968 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 15. 



and a permanent organization was formed. I 

 came into the place an utter stranger, but found 

 a host of friends to say good-by to in only a 

 few hours. In a couple of houi's more I was in 

 the great city of Denver. I registered at one of 

 tlieir tine hotels: but before bed time our good 

 friend J. L. Peabody (whom some of our read- 

 ers may remember as the maker of the Peabody 

 honey-extractor years ago) insisted I should get 

 my things and make M.s home /;ii/ home. One 

 would think, from the welcome I i-eceived, we 

 had been acquainted for years. 



Dec. 1. — Before I forget it I want to speak of 

 the region around Greeley as being the potato- 

 field of the world. To get the crop safely out 

 of the way of the frost, they build great pits, or 

 caves, that will hold, say. lO.OUO bushels each. 

 They are large enough so a team can drive 

 right in and out. The top is covered with poles, 

 tlien brush, then weeds and straw; over this 

 they put a foot oi- more of dirt. The great body 

 of air inside keeps it from freezing. I saw per- 

 haps a dozen or more of these pits vvliile travel- 

 ing four or five miles with my good friend Chas. 

 Adams. I'riend A. has a pretty home away 

 out among the alfalfa- fields, and round about 

 him are something like 300 colonies of bees. 

 Last yeai' he had 17.000 lbs. of honey: but the 

 past season has been comparatively poor. Hon- 

 ey sells here entirely by the section. At whole- 

 sale they get from 10 to Vl^o cents: but it is re- 

 tailed by the grocer at 15, 20, and :.'5 cents. 

 They do not stop to weigh, and, as a rule, they 

 do not split a nickel. 



Not only the air but the soil is dry and clean 

 the year round— no mud. A little two-year 

 old was running all around bareheaded, rolling 

 on the ground, and playing with the kitten, 

 even when the snow lay in patches here and 

 there. If they rolled in the snow it didn't seem 

 to be cold, and sevei'al times I was really 

 tempted to think that it was dry snow, even 

 when melting. The dry prairie soil takes up 

 the moistni'e very quickly. 



I could hardly think it possible I should spend 

 another such a Sunday as the one in Mitchell: 

 but I found the great city of Denver not a whit 

 behind in spirituality. I weut to the jail and 

 talked to about 200 prisoners. They had evi- 

 dently been preached and prayed to. for a great 

 part of them lounged carelessly away, even 

 during the talk, as much as to say they had no 

 particular interest in the matter. I wondered 

 if it were not possible to reach these boys and 

 liold their attention by some plain talk in their 

 own language. I prayed for grace to win them, 

 and at least get their full attention. I succeeded 

 fairly well: and when I closed they were so 

 neai' me I could easily shake hands with them. 

 A great part of them were not hai'd-looking 

 boys at all; and some of the faces I shall re- 

 member for a long time. Denvei' is a great city 

 of 140,000 inhabitants, and something like 50 

 miles of street railways— cable and electric. 

 Horse-cars are now almost unknown, and all 

 new lines are electric. 



Rev. K. A. Burnett is one of the most live 

 and energetic evangelists I ever knew. It was 

 my good fortune to make his acquaintance at 

 friend Peabody's. He not only labors in all the 

 churches. Y. M. C. A.'s, Endeavor meetings, 

 etc., but he works all day long wherever he 

 is. As an illustration, he heard a man swear- 

 ing on the street and accosted him something 

 like this: " O my dear friend ! where did you 

 learn to use such awful words? Surely your 

 mother did not teach them to you. did she?" 



The man stopped, stared at him. and said, 

 '■'■ My mother ! what do you mean? I want to 

 tell you, sir, my mother was a good woman.'" 

 The man was set to thinking, and was not of- 

 fended. Well, now, I have a good point for 



millionaires, at least one of them. John Wan- 

 namaker is one of two wealthy people who keep 

 good brothers at work laboring hard every day 

 to reprove sin and to lessen crime. 



I have just got hold of a good point for mar- 

 ket-gardeners. A man whom we visited 

 bought five acres in the suburbs of Denver, for 

 S.500. This was 14 years ago. He improved it 

 and raised good paying crops on it year after 

 year, near to mai'ket. Two years ago he sold 

 half of the five acres for f27,.50O. The lesson is 

 this: A market-gardenei' can purchase land in 

 the suburbs of any growing city: and if he is 

 active, and has purchased wisely, he can surehj 

 pay the interest on the investment; and if the 

 land does not advance he is not like the specu- 

 lator—dependent on advance. 



<36"PAGiES7v<I0 

 .1.06 PERVEABj 



In the multitude of CDUUSflors there is safety.— PR. U: U. 



Mii. DooLiTTLE has succeeded in sending^ 

 queens to Australia in our cages. 



There is one thing that bee-keepers should 

 remember — that choice comb honey always 

 finds ready sale at a good price: but a poor ar- 

 ticle has to go begging for a customer. 



We wish our bees outdoors would stay in 

 their hives on bright days, but too cold for 

 flight. Many of them are lost, and unable to 

 get back. There is this advantage in cellar 

 wintering: Changes of weather do not lure the 

 bees out on days that seem warm and pleasant. 



A RUMOK is afloat that Mr. Frank Benton, 

 now in the employ of the government at Wash- 

 ington. D. C, is about to start on another ex- 

 pedition under the auspices of Uncle Sam, to 

 hunt up the Apis dorsaUi and other races of 

 bees. If expeiience in this line of work is any 

 requisite, Benton is the man. 



Just as the last forms of this issue are going 

 to press we have only room to state that the 

 North American at Albany was an interesting 

 and profitable convention. We will have more 

 to say regarding it in another issue, and also of 

 the visit of W. Z. Hutchinson, C. P. Dadant, 

 and Hon. J. M. Hambaugh. at the Home of the 

 Honey-bees. 



It will be remembered that, in the beginnings 

 of the current year, there was quite a crop of 

 bee-journals — some five or six. At least four, 

 says the Amerlc< 1)1 Bee -Keeper, have dropped 

 out of the struggle. We are glad to know that 

 the latter has been a financial success from the 

 start. It is the old. old story of the survival of 

 the fittest— the best on top. 



The senior editor, while at Salt Lake City^ 

 had another attack of his old sickness. While 

 we were a little worried for fear he might have 

 another run of fever, we are glad to say that, 

 from last accounts, he was so far improved that 

 he was able to resume his journey. The folks 

 at home desire, above all things, that he hus- 

 band his strength— that is, let a good many 

 things go unseen if need be. 



OuK readers are of such a class that it is 

 almost unnecessarv to caution them against 



