596 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 



To tell the honest truth, I am afraid of the 

 prince of darkness. I am afraid of getting 

 out of the reach of the Savior, for even one 

 single moment. Yes, it is true, that, al- 

 though 1 have taught and plead and urged 

 men to turn from evil to that which is right 

 and good, for years, I am afraid of /uy.se//. 



Perhai)s von wonder what has suggested 

 all this. Well, to tell the trutli, I have had 

 a little experience in meeting crime in the 

 wide open air, with no prison-bars about me 

 or the criminal. lie, of course, said he was 

 not guilty, as almost all criminals do when 

 they are in jail ; but I had more of the facts 

 in my possession than he was aware of. 

 Was t gentle and patient V No, I was not. 

 lie was slow about restoring the stolen 

 property, and tried to make out that it was 

 not stolen, and that he ought not to be 

 obliged to return it— at least hot all of it. I 

 talked penitentiary to him, but 1 did not 

 talk it lovingly. I did not talk it as I 

 talk with th{- friends in jail: I did not talk 

 it as a Christian ought to talk it, and I fe;-l 

 ashamed of myself to think I behaved so 

 y>oorly when God saw lit to try me in an 

 open-air conllict with evil. It came on me 

 unexpectedly, and my armor was off. I am 

 afraid the poor fellow said, as he went 

 away, "• I have heard a good deal of talk 

 about Mr. Root's Christianity, and of his 

 great love for liis fellow-men — even those 

 who are unfortunate or bad ; but I did not 

 notice any of it shining in his countenance 

 to-day.'' You may say, " Why, Mr. Root, 

 even a minister of the gT)spel would perhaps 

 do no better than you did. If he sliould find 

 a man in the night, attem])ting to steal his 

 horse, it is quite probable that he would be 

 as harsh and severe as you have been, for 

 the circumstances demand it. There is no 

 time for soft words or exhortations to re- 

 pentance, vmder such circumstances.'' To 

 which I reply, that I am sure there is a bet- 

 ter way than the way I did. I am sure that 

 (rod's grace is sufficient for even such 

 emergencies ; and I am sure, too, that a man 

 can act promptly and quickly; he can de- 

 mand instant and immediate obedience of 

 one who is caught in the act of committing 

 crime, and yet he can do it with love in 

 his heart, and with a spirit that may do 

 much toward reclaiming the lost one. If 

 you want light in this matter, read the life 

 of Christ while he was here on earth. Notice 

 carefully liis way of meeting crime. Read, 

 also, how Paul rhet wickedness and sin and 

 crime. Keep in mind, that the loss of 

 property is nothing compared to the loss of 

 a hvmian soul. 1 do not know how much 

 has been done in tliis line, but it seems to 

 me as if a vast field for Christian work were 

 open here. I w^onder if there is any such 

 thing as a Christian detective. There are 

 Christian policemen and Christian sheriffs 

 and constables and marshals, and various 

 other officers of the law ; but my ])rayer now 

 is. " Lord, help us all, in meeting sin and 

 crime and Satan, in a way that will be most 

 effective in disarming and robbing him of 

 his power to ruin mankind ; and, Lord, 

 help us who profess to be thy servants, to 

 be gentle unto all men — apt to teach, pa- 

 tient." 



OUR ONE-STORY CHAFF HIVE. 



ITS ADVANTAGES 



OVER THE 

 HIVE. 



TWO-STORY CHAFF 



T SHOULD like to say a few words in favor of 

 j£|[ your one-story chaff hive. I have used a good 

 ^l many different hives in my time, having- kept 

 "*• l)ecs for nearly 49 years. For the last three 

 seasons I have been using- your one-story chaff 

 hive, with a Simi>licity body and cover on top, as 

 an upper stoi-y, and I consider this combination as 

 making one of the best and most convenient hives 

 now in use. And I will here add, that, with me, it 

 has come to stay. 



All bee-keepers who have ever used the two- 

 story chaff hive, I think, are pretty unanimous in 

 agreeing that it is one of the best (if not the vei-y 

 best) of hives for outdoor wintering that has ever 

 been invented; but for a summer hive it has (in my 

 estimation) some very objectionable features about 

 it; and especially for raising comb honey on the 

 improved or modern plan, now so extensively 

 practiced by our most scientific bee-keepers. 



The greatest objection that I have to the two- 

 story chaff hive is, that it is always a two-story 

 hive, which makes it rather inconvenient to get at 

 the brood-chamber, and also in putting on and tak- 

 ing oft' our surplus arrangements for raising comb 

 honey; but in the one-story chaff hive we retain all 

 the good qualities and get rid of the bad ones, and 

 get a much cheaper hive, and a more convenient 

 one to handle and to work with I have wintered 

 bees in this hive (on their summer stands) for the 

 last two winters, and they came out in splendid 

 condition in every instance, and I don't see any 

 good reason why it should not be just as good a 

 hive to winter in as the two-story chaff' hive. You 

 may, perhaps, say, " Why not use our half-story (as 

 we make it) in place of the Simplicity body and 

 cover V " I will answer, Because of the following 

 reasons: First, your half-stoi-y is too shallow; it 

 will not admit of putting on more than one tier 

 of sections at one time. Second, in using a chaff 

 cushion or quilt over your bees in putting them up 

 for wintci-ing, you would be obliged to turn your 

 half-story upside down, and drop your cushion or 

 quilt into the half story, and put it on in that way, 

 which I consider a very poor one, for the reason 

 that it gives you no chance to tuck down the cush- 

 ion nice and snug, and make it all nice and tight in 

 the corners of the hive, so as not to give too free 

 upward ventilation, which I consider very impor- 

 tant. A good many of our bee-keepers use loose 

 chaff' or forest-leaves in the upper story, for a win- 

 ter protection; and with this material you would 

 still be worse oft' with the half-story. 



G. W. Harrison. 



Wharton, Wyandot Co., O., July 14, 188T. 



Friend II., the points you make in favor 

 of the single-story chaff hive agree with 

 our experience. It has wintered colonies 

 with us for the past three or four years suc- 

 cessfully. If in colder climates it will do as 

 well as the two-story hive it will surely take 

 the lead. Our experience has taught us that 

 a Simplicitv body and cover is much better 

 than the oiie-half-story cover alone for cov- 

 ering the small hive in winter. We should 

 be glad to leceive reports from other locali- 

 ties where these single-story chaft hives may 

 be in use. 



