, am I sure there is a wonder- 

 ful saving in time. To get potted plants 

 you are obliged to provide yourself with 

 pots ; then they must be planted, and a run- 

 ner put in place ; and unless it rains, at 

 least a great part of your pots will be fail- 

 ures. When they are fully rooted they 

 must be examined again, and taken up 

 when they are just right. My experience is, 

 more or less of the pots will be overlooked 

 and lost until the hoe or cultivator strikes 

 them at some future time, especially if you 

 employ somebody else to do the work. 

 Now, with transplanting-tubes you simply 

 do nothing until you want to use your plants. 

 Then go over the ground and take out such 

 ones as please you. Set the tube over it, 

 press it down until it is just deep enough to 

 lift the plant— dirt, roots, and all. I men- 

 tion this because one friend pushed the 

 tubes down level with the ground, and, as a 

 consequence, he had no cup above the plant 

 to contain the water, and he could not get 

 the plants out. Now you can put your 

 plants where you want them, at once, and 

 they will not stop growing, nor heave out by 

 frost in the winter, any more than if they 

 had not been moved at all. The job can be 

 finished at one time, and there is nothing 

 more to be done. The patch set out during 

 our recent drouth have every one lived. 

 There had been no rain for two weeks when 

 we put them out, and there was none for 

 nearly two weeks afterward. Some of the 

 tops died down, and I told my wife that I 

 guessed that half of them were* dead. Aft- 

 er a rain I asked her to find a single plant 

 in the whole 3000 that was dead. She final- 

 ly found just one ; but I stepped over and 

 pushed the dirt away, and showed her a 

 bunch of green leaves that had not yet got 

 above ground. Plants can be moved where 

 you wish, whether it rains or not, and you 

 need not lose one in a thousand. Further- 

 more, you may have a splendid crop of fruit 

 the very next season. About the finest 

 show of strawberries I ever saw was where 

 I put out 3000 plants last year, after digging 



