11 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 



queer, indeed. He is small, medium build, 

 not tliick-ser. nor broad-shouldered, and, 

 least of all, inclined to corpulency. He is 

 of a nervous make-up, impatient to liave 

 tilings move, and is never at rest during the 

 hours of daylight. Ernest. 



I will add to what Ernest has said, that, 

 as so many friends at the convention asked 

 wiiat I weighed. I have just ascertained. It 

 is 13U, and I believe I never weighed any 

 more. For several years I have been averse 

 to getting weighed, because it seems to me 

 too many people waste valuable time in get- 

 ting weighed .every day or two. Now, all 

 this is of but little moment compared with 

 tlie point you toucli upon, that all our indus- 

 tries are overdone. Intemperance is, with- 

 o!it doubt, the yreate'^? cause of this state of 

 affairs. 



NORTH - AMEKICAN BEE - KEEPERS' 

 SOCIETY AT INDIANAPOLIS. 



XT was my good fortune (as you may guess 

 M from Ernest's talk, under the head of 

 ijt Our Own Apiary) to have Dr. Miller for 

 v*" a traveling companion. Indianapolis is 

 a beautiful city. The streets are broad, 

 and, compared with New York and Boston, 

 it is a wonderful relief to see plenty of room 

 for vehicles, pedestrians, and all the busi- 

 ness that is to be done. Of course, there is 

 no such amount of business done in Indian- 

 apolis as in the eastern cities mentioned ; 

 but I think they have done a very wise thing 

 in laying out the city and distributing the 

 buildings, even with the business they do 

 have. Over and over again I was reminded 

 of our old apiary and old home, contrasted 

 with our new apiary and our new home here 

 in Medina. When we commenced here I 

 feared I was spreading every thing over too 

 much ground; but the lapse of half a dozen 

 years has shown the wisdom of having plen- 

 ty of room, plenty of air, and plenty of sun- 

 shine. It seems to me that one of the great- 

 est obstacles in the way of doing business 

 accurately and rapidly, that we have to en- 

 counter, is getting things in a heap and dis- 

 order, sometimes wasting more time than it 

 takes to do the work, because of having our 

 business all in a heap. 



The people of Indianapij^lis seemed to be 

 very pleasant indeed. As soon as we got 

 into the convention and paid our dues we 

 were furnished with a plain neat little badge 

 by Mrs. Bobbins, who contributed very 

 niuch to the success and pleasantness of the 

 whole convention. Where we went through 

 the city we were recognized by these badges 

 as the " bee-men," and it was veiy pleasimt 

 for me to find myself already introduced, 

 wherever I went. 



I found that the convention did not open 

 till 9 o'clock on tlie second day, therefore I 

 had four good houi's to "have fun'' before the 

 convention opened. My usual hour for ris- 

 ing is ."i o'clock ; but at the Occidental Hot( 1 

 they did not allow anybody to have break- 

 fast until 6, so that blocked my way some. 

 I Wiiut to say a word rigiit here about our 

 large hotels— thpy do not seem to be calcu- 

 lated for busv iri]patient men like myself. 

 After wc sat d'nvn to breakfast it was tvyen- 



ty minutes before the waiter brought our 

 viands ; and at dinner-time, after we had 

 finished our dinner we had to wait fifteen or 

 twenty minutes more for dessert. May be 

 there is no remedy for this state of affairs ; 

 but I would have a remedy in some way or 

 otlier, at all hazards. The above hotel is a 

 beautiful one, and built exactly as I would 

 have it, in the way of plenty of room and 

 plenty of air. Tlie bill of fare is excellent, 

 especially in the way of fruits and vegeta- 

 bles. Very nice green peas were on the ta- 

 ble in October. In the market we saw beau- 

 tiful strawberries at r,() cents a quart. The 

 vender said they came from the city of New 

 York, but he did not know' how nor where 

 they were raised. If any one who reads this 

 can enlighten me on the point, I shall be 

 glad to hear from him. Does any one know 

 what would be the result of cutting oft' the 

 strawberry-buds in the spring? Would it 

 not make them blossom later? You know 

 that, by pasturing or cutting off alsike clo- 

 ver, we induce it to give a yield of honey 

 after white clover is gone. 



Well, after I got my breakfast I started 

 for the market-gardens of Indianapolis. I 

 was abundantly satisfied with my search, and 

 gathered ma.iy new ideas. Perhaps I was 

 fortunate enough to give a few ideas to the 

 boys I found on the ground at that early 

 hour. They plant their celery in a double 

 row. the rows being six or eight inches apart, 

 and the plants are set so as to " break joints," 

 as we term it. By this means two rows are 

 banked with the same labor required for one 

 row. As the ground was very rich they se- 

 cured a fine crop in this way. By the way, 

 they get stable manure in Indianapolis for 

 hauling it away. The boys said the owners 

 of the manure sometimes paid them for go- 

 ing after it, when they wanted it removed. 

 They were astonished when I told them that 

 we pay from fifty cents to a dollar a load, 

 according to quality, and can not get enough 

 at tliat. It seems to me that farmers and 

 gardeners ought not to grumble while this 

 state of affairs exists in tlie West. Nothing 

 is sold by the pound, or. at least, few things. 

 They sell lettuce in Febiuary for $H.OU a 

 bushel ; but in October they get only -50 cts. 

 a bushel. I saw a b?autifui patch of" mid- 

 tiplier '' onions that are to remain out all 

 winter. They say they i>ull them for market 

 in February. Sometimes they winter-kill 

 badly ; but as a i-ule, enougli are left to make 

 the crop a very profitable one. Manure be- 

 ing so clieap, they raise almost every thing 

 in hot-beds, and these cover an immense 

 area of ground. The frames that hold the 

 sash are movable. xVfter they are taken 

 away, manure covers the whole plot of 

 ground from one to two feet. It is now be- 

 ing called over the ground, preparatory to 

 getting fresh manure from the city for the 

 hot-beds for the coming winter and spring. 



I enjoyed my visit exceedingly, and came 

 into the'hall at ten minutes after nine, feel- 

 ing that, with the exercise of the morning, 

 I could easily stand it to sit still indoors 

 from nine o'clock until noon. X)octor Mil- 

 ler, who has been for some time the president 

 of the Chicago Convention, and who is, by 

 the way, to b3 president of tlie N, A. Con- 



