■fiS 



GLKANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 15. 



iiad be(Mi dumped by the cartload, so that the 

 owner of the land, when he saw what had been 

 done, placed a notice which said, •'.*.').0U tine for 

 tlirowing cans or any other rubbish on these 

 premises." Now, in order to get all we want 

 while they are clean, and before they get rusty, 

 just go to these places (restaurants, etc.), and 

 ask them to save them for you. Leave an empty 

 barrel to put them in as they may accumulate, 

 also ask them to keep them where they will 

 keep dry, so they won't rust. To fix them I'oi' 

 use, take a can-opener and cut out one end of 

 the can, leaving a little around the upper edge 

 in order that it may be strong enough so that 

 you can place your foot on it to force it into the 

 ground. Tlie other end you will have to deal 

 with differently. If you have a cook-stove in 

 your back shed or shop you are ready to take 

 ofT the other end. Heat up the stove and set 

 on a number of the cans, and the solder will 

 melt at once. As you take the cans off the 

 stove, hit them a little rap with the back of a 

 bread-knife, or other suitable article, and off 

 goes the other end. One end of tlie can is sharp, 

 and the other strong enough so you can place 

 your foot on it. 



I spoke of the stove being in a back shed or 

 shop, for the reason that there will be a little 

 of the fruit left in the cans; and if you were to 

 take them into the kitchen, of course an un- 

 pleasant odor would arise. You can, if more 

 convenient, take a large griddle, or any iron 

 with a flat surface, and place it on three bricks, 

 outdoors; and with a tire under it you can ac- 

 complish the work where it will not trouble 

 any one. W. 8. Wkight. 



Kattle Creek, Mich., Dec. 31. 



[Very good, friend W. Your suggestion of 

 leaving a ring of metal around the top, to pre- 

 vent crushing, will, perhaps, make the fruit- 

 cans sufficiently substantial. I have used them; 

 and my objection was, that all the fruit-cans I 

 ever got hold of were made of tin too thin and 

 light. Your improvement would fix the top all 

 right; but if your ground has stones or sticks 

 in it, I fear the lower edge will get badly mash- 

 ed up in a short time. We make ours of the 

 heaviest tin the tinners can work; but even 

 then we have a good deal of trouble by having 

 it bent and bruised where they strike stones, or 

 where the ground is very hard.] A. 1. R. 



EXPERIENCE AVITH THE NEW CELERY CULTURE. 



We have had quite a little experience with 

 the new method of growing celery, and found 

 that it was a good plan to make a small begin- 

 ning; for no one seems to be abh^ to comprehend 

 the amount of water that it r(!quires. As our 

 patch was right about a good well at the barn, 

 we ])\it in a rotary pump and watered frequent- 

 ly with an engine; but at on(^ end of the patch 

 tiie water ran into it from a leaky watering- 

 trough, keeping i\ut ground soaked up all the 

 time. If it had not been for this we shoujd not 

 have known the possibilities of the plan, as the 

 celery was wond(!rful in this spot, and I should 

 say the most profitable thing on the place. 

 Wfiil(! with good watering the crop was fair, it 

 was not nearly what it should liave been, and 

 did not blanch up as nicely as that banked. 

 The re(|uirements seem to be to keep it growing 

 right along, having the ground immensely rich, 

 and not stopping the; watering because it may 

 have raint;d, but put on ever so much more;, 

 until the ground is all soaked up, and then in a 

 few days put it on just as heavy again, and 

 keep it right up till the celery is ready to mar- 

 ket. It will grow in a wonderfully short time; 

 and if one has i)lenty of water there need be no 

 failure about it at all, and it will surely be a 

 big success if that and the manure are attended 



to. Even where the celery was only fairly 

 good, we sold at 10 cts. a bunch, putting three 

 in a bunch, sometimes four. This is at the rate 

 of over $3000 for the crop of an acre. We wished 

 we had all celery for a while; but then, it would 

 have needed to be better than this was, or we 

 could not have sold so much of it. 



Christian Weckesser. 

 Sanborn, N. Y.. Dec. 6. 



on the wheel. 

 On the evening of Thursday, Jan. 11, it was 

 my pleasure to deliver to the Endeavor Society 

 of Sharon Center, this county, substantially 

 the address in Our Homes for this iosue. After 

 my talk I passed the night with a friend who 

 lives on one of the highest hills in Medina Co. 

 As business is pressing now at the Home of the 

 Honey-bees, I begged the privilege of getting 

 up at the first glimpse of dawn, for a six-mile 

 tramp to my home before breakfast. The roads 

 were rather rough to use the vvheel, but I had a 

 curiosity to see how I could stand such a tramp 

 since my lungs and muscles have been so well 

 developed by my wheel-riding. I made it easi- 

 ly, and could have tramped back again, I think, 

 without breakfast or without very much fa- 

 tigue; and I did and do thank (rod from the 

 bottom of my heart for health, good stout 

 lungs, and, and hardened muscles. iSut what 

 has this to do with the wheel V Just this: I left 

 my wheel the night before at the depot, half a 

 mile from home. During my walk I had made 

 tests of walking as an exercise compared with 

 wheeling. I walked as rapidly as I could, and 

 then I ran quite a little distance to test my 

 wind; but I did not find the exhilaration that 

 is produced by the vvheel. In that last half- 

 mile with the wheel, however, and especially in 

 going up hill, I was surprised to notice how 

 quickly the exercise on the wheel brought the 

 long breaths that distend my lungs to their ut- 

 most, and with this large lung extension came 

 the strength and exhilaration. I confess 1 do 

 not understand it. Hut this seems to be clear: 

 When you are lifted from your feet, and are not 

 obliged to sustain the weight of your body, a 

 set of muscles are brought into play, or a differ- 

 ent condition of things takes place, that per- 

 mits great lung expansion without the fatigue 

 that would result were one obliged to support 

 the weight of the body. 



standard time. 



At present writing, only two criticisms have 

 been received in regard to my article in our last 

 issue, and both of these reter to a blunder of 

 mine. I mentioned a family that were obliged 

 to stay over all day Saturday and all day Sun- 

 day because of th(! confusion resulting fj'om 

 having two kinds of time. I saw iheni at our 

 depot, and listened while they talked with the 

 agent, and explained to him their loss and dis- 

 api)ointnient. Hut 1 did not at the time notice 

 that, had they taken sun time instead of rail- 

 road time, they would have been (tlicdd of the 

 train instead of licliind it. I asked the agent 

 to explain; but all he could tell was that they 

 missed their train because of the confusion re- 

 sulting from having two kinds of time. Very 

 likely it occurred in this way: Somebody told 

 them that the train left at U o'clock, which was 

 true by fiim time, but they came to the depot to 



