1882 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



199 



are when they come from the factory V You 

 may think your hands are pretty clean ; but 

 if you even rest your fingers on one of these 

 snow-white cards, it leaves a niarlv, and the 

 card is spoiled. How easy it is to make 

 mischief in this world, and without any in- 

 tention of so doing, either ! r>ob found it 

 out, for almost as soon as the cover was oft' 

 the box, he picked up one of the bundles of 

 cards, soiling wherever his hngers touched 

 them, tore off the neat little paper band, and 

 threw it on the floor. 



" Look a here, old feller," said Tora, " we 

 don't throw things on the floor in this shop, 

 I would have you understand.'' 



" Why ! just that little bit of paper? I 

 should like to know what you can do with 

 it/' 



" Why, it's waste paper, and it goes into 

 the waste-paper basket. " And Tom pointed 

 his finger to a pretty little basket, made of 

 willow. Would you like to seeitV Here it is. 



]>ob looked around at 

 the rest ; but as no one 

 seemed to think he had 

 any just cause for com- 

 plaint, he picked up the 

 little scrap of paper and 

 placed it in the little 

 basket, saying, '• May 

 be there is something 

 else you'd like to have 

 a fellow do '/ " 



All were good natur- ^^^s 

 ed by this time, and tum-s wastei'apek baskkt. 

 Tom very quietly said, " Yes, Bob, there is 

 one other thing I should like you to do. 

 Will you do it V" 



"I Avill if I can ; talk it out." 



'' If you are going to help me pi int, wash 

 your hands, and make them so clean they 

 won"t leave a mark on a clean card." Bob 

 did it ; and as the rest were all watching 

 him, he actually hung the towel on the right 

 hook, put the soap back in the soap-stand. 

 and rinsed out the new tin wash-basin, and 

 hung it up on the nail where he found it. 

 After trying his linger across a clean white 

 card, to be sure it would not soil it, Tom al- 



of soft cotton being used to put it on with. 

 The bronze sticks to the ink, but falls right 

 off from the smooth paper, and so we have 

 the words in "letters of gold." If I am 

 right, botli the two boys who were at work 

 on that little card needed those words, and 

 it may be the superintendent's little verse, 

 in letters of gold, started good seed that day, 

 even before the little cards got out of the 

 printing-otliee. Would you like a few of 

 those cards, my friend V Well, you just 

 mention, when you are writing us, and' we 

 will send you some. 



Bob enjoyed the work so much that he 

 declared he was going to work hard and 

 earn money, and have one too. When he 

 asked the very cheapest that any kind of a 

 printing-i)ress could be had for, Tom showed 

 him a picture of one that was only a dollar, 

 that would print a card very well. It was 

 very soon arranged that Bob should help 

 him in the office at 5 cents an hour, until he 

 could buy it. 



At this point, some of the boys, overhear- 

 ing something about some new things that 

 Mr. Merrybanks had just invented, the whole 

 lot started off to go and see them. The 

 boys all knew he would readily show and 

 ; explain every thing to them, if they only 

 asked him, and so the proposal met with 

 favor at once, as soon as Tom could put away 

 his bronze, wash his type, and put every thing 

 in apple-pie order. In answer to a question, 

 he replied that he usually washed his type 

 with benzine ; but that, when he wished to 

 get it real clean, he used concentrated lye, 

 which he kept always ready for use, in a 

 little black jug under the sink. 

 I The first thing that i)leased the boys was 

 a new smoker friend M. had just got. It 

 cost him only .)0 cents, and yet it was light- 

 ed with a match, and would throw smoke 

 like a little fire-engine. Here is a picture of 

 it. 



The next thing .John wanted them to see 

 was a little fence to put before the entrances 

 to the bee-hives, that would let worker bees 

 through, but not the drones or queens. 

 Friend M. had got this from the great bee- 



Mis. MERUYBANKS' 1' 



lowed him to finish one pack of cards in 

 gold bronze. The cards for this purpose 

 were of a steel blue, as it is called, to con- 

 trast better with gold. An ounce of bronze, 

 costing only 1.5 cents, will do for a great 

 number of labels. It is dusted over the 

 print just as it comes from the press, while 

 the ink is yet fresh and sticky, a little ball 



irxy-CENT SMOliElt. 



man of Canada, Mr. D. A. .Jones. As John 

 was not quite able to explain it fully, Fred- 

 die volunteered to read all about it to them 

 in the American Agriculturist, and this is 

 wliat he read : — 



At the meeting of the National Bee-Keepers' So- 

 ciety, at Lexington, Ky., Mr. D. A. Jones suggested 

 a way to control, in part at least, the mating on the 



