1903 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



103 



from our subscribers than the Rambler. 

 His serio-comic writings, filled as thej^ 

 were with valuable hints, and the exact 

 portra^'al of every localit}' through which 

 he traveled, made him not merely a 

 funn}' man, but a dignified correspondent 

 who could and did give us much of value 

 through his writings. While Gleanings 

 mourns his loss it mourns it no more than every 

 subscriber who has followed him through 

 these years; and when the news was flash- 

 ed back from Cuba that the Rambler was 

 dead, I felt as if a near and dear friend 

 had passed awaj'; and I never met anj' one 

 who had come in contact with the Rambler 

 who did not hold him in exactl)' the same 

 high esteem. When I gave the news to our 

 artist Murray when in Cleveland last, it 

 seemed like a severe shock to him; for Mur- 

 ray and the Rambler have been in close 

 touch with each other for about 25 years. 

 When they met for the first time in Cleve- 



SfRUCK IT RICH AGAIN; 

 THKY KNEW ME 



land, in 1891, thej" were like old friends, 

 kindred spirits that will be forever kindred 

 as long as time lasts. 



The funeral of the late John H. Martin was held 

 from the Uaptist church at Hartlord, N. Y., his old 

 home place, Sunday, Jan. 2j, at 11 a.m. The other 

 churches of the town united in the services to pay 

 respects to his memory. Rev. J. A. Parker, of the 

 Congregational church, of which Mr. Mai tin was dea- 

 con, preached the funeral seimon. assisted by Rev. H. 

 W. Hakes and Rev. H. H. Hoyt. The four' deacons 

 and four other friends of the Congregational churcli 

 acted as bearers. 



Mr. Parker chose for his text James 4:14 : " For what 

 is vour like'" The words were suggested to him from 

 a fetter which Mr. Martin wrote to the C E. society 

 on their ].5th anniversary, which was held Aug. 17, 

 19112. Mr. Martin was at one time President of the 

 Society, and also Superintendent of the Sunday-school 

 for a good many years. His friends laid him in lis 

 l^st resting-place by the side of his wife in Moriiiiig- 

 side Cemetery. F. A. Lockhart. 



KCHOFS FROM IDAHO ; PLENTY OK BEES 

 there; ALFALFA. 



I arrived here last March to test this 

 country in the line of bee business; and 

 from what I could glean during the p ist 

 season I pronounce it a good place, al- 

 though the bees' working season is short 

 but sweet. 



As I have for some time been sitting in the 

 background "gobbling"' up the good things 

 Gleanings has to say, I got so full that I 

 can't well hide any longer; so when you 

 got around to the Idaho travel I found my- 

 self in many respects on the same level of 

 opinion. There are only a few items I wish 

 were mentioned difterently. Une is as to 

 the scarcity of bees, at least for twenty 

 miles west of Boise. I have traveled the 

 breadth of the valley, north and southeast 

 and west, time and again, and I know of 

 no portion of country better supplied with 

 bees than this. I have found for miles 

 along the road ever3' farmer (and many 

 having only twenty to forty acres) has bees, 

 and in the working season the air seemed 

 alive with them, working, swarming, and 

 absconding in every direction, taking ad- 

 vantage of almost any cavity accessible, 

 from the garret to the floor of the houses; 

 and I know of one instance where they took 

 possession of a muskrat hole in a dry ditch 

 bank. 



The other item — no danger of the alfalfa 

 all being cut before it blooms. This coun- 

 try is improving fast; new fields are sown 

 to alfalfa, and if a few stands of bees are 

 put there the bees will keep pace with the 

 improvement of the country. 



Nampa, Idaho. G. J. Yoder. 



white clover— does it yield honey the 

 first year, etc.? 

 Having seen the statement that white clo- 

 ver would not yield honey the first season, 

 I kept a sharp lookout last season to find 

 out the truth. The season of l'»01 was ver^' 

 drj' all through the summer and fall — .so 

 much so that I believe I could have carried 

 in a bushel basket, at one load, all the 

 white clover that lived over — that is, all / 

 saw. Last spring was very damp ami 

 rainy, which caused an unusual crop of 

 clover to spring up. This was followed by 

 about a month without rain, which greatly 

 checked growth. Still, there was much of 

 this young clover, in favored places, that 

 bloomed and furnished a protracted flow 

 during the summer when not too rainy. 

 This was our only source of honey worth 

 any thing this year. Asters, which gave 



