812 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURK 



Skpt. is 



THE HOTTEST PLACE IN THE UNITED 

 STATES. 



We have often heard it said that Yuma, 

 Arizona, is the warmest place in the United 

 States, and many jokes are "cracked " in 

 regard to the heat; but whether it be true 

 or not, I can not say. On Thursday eve- 

 ning, August 27, between 10 and 11 o'clock 

 (the train being late), I went to a hotel in 

 Sentinel, Ariz., for lodging. Sentinel is 

 about 100 miles east of Yuma. The land- 

 lord was asleep on a bed out in the door- 

 yard, and I told him I should much prefer 

 a bed out under the stars to one in the 

 house. He pointed to one ready for me, 

 which I had not until then noticed. He 

 opened a door near by, and said I could 

 leave my grip and clothing inside if I chose. 

 Before retiring — come to think of it, was 

 there really any "retiring" about it? 

 Well, before going to bed I asked: 



"Have you some good drinking-water 

 that won't make me sick? " 



Let me explain a little. The kind friends 

 in California, after the convention was over, 

 gave me so man3' samples of their nice 

 fruit to "just taste," I was having my 

 old trouble of indigestion. I had been di- 

 eting on milk toast and such, without any 

 apparent relief, until I was pretty misera- 

 ble. I was not a little surprised to hear 

 my host so positive concerning two things — 

 first, that it woulchi't rai?i, even if it did 

 continue to lighten; and, next, that the wa- 

 ter he brought me would make me well, and 

 not worse, no matter how bad my trouble 

 was. The water wasn't very cold, but I 

 was so thirstj' (I found by many trials that 

 the ice water on the train would not do for 

 Die at all), I drank quite freely, thinking I 

 would take my chances. The next morning 

 I was much better. The bad taste had 

 all gone from my mouth, and I drank freely 

 of the water he had so positively declared 

 never had and never would hurt anybody. 

 The water was pumped by the railroad 

 company from a well 1200 feet deep. It 

 was identical with the water at the cele- 

 brated Agua Caliente springs, ten miles 

 awa3% and was too hot to drink as it came 

 from the well. In all this region the water 

 is cooled by being hung in the shade, in 

 a canteen covered with burlap, the latter 

 being kept constantly wet. When 3-ou are 

 out on the desert, your water to drink is 

 always carried in these covered canteens. 

 I slept nicely, although the temperature 

 was between 90 and 100. The agent over 

 at the depot showed me the daily record 

 from the Weather Bureau, and I found that 

 only a few dajs before the heat had been, 

 at 2 in the afternoon, 118° in the shade. 

 At breakfast I ate the first good square 

 meal for several days, drinking freely of 



this artesian water, for there is none other 

 for miles around, and I am happj' to tell 

 you I have for four daj's since eaten what I 

 chose, with a good appetite, three times a 

 day, and have never had a healthier diges- 

 tion in mj^ life. Is it because this water is 

 one of my latest "fads," or has it really 

 wonderful virtues? I will tell you all I 

 know about it, and you maj' draw 3'our 

 own conclusions. 



I told you last winter of m3' comical ex- 

 periences in Cuba in tr3'ing to get my 

 Spanish friends to give me a drink of hot 

 water when out in the countr3', before I had 

 learned to 533' "agua caliente.'' Well, 

 when my brother, J. H. Root, urged me to 

 make him a visit, as he had something tcv 

 show that. would interest me greatly, I had 

 to laugh outright at the familiar words,. 

 "Agua Caliente" (water hot) as his, post- 

 office. 



In due time we had spanned the ten miles 

 over the dry and sand3' desert. Not a drop 

 of water was passed until we reached the 

 springs. It seldom rains here, winter or 

 summer, and there is not a particle of dew. 

 In many places there is almost no vegeta- 

 tion, and this makes it all the more wel- 

 come to see the springs with their babbling 

 brooks when we get near the town. There 

 are in all, perhaps, 15 or 20 springs, giving 

 a liow of hot water of about 90 miner's 

 inches all together. The water is so hot 

 3'ou think at first you can not bear it for a 

 bath; but in a little time your body becomes 

 inured to the heat, so most people find it 

 pleasant. Many find it weakening if they 

 stay in very long; but I do not find it so. 

 Below is the anal3'sis: Parts in. 



-Sodium chloride, NaCl (common salt) . . o2.00 



Sodium carbonate, Na-CO^ .... 5.30 



Sodium silicate Na=Si03 8 02 



Sodium sulphate, No-SO^ (Glauber salts) . 15 09 



Potassium sulphate, K-SO* .... 1.57 



Calcium sulphate, CaSO^ (gypsum) . 3.95 



Magnesium sulphate. MgSO^ (Epsom .salts). l.()2 



Magnesium carbonate, MgCO^ . . . 0.46 



Iron and alumina, Fe=0^ and Al'O^ . . 0.30 



lyithium 



68,22 

 trace 



The most of the people who come here are 

 cripples or invalids — perhaps more who are 

 troubled with rheumatism than any thing 

 else. Deafness, especially where the trou- 

 ble is catarrh, is often relieved in a very 

 few da3's. First, you drink all the water 

 you can, before meals and after, when 3'ou 

 go to bed or when 3'ou get up, and they say 

 it always helps digestion at once. It haR 

 proved strangel3' true in m3' case. Next 

 you bathe in the "healing waters" every 

 day or oftener. It makes one wonderfully 

 clean, without soap. Then you get 3'our 

 head under water and make it run into 

 3'Our ears, and snufif it up 3'our nose. You 

 know I have for 3-ears urged this with com- 

 mon hot water. This treatment, with a 

 daily temperature of from 90 to 110°, wotild 

 ver3' naturall3' cleanse the breathing- pas- 

 sages, and prove beneficial. As to wheth- 

 er it will be a lasting benefit, I can not 

 answer. Scores of people go away benefit- 



