846 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 1. 



ON THE AVHEEL. 



Tuesday, Oct. 9, finally came to hand; and 

 after the hurry and planning for an absence of 

 a month or more, I settled down on the seat in 

 the car with a real relish for a little rest. The 

 autumn tints on the foliage of the forests seem- 

 ed especially soothing, as they reminded me of 

 a holiday away back in boyhood, and I was 

 now off for a holiday indeed — yes, a holiday of a 

 whole month. 



I enjoy traveling in almost any shape; and 

 while one does not get the same kind of exhil- 

 aration on the cars as on the wheel, yet I al- 

 ways enjoy looking over our native land and 

 catching even the passing glimpses of such 

 scenes rushing past, the passing glimpses of 

 " our homes," the homes of the great masses. 



At Crestline, O., I saw a sign decorating the 

 window of a saloon, that should make every 

 man and woman in Ohio blush; yes, the whole 

 United States ought to ftel ashamed to think 

 that such a thing should disgrace our land. 

 Right close to the depot, where every passen- 

 ger on the train has it in full view, we see in 

 large, plain, glaring letters — " A Good Drink of 

 Whiskey, only 5 cts." The man who is so low 

 down as to have the above painted on his large 

 glass windows has some sort of a feeble ex- 

 cuse that he does it to make money; but is 

 there another in the whole wide country who 

 has the hardihood to comment on such a thing? 

 I am astonished that Crestline has not before 

 this held an indignation meeting, and declar- 

 ed the thing should not be, exactly as if some 

 one persisted in having the smallpox right in 

 the center of the town. 



I left the cars at East St. Louis, and took my 

 wheel, with my baggage all strapped on it, and, 

 after quite a little ride in the cool of the morn- 

 ing, came to the great bridge across the Missis- 

 sippi. Foot passengers go back and forth free; 

 but you have to pay 15 cts. for taking a wheel 

 across, even if you walk by its side. 1 presume 

 this is because they have decided a wheel to be 

 a "vehicle." It is true, the rubber tires do not 

 " wear out '' a bridge to any very great extent; 

 but you see somebody must help pay for it, and 

 perhaps owners of wheels can do it as well as 

 anybody. 



One reason Jor riding over on the wheel was, 

 that I wanted to stop and look the bridge over 

 to my full satisfaction. It is a wonderful piece 

 of work, and is a credit to the engineering 

 skill of any age. When I got my first glimpse 

 of the new Union Depot of St. Ijouis, I was 

 more astonished than at the bridge. It.covers 

 four city blocks, if I am correct, and cost 

 !|!ij,.500.000. Don't be startled, and don't think 

 the printer has made a mistake in the figures. 

 I really didn't know there was any thing like 

 it on the face of the earth; but there it is, and 

 it is really a great blessing to the throngs of 

 humanity that are constantly going in and out. 

 Not only is every thing clean, neat, and tidy, 

 but the architectural beauty is just wonderful; 

 in fact, I am told that it is the finest and most 

 perfect railroad depot on the face of the earth. 

 Courteous officials are everywhere, and a trav- 

 eler can hardly go wrong or miss his train, 

 even if he were ever so stupid. Do you say, 

 "Oh! this is all very fine for those who have 

 plenty of money, etc.?" Not so. The regular 

 price of dinner in this great fine dining-room 

 is only 35 cents, and a very plain placard so an- 

 nounces it to everybody. I felt like saying, and 



say now, "Thank God for the example they are 

 setting our pioph"." In all my travels during 

 the past weeks, 1 have only once paid inure than 

 50 cents for my uinner. This once was at a din- 

 ing-station at BellefOntaiue, Ohio. There the 

 price was 75 cents, and they piled around one"s 

 plate a great lot of expensive dishes — more than 

 any one ought to eat. A runner told me it re- 

 ally seemed wicked, and made him feel guilty, 

 to see the food wasted that was paid for evei y 

 day, and couldn't be made any use of. Enough 

 is wasted right along to feed almost all the hun- 

 gry—at least all the deservuKj hungry. When 

 I first reached the town of Lebanon, where I am 

 now staying, I got an excellent supper at a ho- 

 tel, and the price was on]y 20 cents. The pro- 

 prietor said he wanted to make his price corre- 

 spond with the low prices of corn, wheat, etc. 

 The farmers' institute is now in session, and at 

 the above price the farmer who attends needn't 

 feel guilty if he goes and buys his dinner instead 

 of fussing to take it with him. 



Just before night, John and I stopped off at 

 Pleasant Hill, Mo., where we found George M. 

 Kellogg awaiting us. Friend K. has 25 large 

 greenhouses devoted entirely to cut flowers, and 

 he markets them in almost every large city in 

 Missouri. His immense plant is the growth of 

 an enthusiasm of only a few years past, in this 

 direction. He has 60,000 feet of glass, and per- 

 haps the largest plant of the kind west of the^ 

 Mississippi. Some of our readers may remem- 

 ber him as a writer for the bee-journals in for- 

 mer times, and, in fact, he keeps some bees at 

 present; but, of course, they can not receive 

 much attention with this other great enterprise 

 on his hands. At least a dozen large houses are 

 devoted to roses and nothing else. I want to 

 call attention to a fact of much importance to- 

 greenhouse men and gardeners. Friend K. sup- 

 ports all his beds and all his glass structures on 

 stakes and posts made of the osage-orange 

 hedge-plants. It never rots, even when driven 

 into damp warm earth; and. unlike the iron 

 pipes I have advised, you can hew, saw, or drive 

 nails into it. Abundance of the material can 

 be taken from overgrown hedges scattered (oft- 

 times to our sorrow) all over our land. Anoth- 

 er thing, a hen and chickens are a perfect rem- 

 edy for snails in a greenhouse or anywhere else 

 among your plants. 



THE NORTH AMERTCAK BEE-KEEPERS' CONVEN- 

 TION DURING THE FIRST DAY. 



So far (Oct. 11) we have had a very pleasant 

 time. Pres. Abbott, with Benton, Dr. Miller, 

 " W. Z. H.." York, Holtermann, Christopher 

 Grimm, Dadant, and others are making things- 

 lively. T. B. Terry got in late in the evening, 

 but Pres. Abbott found time enough for him to- 

 give the bee-keepers a brief resum6 of one of 

 his clover talks. Dr. Miller gave us a song and 

 one of his " select " readings; a gentleman and 

 lady of the city each also favored us with a 

 song, closing with a couple of fiie pieces by a 

 celebrated violinist. The Missouri bee-keep- 

 ers are not out as we should like to see them, 

 but more may come to day. Kansas and Ne- 

 braska are pretty well represented. Quite a 

 few old friends who have taken CtLeanings al- 

 most ever since it was printed by the windmill 

 are on hand with warm greetings. Six differ- 

 ent bee- journals are represented by their re- 

 spective editors. The city of St. Joseph has 

 given us, free of charge, the use of the finest 

 hall, beautifully seated, that was ever tender- 

 ed the N. A. B. K. A. since its inauguration. 

 Every one of the audience is furnished a richly 

 cushioned arm chair. Porters in constant at- 

 tendance are free. The hall comes from the- 

 Commercial Club, of the city. 



