940 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 



the track it is grass, clear out to the sky- 

 no woods and no hills. On the other side it 

 is water, clear out to the sky ; and when the 

 old sun came up lie jnst popped his head 

 right up out of the water, for he couldn't 

 get up any other way. His face looked very 

 bright and clear, as yours does when laam- 

 nia washes it clean ; "and lie just " smiled '" 

 on every thing, especially on a great big 

 ship, with all its sails spread to catch the 

 wind. This ship is on the grass side of the 

 track ; but the grass has now passed by, and 

 a great lake takes its place ; for along here 

 it is swamp and water, one and then the 

 other. As the sun shines on the white can- 

 vas, the ship looks like a great white bird or 

 a tiling of life. Now come trees covered 

 with Spanish moss, which looks like great 

 gauzy dish-cloths which somebody had flung 

 on the trees dripping wet. People are gath- 

 ering the moss, and drawing itotf in wagons. 



Palmettos begin here. They look like 

 palm-leaf fans, witli the fan split into strips 

 like corn-leaves. As we get further south 

 they grow taller and taller. Here is a gar- 

 den with orange-trees and bananas growing 

 outdoors. The trees are quite full of hand- 

 some oranges. At New Orleans we got our 

 breakfast at the French market, in the open 

 air, Nov. 14th. I had fried oysters, right off 

 the shell, and more than I wanted, for " two 

 bits." I did not know how much two bits 

 was, and the Frenchman did not know what 

 else to ask for, so a bystander explained that 

 it was ^5 cts. My companion got a nice 

 large beefsteak for SO cts. One can get every 

 thing very cheap at the French market. I 

 believe we found all kinds of garden stuff I 

 ever saw or heard of, and a good many I 

 never did hear of before. 



On the wharf we saw miles of barrels of 

 sugar and syrup, and acres of cotton. Great 

 steamers aiid steamships were being loaded, 

 while the railroads poured in their cargoes 

 constantly. The people of New Orleans are 

 very courteous and accommodating. Even 

 the small boys will go out of their way to 

 show us anywhere we may express a desire 

 to go. At -Jackson Square, near the depot, 

 we saw beautiful flowers in bloom, and very 

 handsome butterflies hovering over them. 

 When you buy lemonade here they give you 

 two straws to suck it through, so you won't 

 drink it too fast and make you sick. 



Last night it rained, but the old cars ran 

 away from the lain ; and when T looked out 

 in the night I saw the stars and the Big 

 Dipper, so I knew which way we were going. 

 I will tell you, Huber, what to do: After 

 you get this letter, the first time the stars 

 come out, get mamma to show you the Big 

 Dipper, and perhaps papa will be looking at 

 it at the same time, and then it woirt seem 

 as if he were so far away. See if it doesn't 

 look like this : 



fJiii Dii.pti-. 



GENERAL NOTES. 



New Orleans is behind us, and 1 am off' 

 for my 2o00-mile ride. For the first time, 1 

 see acres and acres of sugar-cane ; but there 

 are a thousand or more acres of waste land 

 and desolation where one acre is utilized for 

 any thing. Rank wild grass and weeds stretch 

 away clear off to the sky. At intervals ca- 

 nals are dug, as straight "as a line, that take 

 away the surplus water, and deep enough to 

 float good-sized boats, some with sails. Oc- 

 casional groves of trees are decked out with 

 moss in a most fantastic way. 1 will ex- 

 plain to the children, that Spanish moss is 

 an air-plant that has no roots, but feeds on 

 the damp air of this wet and swampy re- 

 gion. I suspect, however, it kills the trees 

 where they are so densely covered and load- 

 ed down. The climate and soil are grand 

 for almost every thing, as is attested by the 

 small gardens around some of the rude 

 homes. Crowds of people are at work at the 

 sugar-cane, but I can't see how they do, be- 

 cause they all stop as before, when the train 

 passes. Here are carloads of the stripped 

 cane. Sugar-plantations now multiply, and 

 half a dozen different great chimneys are in 

 sight, pouring forth volumes of smoke. 

 Around each of these sugar-works is a vil- 

 lage of whitewashed houses. The men who 

 cut the cane have broad knives, not unlike a 

 butcher's cleaver ; and as the bright blades 

 gleam in the hot sun they can be seen a 

 mile away. I say hot sun, for it is not much 

 cooler now than our harvest time at home. 

 This spot fLa Fourche, La.) looks like busi- 

 ness, with its rice-fields and miles of sugar- 

 cane ; but now it is woods and swamp and 

 Spanish moss again. 



Here is another spot that rejoices my 

 heart, with its system and activity. No 

 fences are known here, but permanent roads 

 through the cane fields, at regular intervals, 

 enable four-horse teams to draw immense 

 loads of cane to the sugar-mills. Would not 

 some such roads on our large farms at home 

 pay? The majority of the houses (the poor- 

 er ones) are still without windows. A few 

 seem to have tried the experiment, but the 

 windows are now^ boarded up on the inside. 

 H" anybody wants light he must open a door, 

 and this insures ventilation. The houses 

 are also mostly set up on blocks, probably to 

 avoid damimess and to insure ventilation 

 also. The colored people are always out of 

 doors, and this may be why they never have 

 yellow fever or consumption. Many of the 

 women, with their clean l>lue gingham dress- 

 es, are quite nice-looking. Some of the col- 

 ored laborers are not only neatly attired, but 

 are models of strength and muscle. I watch- 

 ed them on the dock at New Orleans, and 

 the amount of labor they performed should 

 be satisfactory. I talked with some of them 

 and found them courteous and gentlemanly. 



Sugar-cane, if T am correctly informed, is 

 planted only once in three or four years, and 

 even then they do not plant the seed, but 

 throw stalks in the furrows, and plow them 

 under ; these stalks start at every joint, and 

 thus start a new field. No seed or grain is 

 raised from it at all. The furrows are plow- 

 ed out three or four feet apart. When a 

 sugar-mill is stopped, the whole village' i^ 



