422 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 1. 



Notes of Travel 



FROM A. I. ROOT. 



At San Jacinto I was asked to give a talk to 

 bee-keepers and others. We had a pretty fan- 

 room full, and my audience seemed so much in- 

 terested that I (after being urged to go on) 

 talked a full hour and a qiutrter. This is the 

 longest talk I think I ever made: but some of 

 them had come over the mountains, twenty 

 miles or more, and it seemed too bad to stop 

 while any of them had any more questions to 

 ask. Another request came for me to speak at 

 Winchester the next evening, and we had a 

 very pleasant visit there. A long buggy-ride 

 through the mountains by way of Teraecula, 

 Fall Brook, and Oceanside, had been planned; 

 but we were obliged to give it up on account of 

 the tremendous rains. As the rain was greatly 

 needed, however, we were glad to give way to 

 the public good. While at Winchester our 

 good friend E. S. Thomas gave me the follow- 

 ing: 



Quite a young boy in the neighborhood took 

 a shine to bee culture. He read every thing he 

 could lay hold of on the subject; watched bee- 

 men, listened to their talk until he was ready 

 to put his knowledge to some practical use. 

 His father, however, objected to purchasing a 

 colony, saying they would find plenty of stray 

 swarms at the proper season, and so our friend 



THE BOY THAT HIVED THE BEES AND CAKKIED 

 THEM HOME IN HIS PANTS. 



watched and waited. At length a swarm came 

 one day when* he was at work in the fields, 

 quite a way from home. He threw sticks and 

 dirt among them, as he had read about, in order 

 to make them alight, and finally scooped water 

 with his hat, from a puddle, threw it among 

 them, and was at length rewarded by seeing 

 them alight and cluster on a bush. What 

 should he hive them in? If he went somewhere 



for a box he feared they would start off again 

 before he returned. It was hot weather, so he 

 took off his pants, tied up the legs, and hived 

 the bees in the pants. They evidently consider- 

 ed this a very fair hive, for they stayed in it 

 while he trudged all the way home with them. 

 His good mother saw him coming, and helped 

 him hive them in good shape. By the way, 

 boys, is there any truer or kinder friend to a boy 

 of thirteen than his mother? After the bees 

 were hived, then the mother looked after the 

 boy. The weather was hot and the road dusty, 

 and poor Willie's bare legs were covered with 

 a mixture of sweat, dust, and occasionally a 

 bee - sting. His enthusiasm, however, was 

 enough to help him hold on to his prize, and 

 now he has a rousing colony of bees in a mova- 

 ble-comb hive, and bids fair to be, in due time, 

 one of the shining lights. His name is Willie 

 Guthridge, and our engraver has tried his hand 

 at a rough sketch of him, as he brought home 

 his first swarm. 



During the past season the honey-crop of 

 San Jacinto Valley has been small, and the 

 quality not up to the usual standard; but, not- 

 withstanding, one of the firm of the Oceanside 

 Milling Co. came out and bought nearly the 

 whole crop, paying $5.30 per case (two 60-lb. 

 cans) right at the depot. Of course, this is 

 rather low— not quite r> cents per lb.; but when 

 the bee-keeper has no freight to pay, no risk of 

 damage or leakage, and no rebate to be made 

 for poor quality, etc., he can afford to sell low. 



Perhaps I should say something more about 

 the real-estate craze in the West, and may be I 

 haven't given both sides fairly, so I think I will 

 give something on the other side. I went into 

 the postofhce at East Riverside to mail some 

 photographs. The postmaster looked at me 

 sharply, and then said, with a comical look on 

 his face: 



" Well, my good friend, why do you mail let- 

 ters to yourself in Ohio when you are here in 

 California?" 



It transpired we had met, three years before, 

 on the cars; and I presume, although I do not 

 remember now, that I exhorted hira toward 

 God's kingdom and his righteousness. Said he: 



" Mr. Root, when we had that talk that 

 night, I thought I was a rich man; but iu reali- 

 ty I was not worth a copper. I was even then 

 'dead broke;' but I didn't know it. I will tell 

 you what ruins so many here in the West. We 

 can't stand prosperity. At first I made a very 

 successful speculation. Invested a few hun- 

 dreds, and it soon turned into thousands. Now, 

 had I been contented to purchase just what I 

 had money to pay for, and no more. I should 

 have been' a little poorer, but still have been 

 comfortably situated. What I did do was this; 

 I made large purchases of real estate, paying 

 only enough on each purchase to hold the pro- 

 perty. When the depression came, instead of 

 being poorer, all my money went like smoke. I 

 did my best, however, to make an honorable 

 failure. I went to each and every one who 

 held the property I had made payments on, 

 and told them just how I stood: and although 

 they had lost too, they all gave me up my notes, 

 so that although I lost all, I came down owing 

 no man. One of them, and a close shrewd man 

 too. felt so sorry for me he gave me a hundred 

 dollars, besides giving up my notes; and on 

 this I have started again. It is a little hard for 

 a man of 60 to start again on nothing: but with 

 a clear conscience, and a faith in God, truth, 

 and right, it isn't so very bad after all. If you 

 possibly can, come to our Sunday-school over in 

 the schoolhouse right over there, next Sunday 

 afternoon, and see if we are not laying up trea- 

 sure that does not pass away with the change 

 in real estate." 



