GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



A. I. Root 



OUR HOMES 



Editor 



My son, let thy heart keep ray commandments; for 

 length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they 

 add to thee. — Prov. 3:1, 2. 



Know ye not that your body is the temple of the 

 Holy Ghost which is in you? — I. Cor. 6:19. 



He paweth in the valley, he rejoiceth in his 

 strength. — Job 39:19, 21. 



Some time ago I told you about the en- 

 joyment I was getting from my little see- 

 ond-liand electric automobile. It was called 

 the Stanhope when it was brought out years 

 ago ; but when it was discovered that gaso- 

 line, especially when the price was away 

 down, was so much cheaper than the electric 

 current, the electric gradually fell into dis- 

 use except by the very wealthy. Another 

 thing, our friend Ford put a cheap machine 

 on the market that not only rivals the elec- 

 tric, but rivals a horse and buggy. Over a 

 million of them are now blessing the people 

 of the world. Well, when I bought this 

 little electric the batteries were about used 

 up and needed renewing; and it cost nearly 

 a hundred dollars to have the whole outfit 

 made good. As soon as I got it my old 

 craze for electricity revived, and I com- 

 menced studying storage batteries, reading 

 everything I could find on the subject, con- 

 sulting the manufacturers of electric vehi- 

 cles, and even going so far as to employ an 

 expert to pull the whole thing to pieces and 

 explain everything to me. Alt ho it took 

 him two or three days, I stood by him al- 

 most every minute. I questioned a good 

 deal about how many miles one could get 

 on a fair road with one charge of the bat- 

 tery. By the way, after one has used up 

 the charge it takes ten or twelve hours to 

 get a full charge again. Well, the makers 

 of the machine informed me that if I got 25 

 miles out of that rig on fair roads I could 

 consider myself lucky. They said the ma- 

 jority of them on the streets of Cleveland 

 usually went below that. .You see I was 

 anxious to know how long a trip I could 

 make to surrounding towns or visiting bee- 

 keepers and other friends. 



There are many curious things about 

 storage batteries, and, like the pqultry bus- 

 iness, beekeeping, and almost everything 

 else, the one who succeeds is the one who 

 gives the work the most intense and intelli- 

 gent thought and study. For instance, if 

 you wish to preserve the life of your bat- 

 teries, you should run them clear down; 

 then when you store them you should store 

 them clear up full. When you have got 

 them stored clear up full on full voltage 

 cuiTent, you want to cut the current down a 

 half or less and make it run up again. 



Furthermore, when your batteries get ex- 

 hausted like a tired horse in climbing a long 

 steep liill, you must let them rest. When a 

 charge is needed again, and you are a mile 

 or more from home, you can " get there " 

 by giving the battery frequent rests. On 

 one oeca.sion I found myself half a mile 

 from home, and the machine would not go 

 another inch, even when I was out by its 

 side and led it as one would lead a horse. 

 As I was in a great hurry I left the machine 

 by the side of the road and went home on 

 foot. Going back a couple of hours later, it 

 went home full speed like a young colt. It 

 simply needed resting. Well, shortly after 

 the cells had been renewed I got 26 and then 

 27 miles; then as I learned the different 

 tricks about it I got 30 miles, then 35; and 

 I cannot tell jon how intensely I enjoyed 

 the fun of seeing my machine day by day 

 break its record. Where hills are very steep 

 I get out and push the machine to the top 

 of the hill, or carry along a newspaper, and 

 read, when the battery gets tired. I soon 

 found out that muddy roads or a big hill is 

 a bugbear, and I planned to go around them 

 and look out about getting on clay roads 

 during a storm. 



In order to get the best results — that is, 

 the most miles, I find it important to make 

 the vehicle as light as possible by removing 

 every article not absolutely required. Leav- 

 ing off the heavy laprobe that is required 

 only in cold weather made quite a differ- 

 ence. I also omitted my overcoat, and this 

 helped, and walking uphill as I told you. 

 I think that in a former issue I told you 

 about making a trip to Elyria, and after- 

 ward getting miles enough to make fully 40 

 miles; and I can hardly tell you the enjoy- 

 ment and enthusiasm that I experienced in 

 making the last few miles, getting it clear 

 up to 40. 



As the batteries grow older their strength 

 is reduced. It was two years ago that I 

 succeeded in getting 40 miles. Just now 

 about 25 miles is the best I can do. Since 

 I have had a Ford car for long distances, 

 the little electric has been used for only 

 short distances about town, or say four or 

 five miles out of town. Our youngest 

 daughter, Mrs. Boyden, has been appointed 

 " deaconess " in our church, and she is ex- 

 pected to do a gi-eat deal of visiting. Well, 

 this little electric hits the business to a dot. 

 You can start it easier than you can start a 

 horse. You can stop anywhere — no crank- 

 ing, nor anything like it. In fact, if you 

 want to move ahead only ten feet you can 



