484 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 15. 



tables as quickly as possible, they started to 

 pilot me through a strawberry-patch. Now, 

 this patch was planted Hke our matted rows; 

 but the proprietor took a cultivator made just 

 right, and sliced the matted row down to 

 about six inches in width. Then he mulched 

 it with straw in the fall, and the berries were 

 just ripening. Of course, I wanted to see how 

 many I could call by name; but there were 

 some seedlings originated by the owner, that 

 I had never seen before. They had a peculiar 

 spicy flavor, and — how do you suppose A. I. 

 Root is going to get to the dinner-table, even 

 if everybody is waiting, when at every step 

 he encounters new varieties of strawberries — 

 great whoppers, with new and brilliant color 

 and exquisite aroma ? I do not know but 

 a second delegation was sent to hurry up the 

 first one; but we finally caught up and min- 

 gled with the crowd around the well-filled 

 dining-tables. Right before my plate was a 

 great heaping dishful of garnet colored War- 

 field strawberries. But we had to stop talking 

 about strawberries a minute, for somebody 

 was calling us to order, and then I was a little 

 startled when it was announced that ' ' Broth- 

 er Root will give thanks." Well, I had been 

 giving thanks all the morning, so it did not 

 trouble me particularly to express my thanks 

 out loud. It seems that a large club of 

 Gleanings has been going down to Greene 

 County and vicinity for a good many years. 

 Some of the gray-headed veterans assured me 

 that they had been reading it with unabated 

 interest since it was printed by windmill pow- 

 er; and they had always felt a longing to see 

 A. I. Root, and take him by the hand. I 

 think I must have talked half an hour or 

 more, and then I answered questions as best I 

 could for another half hour or more. The 

 schoolroom was crowded so that two people 

 sat in a seat that was intended for only one. 

 The women and children were there — yes, and 

 the prattling babies. How can we have a 

 good farmers' meeting without them ? I told 

 them my talk would be about God's gifts, and 

 that, before starting, I wanted to direct atten- 

 tion to one of his most precious gifts — music; 

 and that, while I thanked God for music, I 

 also wanted to thank the good lady who had 

 cheered our exercises with so many beautiful 

 pieces. Now, I did not tell her nor that audi- 

 ence what wonderful thrills of joy poured 

 through my soul by listening to the different 

 pieces she gave us. Mrs. Root would say, 

 very likely, that it was my wheelrides that 

 gave me inspiration and enthusiasm to enjoy 

 the music. If I should say that there was at 

 least one song that to me was more entrancing 

 than any thing I ever heard before, some of 

 you would remember that I have said almost 

 the same thing on several occasions before.* 

 Well, even if I have I tell you that the Greene 

 County bee-keepers and fruit-growers are not 

 only well up with the rest of the world in 

 farming and horticulture and bee-keeping, 

 but they know how to get up a dinner and en- 

 tertain folks, and how to get them to come 

 out in crowds, even in the month of June; 



♦During that special piece of music I thought again 

 of the young minister's prayer — see page 483. 



and the inn sic they provide is by no means 

 behind in quality with the other good things. 

 I do not know but I have sometimes criticised 

 people for neglecting work that ought to be 

 done, to go to picnics; but I tell you the hor- 

 ticultural picnic is a different affair. I won- 

 der how many counties there are in Ohio 

 that have similar gatherings. This associa- 

 tion has been kept up, if I am correct, for a 

 good many years, and they succeed in getting 

 a good attendance every month in the year. 



Only seven miles away, in the city of Day- 

 ton, I remembered I had a good sister waiting 

 and watching for me; and although the peo- 

 ple were a little curious about the wheel I 

 rode without any chain, I bade them adieu 

 and started off. I rode just fast enough to en- 

 joy my ride comfortably; but as I was going 

 down the last hill before arriving at the city 

 of Dayton, somebody on a wheel behind me 

 called out. The person said he had been 

 chasing me every mile from Alpha school- 

 house; and as he had a new Columbia he did 

 not think I would get so far before he over- 

 hauled me. This friend, Mr. B. Grant Smith, 

 is in the mail service on one of our railways. 

 He is also a bee-keeper, and volunteered his 

 services in showing me around the city of 

 Dayton; and I shall always feel much indebt- 

 ed to him when I think of the beautiful ride 

 we had through the city in the evening. You 

 see I had the finest wheel the world can make 

 (at least the Columbia people say so). Then 

 I was riding on the finest asphalt pavement 

 there is in Ohio — perhaps in the United States 

 (at least the Dayton people say it is); and, to 

 cap all, my comrade informed me that I would 

 have to have a lamp on my wheel or else the 

 police would " pull me up." So he went into 

 an immense bicycle-store and got one of the 

 latest acetylene lamps ("the finest in the 

 world" so the maker says). This lamp is 

 charged by putting in a little tin cartridge. 

 These cartridges cost 35 cts. a dozen, and one 

 cartridge runs a whole evening, and gives 

 light enough to show the time of night on a 

 clock in a chixrch-steeple. Among other sights 

 he took me over the grounds of the National 

 Cash Register Co. I went around the next 

 morning and spent an hour in looking over 

 the works from the outside. I did not go 

 through the inside, because my train left at 

 too early an hour. There may be finer man- 

 ufacturing establishments in the world than 

 this one in Dayton, but I doubt whether there 

 is one very much better. The whole plant is 

 in the midst of a beautiful lawn, covered with 

 ornamental plants and shrubs, and kept in 

 order by a professional landscape-gardener — 

 one who is an artist in every sense of the 

 word. A brief glance at this establishment 

 teaches us valuable lessons. For instance, it 

 is possible for a machine-shop or foundry to 

 be managed with such order and system and 

 neatness that it shall look more like a draw- 

 ing-room than it does the average machine- 

 shop or foundry. At one side of the grounds 

 there are two very pretty buildings labeled 

 respectively "Men's Bicycles," "Ladies' Bi- 

 cycles." The whole locality looks more like 

 a fairy land than a place where men and wo- 



