19U4 



GLEANINGS l.\" BEE CULl'GRE. 



901 



the length of time it i-equired for them to 

 become acquainted with bicycles. The pres- 

 ent great need is just now a Christian spirit, 

 both with those who drive autos and horses. 

 Yesterday a man with a one-horse wagon 

 positively refused to give me an inch of the 

 road. I turned out of the ruts and into the 

 mudholes, and stalled my engine. I felt 

 sorry that he should exhibit such a spirit, 

 but I was not angry at all. I was so busy 

 managing my machine I did not have a 

 chance to say even a kind word to him. I 

 may not be exactly right in this matter; but 

 I am sure the great public, especially the 

 progressive public, will agree that I am 

 pretty nearly right. Of course, the future 

 will have to decide largely whether automo- 

 biles are soon to outnumber horses or not. 

 At one time it was feared by liverymen and 

 ■others who used horses that electric cars 

 would make horses a drug in the market; 

 but just now the prices of horses are ruling 

 about as high as ever; and is it not altogeth- 

 er likely, friends, that this world of ours is 

 large enough for all of us, without very 

 much jostling or very much reason for an 

 unchristianlike spirit? May the kind Father 

 help us to preserve a Christianlike spirit 

 while we are receiving these great and won- 

 drous gifts from his loving hand so thick 

 and so fast. 



.SOMETHING FROM A MAN WHO DOES NOT 

 OWN NOR RUN AN AUTOMOBILE. 



Now I think it no more than fair to give 

 the following from our old friend A. T. 

 Cook, as it comes to hand just as this goes 

 to the printers: 



Friend Root:— Many thanks for your auto article in 

 Gleanings; thanks, also, for your writing- to the Farm 

 Journal as you did. I have none, but my niece has one, 

 and so has my nephew, both Olds Runabouts. My niece 

 has driven hers 2286 miles since May 15. She does the 

 entire running, and takes care of it herself, and has had 

 no accident of any sort. She has not spared it, but has 

 driven it over bad roads and rocky mountain climbs. 



Please g^ive us more auto articles. There are lots of 

 autos about here. Five are owned in my own short vil- 

 lage street, and only three horses. Quite a number of 

 farmers already have autos. A. T. CoOK. 



Hyde Park, N. Y., Sept. 5. 



SUNDAY NEWSPAPERS AND RECENT INVEN- 

 TIONS. 



A few weeks ago one of our relatives hand- 

 ed me a Sunday daily published in Dayton, 

 O. They did not give it to me on Sunday, 

 because they felt sure, I presume, I would 

 not read it, even if it was "all about flying- 

 machines. " I think I got hold of it on Mon- 

 day morning. Well, this daily made the 

 statement that 91 different air-ships were al- 

 ready on the ground at the St. Louis exposi- 



be done. But it would be a little ridiculous for me to 

 ujidertake to teach a veteran like you any thing- about 

 horses. My faith, however, is perhaps greater than 

 yours, because I see so many horses that were fractious 

 at first get to view the horseless vehicle with utter in- 

 difference; and now we brush right under their veiy 

 noses just exactly as you would with a vehicle drawn 

 by horses. Yesterday I was invited to take a ride in a 

 20-horse-power Winton. The chauffeur who managed 

 it used exactly the same tactics I do, and he passed ve- 

 hicle after vehicle out in the country without troubling 

 or incommoding anybody to any extent worth mention- 

 ing. 



tion, preparing to compete for the prize of 

 100,000. They even went so far as to give 

 pictures and names of the more prominent 

 ones, giving the exact date when each differ- 

 ent machine came on the ground and was en- 

 tered for the prize. As nearly as I can make 

 out from the pictures and description they 

 were all or nearly all kept in the air by means 

 of a gas-balloon, and so of course they did 

 not interest me very much. But at the close 

 of that remarkable scientific (?) paper there 

 was a statement somewhat like this: "Last, 

 but not least, is the willow-twig fiying-ma- 

 chine that comes from somewhere out west. 

 It is made of light willow sticks and canvas, 

 but fhes like a bird, without any gas-bag to 

 sustain it." Well, Mr. Calvert returned 

 from the St. Louis e.xposition to-day, Aug. 25. 

 I requested him. when he left home, to find 

 out about the flying-machines. His report 

 is that, although there is a big inclosure to 

 be devoted to this department of science, 

 there is at present not a single flymg-machine 

 on the grounds. Is this a fair illustration of 

 the truthfulness of the average city Sunday 

 daily? Are there people in our land who are 

 willing to swap their dimes and nickels for 

 this sort of news, and to support in idleness 

 a systematic gang of liars? One does not 

 need to suggest it is this class that has dam- 

 aged bee-keeping by similar stories about 

 the factories where they manufacture comb 

 honey. Will not all honest men and women 

 join me in shutting down on this sort of 

 work? Tell the newsboys and tell the pub- 

 lishers that you can not encourage falsehoods 

 in the printing-press any more than you 

 can encourage lies from individuals; and I 

 for one feel as if it would be a good thing to 

 refuse either to buy or read Sunday papers 

 altogether. 



THE " ROASTED-CHESTNUT" POTATO. 



On our Medina clay soil this potato that 

 was hollow, every one, last season, is now 

 not hollow at all, at least I have not found 

 a hollow one. But the potatoes are not 

 nearly done growing— in fact, they are the 

 greenest and thriftiest of any variety of the 

 20 different kinds we have on our test- 

 grounds. Up to this date, Sept. 7, they 

 have not shown the least tendency to blight 

 or die down. There is only one other va- 

 riety that comes anywhere near them, and 

 that is our old friend the Craig. Now, all 

 this is very cheering; but in losing the hol- 

 lows we have also lost the fine quality, for 

 the quality at this stage of growth is just 

 fair. The potato may get to be hard and 

 brittle and of fine quality, as they were last 

 year, when they come to ripen up; and if 

 they do keep the quality up to that of last 

 year, I shall place it at the head of all other 

 potatoes as to quality, and power to resist 

 blight. The yield so far is fair— perhaps as 

 good as Carman No. 3. Our other potatoes 

 have blighted more or less; in fact, the 

 vines are dead and dry, with only few ex- 

 ceptions. The King of Michigan is, per- 

 haps, ahead of anyinquahty, and in smooth- 

 ness and beauty of shape, with fair yield. 



