1899 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



63 



I shall have to confess to you, since you 

 mention it, that I described one or two places 

 briefly that I did not visit; and if I made mis- 

 takes, I think they are in the guide-books. 

 I feel very sorry for having omitted Sulphur 

 Mountain ; but the ladies in our coach had 

 "been there, and did not care to go a second 

 time; nevertheless, the driver said he would 

 take that route, which was quite a little long- 

 er, if I insisted on it; but as I was the only 

 person in favor of going that way, of course 

 I could not well urge it ; and my wheel was 

 not with me, so I could not go where I pleas- 

 ed, as you did. Then there is another thing : 

 Where one goes all the way on the wheel, es- 

 pecially if he is alone, there are a great many 

 things he might not find at all. In fact, I 

 spent a great amount of time at Mammoth 

 Springs in trying to find certain things from 

 the guide-book. I could not very well ask the 

 guides to help me, whom I met occasionally, 

 for they were hired to direct those who patron- 

 ized their company. I became very tired in 

 going afoot over the geyser basins; but my 

 wheel was left behind at Norris. I, like your- 

 self, Providence permitting, am going again 

 through Yellowstone Park, and with my 

 wheel; and if you will let me know when you 

 are ready I will try to be on hand; and may 

 be some other reader of Gleanings will make 

 one of the party after reading your graphic 

 description, and finding out how cheaply it 

 can be done by one who has the muscle and 

 does not have the cash. By the way, was it 

 not rather dangerous for you to ride on your 

 wheel over that thin crust, so near to those 

 bottomless pits filled with water boiling hot? 

 I should have supposed that the hot water 

 would injure your rubber tires, for I am told 

 it spoils a good many shoes belonging to visit- 

 ors. 



In regard to the geyser water, I still think 

 it risky business for most people ; but with 

 your robust health, and after the tremendous 

 muscular exercise you had gone through with, 

 your system was ready to throw off or resist 

 effects that would have been dangerous to dys- 

 peptics. Very likely much of the hot water 

 is all right ; but there are certain springs that 

 contain minerals in solution that give the 

 water a very bad taste, at any rate. Look 

 here, old chap; there is another thing I want 

 to mention. You made all this trip, as you 

 say, and you succeeded in finding a job where 

 you could earn cash, no matter where you hap- 

 pened to be ; and I am pretty sure I am right 

 when I tell you that numbers of people, prob- 

 ably, were in all those localities hunting for 

 work and could not find a job to pay for even 

 board and lodging. I know something about 

 it ; for when I am traveling I almost always 

 inquire what the chances are to furnish work 

 for the people in various places. Livingston, 

 for instance, seemed in a good many respects 

 a dead town; and yet, as I take it, you two 

 got jobs without any trouble, and got pretty 

 fair pay. May be the sight of your muscle, 

 your ability to ride, and carry a load, had 

 something to do with it ; but my opinion is, 

 you two fellows have got hold of the knack of 

 making yourselves useful wherever you hap- 



pen to drop down ; and I take pleasure in pub- 

 lishing your letter, because it shows what a 

 " hustler " can do when he takes a notion to 

 do it. 



NEW POTATOES WORTHY OF MENTION. 



On page 805 of our last year's volume I told 

 you I had a potato-story to relate when I got 

 around to it. I reached the residence of my 

 cousin, Wilbur Fenn, after a long wheelride, 

 quite a little after dark, but I found a warm 

 welcome from the whole family, from the least 

 to their eldest daughter, the one who is worth 

 more than any $1.50 man to watch the pieces 

 of potatoes in the potato-planter, and make 

 them go right. Next morning it was hardly 

 dry enough to dig potatoes ; but there was 

 such a strong prospect of more wetness still 

 that the Hoover potato- digger was got out and 

 started. I do not know whether they made it 

 go all day or not; but I do know that I rode 

 nearly fifty miles on my wheel, most of the 

 way over clay roads, that day, even if it did 

 rain more or less at about every step of the 

 way. But I rather enjoyed it, notwithstand- 

 ing the rain. You know one of my special en- 

 joyments is to breathe damp air while I am 

 riding a wheel. On this account I like to ride 

 while the dew is falling on moonlight even- 

 ings. But this was to be a potato-story. 



Cousin Wilbur's largest field of potatoes 

 was not yet ready to dig. It was almost No- 

 vember, but there had been no killing frost, 

 as you may remember. The Monroe Seed- 

 lings had died down more or less from some- 

 thing that might be blight or might be some- 

 thing else. We could not exactly agree about 

 it ; but right down through the field there were 

 several rows of Monroe Seedlings right along- 

 side of the rest, but with the foliage green 

 and luxuriant. Of course, these thrifty-look- 

 ing rows caught my eye. 



" Why, Cousin Wilbur, you say these are all 

 Monroe Seedlings. If this is true, what in 

 the world is the reason those few rows stand 

 up green and thrifty while the others are 

 mostly dead or dying? " 



"Well, cousin, you have struck on just 

 what I wanted to show you. Last season I 

 noticed here and there a hill in my large field 

 that was bright and green while the rest had 

 died down; and the question arose in my mind 

 as to whether this was a sport of something 

 better, or whether it was owing to the soil in 

 just that spot. To settle the matter I let those 

 thrifty hills get fully ripe, dug them by hand, 

 stored them by themselves, and planted them 

 this year as you see, and there they are." 



We got down on our knees and dug quite a 

 few hills of the thrifty ones, and then an 

 equal number of the others. There was no 

 mistake in the matter. Cousin Wilbur had, 

 by this plan of selecting hills, in just 

 one season, secured an improved strain of 



