1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1383 



•a glimpse of iu the distance. You had bet- 

 ter go back and go around by the post- 

 office." 



But I do not like to be beat when I start 

 out on a speculation of my own, and so I 

 pushed ahead, and found some new things, 

 even if I did take more time than by taking 

 the beaten track. My "short cut" tui'ned 

 out to be the furthest 'way home; and when 

 I got to Huebner's his whole institution was 

 turned about. The front door was on the 

 back side, and vice versa. You see I had 

 got turned round. 



While I am considering this particular il- 

 lusion of the hills, I wish to bring up anoth- 

 er incident right here. While passing along 

 the streets of the* city I saw some very pretty 

 Ked Astrakhan apples just getting ripe. I 

 picked out a fair-si/ed one and laid down a 

 nickel, and stood waiting for my change. 

 As the good-looking woman who presided 

 seemed to think the nickel closed the trans- 

 action I mentioned it to friend Huebner, and 

 was greatly sui'prised when he told me a 

 nickel was the regular price for a fair-sized 

 apple. When I looked up to his thrifty 

 young apple-trees, some of them pretty well 

 tilled with fruit, I asked him why everyl)ody 

 di<_l not go to raising apples. He told me the 

 people had just caught on to the fact that ap- 

 ples would grow in that I'egion, and said I 

 would have to get out into the country and 

 see some of their young orchards. 



The following morning, while waiting for 

 breakfast I strayed off on a point of the hills. 

 I soon happened to look down into a little 

 ravine and caught a glimpse of some thrifty 

 green foliage. As I got nearer I noticed a 

 very tall fence of wire netting. The height 

 was so unusual that I began wondering if it 

 were not an inclosure for ostriches, such as 

 I saw in California and Arizona. Just then 

 a man went through a big gate in the stout 

 wire fence, and left it slightly ajar. I ven- 

 tured to push through and follow him. 



"My good friend, am I intruding in taking 

 the liberty to go through this inclosure?" 



"Not at all. Come in. Are you a sti'an- 

 ger in these parts? " 



"Yes, sir, I am a stranger, but that is not 

 all. I am a born Yankee, and am naturally 

 curious to know why this great high fence, 

 almost chicken-tight, is here." 



"This fence is to keep the 'kids' from the 

 town from getting into my orchard. If you 

 are interested in apples, come in." 



Then for the first time I discovered there 

 was an acre of ground or more tucked down 

 in that little canyon out of sight where one 

 would hardly believe there was I'oom for a 

 little garden-patch. The apple-trees, like 

 friend Huebner's, were smooth and glossy, 

 and the foliage was of that rich healthy dark 

 green that an apple-grower loves to see; and 

 last, but not least, every tree in that whole 

 •(jrchard was bending with fruit. The Red 

 Astrakhans and the Yellow Transparent 

 were just ripening, l^ike the orchard I found 

 in the Arizona tlesert, there was scarcely a 

 vvormj^ apple nor a scrubby one, nor a one- 

 sided one. iu that whole orchard. The cod- 



dling-moth had not got there; the fungus and 

 other pests wei'e unknown. 



In the Black Hills, apples sell by the pound 

 — 5 cts. per lb. for firsts, and 3 cts. for wind- 

 falls and seconds. This man was one of the 

 first to find out that apples would grow in 

 that region. Of course, he has to irrigate. 

 The medical hot water is run all through the 

 orchard once in 30 days. By means of this 

 thorough irrigation, the trees bear every 

 year. But this excessive bearing exhausts in 

 In a little time the vitality of the tree, or at 

 least Mr. Geo. M. Tri mm er, the owner, said 

 such seemed to be the case. He showed me 

 some of his oldest trees that seemed to be 

 failing on account of the constant heavy 

 cropping. He thought that hand picking 

 would remedy the matter aftd make the fruit 

 still larger. 



Besides the two apples I have mentioned, 

 there is quite a little trade on a- pretty good- 

 sized crabapple called Whitney's No. 20. I 

 first saw these on a fruit-stand. I said to 

 the boy, "Why, what do you have crabap- 

 ples on a fruit-stand for? " 



• ' Why, these crabapples are good to eat. 

 Have you never tried one? Just taste. They 

 are Whitney's No. 20 — a new thing, and they 

 succeed splendidly here in the Black Hills." 



You get about half a dozen of these crabap- 

 ples for a nickel; and as soon as I tasted one 

 I uttered an exclamation of surprise. I de- 

 cided then and there that some of Whitney's 

 No. 20 crabapples should be planted on my 

 grounds next spring. My good friend Trim- 

 mer, who owned the orchard, said it was his 

 breakfast time, but told me to make myself 

 at home, look the orchard all over, sample 

 the fruit, and. if I thought best to write up 

 his little enterprise, to send him a sample 

 copy of the journal containing it. Oh how 

 I did enjoy the walk throiigh that laeautiful 

 young apple-on^hard before breakfast! I 

 think I never saw such a handsome bloom 

 on all the fruit as I found there in that little 

 notch in the hills near Hot Springs. This 

 man was an enthusiast. He had been for a 

 good many years studying apple culture in 

 that region, and experimenting. He found 

 what kinds would succeed, the kind of treat- 

 ment best for them, and was then getting 

 his reward. He told me he would not swap 

 that little apple-orchai'd for the best hotel in 

 Hot Springs. The apples were .all hand- 

 picked except what fell on the ground. But 

 even the wind-falls, and those that were 

 partly decayed, -found a ready market at 

 some price, so there was almost no waste. 



THE BLACK HILLS HOT SPRINGS AS A 

 HEALTH-RESORT. 



I fear that, in my last issue, I did not give 

 this region the credit it should have. It is 

 a great place for sunshine. The records of 

 the Weather Bureau show that, for a period 

 of eight years, there is an average of 332 

 sunshiny days in a year. The average tem- 

 perature for June, July, and August, during 

 the same period, was 62. As an indication 

 of what the United States government thinks 

 of this region. 1 may njention that a great 



