38 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 1 



stead of fifty of cast iron was carried on the 

 "nose." 



Everybody is ready to say, "Well, what 

 use is it ? what good will it do ?" These are 

 questions no inan can answer as yet. How- 

 ever, I will give you a suggestion or two. 

 The man who made this last trip said there 

 was no difficulty whatever in going above 

 the trees or anywhere he chose ; but per- 

 haps wisdom would dictate he should have 

 still more experience a little nearer the 

 ground. The machine easily made thirty or 

 forty miles an hour, and this in going only 

 a little more than half a mile straight ahead. 

 No doubt it would get up a greater speed if 

 allowed to do so— perhaps, with the wind, a 

 mile a minute after the first mile. The 

 manager could doubtless go outside of the 

 field and bring it back safely, to be put in 

 the little house where it is kept nights. 

 But no matter how much time it takes, I am 

 sure all the world will commend the policy 

 so far pursued— go slowly and carefully, and 

 avoid any risk that might cause the loss of 

 a human life. This great progressive world 

 can not afford to take the risk of losing the 

 life of either of these two men.* 



I have suggested before, friends, that the 

 time may be near at hand when we shall not 

 need to fuss with good roads nor railway 

 tracks, bridges, etc., at such an enormous 

 expense. With these machines we can bid 

 adieu to all these things. God's free air, 

 that extends all over the earth, and perhaps 

 miles above us, is our training field. Rubber 

 tires, and the price of rubber, are no longer 

 "in it." The thousand and one parts of the 

 automobile that go to make its construction, 

 and to give it strength, can all be dispensed 

 with. You can set your basket of eggs 

 almost anywhere on the upper or lower 

 deck, they will not even rattle unless it be 

 when they come to alight. There are hun- 

 dreds of queer things coming to light in 

 regard to this new method of travel ; and I 

 confess it is not clear to me, even yet, how 

 that little aluminum engine, with four pad- 

 dles, does the work. I asked the question, 

 "Boys, would that engine and these two 

 propellers raise the machine from the ground 

 if placed horizontally above it ? " 



"Certainly not, Mr. Root. They would 

 not hft a quarter of its weight." 



" Then how is it possible that it sustains 

 it in the air as it is? " 



The answer involves a strange point in the 

 wonderful discovery of air navigation. 

 When some large bird or butterfly is soaring 

 with motionless wings, a very little power 

 from behind will keep it moving. Well, if 

 this motion is kept up, a very little incline 

 of the wings will keep it from falling. A 

 little more incline, and a little more push 

 from behind, and the bird or the butterfly, 

 or the machine created by human hands, will 

 gradually lise in the air. I was surprised 

 at the speed, and I was astonished at the 



*If these two men should be taken away by accident or 

 otherwise, there is probably no one living who could 

 manage the machine. With these men to teach them 

 " the trade " however, there are plenty who could 

 doubtless learn it in a few weeks. 



wonderful lifting power of this compara- 

 tively small apparatus. When I saw it pick 

 up the fifty pounds of iron so readily I asked 

 if I might ride in place of the iron. I 

 received, by way of assurance, the answer 

 that the machine would no doubt carry me 

 easily. You see then I would have the 

 "front seat;" and even if it is customary 

 (or used to be in olden times) to accord the 

 front seat to the ladies, I think the greater 

 part of them would say, " Oh ! sit still, Mr. 

 Root. Do not think of getting up to give us 

 your seat." 



At first there was considerable trouble 

 about getting the machine up in the air and 

 the engine well up to speed. They did this 

 by running along a single-rail track perhaps 

 2U0 feet long. It was also, in the early ex- 

 periments, found advisable to run against 

 the wind, because they could then have a 

 greater time to practice in the air and not 

 get so far away from the building where it 

 was stored. Since they can come around to 

 the starting-point, however, they can start 

 with the wind even behind them ; and with a 

 strong wind behind it is an easy matter to 

 make even more than a mile a minute. The 

 operator takes his place lying flat on his 

 face. This position offers less resistance to 

 the wind. The engine is started and got up 

 to speed. The machine is held until ready 

 to start by a sort of trap to be sprung when 

 all is ready; then with a tremendous flapping 

 and snapping of the four-cylinder engine, the 

 huge machine springs aloft. When it first 

 turned that circle, and came near the start- 

 ing-point, I was right in front it; and I said 

 then, and I believe still, it was one of the 

 grandest sights, if not the grandest sight, 

 of my life. Imagine a locomotive that has 

 left its track, and is climbing up in the air 

 right toward you— a locomotive without any 

 wheels, we will say, but with white wings 

 instead, we will further say— a locomotive 

 made of aluminum. Well, now, imagine 

 this white locomotive, with wings that 

 spread 20 feet each way, coming right 

 toward you with a tremendous flap of its 

 propellers, and you will have something like 

 what I saw. The younger brother bade me 

 move to one side for fear it might come 

 down suddenly; but I tell you, friends, the 

 sensation that one feels in such a crisis is 

 something hard to describe. The attendant 

 at one time, when the rope came off that 

 started it, said he was shaking from head to 

 foot as if he had a fit of ague. His shaking 

 was uncalled for, however, for the intrepid 

 manager succeeded in righting up his craft, 

 and she made one of her very best flights. 

 I may add, however, that the apparatus is 

 secured by patents, both in this and in for- 

 eign countries; and as nobody else has as 

 yet succeeded in doing any thing like what 

 they have done I hope no millionaire or syn- 

 dicate will try to rob them of the invention 

 or laurels they have so fairly and honestly 

 earned. 



When Columbus discovered America he 

 did not know what the outcome would be, 

 and no one at that time knew; and I doubt 



