358 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 1. 



line from Portland to the Columbia River, six 

 miles, crossed the ferry, and here we are in 

 Vancouver. 



Uncle Sam has a military post established 

 here, and it is the army headquarters for the 

 Northwest. Four companies of the Eighth 

 California Volunteers were located here, and 

 there were soldiers at every turn. When 

 passing up the street I saw a corporal and a 

 private in conversation on the street-curbing ; 

 and, stepping up to the corporal, I slapped 

 him on the shoulder, and exclaimed, " Hello, 



Will R !" I really believe the corporal 



would not have been more astonished had I 

 arisen from the muddy street before him. 

 " Why — why, Mr. Rambler, where in time did 

 you come from ? Did you rain down ? ' ' The 

 corporal was one of our California boys with 

 whom I had a slight acquaintance, and I was 

 very glad to surprise him and tell him about 

 the folks at home. We had no more than 

 passed the compliments of the day before the 



element in the army, and that they had rough 

 times with them sometimes, and that matters 

 would be more peaceable if the canteen were 

 banished. Let us hope that Uncle Sam will 

 come to his senses ere long, and suppress the 

 evil. This was my first and only experience 

 with the army canteen, and I hope it is the last. 

 A great majority of your readers are located 

 in the Eastern States, and I am wondering 

 how many of them ever give any thing more 

 than a passing thought to this portion of our 

 country, or have much of an idea of its extent 

 and resources. The Columbia River, which I 

 have crossed twice to-day in my short trip to 

 and from Vancouver, with its tributaries, 

 drains an immense country ; and in point of 

 scenery it is one of the grandest rivers on the 

 continent. For its watershed it has Washing- 

 ton, Eastern Oregon, Idaho, and a portion of 

 Montana and of British Columbia. A good 

 share of this 600,000 square miles is undevel- 

 oped ; and again I wish to say to the weary 



corporal gave the other soldier and m} self a 

 cordial invitation to take a drink. There was 

 a saloon handy, and we entered ; but I told 

 my friend that I did not drink. He tried 

 to impress me with the idea that there is a 

 vast amount of healthfulness in a glass of 

 beer, but I could not see it in that light, and 

 touched not the vile stuff. 



The corporal then escorted me out to the 

 parade - ground, the officers' quarters, the 

 rifle-range, the barracks, and — into the army 

 canteen. Here the corporal, having forgotten 

 my refusal to drink beer with him, or else 

 thinking I needed something stronger, gave 

 me an invitation to take a whisky cobbler. 

 Well, he cobbled and I didn't. Several sol- 

 diers were patronizing the canteen, and I 

 judged that the name was far too respectable 

 for the place. I regretted that Uncle Samuel 

 was engaged in such a disreputable business. 

 In talking with the corporal about the matter 

 he acknowledged that there was a drinking 



toiler on the stony hillsides of New England 

 that 20 acres here will give better results than 

 100 there. Young man, if you have any en- 

 terprise in you, come west. 



Mr. Lamberson gave me the names of a few 

 of the local bee-keepers ; but when I under- 

 took to hunt them up I found this one had 

 moved, that one had sold his bees, and the 

 other one had gone fishing, or, in other words, 

 given up bees for salmon-fishing, which is an 

 immense business on the Columbia River. A 

 fleet of fishing-smacks makes such a pretty 

 appearance that I wouldn't mind joining niy- 

 self to them for a season. Fishing and honey- 

 production would not be a bad combination. 

 It makes a great difference, though, what kind 

 of fish we are after. I knew a bee-keeper 

 back east who had a sort of dry-land fishing 

 experience. Her name was Fish. He bobbed 

 for her, tried to reel her in, paid out and 

 tackled ; but the fish sulked, the lines got 

 tangled, and the bee-keeper made a dismal 



