.S14 



CLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 



sweats " by fits and starts during' all this treatment; 

 and not until 1 had the disease under control, and 

 this dreaded Moloch had yielded, did 1 relapse, and 

 It nearly extracted the war-whoop of delight. 



Mr. Root, I don't suppose you want to take any 

 advice Irom me in regard to your health, as the old 

 heads seem to keep you pretty well stocked with 

 that article; but I want to say just this, and I guess 

 the old heads and all will agree with me when I 

 tell you to bo vei-y careful of your health, that it 

 may not prevent your thoughts from appearing in 

 each issue of Gleanings for some time to come. 



0:ean, N. Y., Sept. 23, 1887. Geo. Shiber. 



Tlianks lor your valuable report, friend S. 

 I tell you, we can all ot us afford to ind'uljje in 

 a war-whoop if we succeed in devising a plan 

 fi'r coiKiuering it ; and one pninL you make 

 gives me a ray of hope. You say that strong 

 colonies are much better able to cope with 

 the disease, and tliat foul brood broke out 

 oidy wlien you spread a colony so as to crip- 

 ple their powers. We have before this (see 

 page 7:iG) intimated that a powerful colony 

 could clean out and destroy foul brood when 

 it had first started. This, you know, is exact- 

 ly the case with the woik of the bee-moth. 

 With eneigeticltalians. and enough of them, 

 if given one comb at a time containing a lit- 

 tle foul brood, is it not possible they could 

 clean it out and get healtliy brood in its 

 place? I don't suggest this as a remedy, 

 but as a valuable aid in working toward'a 

 remedy. Thar carbolic acid, though not af- 

 fecting a cure, does prevent the spread of 

 the disease, agrees exactly with our experi- 

 ence (see page 7o0 of Oct. 1st issue). Before 

 foul brood came into our apiary, I didn't 

 know the unsealed lai va3 were affected ; but 

 since 1 learned it I know just how to ap- 

 preciate your feelings when you saw those 

 rows of snow-white larvae, in place of the 

 brown looking dead ones. In regard to your 

 last remark, I have for a few weeks back 

 been fearing that some of our friends would 

 hope I would get sick, or that something 

 else would happen so I wouldn't take up 

 quite so much space that might perhaps be 

 better filled by others. 



THE PROSPECTS FOR BEE-KEEPING 

 IN JAMAICA. 



THE CIIAKACTEIl AND CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE. 



SEAR BROTHER:— The goods you sent came to 

 hand in perfect order, and I found no troub- 

 le in putting them together. The customs- 

 officfr gave me some trouble, and delayed 

 the goods nearly two weeks. I shall have no 

 trouble hereafter. The people wondered greatly at 

 the extractor, etc., and said, " America great coun- 

 try; Jamaica good for nothing." The assistant in- 

 spector of schools visited mo last week and was 

 very much interested in m.v apiary and supplies; he 

 gave rae his order for one two story Simplicity hive 

 complete. Before your goods arriv(>d I made five 

 one-stoi-y Simplicity hives, and procured five 

 swarms of bees. I followed the instructions in the 

 ABC book and transferred them without trouble, 

 using thorns. This is not the season for honey, but 

 the bees are g'athering some honey and plenty of 

 pollen. They will begin to make honey in Novem- 

 ber, but the season proper oi)ens in .lanuary and 



extends to July In this district. I have made, dur- 

 ing odd moments, a handsome show-case for comb 

 honey; and have made arrangements with one of 

 the leading merchants in Kingston to sell it. Peo- 

 ple say I can't sell my honey, but I am confident I 

 can, if I put it up in first-class condition. All the 

 honey I have yetiseen in market was put up in stick 

 black bottles, and some of them had banana leaves 

 rolled up for corks. I am confident that the people 

 can make money out of honey at four or five cents 

 a pound. 



1 have examined your catalogue, and saw so 

 many little trinkets that a missionary can't get 

 here, and can't well live without, that 1 have decid- 

 ed to send you an order. I can import most of what 

 I eat and us,; for less than I can buy them in Kings- 

 ton. Lumber for hives costs at Providence just as 

 much as your hives will cost at catalogue price. 

 Lumber suitable for hives, delivered at Providence. 

 costs *40.00 per M. 



By putting a hive in the hands of some of the 

 most apt of the people, I can instruct them to use 

 them with profit. Missionary effort in this island is 

 almost hopeless unless the financial condition of 

 the peojilc can be improved. The standard wages 

 for a man is one shilling, and for a woman nine 

 pence per day. They will toil from morning till 

 night beneath a tropical sun for that pittance, and 

 at night a single pound of miserable codfish costs 

 si.x pence, and a pound of ham costs one shilling 

 and a penny half-penny. Some of my neighbors 

 have six small children to support out of the pit- 

 tance that they earn. At such wages you will not 

 be surprised when I tell you that the people live in 

 huts covered with grass, or thatched with palm 

 leaves, and walled with bamboo and daubed with 

 mud. There are two rooms in their houses; gener- 

 ally one table, and one or two chairs or stools. 

 For the most part, their beds consist of cocoanut 

 mats, which they spread on the floor at night, and 

 in the morning they roll them up and stand them in 

 a corner. Their clothing is of the poorest quality, 

 and they have but little at that. The children gen- 

 erally wear a garment which resembles a bag with 

 two slits cut down on each side from the top, a hole 

 cut in the bottom for the head to go through, and 

 arm holes cut at or near each corner. For the want 

 of a better name we call them " mother Hubbards " 

 when worn by a girl, and " father Hubbards" when 

 worn by a boy. It is not an uncommon sight to 

 see whole families of children denuded, playing by 

 the wayside. These children are to be the men 

 and women by and by; and what can you expect of 

 them morally, when brought up in such poverty 

 and wretchedness. But I must not occupy more of 

 your time. 



My mission work is progressing fairly well; near- 

 ly ev^ery meeting witnesses one or more precious 

 souls turn to the Lord. All of our ministers but two 

 are sick. The pastor of the Duke Street church in 

 Kingston has symptoms of yellow fever. All we can 

 do is, pray and wait. J. W. Jenkins. 



Providence, St. Mary, Ja., W. I., Oct. a, 1887. 



I will explain to our readers, that friend 

 Jenkins was formerly a pastor in one of our 

 Medina churches, therefore his excellent let- 

 ter possesses a double interest to the Medi- 

 na people. May God bless those children 

 with their mother Hubbards and father 

 Hubbards; and may the time soon come 

 when tliey shall not only be clothed decent- 



