176 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 1. 



they seem proportionsitely grateful. The bees no 

 longrer make tlieir own cells, which are prodnred by 

 machinery out of wax. Tliese artificial cells are 

 placed in tlie hive, and the bees seem to be grlad to 

 gretridofthe labor of niakins- them. Immediately 

 they g-et to honey-making-. This b\isiness;they con- 

 duct alone. When the cells are full tlie hive must 

 he watched from witliout, lest the bees begin seal- 

 ing- them up. wliicli they do in oi-der to lay up their 

 winter's food. 



To guard against this, additional cells are put on 

 top of the hive, called supers. In these the bees de- 

 posit their extra store, and this is reserved for their 

 winter outfit. When the bees begin to seal the 

 cells, the box is removed, a small machine is put 

 inside, -n'liich is set vibrating, and this empties the 

 ceils of their honey, which is drawn off. and the 

 cells, having- been drained, are put back to be re- 

 filled. Tliis young woman says tliat her bees know 

 her, and are as tame to her liand as doves. The oc- 

 cupation of honey-making has pi'oved. pleasurable 

 and profitable. 



[No doubt there will be many a broad smile as 

 our readers look over the above, which, very 

 likely, is destined to go the rounds of the news- 

 papers. If everybody takes down the statement 

 about 36 lbs. of honey per week, at 30 cts. a 

 pound, there will probably be a sudden stam- 

 pede for bee-books, journals, and bee-supplies. 

 Let me bid these friends go slow, however. In- 

 stead of 3(3 lbs. of honey per week, and not 

 much work either, a great many of our veterans 

 would be glad to get 3(3 lbs. on an average dur- 

 ing the whole season. In fact, I know of .sev- 

 eral who have not done even as well as that, 

 and they have worked hard too. The plan of 

 putting a " vibrating machine " inside of a box 

 of honey is a pretty big joke. Well, we can be 

 thankful that the newspapers have a good 

 opinion of us and our occupation, any way.] 



A. I. R. 



BICYCLES FOR LADIES. 



The following bit of eloquence and truth we 

 clip from the Philadelphia Germantown Tele- 

 graph: 



Now, with tlie ladies' bicycle she can go where she 

 will, when slie will, and how she will. Her exercise 

 is out of doors, where she may feel of God's sun- 

 shine and Ijreathe of his unvitiated air; the exercise 

 maybe as gentle or as hai'd as she hits a mind to 

 make: she can go four miles or forty miles in this 

 direction or iti that direction, and as fast or as slow 

 as suits her own sweet will. The hills ;ind dales and 

 surrounding country, so prosaic before, take on 

 new life, new interest, now that she lias learned to 

 ride. There is no horse to shy, no groom to employ, 

 no stable to provide. Her wheel is always ready, 

 always obedient, always her slave — more, it is the 

 most fascinating and invigorating outdoor gymna- 

 sium th.it was ever devised. With' its aid a glow 

 can be l)i-ought to the palest cheek, and a I'ich, 

 coursing, healthfuTcirculation to the most stagnant 

 blood. 



Well, now, I can not say, from personal ex- 

 perience, as to the women -folks; but so far as I 

 am concerned, the above is no exaggeration. It 

 is true, every word of it. 



PROF. LOWE AND HIS BOYHOOD. 



I am particularly interested in boys (my chil- 

 dren are all boys); and when I read in Glean- 

 ings about Prof. Lowe I wanted to give you a 

 short ski'tch of his boyhood. When very young 

 his father deserted his""family of three small 

 boys; the mother proved incapable of taking 

 care of them, and thrtuv them on the town. 

 My husband's aunt (Mrs. Perkins) was elected 

 to have "Thad " in her family; and as she al- 

 ready had more boys and girls than a drinking 

 father could support. i)Oor little Thad had a 

 hard time. As soon as he became old enough 

 he ran away and joined a show. After a time 

 he wrote back, " Great oaks from little acorns 

 grow," and nothing more. They heard of him 



from time to time through the papers, and he 

 was always working xiy. Surely his words have 

 come true. He takes his family to the White 

 Mountains now. and I often wonder whether he 

 tells them of the misery he endured there. 

 When a child he was delicate, and different 

 from other children, and even then never liked 

 work on the farm. Mrs. G. E. Bai,cii. 



Harmon, 111. 



[There are several lessons we may learn here. 

 First, having a hard time during boyhood does 

 not always sjioil a boy. On the contrary, it 

 may serve to develop his best powers. I sin- 

 cerely hope and trust there has been a temper- 

 ance reform in the locality where poor Thad 

 was brought up. Being deserted by his father, 

 and then cruelly treated, probably, by another 

 drunken father, was enough to make any boy 

 run away. I presume that, like most boys, he 

 disliked to write letters; but thinking that his 

 friends would like to know something about 

 him, he finally got up energy enough to write 

 the very short letter you mention. It is almost 

 equal to some of the schoolboys' compositions 

 we read about. Very likely his delicate frame 

 was unfitted for the hard work of the farm. I 

 know something about that myself; and even 

 when I was sixteen, my father said I was not 

 worth 3.5 cents a day in the harvest- field. But 

 I had a natural love for farming and agricul- 

 ture, notwithstanding. The matter was not 

 presented to me in just the right way at that 

 time, and perhaps due allowance was not made 

 for a boy so thin and spare, who was growing 

 rapidly. Prof. Lowe now has a taste for agri- 

 culture—at least, you would think so if you 

 were to see his grounds in Pasadena; and I 

 think, too, he must have a taste for almost all 

 outdoor industries. His recent achievement of 

 building an electric railway to the summit of 

 Wilson's Peak is along in that line; and when 

 he ri(les up to the summit on his own car, and 

 looks off over the landscape and the ocean, I 

 wonder whether he thinks of that short letter 

 he wrote home to his friends. I do not know 

 any thing about it, of course; but I hope he re- 

 members, too, the great God above, who has 

 given him mental and physical strength and 

 endurance for all that he has accomplished 

 during the years that are past.] 



a good-natured man, and how he became 

 so. 



I have not used a penny's worth of medicine 

 in forty years. I don't need any— never expect 

 to use an*j'— haven't used tea nor coffee for more 

 than fifty years, but have used milk, warm 

 from the cow, for about 6.5 years. 



When old enough to milk I said to my mother, 

 •' Our calves and pigs have new milk, and they 

 look better than the neighbors' calves and pigs. 

 I don't see why new milk wouldn't be better 

 for children." " I never heard of such a thing; 

 it would make you sick," said she. But I began; 

 and, though the taste at first was very unpleas- 

 ant, I persevered until I liked it. I still use it 

 at every meal — good Jersey milk. I will send 

 you one dollar and fifty cents to apply on 

 Gleanings. It seems that, by the marking on 

 the margins, the two numbers brought me day 

 before yesterday were read in Burke, then sent 

 to Bellmont Center; and even when they got to 

 this neighborhood they were read by a consider- 

 able number of persons, who thought they were 

 "just splendid." before they reached me. I 

 have no fault to find, for all the people all over 

 the county, nearly, know whatever reading- 

 matter I chance to have is free to everybody 

 who chooses to read. Whenever I do get a 

 number I read first the article headed "Our- 

 selves and Our Neighbors." I should read 



