GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 15'. 



the sun, to be carried in again at night, get 

 enough good sets, probably, to pay him for 

 his time and trouble — at least, I hope he will. 

 By leaving them so late, a good many of them 

 were too large; and he has 75 or 100 bushels of 

 pickling onions. Unfortunately a great part of 

 them are red. and the demand for pickling 

 onions is for white. 



After the above was in type we received the 

 following from friend IL, indicating that his 

 venture has not turned out such a bad one, 

 after all: 



Mr. R(i(it:—1 liave sold mv red onion-sets. I have 

 some 1200 to 1500 lbs. of Vellow Danvers sets, flrst- 

 class, left, that I will deliver f. o. b. at 10 cts. per 

 lb., provided it is not any further than Medina. 



East Lynne, Mo., Nov. 9. C. J. Hostetler. 



At just about this crisis on my journey I dis- 

 covered I should have between .50 and (50 miles 

 a day to make to reach Lebanon, Laclede Co., 

 by Saturday night. At the above place Mrs. 

 Root has a brother; and the arrangement was 

 for her to meet me at her brother's. Saturday 

 night. Fifty miles a day would be an easy job 

 with graveled roads such as we have in Ohio, 

 or even good dirt roads; but as I approached 

 the vicinity of Hickory and other counties in 

 that neighborhood, everybody told me of the 

 terrible hills covered with sharp flinty rocks, 

 with roads so bad that a team could hardlv get 

 through with an empty lumber wagon. These 

 statements did not trouble me any— at least, 

 .not much, for I rather like obstacle.';, especially 

 in the way of hills, rocks, etc. They told me. 

 also, there were great rivers without any 

 bridges over them: but the weather was so 

 exceedingly hot and dry that I felt sure I should 

 be able to get across the rivers by some hook or 

 crook. This was Wednesday night, so I had 

 only Thursday, PYiday, and Saturday, to make 

 my destination. In spite of friend Hostetter's 

 urgent invitation to remain with him over 

 night. I told him I thought I would go on to 

 friend Yoder's. of Garden City. With moon- 

 light I should have made the trip all right; but 

 I did not like the idea of sitting down and 

 waiting for the moon's slow motions in coming 

 up, so I pushed ahead in the dark. I got along 

 very well until I nearly reached friend Yoder's. 

 when a round stone in my path, on a side hill 

 at that, gave me quite a tumble and some 

 bruises. I came up on the pordh just as the 

 family were sitting down to supper. When I 

 told them my name was Root, and that I came 

 from Ohio, you ought to have seen them scatter 

 around and make me welcome, with a good 

 place at their well -filled table. Friend Yoder 

 is also an onion-grower: but he grows Prize- 

 takers started under glass. I think he had 

 toward 100 bushels of onions that looked very 

 much like the Spanish onions on the market. 

 Said I: 



"Why, friend Yoder, you could get $1..50 a 

 bushel for these. I verily believe." 



"Oh!" replied he, " I am going to get more 

 than that. I expect to keep them till spring, 

 and if I have good luck I may get 12.00 a bush- 

 el." 



" Why, where did you raise plants to get 

 these big onions? I have not seen any hot- 

 beds or sashes." 



"Why, Mr. Root, I just pulled the windows 

 all out of my shop, and with them I grew 

 onion-plants enough to produce this crop." 



Friend Yoder has some beautiful apples, and 

 some tremendously rich soil for gardening or 

 for any thing else. He has also secured quite 

 a handsome crop of honey, in spite of the gen- 

 eral drouth. Before we retired at night he 

 brought out the family Bible, gave me the old 

 arm-chair, and asked me to conduct the evening 

 devotions. I said to him laughingly, " Why, 



look here, friend Yoder, you people are Men- 

 nonites and I nm a Congregationalist. How dO' 

 you know I shall conduct the services accord- 

 ing to your ideas of things? Hadn't you better- 

 take the Bible, and go on in your usual way?" 



"Mr. Root, it does not make a bit of differ- 

 ence, even if we are Mennonites. We can unite 

 most heartily with you." 



I then mentioned to him that friend Hostetler 

 told me that my religious teachings in Glean- 

 ings came as near the Mennonite faith as could 

 well be, and not be Mennonite entirely. Now. 

 there is a comforting thought right here. I 

 have been told this same thing by members of 

 other denominations; and does it not indicate 

 that, in the great essentials in all the real im- 

 portant part of the worship of God, we of these 

 different denominations are not so very far 

 apart after all ? Some good brother once said 

 at a union meeting, that, even if there were 

 division-walls between us, the walls were so low 

 that we could easily reach across them, and 

 shake hands all around. 



I expressed a wish to call on Mrs. H. Wagner, 

 at Dayton, not very far distant from Garden 

 City, and friond Yoder at once offered to go 

 with me. We managed to strap the wheel 

 across the back end of his buggy, so we could 

 visit on the way. Mrs. Wagner had only re- 

 cently taken entire charge of their apiary. Our 

 good brother (her husband) was taken away by 

 death something over a year ago. Notwith- 

 standing this, she has secured perhaps the best 

 crop of honey of any one for miles around. 

 Well, this is not the first time a woman has 

 succeeded better than any of the men-folks in 

 getting a crop of honey. A good many of the 

 friends in Missouri are neglecting their bees ta 

 such an extent that their apiaries are getting^ 

 to be all common bees. Mrs. Wagner was very 

 emphatic in regard to the advantage of the 

 Italians. She told me that pretty much all the 

 honey she had secured came from the Italian 

 colonies, and she pointed out one hive to me of 

 beautiful yellow Italians that had given her 

 over 100 well -filled sections during the months 

 of September and October. When she mention- 

 ed that these bees came from one of Ti ego's 

 queens, I gave a little exclamation of surprise. 



" Why, my good friend, I was afraid these 

 very handsome yellow bees would not produce 

 as much honey as the others." 



She said that had not been her experience at 

 all— at least, not with queens she got from 

 Trego. Perhaps I am giving friend T. a pretty 

 good advertisement right here: but I am al- 

 ways glad to find in my travels words of praise^ 

 for our extensive advertisers. 



Although it was thrashing-day, and every- 

 body was exceedingly busy, and I too was in a 

 big hurry (to tackle those flinty hills), Mrs. W. 

 insisted on calling the children to see me. She 

 said it had never occurred to her that A. I. 

 Root would visit their home. All over the 

 house and all over the place were things that 

 came from us. The children wanted me to ex- 

 plain a little more about their barometer; and 

 at parting my good friend said to me something 

 like this: 



" Mr. Root, my dear husband, when he was 

 alive, was one of your most ardent friends and 

 admirers. He died full of peace, and faith in^ 

 the Savior you have taught us about; and, 

 through all our joys and sorrows, through the 

 great trials and affliction I have passed through, 

 your little prayer has been my prayer. And I 

 do not know how I should have gone through 

 it all had it not been for the many answers to 

 that little petition in my sudden and great 

 trial — ' Lord, help.' " 



Can you wonder, dear friends, that my trip 

 through Missouri was a happy one when I met 



