1898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



149 



troubled them more this winter than usual ; 

 that they have, with much labor, moved it off 

 again and again, and still the ice, a foot or 

 more thick, contains many snowy streaks. It 

 seems they now "stake out claims," as it 

 were, bv sdcking in the ice rows of bushes or 

 branches of trees. The man who gets his bush 

 fence around a certain tract first, holds the 

 ground (or water) from new comers. I judge 

 they have had very low temperatures, from the 

 great masses of ice on the rocks, where a spring 

 run has come out and frozen. These " baby 

 glaciers " make the rocky scenery look very 

 pretty along the route. 



Besides tlie ice-cutting, the fleets of ice- 

 boats are very interesting ; and then the fish- 

 ing through the ice, and occasional wheel- 

 rides, all in all make the river look like " life." 

 From the number of craft of all sorts and sizes 

 frozen in, I gather that the Hudson must teem 

 with life in summer also, as well as in winter. 



The glimpses of the Catskill Mountains are 

 very fine ; but the da}' is almost too misty for 

 mountain views. As we near the city of New 

 York the temperature seems to moderate, and 

 snow and ice are giving way. 



Feb. 9, on board steamer Trinidad. — When 

 in San Jacinto, Cal., Mrs. Root and I never 

 tired looking at the summit of the San Jacin- 

 to Mountain, the majestic peak pushed out 

 away up among and through the clouds. 

 Well, here in New York city, it's lofty build- 

 ings, mide by man, that pierce the very 

 clouds themselves, and reach away above them. 

 Actual fact — " honest troot " ; as Huber said), 

 from your friend A. I. Root ; and when he got 

 up in the morning, and gazed abroad, he had 

 not been in any saloon either. He stayed 

 over night at the Grand Union Hotel ; went 

 to bed before 9, and was up before 5 in the 

 morning. I have read of London fogs, but I 

 did not know before that they had fogs in 

 New York. Oh ! but they do. You see, the 

 buildings went up (yes, 28 and jo storied), 

 and the clouds came down. May be it was in 

 honor of their old friend and admirer. If so, 

 he enjoyed it to the full ; and I gazed again 

 and again, and said, "Why, is it r&aWy possi- 

 ble, and not an illusion, that buildings are ac- 

 tually away up in those dizzy regions of the 

 air? There are " Roots " in the great city as 

 well as back in Ohio. Yes, my companion 

 says that, in some places, " the woods are full 

 of them." Well, Mr. E. N. Root, publisher 

 of the American Grocer, told me that these 

 " sky-scrapers " are all built first of steel, with 

 floors of tile, and then covered externally with 

 stone. The steel gives strength, durability, 

 and safety from fire ; and here in New York 

 they have " the everlasting rock " for a foun- 

 dation, so nobody can tell how high they may 

 go yet. With electric elevators it is quite 

 pleasant to live above the fogs (clouds), dust, 

 and noise (and, I hope, tfickedness) down be- 

 low. When my neck ached looking up we 

 went into an old church and rested in the 

 very same pew where George Washington iised 

 to sit with his family. I am glad this old 

 church has been soared with its ancient ceme- 

 tery ; and I am glad, too, that the " father of 

 his country " left such an example. My dear 



friend, when yon are dead and gone will your 

 children be able to find the pew where you and 

 your household sat regularly every sabbath 

 and listened to gospel teaching? 



I have been looking over this great boat as 

 a young bee may be expected to look over the 

 hive when it first goes out for a playspell. I 

 have been most agreeably impressed with the 

 pleasant and courteous manner of all on board, 

 sailors and all. After an " elevated " car 

 conductor snaps at )'OU as if he meant, " Why, 

 a man reared in a cow stable might know bet- 

 ter than to ask a ' fool questioti ' like that," 

 you feel glad when an officer of the boat says, 

 "Oh, yes! go anywhere on the boat, and 

 make yourself perfectly at home." 



The Ohio Experiment Station sends us the 

 following in the shape of a newspaper bulle- 

 tin : 



\VARNING .\GAINST FK.A.UDS. 



A letter just received at the Ohio Agricultural Ex- 

 periment vStation from Miami County states that a 

 man giving the name of (Jliver Hawn, and claiming 

 to have been at one time connected with said Station, 

 is traveling through that county and selling material 

 for spraying fruits, foods for poultry, and spray stuff 

 for lice-killing purposes, and claiming that his mate- 

 rials have been experimented with at the Station, and 

 proved buccessful. 



Another communication, from Stark County, states 

 that a man giving the name of Essig i-> trying to sell 

 in that county a recipe for the prevention of pear 

 blight, which he claims to be indorsed by this Station. 

 This party is said to show letters written" on the letter- 

 heads of the Station, but without signature, and claims 

 that the State, through the Station, has presented him 

 with a fine gold watch. 



These men are both frauds. The Ohio Agricultural 

 Experiment Station does not indorse or recommend 

 secret compounds or processes of any descrip:ion 

 whatever ; and prosecuting attorneys throughout the 

 State are urged to arrest and prosecute, for obtaining 

 money under false pretenses, any person who may 

 claim to have any such indorsement from the Station. 



Please notice that the bulletin says : 

 The Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station does not 

 indorse or recommend .secret compounds or processes 

 of any description whatever. 



The newspaper men and others who are de- 

 fending the practice of selling recipes, etc., 

 would do well to keep the above in mind. 



IS SWEET CLOVER A NOXIOUS WEED? 



Below is the decision of the Ohio Experi- 

 ment Station, sent out in the form of a news- 

 paper bulletin : 



HOW SH.\LL WE RANK SWEET CI-OVER (MELILOTUS) ? 



Many portions of Ohio have the roadsides and other 

 .sodden or "out of tilth " lands occupied by the white 

 sweet-clover plant (Melilotns alba, I..). Since it has 

 been regarded as a noxious weed the former Ohio Stat- 

 ute placed it in the same list of prosjcribed plants with 

 Canada thistle, common thistle, oxeye daisy, wild 

 parsnip, wild carrot, teasel, burdock, and cockle-burs. 



Under the operation of this statute, private lands 

 might be entered upon to destroy the melilotus grow- 

 ing for any purpose, as for bee-pastures. The de- 

 .struction of bee-pastures in this manner actually oc- 

 curred near Delaware. 



Rightly, then, it may be asked, " How shall we rank 

 sweet clover?" To answer this we must consider 

 where sweet clover grows and what is its character. 



