1888 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



961 



things" and waste their own and other people's 

 time. This does not apply to trying on " 44 " cloaks 

 in Peoria. Now, I woiKier if T have put my "foot in 

 it;" I don't mean the "cloak," for "we all wear 

 cloaks." 



Well, friend Koot, I've just begun to describe the 

 picture, and to tell you of a good many things not 

 shown here, of your own and other exhibits, and 

 matters of interest in relation to the exhibition, so T 

 shall have to write. 



To he continued. 



Auburndale, O., Dec. 4, 1888. A. B. Mason. 



You have given us a very correct impres- 

 sion of the exhibit, friend Mason. It is true, 

 the large sign. '• Exhibited by A. I. Root," 

 occupies a rather conspicuous position in the 

 picture. But this could not be helped. If 

 the camera could have been located so as to 

 take in the whole exhibit, the sign would 

 have appeared in moderate proportions. As 

 it was. " our artist " ( Ernest) was obliged to 

 stand perched in a corjier upon a barrel 

 whose head he felt might at any unwelcome 

 moment precipitate himself, camera and all, 

 into said b;irrel, telescopic fashion, you 

 know. It didn't, liowever, as the result 

 plainly shows. Yes. sir; honey-extractors 

 alongside of extracted honey do help amaz- 

 ingly in educating the public mind in regard 

 to our product in its liquid form. These ex- 

 hibits of all the different '' fixin's,'' and how 

 by their use honey may be produced, prove 

 that our product can be produced honestly; 

 and not only that, but by the tons and tons. 

 Did we receive any applications for the 

 $1000 reward for proof that comb honey was 

 manufactured by machinery ? Nary a one. 

 Out of the 1500 or 2000 such cards distributed 

 to the doubting Thomases at the centennial, 

 not a Thomas ever inquired whether .\. I. 

 Hoot was good for his offer, much less claim 

 the reward. Why did they not V Because 

 they either didn't even honestly believe it, or. 

 if they did, they couldn't tind even the shad- 

 ow of a proof. Empty talk is cheap, but 

 proof is another thing. 



NOTES BY THE "WAY. 



NEAK DEMINO, NEW MEXICO. 



Y Waterbury says it is 20 minutes of 

 H ; but as there was a change of two 

 hours at El Paso it is, in one sense, 

 20 minutes to five, and I notice the 

 sun has quite a mind to stick to the 

 old time, for he is almost down. Very like- 

 ly he will come to terms, however, by to- 

 morrow night. Here at Deming, mountains 

 are visible on every side, and it begins to be 

 a question which are mountains and which 

 are clouds. Three peaks of the Cordilleras 

 3,re said to l)e 8o miles away in Old Mexico. 

 I should not call them ten miles. Some 

 mountains are exactly the shape of a heap 

 of potatoes as we bury them in the garden ; 

 others curve inward along the slope, like an 

 inverted morning-glory ; others are tiat on 

 top. Some are so sharp it seems as if one 

 would not find room to stand on the peak. 

 The rains are constantly washing them 

 down; and as they vary in composition, 

 some parts being more soluble than others, 



this fact accounts in part for the queer 

 shapes. We have just traversed .SO miles or 

 more of level taV)le lands. The table lands 

 of New Mexico are among the most elevated 

 ground in the United States. Well, this 

 great table land is washed and gullied at 

 the outer edges, enough to show that the 

 different strata have never been disturbed 

 since their formation. Keeping this in 

 mind I will try to explain the origin of some 

 wonderful hills on the edge of the table 

 land that I have called " sugar-bowl moun- 

 tains." The table land is in layers, or 

 strata, as follows: Sand, thin limestone, 

 clay, gravel, rock. Well, the wash and 

 guflies separated some bluffs of table land, 

 and the sand on top— what came down to a 

 sharp peak— assumed a cone shape, as sand 

 always does when the x'ain washes it down 

 slowly, and here is the result : 



Some of the mountains are nearly as round 

 as if turned in a lathe. Now, the moun- 

 tains in the table lands could not have been 

 made by this process; and those we ran near 

 to, show it, for their strata are tipped at an 

 angle. Sometimes the rocks are clear up 

 edgewise. It must have been done by vol- 

 canic agency or earthquakes. After this 

 tiie rains go to work as before ; the two 

 forces make all these wonderful forms. This 

 is a volcanic country, for hot springs are 

 near the road in many places. I haven't 

 seen one yet, but I have been treated to a 

 mirage. An acquaintance (on the cars) was 

 telling me that a certain track we were go- 

 ing over was worthless for cattle, because 

 they could get no water to drink ; and just 

 as he left I looked over the plain and sa'w 

 just ahead a beautiful sheet of water glis- 

 tening in the sunshine, like silver. I re- 

 member 1 thought it strange there was no 

 depression , for the water seemed right on a 

 level with the grass. I also noticed that the 

 mountain back of it had a little streak of 

 sky right in one side of it. While 1 was 

 watching it, however, there wasn't any lake 

 at all, and. behold, the mountain had "skip- 

 ped " also. Mountain peaks are now visi- 

 ble, said to be loo miles away ! 



To Huher.—lt is now bed time again, and 

 papa is away out in the mountains and des- 

 erts of Arizona Territory. To-day I saw a 

 kind of men aiid women who live in mud 

 houses. Tliey are dark-colored people, and 

 the men wear broad-brimmed hats. The 

 way they make their houses, is to stick 

 round poles in the ground close together, 

 and then plaster mud on the poles. The 

 (looi- and roof are just high enough to let 

 the folks go in. The floor is just dirt, and 

 the roof is made of brush, covered with mud 



