700 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 



special drawers, and exhibited tbeui to our 

 gaze, we raised our hands and opened our 

 mouths. We soon discovered, however, 

 that the gorgeous changes he had in store 

 for ns were almost as varied as the forms of 

 the kaleidoscope ; and when we had almost 

 exhausted our expressions of wonder and 

 admiration, he informed us that we had not 

 seen the butterflies at all. What we had 

 been looking at were simply moths. I guess- 

 ed that these must have coiue from some 

 other country— possibly from the tropics. 

 He assented, but exhibited some, almost as 

 pretty, that came from our own climate. 

 Many of these, he said, were nocturnal 

 moths, or those that fly only in the night- 

 time, and which had been found under the 

 electric lights. 



I am informed that sometimes as many as 

 a peck measure full of moths may be scraped 

 up on the ground under these lights. Of 

 course, it affords a wonderful opportunity 

 for making collections of the night-fliers. It 

 has been suggested that this may be the 

 means of diminishing the codlin moth and 

 the cabbage butterfly ; but, if I am correct, 

 these are not night-fliers ; and those who 

 have burned lamps, set in tubs of water, to 

 catcli moths, succeeded in capturing only 

 those which are not injurious to our crops. 

 Will Prof. Cook tell me if I am correct? 

 Some of the most gorgeously painted insects 

 were from the tropical climates. The col- 

 lections now of moths and butterflies em- 

 brace specimens from almost every part of 

 the earth. In a very little time we began to 

 find our stock of exclamations running short, 

 when Prof. Cook, in one of his happiest 

 veins, said, "•Now, look here, friends. I am 

 not near through yet ;" and he pointed to an 

 appalling array of drawers yet to be opened. 

 "Please save some of your very best ex : 

 pressions of wonder until we get over to that 

 next case."' 



\\C soon found his words were true; and 

 then lie explained briefly the way in which 

 the moths were classified. Certain peculiar 

 colors, or shape of the wings, enables the 

 entomologist to place them in families. For 

 instance, there were several drawers of 

 swallow-tailed butterflies ; and we recog- 

 nized a few of them as seen around our own 

 homes. The wonderful facts connected with 

 these insects sound something like some of 

 the stories in the Arabian Nights, and only 

 proves again that truth is more wonderful 

 than fiction, and that the machinery of the 

 universe is more strange than any thing yet 

 gotten up by mankind. Most wonderful of 

 all, Cod has endowed us with faculties that 

 enable us to traverse understandingly these 

 wonderful labyrinths of science and nature. 

 If you ever go to the Agricultural College of 

 Michigan, ask to see the new butterllies. 

 Very likely the collections of our other ex- 

 perimental stations are much like those at 

 Lansing, but I hardly believe that any other 

 State has as yet caught up with Michigan 

 in this particular line. Quite a number of 

 our bee-friends, I happen to know, are in- 

 terested in such collections ; and I now call 

 to mind II. 11. Boardman and E. France. If 

 these two could get together and get ac- 

 quainted, what a time in visiting they 



would have ! And right here, friends, lies 

 one of the grand features of our large con- 

 ventions. Before leaving the butterflies I 

 snapped the Kodak on several cases of col- 

 lections ; but, probably owing to my inexpe- 

 rience, they were hardly worth using for 

 print. We were both up at daylight, and 

 I was so anxious to see their test grounds 

 for garden vegetables that Prof. Cook took 

 the liberty of waking up some of the students 

 who had charge of this department. Their 

 experimental grounds are beautiful, and in 

 splendid order; yet, owing to their colder 

 climate, many things were behind in season 

 compared with ours here at the Home of the 

 Honey-bees. For instance, there was not a 

 tomato ripe on their grounds, while we had 

 been selling them considerably ; and in re- 

 gard to bush lima beans, they had not a 

 plant, either of Henderson's or the Kumerle. 

 That cold spell the first of June, at the time 

 when it killed more than half of ours, seems 

 to have killed every one on the college 

 grounds. All that remained were the neat- 

 ly painted stakes, telling where the bush li- 

 mas had been planted, and when. 



JflYjSEIiF fl^D W ]^EI6flB8Rg. 



THE MACHINERY OF THE UNIVERSE. 



The heavens declare the glory of God, and the 

 firmament sboweih his handiwork.— PsaIjM 19: 1. 



PRESUME that most of you are some- 

 what like me, inasmuch as you like 

 to " have things happen." At times 

 you greatly feel the need of something 

 to enlist your sympathies and to stir 

 you up. When we were children we 

 used to like excitement of some kind or 

 other— Fourth of July, Christmas, circus 

 day, and some of us probably enjoyed a 

 thunder-storm — yes, even a hailstorm that 

 broke the windows; possibly a Hood, if it 

 were not on too large a scale. The coldest 

 day that was ever heard of furnishes matter 

 for conversation, likewise the hottest day 

 that even the " oldest inhabitant " has 

 " never seen the like onV before. Well, 

 even now I sometimes get tired, or weary, 

 rather, with the cares of the office. I hardly 

 can say the monotony of the office ; for al- 

 though we may be overwearied by the 

 amount of work, as well as by overwork 

 physically, we ought not to quarrel with our 

 bread and butter, or, in other words, we 

 should be content to take up the work that 

 lies straight before us, even if we do not feel 

 just like it, Well, these thoughts were 

 prompted by thinking that perhaps I could 

 help you to enjoy life, and may be to love 

 God more, by watching more intently the 

 machinery of the great universe. A friend 

 of mine who lives in the, city of New York 

 told me that he greatly enjoyed seeing the 

 workmen make progress day by day on the 

 great Brooklyn suspension bridge. As he 

 passed it twice every day, in going to and 

 from his work night and morning, he had 

 ample opportunity, especially as they were 

 thirteen years in building it. Now. perhaps 

 you may say, " Oh, yes ! who would not have 



