GI.lvANINC.S IN Bi-:!-; cui/rrRR. 



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Our older readers will remember Mr. Fred 

 L. Cravcraft., who used to write for the JUVE- 

 NILE Glkamnos when we had a " juvenile " 

 issue, fifteen years ago. Well, you may not 

 all know that l-'red has grown to be a bee- 

 keeper of no small " dimensions ; " in fact, he 

 is at present the owner of an apiary of some- 

 thing like oOO or (UK» colonies in the island of 

 Cuba. Well, just before the convention at 

 Buffalo we were agreeably surprised to meet 

 this same person here at the Home of the 

 Honey-bees, and he accompanied us on the 

 way to Buffalo. As he is quite a CN'cler he ac- 

 companied me on a pleasure-trip to the vicini- 

 ty of Niagara Falls. I hardly need tell you of 

 the beautiful path for wheelers from Buffalo to 

 the Falls. We, however, branched off from 

 the regular route in order to call at Christian 

 Weckesser's, at Sanborn, N. Y. Friend W. is 

 a seed-grower and market-gardener, and of 

 course I greatly enjoyed looking over his veg- 

 etables and fruits. Like myself, however, 

 friend W. finds that, in attempting to grow all 

 kinds of fruits and vegetables, he has a pretty 

 big job on his hands ; and when it comes to 

 growing seeds for sale also, I tell you one has 

 most of the time too many irons in the fire, 

 especially if he wants to take a little time now 

 and then to get acquainted with his wife and 

 children. Friend W. has the wife and chil- 

 dren too, and we had quite a pleasant talk 

 about " our homes " as well as about our veg- 

 etables and fruits. Plums were just getting 

 ripe at the time of our visit, and I for one 

 greatly enjoyed sampling varieties I had read 

 about but never saw or tasted before. 



I can not tell you of all the new things I 

 saw there ; but I want to mention Kendall's 

 Giant sweet corn — a variety as early as, or, if 

 any thing, more so, than the Corey, and at the 

 same time producing good-sized ears free from 

 the smut, that seems to hang about the Corey 

 so persistently. I saw it growing, and exam- 

 ined the? ears, as I did also the Corey planted 

 at the same time and on the same ground. I 

 am so well satisfied of its superiority that I 

 expect to offer it for sale next season in place 

 of the old standard Corey. 



Our next point was La Salle, near Niagara, 

 where that well-known writer and author on 

 every thing pertaining to gardening, Tuscio 

 Greiner, has his abode. Friend Weckesser 

 kindly volunteered to go with us to La Salle ; 

 but it was just about dusk when we reached 

 there, and Mr. Greiner was absent at Buffalo. 

 However, we greatly enjoyed looking over the 

 grounds. No wonder things grow, for the 

 beautiful soil was so filled with stable manure 

 that it made me think of the grounds around 

 Arlington, in the suburbs of Boston. We saw 

 the various things friend Greiner has told us 

 about in his articles in the different agricultu- 

 ral periodicals ; the house for curing onions, 

 open at the sides, with broad roof to keep off 



the rain ; the beautiful onions on their re.spec- 

 tive trays where they were being cured pre- 

 paratory to pickling ; the great Prizetakers, 

 grown by the new onion-culture process, show- 

 ing that friend Greiner practices just what he 

 preaches. I also greatly admired the white 

 onion called Garganus. This I saw both here 

 and at friend Weckesser's grounds. It is 

 larger than the Prizetaker, and it seems to me 

 the onions are more uniform and true to type. 

 .\nd, by the way, we talked about the fact 

 that the seed of any vegetable, when it is fir.st 

 introduced, is greatly superior to any that can 

 be bought a few years later. We also saw' 

 where friend Greiner had grown onion-plants 

 in his greenhouse, in coal ashes, and nothing 

 else. This seems to me a little astonishing. 

 Mr. Weckesser said he saw them at different 

 stages of growth. The oiiions are of better 

 color and of better growth than when pro- 

 duced in the rich greenhouse soil. 



When I spoke about going to a hotel for the 

 night my good friend Weckesser replied : 



" Mr. Root, you trust me a little, and don't 

 do any thing about going to a hotel just yet. 

 There is a man who lives here whom I want 

 you to see ; in fact, I am expecting something 

 rich when you two get a little acquainted." 



On the way to the place mentioned we pass- 

 ed a store, beautifully lighted, as I supposed, 

 by an electric light inside, and another one 

 out in the porch." 



' ' There, what do you think of that light ? ' ' 



"Why," said I, " it is a very pretty light 

 indeed. Is it some new method of using elec- 

 tricity for illuminating? " 



" Mr. Root, it is not electricity at all. Just 

 take a good look at it and we will go on." 



We drew up in the darkness in front of a very- 

 pretty residence ; and when told that Mr. 

 Long was at home he invited us to go in. Be- 

 fore we entered the apartment there was a lit- 

 tle hustling around as if something had been 

 carried out of the room, and I soon became 

 aware of a peculiar smell of chemicals that 

 brought vividly to mind my boyhood days. 

 When I asked about it our host admitted they 

 had just carried out some of the chemical ap- 

 paratus, but suggested that perhaps it would 

 please me as well to have it brought back. 

 Then one of the boys brought in a sort of lamp 

 made of tin, surmounted by a gas-jet. This 

 gas-jet gave forth a small blue flame. It 

 looked to me like the flame produced by the 

 oxy -hydrogen blowpipe of forty years ago, es- 

 pecially when said blowpipe was directed 

 against a piece of lime or other refractory 

 sub.stance. 



' ' May I ask what gas it is that is giving this 

 exceedingly brilliant flame ? ' ' 



' ' Mr. Root, you say you studied chemistry 

 once. Let me explain it briefly by saying 

 that it is the new acetylene gas. Its chemi- 

 cal composition is expressed by the formula 

 C-H'^,* as you may know." 



"Why," said I, " it is one of the hydro- 

 carbons, like illuminating-gas, only you have 



* Illuininatiiig-gas is, if I am correct, light carburet- 

 ed hydrogen. C^H*; thus it contains double the amount 

 of hydrogen found in acetylene ga.s. 



