1887 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



699 



He lived several days afterward, but most of 

 the time was calling plaintively for water. 

 When he died, as they were far away in the 

 woods, a lonely giave was made on the spot 

 where we stood ; and when 1 told the chil- 

 dren that their i)apa was named after this 

 little one, a sad and solemn look came over 

 their faces. Cousin Ray then piloted us to 

 another spot on the slope at the foot of this 

 great hill ; and after he had pnlled off a lot 

 of brush and sticks from a cavity in the 

 ground, he took hold of an iron ring and be- 

 gan to pull. I thought of the stories in the 

 Arabian Nights, and wondered if some gen- 

 ie was going to raise up and tell us about 

 the gold or silver, or, possibly, even common- 

 place coal that lay hidden beneath this old 

 mountain, as it seemed to be, almost, in our 

 eyes. Well, the lid came up and we peered 

 down. We did not see any genie, however, 

 but only the reiiection of our own faces in a 

 beautiful cool spring that bubbled up in the 

 bottom. I notice in Summit County, that 

 where springs are found, of late years, they 

 use a great many tubes made of stoneware, 

 to place over them. These tubes are like a 

 great stoneware crock without any bottom, 

 and many holes are made through the sides, 

 to permit the water to flow in. About half 

 way to the bottom of this spring a pipe 

 came in it through the side of the stone 

 crock ; and over the end of this pipe was a 

 tin can pierced with many holes. A few 

 rods further down the slope we came to the 

 lane where the cattle and horses go to pas- 

 ture. The pipe that came from the spring 

 ponred into a trough tliat ran under a fence 

 so as to water the stock in two different lots. 

 From this trough it poured into a second 

 trongh that stood in the lane. A tin cup 

 hung on a post, and from this tin cup we 

 took draughts of cool spring water— tlie 

 veritable soft water of the springs of Sum- 

 mit County. 



Grandfather did not find any gold in re- 

 ward for his investigations, by digging into 

 the hillside ; but I told Uncle J^en's folks I 

 shonkl consider that spring worth more than 

 gold or silver or coal either, if I had it. Aft- 

 er the water poured out of that last trough 

 it ran under a bridge, and then down into 

 the pasture lot. For sixteen years it had 

 been running right on that one spot. Did it 

 cause a great luxuriance in growth over the 

 other grass and weeds in that held? By no 

 means. Let me tell you. my friend, if you 

 don't know it already, that pouring water 

 on to a piece of ground continually, day aft- 

 er day, vjon^t make things grow. In fact. 



all this spring did to this pasture lot was to 

 make a mucky swamp where the cows got mir- 

 ed if they attempted to go across or through it. 

 To make things grow you must saturate the 

 ground and then let it dry out. When suffi- 

 ciently dry, saturate it again, and so on. 

 This rule applies to flower-pots, window- 

 gardens, dooryards, and every thing else 

 where we practice irrigation. Nothing but 

 swamp-weeds or genuine water-plants will 

 grow where it is constantly wet. Close by 

 this swamp-bog formed by that spring was a 

 great lot of rich sheep-manure, for Uncle Ben 

 deals largely in sheep and cattle, buying and 

 selling them by the carload. 1 tried to get 

 my cousins, Ray and .Judd, interested in 

 starting a celery-garden where that spring 

 was spoiling the ground ; but although Na- 

 ture had placed every thing so very handy 

 and convenient, there it lay year after year, 

 untouched and unused. Why, I almost felt 

 as if 1 must take off my coat and show them 

 what could be done with that spring of water. 



Before night I found there were hundreds 

 of other similar springs all over Summit 

 County, doing that very same trick — rvui- 

 ning down the hillsides, making swamp- 

 bjgs, and doing no good to anybody. I did 

 rejoice to find^^one gentleman, a friend of 

 our bee-journal, by the way, layiug under- 

 drains to get rid of this surplus water, and T 

 believe he proposed making a garden. There 

 it was on my old homestead, right where I 

 used to make garden thirty-five years ago, and 

 I had thought of that spot, with its wealth of 

 spring water, time and again dining these 

 years that are past. I have not time here to 

 tell you of the springs we found on that 

 trip ; but some of them pour forth water 

 enough to run quite a water-power, and yet 

 they do nothing, winter or summer, more 

 than to water the stock. 



AnotheJ- relative, in Tallmadge, has 

 brought a spring down a hill, and up again 

 to his house on the opposite hillside. Here 

 it gives a constant stream for the use of all 

 the household. Then it goes to the barn, 

 and fills a large tank where the stock can 

 drink every day in the year ; and after that 



now, what do you suppose it does after 



thatV Why, it just runs off on the ground, 

 and has done so for years, doing no good to 

 anybody. Where it leaves the kitclien it is 

 on higher ground than the kitchen garden ; 

 and although the kitchen garden suffers 

 just like other gardens, from the lack of 

 rain, nobody has yet ventured to turn this 

 surplus water between the rows of vegeta- 

 bles. 



