028 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



Sept. 



than any I had seen in former years ; in fact, 

 it stood down so near the grbnnd, and was 

 so qniet, that one wonld hardly think it ca- 

 pable of doing the business, were it not that 

 it was doing it. The man stood near it, talk- 

 ing incessantly, lirst to one and then to the 

 other. While' the machine gatliered up the 

 straw, it bundled it \ip with a kind of motli- 

 erly shake, such as the women give a pillow 

 when they slip jt in a case. Then with a 

 sort of energetic jerk and hug, the straw 

 was neatly tied up in a bundle, the string 

 nipped oif. and another arm that I had not 

 noticed hel'ore, witli a peculiar-looking long- 

 pointed tliunil) grablied tlie bundle and pitch- 

 ed it out of the way, and then said thumb 

 remained sticking up in the air in an odd 

 sort of away, as if to say. '' ( Jentlemen, what 

 do you think of that V biing on your grain." 

 After the l)undles were tied up", a boy took 

 them around to the place of starting, cut the 

 band oft', and let the uiachiue tie it iip again. 

 The boy looked rather tired and sleepy, evi- 

 dently wondering what could possess folks 

 to make such n fuss about that thing that 

 kept doing so hour after hour, when it 

 really could not help doing it. even if 

 it wanted to. But, the man s whole ?oul 

 was bound up in the machine, and lie seemed 

 never to tire. All those complicated wheels 

 and springs and steel lingers were the work 

 of his brain, and tlie inanimate steel was 

 trained to obey his will, and he, too. had it 

 under his finger. He was the master, and 

 the machine was the obedient servant. I 

 thought likely he had a beautiful home— a 

 nice factory, and that he was happy in fid- 

 tilling the end for which (iod created him. 



A little later, and Neighboi- II. suggested 

 that we should look at tlie Clydesdales. I 

 did not know what Clydesdales were, but 

 thought probably they would be interesting. 

 We looked into a stall where a man was sit- 

 ting down with one eye shut, chewing a 

 straw. Right back of him was a beautiful 

 horse— beautiful in his wonderful strength, 

 for liis ponderous legs reminded one of a ba- 

 by-elephant ; his wonderful sinews and mas- 

 sive strength reminded me of some of our 

 great iron structures that are made express- 

 ly to do massive work. I did not know there 

 were such horses in the world. Hut I could 

 readily imagine, that if some one had given 

 an order to a master mechanic to make a 

 horse that could draw a load four times as 

 large as horses usually do, this master me- 

 cUaiiie might have furiiished something like 

 the horse l)ei'ore u«(; that is, if his Imsiness 

 was making horses. Well, true enough, men 

 do nowadays make horses; that is, they get 

 up horses "to order. It takes a good many 

 years, perhaps, and nuiy be they have to 

 hunt all over the world, as 1). A. Jones did 

 after bees, to lind the nuiterial to work with; 

 but they can do it. While I was pondering 

 on this ponderous animal 1 looked over my 

 shoulder, and a little slim cat-like colt (it 

 seemed, too, to look like an old horse) came by 

 panting. Somebody said she had just ruii 

 four miles. Well, if tiie other was built to 

 draw heary Imids, this one was built for 

 speed. Why, she seemed as if she might al- 

 most fly ; and her feet were so little, one 

 could hardly believe she belonged to the same 



race of animals. And so it was all the way 

 through. Each man had his forte, and they 

 were gatliered there together to give and 

 impart knowledge, and to see what each one 

 had accomplished. 



After leaving the fair I enjoyed immense- 

 ly a visit to the grounds of our State Agri- 

 cultural College. Mr. W. J. Green, who is a 

 young man from our own county, and whom 

 I knew well, showed me their plat of sixty 

 different kinds of strawl terries, and we 

 talked strawberries until Neighbor II. said 

 he could not stand it any longer. You know 

 how much enjoynient I have had lately in 

 seeing plants grow. A\'ell, a rare treat 

 awaited me at the greenhouse on the college 

 grounds. For the first time in my life I saw 

 a greenhouse that was beautiful, even dur- 

 ing the hot days ot September. It was a 

 new structure that was just put up, all glass 

 and iron, and the gardener, Mr. C. A. Roth, 

 was an enthusiast in producing beautiful 

 effects by combinations of plants, and espe- 

 cially Inight foliage. He did not stop at the 

 foliage of the plants, but the ground they 

 grew in was made to contribute also. Some 

 of the plants greA\in bright clean sand ; oth- 

 ers had the surface of tlie ground made ahnost 

 black by some old lotteu corncobs broken up 

 line. Then every thing was so beautiful and 

 clean and neat. If a little soil was dropped 

 on the floor, it Avas brushed up at once. 

 Even the lurking-places under the bench 

 were shut by wire cloth, so that nothing met 

 the eye of the most fastidious visitor, to mar 

 the scene of beauty spreatl out before him. 



I did not know before that there was a 

 spot on the face of the earth that so com- 

 pletely embodied my ideas of beauty and 

 happiness as that greenhouse. Why, I'd 

 give a thousand dollars to have just a little 

 one like it on our grounds. Rut, alas ! it 

 would not stay so without the presiding gen- 

 ius to keep it there. This man had it all un- 

 der his thumb ; the bright little plants were 

 under his thumb, and jumped, as it were, 

 I and delighted in doing his bidding. He was 

 I happy, and the plants were happy. Did you 

 I never know, dear reader, that plants enjoy 

 life? Just study the weeds in your garden, 

 and see how eager they are for a chance to 

 I grow. See what frant^ic efforts they will 

 I make to hold on to life, and how they smile 

 their thanks when you minister to their 

 I wants. May be you will smile at my talking 

 in this way about weeds. Just hold on a 

 I bit. In front t)f the greenhouse was an ob- 

 j long or oval ribbon bed, made of plants of 

 ' variegated foliage. In the center was a 

 i ])laiit that looked like glowing coals of lire at 

 a distance, or like a gorgeous sunset. Sur- 

 ' rounding it was a band of dark crimson or 

 puple. I do not know colors very well, but I 

 get happy when they are combined nicely. 

 Well, this spot would fill one with pleasure 

 if he chanced to catch a glimpse of it almost 

 half a mile away, and he would wonder at 

 first what it was he w^as feeling happy about. 

 And what do you suppose human brains 

 made it out of? Why, the weeds I was 

 talking about — simply weeds, and nothing 

 more ; just our common homely catnip. 

 Some gardener found that catnip has some- 

 times foliage with differently tinted leaves 



