632 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 15. 



our great cities, and would put Lincoln Park, 

 Chicago, ahead of all others. 



The landscape west of Chicago, although 

 still devoted to grain, contrasts with what I 

 have passed in being more rolling ; and the 

 vast prairie land, dotted with its wooded hills, 

 makes a very pretty sight indeed. I don't see 

 just why all the timber is on the hilltops, un- 

 less it is that the more fertile valleys have 

 been cleared off. As we get iilto Minnesota I 

 am reminded again and again that Minnesota 

 wheat leads the world in quality if not in 

 quantity. The Chicago & Northwestern is one 

 of the best railroads to ride on I know of. Al- 

 m«t 400 miles were made (stops and all) in a 

 little less than 10 hours; and there was so lit- 

 tle dust that, although I rode constantly with 

 an open window, I scarcely felt travel-stained 

 at all. The country around Eau Claire, Wis., 

 is especially delightful, and I saw one very 

 pretty little apiary right near the track. 



Our Wagner cars were not only electrically 

 lighted, but a little shaded incandescent globe 

 is right on the back of every seat, right over 

 your shoulder, so you can read the finest 

 print as easily as by a shaded lamp on your 

 own table at home. 



D. M. Aldridge, T. P. A. of the Chicago & 

 Northwestern Railroad, Cleveland, O., can 

 tell you all about the Pioneer Limited, Chica- 

 go to St. Paul and the far Northwest; also to 

 Omaha, Denver, and California via the elec- 

 trically lighted vestibuled trains. 



Mr. and Mrs. Acklin were at the depot at 

 St. Paul to welcome; but as I didn't know 

 them and they didn't know me it was hard to 

 " pick each other out " in so great a crowd; 

 but we made it. I gave great praise to Lin- 

 coln Park, in Chicago, but I shall have to 

 confess Lake Como Park, near St. Paul and 

 Minneapolis, almost its equal, both in size 

 and embellishment. No beer is sold on the 

 grounds, no dancing-pavilions, and no dogs 

 are permitted to enter. I beg pardon for the 

 combination I have made — it just "happened 

 so." Another thing : On the picnic ground 

 at Como Park, just at sundown, Saturday 

 night, they had an Endeavor meeting on a 

 platform in the open air. Somebody said an 

 Ohio man was in the crowd ; and, after being 

 invited, I told them it gladdened my heart to 

 see the ancient custom revived of commenc- 

 ing the sabbath da}- at sundown Saturday 

 night. By the way, there is something pe- 

 culiarly impressive about an open-air meeting 

 just about sundown. Just try it, you En- 

 deavorers, and see if you don't get a special 

 blessing. 



On the siding, near Mr. Acklin 's, we saw a 

 beautiful new passenger car inscribed " Glad 

 Tidings." At first I thought it might be for 

 some new sort of pleasure excursion, or some- 

 thing of that sort, and then I pondered that 

 there is only one "glad tidings" that the 

 world can ever receive, and investigation 

 showed the car was really devoted to the 

 "glad tidings of great joy," and no other. 

 It is an evangelist car, and appropriate scrip- 

 ture texts are to be found inside and out. 



You may remember that St. Paul is the city 

 that has a part of it where the people will not 



tolerate a saloon of any kind, and so they 

 do>i't have any. Do you catch the moral ? If 

 you don't, visit both localities and you will 

 then. 



I saw a boy in St. Paul who sat perfectly 

 still on his wheel when he was waiting for a 

 car to pass. He simply turned the front 

 wheel around at right angles, and sat as still 

 as if he were on a stool. If we might all 

 catch on to this it would save a lot of getting 

 off and on when waiting for teams or cars to 

 go by. 



All through the West I see potatoes without 

 any kind of blight, although in many places 

 it has been very hot and dry. How glad we 

 should be to have such a state of affairs in 

 Ohio ! 



While near Minnehaha Falls, looking at 

 the Mississippi River going down the rapids, 

 I asked why in the world that great volume 

 of water was not made to drive the electric 

 cars between the twin cities, as well as to fur- 

 nish their lights. Well, next day, when at 

 Minneapolis, I found they had been doing this 

 very thing for some time past. A series of 

 dams are all down through the city — dams so 

 secure that the great freshets go right over 

 them without doing injury. These dams 

 carrj- turbines that drive great dynamos ; and 

 this immense water force drives the greatest 

 gristmills the word has ever produced. Min- 

 nesota wheat and flour lead the world. 



Years ago a genius planned to harness the 

 boisterous river, and he actually made a great 

 tunnel right under the river bed; but it broke 

 through all at once, and washed the venture- 

 some miners out at its mouth in such a great 

 maelstrom of water they could never be in- 

 duced to go in there again, and the ruins of 

 his enterprise still stand unfinished. 



BEE CULTURE AND AGRICULTURE IN JAPAN. 

 We are greatly pleased to receive, from the 

 firm mentioned below, a copy of a work on 

 bee culture and also a sample copy of a popu- 

 lar agricultural work published in Tokyo, 

 Japan. We take the liberty of copying the 

 letters just as we received them. Our good 

 friend Ikeda will, I am sure, pardon us when 

 I tell him that I am sure his kind words will 

 touch the hearts of thousands of our American 

 people : 



Gentlemen: — I have the pleasure to offer you a copy 

 of Prof. Tamari'.s work on bee culture, and a .sample 

 copy of our " Popular ."Agriculturist." These are pub- 

 lished by us, and in the latter we should like to give 

 some remarks on bees. If you will kindly give us 

 your valuable paper hereafter, in exchange, we shall 

 be much obliged to you. J. Ikeda. 



Tokyo, Japan, June 2S. 



In Japan, apiculture is not developed yet, though 

 people have kept bees from unknown time. The 

 species of bee is perhaps a native one. They work 

 very diligently, and are very gentle, but they neglect 

 to gather up all the honey from one flower, but move 

 too soon to other flowers, leaving the honey behind. 



