1899 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



811 



Wilbur Fenn, who, I thought, must he about 

 ready to dig his potatoes. I started off on my 

 wheel just in my shirtsleeves. Oh what a 

 contrasc ! While making 25 miles with my 

 two coats and cap weighing about 5 pounds, 

 I became so fatigued I began to think I was 

 almost too old for wheel-riding; but after I de- 

 posited my useless clothing and started off in 

 my shirtsleeves with nothing to carry — why, I 

 felt like a schoolboy released from school. 

 And now please, dear reader, do not think me 

 irreverent when I tell you that I could not 

 help thinking of Christian in Pilgrim's Prog- 

 ress after he had been relieved of his burden ; 

 and then this beautiful verse — the first one in 

 the twelfth chapter of Hebrews — came to 

 mind. Why, with my 20-pound wheel I went 

 up hill and down, through sand and over 

 rough places, and had strength and to spare. 

 A wheelman very soon learns the importance 

 of laying aside every weight, as Paul puts it. 

 I always get rid of every useless thing in my 

 pockets; in fact, it seems as if I could tell the 

 difference between a silver dollar and a paper 

 one, so I carry paper money as much as I can. 

 I change my heavy shoes for light ones, and 

 use the lightest clothing that will keep me 

 comfortably warm. In fact, I have been for 

 some years considering the matter of silk un- 

 derwear. You know silk gives more protec- 

 tion for the weight than almost any other 

 fabric. 



Well, I found Wilbur out in the field with 

 several men testing a new potato digger. The 

 potatoes were Rural No. 2. The yield was rath- 

 er light, and the potatoes had been pretty well 

 hilled up to their detriment, during the severe 

 drouth just passed through; but as it was, the 

 potato digger, with a light team of horses, did 

 very nice work. This digger is the Improved 

 Standard. I mentioned it in my writings a 

 year ago. Cousin Fenn is raising this year, 

 principally, Carman No. 3 and the Russet — 

 a potato I have mentioned several times. 

 This Russet, on his ground, proves to be so 

 nearly scab-proof that he thinks we can not 

 find a scabby potato in some two or three 

 acres, although there are some that are pretty 

 ba-lly scabbed among the Carmans on the 

 same ground. Well, we talked potatoes and 

 strawberries so long that it was after dark be- 

 fore I got started home, and there I was in 

 my shirtsleeves ; but the weather was quite 

 warm, and the moon was almost full; so I got 

 back to my cousin's, and greatly enjoyed my 

 moonlight ride. Now, I am getting to be al- 

 most too old to be "moonshiny," but, not- 

 withstanding, there is something to me par- 

 ticularly fascinating and exhilarating in riding 

 by moonlight. The wheel I am riding now is 

 not the Columbia chainless; but it has a gear- 

 case so the chain and sprocket-wheels are just 

 as well protected as the bevel gear in the 

 chainless. The Columbia people refuse to 

 make a wheel lighter than one weighing 

 about 27 lbs. ; and such a wheel would carry 

 safely a man weighing 250 lbs., while I weigh 

 only about half that. Now, I protest against 

 being loaded down with a machine heavy 

 enough to carry a man who weighs twice what 

 I do. It is right on the principle of the verse 



I have quoted in regard to laying aside every 

 useless weight. 



Now, this is not Home Papers, friends ; but, 

 notwithstanding, I wish to say a word about 

 going through life loaded down with sin — or, 

 if you choose, the memory of sinful acts — 

 when you go to bed at night or open your 

 eyes in the morning. Who can compute what 

 a hindrance it is — how it spoils all our enjoy- 

 ment and happiness — to be loaded down with 

 the recollection of sins unrepented of, or 

 wrongs you have done your fellow-men that 

 have never been righted! Oh ! let us be boys 

 as long as we live. Let us leave the useless 

 weights, and go about the world in our shirt- 

 sleeves, especially when it is hot weather ; 

 and let us also, no matter what the cost, get 

 rid of these burdens of sin; then we can run or 

 ride or play. 



Next morning I started out to catch my 

 nephew and my uncle. They did not know 

 of my determination to be one of the party, 

 and therefore when I reached " Uncle Ben's," 

 " Aunt Mary " informed me they had left for 

 Randolph about ten minutes before my arri- 

 val. How long do you suppose it took me to 

 catch up with a horse having ten minutes the 

 start of me? Had it been on level ground I 

 might have done better ; but as it was over 

 hills, and sandy ones at that, I had made two 

 miles before I managed to run ahead of them 

 and asked them to halt. Now, we could not 

 visit very well while I was riding a wheel, so 

 I left mine at a farmhouse and got into the 

 buggy. After we had ridden a little way I 

 discovered my two relatives expected to stay 

 till night, while I had planned to make Me- 

 dina, between thirty and forty miles away, 

 before Sunday came. This Randolph fair has 

 been kept without a miss for 41 years. It is 

 near a small country town, or you might say 

 four corners, and therefore the fair is held on- 

 ly one day. As there is a very nice farming 

 community in that neighborhood they man- 

 age to have a pretty fair country fair. But 

 before I reached the fairground I was greatly 

 interested in a large apple orchard. Some 

 3000 bushels were picked, and lying on the 

 ground. In fact, they were just being assort- 

 ed and barreled. I managed to have a little 

 chat with the owner of the orchard; and here 

 is a pointer he gave me to which I invite the 

 consideration of our experiment stations. I 

 told him my Keiffer pears were one fourth 

 wormy, notwithstanding the trees were spray- 

 ed four times. 



" Mr. Root," said he, " you did not put on 

 enough Paris green." 



" But we put on enough to injure the foliage ' 

 somewhat." 



"But suppose you did injure the foliage. 

 You had better have the leaves of your tree 

 hurt a little, or, say, a good deal, than to have 

 a quarter of your apples made unsightly and 

 unsalable by worms. I make my solution 

 strong enough with copper sulphate and Paris 

 green both to scorch the leaves on almost 

 every tree; but I have no wormy apples. See 

 if you can find one. Two years ago an acci- 

 dent taught me a lesson. I bought Paris 

 green and copper enough for my whole or- 



