900 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 



they can start and stop when they like. 

 The water-mi] Is are always ready to run. 

 If they do not use it, the water runs away, 

 so it does not make any difference when 

 they start or when they stop. The coarse 

 grains of blasting-powder, almost as large 

 as kernels of corn, look very handsome. 

 The grains of powder are polished with 

 something very much like stove-blacking, 

 and they shine just like a nicely polished 

 stove. I do not know whether the shine is 

 to make the grains look handsome, or 

 whether the powder goes off better when it 

 is shiny, and pretty to look at. In the dry- 

 ing-room, where the grains are thoroughly 

 dried, it was so hot I could hardly endure it, 

 even for a few minutes at a time. I asked 

 the attendant how many degrees it would 

 have to be to go off, and send us all into 

 eternity. It did not require very many de- 

 grees, but he assured me their machinery 

 was so precise that it could not, by any 

 blunder, run up to the exploding-point. Ex- 

 plosions do occur every little while, so 

 friend France states, and the people in the 

 vicinity have become accustomed to hear- 

 ing them. If it is one of the mills where 

 the powder is in the finished state, it goes 

 off like a cannon ; but if it is the powder be- 

 fore it has been made into grains, the re- 

 port is somewhat drawn out like a slow clap 

 of thunder. Some years ago one of the men 

 who had charge of the mills forgot some- 

 thing, and went back after dark with a lan- 

 tern. He knew better, but he thought he 

 would be very careful. Something happen- 

 ed, and the powder got afire. This tine 

 powder burned so slowly, however, that he 

 had time to jump into the race and dive un- 

 til the explosion was over. Then he put up 

 his head and got out comparatively un- 

 harmed. Had he not had his wits about 

 him, he would surely have been horribly 

 burned to death. 



Visitors are permitted to go anywhere 

 they wish, but they must not smoke cigars, 

 nor carry firearms. If a man comes on the 

 premises with a gun in his hand, he is led 

 off by the collar. Some years ago a young 

 dude by some means slipped on to the 

 grounds unobserved, with a lighted cigar in 

 his mouth, and, before anybody knew it, he 

 marched into one of the powder-mills, and 

 asked to see the foreman. The men in 

 charge instantly replied, "■ He is right here 

 by the door," and led the way. As soon as 

 they got him outside they took him by the 

 collar and dragged him off to a safe dis- 

 tance, and then gave him such a shaking 

 and talking to as he will probably remem- 

 ber as long as he lives ; and he will proba- 

 bly not go into a powder-mill again with a 

 lighted cigar. My friend, if I were you I 

 would not go into any kind of a mill with a 

 cigar. No, I would not even go into any 

 building with one ; and, come to think 

 about it, I would not go anywhere else with 

 one. If you expect to go to heaven you may 

 be sure you will have to throw away your 

 cigar a long while before you get there. O 

 boys, I wish you would throw the cigars 

 away now, before you get any further along 

 in the journey of life. Please do it, out of 

 respect to Uncle Amos, even if for no other 



reason ; or, better still, throw it away now 

 for the sake of Christ Jesus. 



CLOVER-BLOAT. 



My father uses a wisp of hay twisted, and puts it 

 in the animal's mouth and ties it around the horns. 

 Carlton, Pa., Aug. '!4, ]889. Hugh Hogue. 



BOBBIE AND NELLIE. 



We have 50 colonies of bees. We take Glean- 

 ings, and I suppose we always shall. I have two 

 pigeons for my pets. I call them Bobbie and Nel- 

 lie. Winnie Naylor, ape 13. 



Lockharts, W. Va., Aug-. 16, 1889. 



bee-stings for rheumatism. 

 Some time ago a doctor discovered that stings 

 would cure rheumatism. He tried it on a patient, 

 and found it to work satisfactorily. Now he has a 

 colony of bees, and has cured a number of pa- 

 tients, and has inflicted over 3000 stings. 



I. E. Hindman, age 14. 

 Colora, Md., Aug. 23, 1889. 



A good deal has been said lately concern- 

 ing the value of bee-stings as a cure for 

 rheumatism ; but it seems to us your doctor 

 must have found out a new way of inflicting 

 stings to do it in such a wholesale way. 

 Three thousand stings I Whew! How does 

 he do it ? He must have an improvement 

 on the bees' way. We wouldn't want to be 

 doctored by that doctor. 



A GOOD REPORT FOR CARNIOLANS. 



Father has 75 swarms of bees. I help him take 

 care of them. Sometimes I hive them alone when 

 he is away. He has Italians, blacks, hybrids, and 

 one Carniolan. He likes the Carniolans best, and 

 so do I, because we have to use no smoke at any 

 time. They make verv white honey. Our Carnio- 

 lan swarm was so light in the spring that we put it 

 on four frames. It built up of itself, and made 61 

 one-pound boxes of very white honey, and swarmed 

 once. Henry C. Cox, age 11. 



Monkton Ridge, Vt., Oct. 2, 1889. 



BEES, CATS, DOGS, ETC. 



My Uncle Joseph has taken about 500 lbs. of comb 

 and extracted honey, and has sold almost all of it. 

 I have a little dog named Gypsy, and the bees think 

 he is a little bear. He got stung last Saturday. We 

 have four cats. The cats don't like the dog. One 

 of our cats is very peaceful, and doesn't like to 

 fight; and when he is asleep, Gypsy will come and 

 sit on him. Mabel Briggs. 



Cornwall Landing, N. Y., Nov. 4. 1889. 



THE IGNOTUM THE BEST TOMATO. 



We raised three plants of Ignotum tomatoes. 

 Papa set two of them by the side of the house, and 

 trained them up. One of them covered a space 

 four feet wide and eleven feet high. Everybody 

 thinks they look very handsome, especially when 

 they had those large, red, ripe tomatoes on. Papa 

 thinks it is a very nice way to raise tomatoes, where 

 you have a small garden. Next year he says he 

 will train them all up by the side of the house. We 

 think that the Ignotum is the best-tasting tomato 

 we ever had. Papa takes Gleanings, and expects 

 to keep bees again. Ldla K. Rcger. 



Binghamton, N. Y., Oct. 14, 1889. 



