1898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



631 



NOTES or TRAVLL 



4 BY A. I. ROOT. 



On Thursday, July 28, I started with all the 

 enthusiasm and animation of a schoolboy at 

 vacation time, for my trip to Yellowstone 

 Park. Thanks to our recent rains, Northern 

 Ohio was looking remarkably well. The Lake 

 Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad passes 

 through a very fine part of our State ; and the 

 miles of cornfields, stretching far off into the 

 distance, with their rich dark green, is a re- 

 freshing contrast to some of the cornfields we 

 passed earlier in the day. I tell you, it is a 

 beautiful country along in the vicinity of Nor- 

 walk, Clyde, Fremont, and so on to Toledo. 

 The towns and cities are full of business, and 

 are growing ; and the farming lands are all 

 occupied with good crops, with scarcely an 

 acre growing up to weeds and rubbish, as we 

 see it in some places. Near Clyde we see 

 acres of cabbages, and I am told they ship 

 them by carloads. The stations along the 

 road I have mentioned are not only models of 

 neatness, but the grounds adjoining are, many 

 of them, really beautiful. It is a very pleas- 

 ant road to travel on, all the way to Chicago. 

 And, by the way, Northern Indiana has some 

 beautiful manufacturing towns and cities, as 

 well as Ohio I was pleased to see on the bill 

 of fare in the dining-car, " No wines or liquors 

 sold while passing through Ohio." Now, 

 why can't Indiana and Illinois scrape up ener- 

 gy enough to come up to the same standard? 

 Can any one explain it ? 



Let us go back to Ohio a minute. Round 

 about Fremont there are a sort of prairies with 

 beautiful natural groves, or patches of wood- 

 land, that make the route especially beautiful; 

 and another feature that took hold of me 

 mightily was the beautiful stone pikes, hard 

 and smooth. In the summer time the wagon- 

 travel is mostly on the dirt road at the side, 

 leaving the hard stone road almost clear for 

 the boys and girls to run their wheels. I did 

 not find these stone roads in Illinois or Indi- 

 ana. The Lake Shore road has been called 

 " America's greatest railway." Any informa- 

 tion in regard to travel over it, either east or 

 west, will be given by A. J. Smith, General 

 Passenger Agent, Cleveland, Ohio. 



Toward night we had a refreshing thunder- 

 storm, and I enjoyed watching the farmers as 

 they dropped their tools and hurried in out of 

 the wet. Most of them covered their harvest- 

 ing-machiner}' with a canvas sheet made on 

 purpose, but not all. A few pulled their 

 plows out of the furrows and turned them up 

 so the water would run off quickly and let the 

 polished metal soon get dry again Now, 

 friends, how many of you leave your plows in 

 the dirt when a rain comes up suddenly ? 

 Quite a number draw manure out on the oat 

 stubble just as soon as the grain is cut and 

 shocked up. 



On account of the rain I stopped at the 

 Great Northern Hotel, near the depot. It is 



18 stories high, and things are in fine style, I 

 tell you. I should like to show Huber an 

 electric device that turns out the electric 

 lamps when you take the key out of the door 

 of your room. If you remove the key from the 

 door when you are on the inside, the lights 

 don't go out. When you go into the bath- 

 room it is lighted up and stays lighted up till 

 you go out. As soon as you go out and shut 

 the door the lights are out. This modern ho- 

 tel has many similar surprises. 



I am writing these notes on a shady seat in 

 Lincoln Park. I am close beside the Aquatic 

 Garden. Water-lilies of gorgeous hues, and 

 as large as dinner-plates, are all about me. 

 Yes, and the celebrated I 'ictoria rcgia is near, 

 and in full bloom too. Almost all the water- 

 plants are in bloom. The water-poppy is a 

 pretty plant, and seems to thrive at common 

 temperatures. Some water-hyacinths of im- 

 mense size, far larger than those in Florida, 

 are making a beautiful show just now. I 

 came over here on a wheel that the editor of 

 the America}! Bee Journal was kind enough 

 to lend me. 



Very early in the day I asked a policeman 

 (near the big hotel) if he could tell me where 

 I could rent a wheel thus early. He thought 

 a while, then said, " Oh, yes ! I can fix you 

 out exactly. There is a feller sleeps in that 

 place right over there, just to catch such 



trade. But you will have to make a of a 



racket to get him up." 



Now this policeman was very kind and gen- 

 tlemanly, with the exception of that blank 

 word. Would it be too great a thing to ex- 

 pect of the Chicago police, or would it be too 

 great a task for them to consider that the 

 stranger asking information may be a Chris- 

 tian, and that he may he greatly pained to 

 hear talk like that? 



I am afraid I have said it before, but I )nust 

 say it again : Never before in my life have I 

 seen such entrancing, gorgeous beauty as the 

 scene before my eyes, as I sit contemplating 

 an acre or two of bedding plants in Lincoln 

 Park. The flowers and plants are not new ; 

 but the grouping and contrast form a harmony 

 of colors that I did not know before was possi- 

 ble. Several things, perhaps, combine to give 

 me this thrill of joy and pleasure. You see, 

 it rained last night, and the warm rain was 

 just what the plants "thirsted" for. And I 

 have had a wheelride, and then a delicious 

 nap here in the shade of a tree, with the lake 

 breezes fanning my " brow." Then there are 

 boys and girls all about me. Little ones are 

 trudging along delightedly with their pas' and 

 mas' lunch-baskets, tin pails, etc., for they 

 have come out on the street-cars and are to 

 have a picnic in this beautiful place. Besides 

 the flowers, there are animals and birds — birds 

 of plumage that rival the flowers ; and then 

 beautiful fountains are playing and splashing 

 on this warm July day. 



I don't know what this great beautiful park 

 cost ; but say what you will of Chicago, she 

 has done a grand and noble thing for her peo- 

 ple and for her children in making this beau- 

 tiful spot where they can get air, exercise, and 

 health. I have visited the parks of nearly all 



