570 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 1. 



ing and shipping celery^ about the middle of 

 July. 



When we were through talking I told Mr. 

 Keck I felt so much better I thought I would 

 venture to push ahead another ten miles. We 

 had a macadamized road, and the wheeling 

 was grand. When out four or five miles I no- 

 ticed that I was beginning to draw in long 

 breaths that filled niy lungs completely, as I 

 often do in climbing hills. It came natural 

 and easy to fill my lungs clear out to the full- 

 est extent — something I seldom do except 

 when out on my wheelrides. A little later I 

 felt my second wind beginning to reinforce my 

 strength and buoy up my spirits; and when we 

 came near the town of Lodi I had actually for- 

 gotten my indisposition. In passing a large 

 raspberry-patch that covered the side of a hill 

 I remarked to friend Keck that it was a part 

 of Prof. W. R. Grannis' raspberry-farm. 



A little further along I noticed a board on 

 a gate-post, announcing, " Jersey cow and 

 calf for sale. W. R. Grannis." So there 

 was where he lives at present. We turned 

 our wheels into the lane. The professor him- 

 self soon made his appearance, with one of 

 his eyes swollen up. You see I sent him 

 Gi<EANiNGS complimentary a while ago, when 

 I was ^\Titing up the raspberry- business; and 

 the result was he got to reading about bees. 

 Without my knowledge he had also been stud- 

 ying the ABC book; and, sure enough, there 

 was a row of neatly painted hives right along 

 by the dooryard fence. He was going to show 

 us some of the wonderful achievements his 

 bees had been performing with the aid of the 

 clover-fields all around about his prett)- home. 

 But we told him we wanted a drink of water 

 before we explored either bees or berries. 

 Said he: 



" Well, you just come right into the house, 

 both of you." 



" But, friend Grannis, we have not time to 

 go into the lioia,se. We wll just sit out here 

 in the shade." 



" No, that will not do; you have got to come 

 into the house to get the water. ' ' 



Just then it occurred to me that Prof. Gran- 

 nis and Dr. C. C. Miller are in man}' respects 

 a good deal alike. They are both godly, both 

 professors of music, both bee-keepers, and 

 both have a quaint way of making you feel 

 acquainted, even if you have never seen them 

 more than two minutes. We followed our 

 host into the house, then we turned into a 

 room adjoining the kitchen. This room was 

 paved with stone flagging; and right out from 

 the stone wall in the f\irther corner there came 

 a stream of crystal water nearly as large 

 around as your wrist. It poured into a large 

 trough or vat, circulated around among the 

 pans of milk, and passed out at another cor- 

 ner of the room. 



" Why, friend Grannis, do you really mean 

 to say that this is spring water, and that it runs 

 that way nights and Sundays and all the year 

 round? " 



By way of answer he extended a drinking- 

 glas's, and told us to taste and see — beautiful 

 cool spring water right out of the sandy rock 

 in the hillside. After leaving his house the wa- 



ter flows through the barn, treating all his 

 stock to a running stream, then it extends a 

 little further to a trough b}- the wayside, where 

 it refreshes the thirsty traveler and his beast. 

 After we had drank sufficiently I wanted to 

 wash my hands. While doing so some tame 

 goslings came up and began to talk as if they 

 wanted to get acquainted. May be you think 

 it queer to hear me speak ot goslings that 

 could talk. Well, they did talk, and quite en- 

 tertainingly (to me). The professor explain- 

 ed that they wanted me to hold down the 

 wash-basin so they could get a drink. Then 

 they wagged their tails and expressed their 

 satisfaction as only a gosling knows how to 

 do. You see, while friend Grannis enjoys 

 himself with the berries and the bees his good 

 wife raises ducks, chickens, and geese ; and 

 with this abundance of spring water, every 

 thing goes on "swimmingly." I use this word 

 after mature deliberation, and I think it is the 

 right one. Well, I found so much to enter- 

 tain me around that prett}- home that we were 

 urged to stay for supper. P'riend Grannis 

 promised us some white-clover comb honey, 

 which he thought we did not often find. I 

 told him I did not care so much about the sup- 

 per, but I felt sure I should get home with 

 much more satisfaction if I could have a nap 

 of fifteen or twenty minutes, for you see I had 

 not had one at all that day, and I considered 

 myself an invalid besides, or at least I did so 

 consider mj-self when I started away in the 

 morning. I had forgotten to say that, some 

 time during the visit, we looked over the 

 f e nee and got at least a very good ' ' glimpse ' ' 

 of the eleven -acre field of raspberries in full 

 bearing, and I suppose that is the reason I did 

 not want an}' raspberries for supper. I look- 

 ed at them so long over the fence that I got 

 over being raspberry hungry. See? They were 

 Greggs, and just ripe enough to be luscious. 

 Did I tell you I was on the beefsteak diet? 

 Well, when I am off wheel-riding I leave my 

 special diet at home. 



If I remember correctly, friend Grannis is a 

 professor of music; but of late I think he 

 must do a great deal as I do — drop his mantle 

 over his children's shoulders. When we were 

 shown into another room after supper, and 

 heard his grown-up daughter play, while Miss 

 Lottie, only ten or twelve years old, sang to 

 us, I really felt ashamed of myself to think I 

 had not in the morning faitli to believe that 

 God in his great mercy had in store such ex- 

 quisite happiness as I then and there enjoyed 

 while listening to that nnisic. The first piece 

 was called "Dear Heart;" and if you have 

 never heard it, please do not miss it when op- 

 portunity offers. The next piece was called 

 "The Holy Cit}-." We call it "Jerusalem" 

 for short. I shouldn't wonder if I enjoy mu- 

 sic rendered by childish voices, in a way that 

 I never shall and never can any other. And, 

 again, that second wind that I get in wheel- 

 riding gives me a zest, not only for a good 

 supper, but for music, painting, oratory, liter- 

 ature, or any thing else. 



When we started for home the sun was but 

 little more than an hour high, and my special 

 errand to Lodi was to investigate the new oil- 



