518 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Rain Makings is now absorbing 

 universal attention. When protracted 

 drouths have so often destroyed the 

 honey crops, apiarists are interested in 

 this discussion, as well as the general 

 growers of the crops. Eelative to the 

 credit for the suggestion put in by Mr. 

 Penfield, on page 276, the following has 

 come to hand : 



I think if you will look over the Bee 

 Journal for the latter part of 1887, 

 you will find very good replies to Hill's 

 and Penfield's articles on causes of 

 drouth, 



I saw replies referring to large scopes 

 of country where there were numerous 

 lakes, etc., and yet they were subject to 

 drouths. Judging from newspaper re- 

 ports sent in by some of the good citi- 

 zens of Texas, the experiments made in 

 that State to cause rain, has by no 

 means been a success. 



Nokomis, Ills. E. Sandford. 



This reminds us of a story about 

 making rain some 40 years ago, which 

 we copy from the San Francisco Exam- 

 iner. Here it is : 



Making thunder-storms to order is not 

 such a new scheme as Frank Melbourne 

 and the Government balloon dynamiters 

 seem to think. Forty years ago it was 

 tried successfully in California, and a 

 drouth was broken without resort to 

 explosives or expensive chemicals. An 

 old Indian did the trick at no cost other 

 than the expenditure of a little breath 

 and mental effort. At least such is the 

 statement made by S. A. Bishop, one of 

 San Jose's most prominent citizens. 



Mr. Bishop, in 1850, established the 

 Tejon Indian Eeservation at the south- 

 ern end of the San Joaquin Valley, 

 under the directions of Gen. E. F. Beale, 

 Superintendent of Indian Affairs in 

 California, and gathered at Tejon a 

 large number of Indians, whom he in- 

 structed in agriculture. The Indians 

 took kindly to the work, and during the 

 first season they plowed and sowed with 

 wheat, a field seven miles long by a mile 

 in width. In March the rain ceased, 

 the weather became very warm, and for 

 two months not a drop of rain fell. The 

 drouth threatened to ruin the wheat 

 crop, and Mr. Bishop decided to try 

 irrigation. 



Five hundred Indians were set at 

 work in four six-hour shifts, digging 

 ditches to concentrate a number of small 



streams, and conduct the water to the 

 wheat field. It was hard work, and, 

 therefore, distasteful to the Indians. 



One day the head man waited upon 

 Mr. Bishop, and represented to him that 

 it was foolishness to do so much hard 

 work when rain could be had for the 

 asking. They wanted permission to 

 send to the mountains for a medicine 

 man, who could produce rain by speak- 

 ing a word. 



A messenger was sent on muleback to 

 the home of the chief of a small tribe 

 living about 100 miles from the reser- 

 vation. 



At the end of five days the messenger 

 returned and reported that the rain-god 

 and his whole tribe were on the road to 

 the reservation. 



The news of the arrival of the great 

 rain-maker was sent abroad, and at 

 least 30,000 Indians gathered at Tejon 

 to greet him. 



Mr. Bishop propitiated the rain-god 

 with a quart or two of red beads, and 

 then interviewed him on meteorology. 



" Can you make it rain ?" he asked. 



"Did you not send for me for that 

 purpose ?" said the old chief. 



"Yes," rejoined Mr. Bishop, " but I 

 would like to know whether you can 

 doit." 



" If I could not do it I would not have 

 come," replied the old chief, and, 

 although Mr. Bishop was not convinced, 

 the logic of the reply was unanswerable, 

 and he dropped the subject. 



The Indians spent that night in danc- 

 ing and feasting, eighty bullocks having 

 been killed and barbecued for them, and 

 the next day the rain-maker said he was 

 ready to begin operations. 



The Indian, retiring into the bush, 

 went through some mysterious evolu- 

 tions. Mr. Bishop says he was greatly 

 amazed to see clouds begin to gather in 

 the sky, and his surprise increased when 

 a few drops of rain fell. But the Indian 

 soon came out of the bush and declared 

 that he could not be sure of a good 

 shower until he could produce thunder 

 and lightning, and he intended to go 

 into a grove not far away and try some 

 new incantations. 



The Indian retired, and in less than 

 half an hour the artillery was turned 

 loose. There was a blinding flash of 

 lightning and a roar of thunder that 

 shook the earth, and then the rain came 

 down in torrents. The old Indian's 

 shower lasted for ten days, and the 

 ground became so soaked that the 

 cattle mired down on the plains. 



