700 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 



At Moffadore (Summit Cotiiity) I had an 

 oppoitimity of satisfying Connie's desire to 

 know what there is inside of these great 

 hills. The railroad company had purchased 

 one of the largest of them, just for the grav- 

 el ; and at the time we were there they had 

 taken off just about half of the hill, leaving 

 the strata of sand, gravel, and cjccasionally 

 clay, plainly visiljle. But a richer treat 

 awaited ns in a sandbank lielonging to my 

 nephew, who lives on a hillside. He, too, 

 has grandfather Hart's blood in his veins, 

 and has also inherited a disposition to want 

 to know what there is in the hills. Like 

 grandfather of old, he w as not satisfied un- 

 til he had dug a hole in the side of Ms hill, 

 and there he found the most beautiful, clean 

 yellow sand. This particular hill has also 

 strata of sand, gravel, clay, etc. ; and here 

 the strata seem to curve witli the curve of 

 the hill. In fact, the ditferent layers are 

 much like tlie layers seen in cutting into an 

 onion. But there is something stranger still 

 about it : Near the convex surface of the 

 top of the hill the layers seem to have been 

 separated by some convulsion of nature, so 

 as to leave cavities, or pockets, if I may be 

 allowed the term. Now, the beautiful sand 

 he found was between the strata, within 

 these pockets. Near the summit of the hill 

 the vein was perhaps two feet thick ; biit it 

 curved downward toward the valley until it 

 disappeared in a sharp edge. The diagram 

 below will illustrate this plainer ; and if you 

 will use your eyes at the first opportunity, 

 you may glean many wonderful facts in re- 

 gard to the formation of this earth upon 

 which we live. 



SECTION OF IIII.L AT MOGADOKE, O. 



My nephew is also something of a rnarket- 

 gardener, and his celery, cabbages, etc., were 

 suffering from the lack of water, like those 

 of the rest of us. I assured him there were 

 springs at the base of this strange hill, for I 

 thought the spring water must be conduct- 

 ed along through the different strata. He 

 insisted there were no springs high enough 

 up to take the water on to his garden. At 

 the foot of tlie hill was the usual muck 

 swamp which we find so fretiuently in Sum- 

 mit County. 1 pushed down among the 

 bogs, and found a ditch he had been cutting 

 through to get rid of the siirplus water. 



" Why, look here, Horner. You surely 

 have springs that fuinish the water for this 

 ditch." 



"Why, no, Uncle Amos. You see the 

 ditch is now about all dry. See here ; there 

 is not a bit of water running.'' 



'' But, my young friend, will you please to 

 look heref" 



I showed him that, a few rods below where 

 he stood, there was quite a good stream of 

 water. And, by the way, I have several 

 times found springs by following up ditches 

 or runs. Wlien you find running water in 

 one place, and none a distance above the 

 spot, you have got track of a spring. Pret- 

 ty soon I reached my hand in a hole in the 

 bank, and out came water enough to fill an 

 inch pipe. He promised to follow it up to 

 its source, and see if he could not find it high 

 enough to turn on to his garden ; and I am 

 quite sure that many of you, my friends, 

 may find springs on your own land, if you 

 will search diligently. 



In visiting the ({len. at Cuyahoga Falls 

 (Summit County), we had another wonder- 

 ful lesson in regard to the interior of the 

 earth. The Cuyahoga Biver has cut through 

 the soft sandstone, in some places to a depth 

 of several hundred feet ; and the straight 

 walls, as they rise up, reveal to human eyes 

 the wonderful rocky structure of old Moth- 

 er Earth. Sti'ata and pockets are visible 

 here without u umber; and in one place a 

 thin layer of brown rock has been crimped 

 by some convulsion in former years, so that 

 it has lapped over on itself, like the figure 

 shown below. 



KINK IN A STRATUM OF SANDSTONE, TO I'.E 

 SEEN AT (;iTYAHOGA FALLS, O. 



Now, after this crimping, or doubling-up, 

 the great rocks settled down so as to flatten 

 it down all solid together; but it is plainly 

 evident by the grain of this curved strata, 

 that it was formed by some great convulsion 

 at some stage of the formation of these won- 

 derful rocks. Frcmi many of the strata, 

 beautiful springs flow forth ; and one great 

 overhanging rock sends forth so many of 

 them that it has been aptly named '• Weep- 

 ing Rock." 



In the afternoon we stopped at the house 

 of a Mr. Babb, a mile or two west of the 

 town of Cuyahoga Falls. The bottom of 

 Mr. Babb's cellar is cut into the solid sand- 

 stone that comes clear to the surface of the 

 hill whereon stands his beautifid dwelling. 



