l>22 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mak. 



of any kind breaks up these currents of air; and 

 the more they are prevented, the more perfect the 

 non-conducting power. Try the experiment with 

 some of your honey-pails. Fill two pint pails with 

 hot water. Put each of them, with a thermometer, 

 into a two-quart pail, and these into eight-quart 

 pails. In one, support the smaller pails by blocks, 

 so as to form dead-air spaces, which may be made 

 almost perfect by tying paper tightly over the tops. 

 In the other, pack the space between the larger 

 pails with chaff, shavings, or, better, with wool or 

 feathers. Open at intervals, and compare the ther- 

 mometers. 

 Illinois. N. C. J. A. Green. 



A year or so ago, when we were renovat- 

 ing our cliafl: hives by boiling them, we dis- 

 covered that two of them bad never been 

 packed with chaff in the sides. Both of 

 these hives had wintered bees every year 

 just as successfully as the other hives' hav- 

 ing chaff packed in the side walls. The 

 question that arose in my mind was, 

 '• Wouldn't all the rest of the hives have 

 wintered the bees just as well if the side 

 walls had not been packed in chaff?" If 

 such is the case, it would have saved a good 

 deal of expense ; and to satisfy my curiosity 

 I propounded the above question. It will 

 be remembered that VV. T. Falconer has 

 sent out for years his Falcon chaff hives, 

 the side walls of which, if I am correct, are 

 simply dead-air spaced, without chaff pack- 

 ing. I feel pretty well satisfied, however, 

 that a chaff cushion above the brood-nest is 

 a good thing, whether the chaff in the side 

 walls is necessary or not. Ekxest. 



0aR P0ME?. 



Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, be- 

 cause thou hasi left thy first love.— Rev. 3:4. 



As it is out of the question to have a nap 

 on /Sunday, just before dinner, on account 

 of church services, I always take my nap 

 just before going to church, say about ten 

 o'clock or a little before; and I usually 

 wake up about a quarter past ten, and then 

 I am ready to go to church, bright, fresh, 

 and vigorous, and no danger of getting 

 drowsy. Well, the Sunday about which I 

 propose to speak to-day was communion 

 Simday. I did not think of it, however, un- 

 til I came to take my place in church, and 

 saw the table with its white spread. In a 

 few moments more my attention was drawn 

 from worldly matters by the reading of our 

 good pastor. It was from the second chap- 

 ter of the book of Revelation. He read as 

 follows: 



I know thy works and thy labor and thy patience, 

 and how thou canst not b^ar them which are evil; 



and hast borne, and hast patience, and 



for my names's sake hast labored, and hast not 

 fainted. 



The very first words took a strong hold of 

 me. It seemed as if the Savior had directed 

 my good friend who was in the pulpit to 

 read these words for my special benefit. 

 They were exactly what I needed. Some- 

 times when I am sorely discouraged and 

 cast down I repeat to myself the little text, 



" Blessed are they which do hunger and 

 thirst after righteousness ;" and it gives 

 me comfort ; for, no matter how bad 1 am, 

 I believe I really and truly love righteous- 

 ness. I am a diligent worker also ; and in 

 some directions i believe I have a great 

 amount of patience ; and I think, too, that 

 I oftentimes bear a good deal and have pa- 

 tience for Christ's sake. The concluding 

 words, "■ Ilast laboied and hast not faint- 

 ed," gave me comfort; but at the same 

 time there was a foreboding in them that 

 something else was coming. I knew that, 

 on this special morning, I needed rebuke 

 and reproof; and I just began to realize 

 that my mind was full of a great lot of 

 worldly matters that had no business there, 

 especially on this continunion Sunday ; 

 therefore when the pastor went on and read 

 the next verse, which I have selected as my 

 text, it came upon me in such a way as al- 

 most to startle me : 



Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, be- 

 cause thou hast left thj' first love. 



Then he read the fifth verse : 



Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fall- 

 en, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will 

 come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy can- 

 dlestick out of its place, except thou repent. 



I hope, dear readers, that you will get 

 your Bibles and read the whole of this sec- 

 ond chapter of Revelation. I wish now to 

 digress a little to tell you just why these 

 words took such a hold of me. The first 

 verse of the chapter says, " Unto the angel 

 of the church of Ephesus write ;" and it 

 was John who was directed to write these 

 words. Our pastor explained to us that the 

 word " angel '' might mean minister, so 

 that John was simply to direct the pastor of 

 this church at Ephesus to speak to his peo- 

 ple in the way I have quoted. Our pastor 

 was speaking these words to his people, and 

 they were just the ones I needed. Had he 

 looked me full in the face, and directed his 

 whole talk to me, it seemed as,if it would 

 have been most exceedingly appropriate for 

 my case. 



Please let us go back to Our Homes for 

 Feb. 15, where 1 spoke of something that 

 had clouded my spiritual state. I told you, 

 also, of an instantaneous and wonderful de- 

 liverance. A week after that deliverance, 

 I also wrote that, as yet, no trace of the 

 cloud had darkened my spiritual vision. 

 There m;iy be some among my readers who 

 do not care to follow me in this matter of 

 struggles against temptation. There may 

 be some who think it childish. If so, I hope 

 these friends will have charity while they 

 skijt past what I have to say this morning, 

 for I feel it to be my duty to go on, as I 

 know from the letters I receive that there 

 are others who are fighting manfully, and 

 fighting inch by iixdi against temptation and 

 Satan. I know, too, there are at least some 

 who have become almost discouraged, be- 

 cause they have fallen again and again. I 

 think there are some, also, who, after 

 having been redeemed by the blood of 

 Christ, have, in the language of our text, 

 left their first love, and strayed away into the 

 bondage of sin, and into Satans snares. To 

 such I want to speak to- day, because I be- 



