188 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 



but a few miles away, gave him move valua- 

 ble information on potato-growing in one 

 evenwg tlian iie had learned by experience 

 in many years; and this man was ready to 

 talk, and glad to talk, and yet the young 

 man had never visited him before. None 

 of us know what there is going on close at 

 home; we do not know of the valuable in- 

 formation that somebody, even in the same 

 room, might be able to communicate if we 

 follow the spirit of the little text at the 

 head of this chapter. Now listen. Of 

 course, / was invited to stay over night with 

 one of tJie bee-friends. VVhile supper was 

 being prepared I was left for a little time 

 alone witii an ehhn'ly lady who was also 

 stopping tliere, but with whom I was, of 

 course, unacquainted. I had simply been in- 

 troduced to her. that was all. IJooks and 

 papers lay on the centei'-table, and the ques- 

 tion arose. Shall I look at the Ijooks, or 

 shall I exert myself a little to throw off my 

 natural l)ashfulness, and get acquainted. I 

 was somewhat tired, and did not feel much 

 like talking — at least, I did not suppose the 

 other occupant of the neat little parlor 

 would be interested in any of the topics 

 that interestpd myself. It is true, if I had 

 been practicing what I preach I might have 

 very soon found out whether she loved the 

 Lord or not; and if she did, as most women- 

 kind do, of coarse there would be a common 

 ground on which we c(ndd meet and feel 

 mutually interested. The truth was, I had 

 been kept in the audience -room a good 

 many hours, and I naturally pined for the 

 open Helds ; yes. I would have got out and 

 run across the lots, even if it was frosty 

 and after dark, had I thought it was the 

 proper thing to do. God's voice seemed to 

 indicate, however, that I should get ac- 

 quainted, and I am very glad I overcame 

 my weariness enough to obey. Pretty soon 

 I found she had a son-in-law, who is one of 

 the progressive farmers. This son-in-law 

 had been investing a great deal of time and 

 money in a vain attempt to thoroughly un- 

 derdrain the marshy slope or sidehill near 

 his barn. His mother-in-law was telling me 

 how sorry she felt to see him try so many 

 times, and fail, and his last bold attempt 

 was the saddest of all, because he finally 

 did succeed. This apparent contradiction is 

 explained by saying that, when he got the 

 water out of the sidehill, he dried up a 

 spring some distance away, but close to his 

 ?jar»., where he had for years, been watering 

 his herd of choice Jerseys, his horses, and 

 other stock. lie had killed the bird that 

 had for so many years stood in the way of his 

 crops of potatoes and corn ; but the stone 

 that killed the bird knocked the bottom out 

 of his nice well. At supper I asked my host 

 how far away this son-in-law lived. He 

 said it was about a mile. I begged to go 

 and see him, but he told me it would be 

 night before I got there. I fairly hungered 

 for the open fields, imderdrains, and swamp 

 muck, and he finally agreed to go witli me. 

 When we Jieared the spot we heard the 

 sound of babbling brooks, or gurgling water. 

 By the way, running water has always had 

 a fascination about it to my ears. Pretty 

 soon there was more sound of running water. 



and finally I was reminded of the words of 

 Revelation, where John compares the voice 

 of Christ which he heard, to the " sound of 

 many waters.'' This young man, whose 

 mother-in-law felt anxious about him, had, 

 in his first experiments, l)een thwarted in 

 his work by the tile filling up with black 

 mud and silt. To overcome this he made 

 large silt-basins, perhaps a yard square, and 

 four to six feet deep. Into the silt-basins 

 the tile emptied. Now, the inlet tile was 

 perhaps six inches higher up than the outlet 

 tile; and the I'esult was, the water poured a 

 few inches into the basin below. As these 

 wooden curbs, or silt-basins, were scattered 

 over the field, the sound of the pouring wa- 

 ter under ground was what reached my ears 

 and stirred me with enthusiasm. I could 

 not very well see what the soil looked like, 

 but I kicked into it with my foot, and took 

 up handfuls. I did not need to be told it 

 would raise potatoes. Occasionally the stalk 

 of a big weed reared itself almost' above my 

 head. This weed had started after the 

 drains were put in. All our friend needs is 

 a windmill to lift the water up, and he will 

 have a much l)etter arrangement than he 

 had before. The only trouble is, he has 

 spent so much money in the drainage busi- 

 ness that he feels as if he could not spare 

 the cash for even a windmill just yet. 



We went into the stables. He has a large 

 tank to catch rain-water, and iron pipes 

 convey the water to different parts of his 

 barn, so that the labor of caring for his 

 stock is comparatively light in the way of 

 water during a season of plenty of rain. 

 The barn is a model of neatness. There was 

 one Jersey heifer there, not only nicer than 

 any thing in the line of cattle-kind my eyes 

 had ever rested on, but I did not know be- 

 fore that it was possible for a calf to be so 

 pretty. I was strongly tempted to hand over 

 the price of her, without thinking the mat- 

 ter over. It was only $100, dear reader ; but 

 the ownei' had worked hard for his fine 

 stock, and I like to see such men get a good 

 reward. He. too, is a Chiistiau, and day by 

 day asks God's blessing on his labors ; and 

 even if tiie bottom of his well does drop out, 

 and other like calamities occur, now and 

 then, his faith in God does not waver. Why, 

 dear friends, I do iu)t know of any thing that 

 I look forward to with more pleasure than a 

 buggy-ride over to his place some afternoon, 

 to see how his crops look on that beautiful 

 soil, with the gurgling water prattling its 

 story but a few feet distant in any direction. 

 Now, this young friend is not alone. There 

 are other young farmers all around him, en- 

 thusiastic over the matter of underdraining 

 the Ilarrisville swamp that has been a great 

 dreary waste for years and years; and dur- 

 ing all the deliberations of the institute, I 

 can not remember that there was a single 

 unkind reflection. There were differences 

 of opinion, but they were met in the spirit 

 of our beautiful text: 



Be kindly atfectioned one to aiiolhcr with brotli- 

 erly love; in lionor preferring- one another. 



And they also showed forth most vividly 

 the spirit of the verse just after our text — 

 '' Not slothfid in business; fervent in spirit, 

 serving the Lord." 



