672 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 



flame, and the heat pours forth in such a 

 volume that 1 feel abundantly satisfled it is 

 equal to zero weather. When the lire-bricks 

 back of the grate began to look as if they 

 would sonn be red hot, another touch of the 

 lever with the foot and tlie fire is as gentle in 

 a second as a lamb. 



Of course, I was up in the morning before 

 anybody else (as usual), and the roaring of 

 the lire, soon after, in the kitchen stove 

 aroused my curiosity. Yes, they were get- 

 ting breakfast with natural gas, in the same 

 way; and when the breakfast was cooked, 

 down went the heat instantly; no wood or 

 coal to be lugged in ; no ashes to be carried 

 out, no smoke or litter. The stove looked 

 as clean and innocent as if it were standing 

 in a iiardware store, nicely blacked up so as 

 to show off to passers-by. This great and 

 woiiiderful gift has all this while been slum- 

 bering in the bowels of old Mother Earth, 

 waiting for the intelligence of man to let it 

 out and do his bidding, (ias-pipes run along 

 the streets of Wellsville, on top of the ground. 

 There is no need of burying them, as the yas 

 does not freeze np. '' 1 will be their (iod, 

 and they shall be my people,'"' came into my 

 mind again, and I wondered if the pet) pie iii 

 Wellsville and other towns in New York re- 

 membered to be thankful for this great 

 blessing. I suppose they think of it after 

 a while just about as we think of the bless- 

 ings we enjoy in our own homes the world 

 over. 



It is July 27lh, in the afternoon, and I am 

 waiting for the train at a country store. 

 They said there was not any place to get 

 supper at the station ; but I almost always 

 lind suppers, and good ones too, and I did 

 this time. One of the young men who clerk- 

 ed at the store invited me to go home with 

 him to supper, if I would put np with what 

 happened to be on hand. We had a very 

 nice supper, including raspl)erries and cream, 

 and ice-cream for dessert, even in an out-of- 

 the-way country place. The grounds about 

 this home were beautiful and tasty, and 

 every thing bore evidence of culture and in- 

 telligence inside. 1 do not know that these 

 people loved God, but I think they do, for 

 many things seemed to say, "And they shall 

 be my people." 



Pretty soon a pair of horses drew up to the 

 country store, attached to a spmewhat odd- 

 looking wagon. The wagon was sent by 

 friend Chapman to get the bee-men who 

 were to be at his convention the next day. 

 Friend Chapman hasamarket-garden,so the 

 storekeeper told me, and this was one of his 

 markct-vjagrms. Although he is not so miich 

 of a market-gardener as he used to be, he 

 has, in years past, made lots of money in the 

 business. I felt glad I had come. 



The town of Versailles, Cattaraugus Co., 

 N. Y. is a very pleasant and romantic spot. 

 A great river pours over the rocks, and lulls 

 ns to sleep with its roaring. A large flour- 

 ing-mill, right in the center of business, and 

 many things about the town, reminded me 

 of the village where I lived when a boy. In 

 the evening, boys and girls collected about 

 the postolti'ce to get the latest news. Asa 

 matter of course, the girls were dressed in 

 warm-weather costumes, and some of them 



were very pretty ; and as I listened to their 

 laughing and chatting, I wondered if they, 

 too, were Christians, and if they all went to 

 a young poople's prayer-meeting somewhere, 

 every Siuiday evening, or may be oftener. 

 Do they evei- think of the text I have been 

 thinking of during all this trip? Were they, 

 all of them, even the gayest among them, 

 God's people? 



Next morning, with Prof. McLain, our 

 friend L. C. lioot, W". T. Falconer, of James- 

 town, N. Y., and some others whose names 

 I have forgotten, it was my pleasure to go 

 out among the honey-plants, even before the 

 bees had commenced working. Friend Chap- 

 man is a genius, and. like many other genius- 

 es is somewhat eccentric. He has about 175 

 hives of bees ; and although he is progressive 

 enough to have planted fully two acres of 

 the Chapman honey-plant (with enough more 

 that will have blossomed next year to make 

 ten acres) he does not use a movable-comb 

 hive— says he does not want any. Shall I 

 tell you how he markets his honey V Well, 

 he markets it a good deal tlie way he does 

 garden-stuff. lie has it stored in large box- 

 es, lie puts these boxes into his wagon, and 

 drives to some town when there are many 

 people on the streets. Then he cuts out his 

 lioney in chunks, puts 10 lbs. in one of a lot 

 of cheap tin pans bought for the purpose, 

 and tells the passers-by, '" Here, you can 

 have ten pounds of this beautiful nice honey, 

 tin pan and all, for an even dollar." The 

 price is so low, and friend Chapman is such 

 an old hand at the business, that he sells 

 out his whole load in a couple of hours, 

 and goes home with his pocket full of dol- 

 lars. It is cutting down prices, I know; 

 but it is his way of doing. Well, I was a 

 little incredulous about iinding that 170 col- 

 onies could gather honey enough from two 

 acres from <rni/ plant so tlie bees would store 

 honey in sections. By the way, friend Chap- 

 man now uses one-pound sections in place of 

 the large boxes he formerly used ; but his 

 hives are still box hives; that is, the brood- 

 apartment is. The honey-plants stand in 

 long rows, and are cultivated like other 

 market-garden stuff the first year. When 

 they first begin to bloom, but little attention 

 is given them. The plant is so hardy that 

 he says the drought killed all the weeds, but 

 did liot hurt the plant, and I guess he is 

 right about it. They were growing finely on 

 hard hillside gravel. Friend Chapman has, 

 however, some beautiful land for market 

 gardening, and I think he had the finest 

 patch of cantaloupe muskmelons I ever saw 

 in my life. Although there were several 

 thousand hills, each hill was planted under 

 a box perhaps a foot S(iuare and six inches 

 high. Over this box a pane of glass is laid. 

 JSIelons used to be one of his great special- 

 ties, before they brought in' so many from 

 the South ; but he still makes considerable 

 money from them yet. 



At one side of the house, and near the 

 street, I noticed, under a grove of maples, 

 some queer-looking tables painted wiiite. 

 One table was square, with au opening in- 

 side, where a workman could stand ; the 

 other table was round, with a sirriilar open- 

 ing. J3oth tables were surrounded with 



