1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



783 



were he not a member of the church.* But 

 after uniting- with the church, he should be 

 regular in attendance. If he is not, this 

 bracing-up soon becomes of no avail. And 

 right here comes in the value of communion 

 services. When I first united with the 

 church, I am ashamed to say I could not 

 see any need of it. I thoug-ht it bordered 

 on superstitious rites. May God forgfive 

 me. The communion is a renewal of vows 

 first made to strive to follow Christ Jesus. 

 Being absent from communion when it is 

 possible to go is another indication of the 

 loss of spirituality. The man who is living 

 near to Christ, and desires to be near to 

 him, will be glad of the opportunity of be- 

 ing present at communion. He will rejoice 

 at the chances it gives him of renewing his 

 resolve to seek righteousness and forsake 

 iniquity. I told you that not one of the 

 iort}^ had come forward and united with the 

 little church over there among- the hills; 

 but I did not say, dear friends, I had given 

 up — God forbid. I am hoping-, praying, 

 and believing that these friends, young and 

 old, all will by persistent effort on our part 

 {the Holy Spirit assisting us) become mem- 

 bers of that little church. Nehemiah suc- 

 ceeded in building- the wall, notwithstand- 

 ing the laug-hs and jeers of those who 

 "grieved exceedingly" when they saw the 

 worship of God was to be established again 

 in that land, and notwithstanding their ef- 

 forts to tear down as fast as the Jews build- 

 ed it. Almost alone when he started, and 

 almost unaided, he persevered and held on. 

 and God was pleased to notice his zeal and 

 ans-wer his prayers. 



Now, if this Home paper shall be the 

 means of stirring- up within you an enthu- 

 siasm to build up God's kingdom in your 

 neighborhood, and induce you to start out 

 to gather in "the lost sheep of the house of 

 Israel," then will my heart rejoice. 



* In visiting the families in and around Bingham, 

 Mr. Reed and I found a few who claimed that the 

 former members of that little church were not as 

 straight and square in their deal, and did not pay 

 their honest debts any better than, if as well, as those 

 who made no profession at all. Their excuse for not 

 coming to church, and for not accepting Christ Jesus 

 was that Christians are not as fair to deal with, and as 

 unselfish for neighbors, as the professed infidels. 

 Well, if these church-members commenced right 

 away, after they united with the church, staying away 

 from services, and avoiding communion Sunday, I can 

 understand how this thing might be true. The man 

 who has cheated one of his neighbors, especially if 

 he himself is a brother in the church, will not feel 

 much inclination to go to meeting; and especially will 

 he be likely t'l get up some excuse for being absent on 

 communion da)-; and pretty soon he is a dead man, 

 like the boy we talked about, even though he goes 

 around and does busness. But the man who is on 

 hand at all the services held in his church, who de- 

 lights in being at communion, and is ready to assist, 

 such a man will rejoice at the opportunity of showing 

 to his neighbors and to everybody else that he prac- 

 tices what he professes. Oh what a pleasure it is to 

 meet such men, to have deal with them, and see them 

 exhibit not only in every act of life, but in their smil- 

 ing faces, that they from the bottom of their hearts 

 believe and rejoice in that grand little text from the 

 patriarch Abraham, "We be brethren;" and do try 

 every day of their lives to love their neighbors as 

 themselves! 



To make cows pay, use Sharpies Cream Separators 

 book " Business Dairying " & cat. 288 free. W. Chester. Pa 



THE BEES NEAR THE " CABIN IN THE 

 WOODS." 



This is quite a buckwheat region, and 

 just now I enjoy seeing, every morning-, the 

 bees come tumbling in front of their hives 

 so heavily laden they can hardly fl}'. Yes- 

 terday morning, Aug-. 25, they were work- 

 ing- so heavily I called all the inmates of 

 the cabin (Mrs. Calvert and her two chil- 

 dren, Mildred and Howard; Miss Carrie 

 and Mrs. Root), and the bees were so busy 

 the family all stood around the entrance of 

 the hive, on the side, to be out of the way 

 of the stream of flying bees, and enjoyed 

 for quite a time the sight of the rushing 

 workers going in and out. An hour later 

 I was at first puzzled to see heavily laden 

 bees piled over the entrance, and going in 

 like a swarm just being hived, until I no- 

 ticed a dark cloud coming up, indicating 

 rain. It didn't rain, however, for bees oft- 

 en make mistakes just as we do; but one 

 curious thing about the performance was 

 that many bees were pushing out while 

 these were trying to get in. I finally de- 

 cided that all the bees in the field, pretty 

 well loaded up, came to the hive at the 

 prospect of rain, dropped their honey, and 

 then, as the rain hadn't come, they went 

 back to work. You see a heavily laden 

 bee can not take the chance of a wetting as 

 well as one that has no load to carry. Am 

 I right in this? 



Buckwheat is grown very extensively all 

 around here, but I understand the common 

 variety is generally preferred. It is used 

 a good deal to feed poultrjs as the price is 

 usually below that of other grain. It often 

 sells as low as 40 cts. a bushel, and some- 

 times even as low as SO." In the afternoon 

 I found the bees quite busy on wild buck- 

 wheat, a sort of vine that is quite a pest in 

 cornfields. Our bees are now filling sec- 

 tions quite rapidly with buckwheat honey. 

 We have honey enough all the time, so far, 

 so we have never had a bit of robbing in 

 our apiary of only two hives. 



Our two hives are in a thicket of under- 

 brush; and at the further side, opposite the 

 bicycle-path, is an old rotten log, just right 

 for a seat, and here I sit and rest, and 

 watch and study the bees with almost as 

 much enjoyment as I did thirty years ago. 

 Close by the path is a maple-tree with a 

 cavity in one side that contains rotten wood. 

 always dry, just right for the smoker, and 

 it will always light instantly with a match; 

 in fact, the smallest spark will catch and 

 spread. Willow-herb, or purple fireweed, 

 is quite plentiful about here, and I suspect 

 they get honey from this that is mixed with 

 with the buckwheat, as the latter is lighter 

 in color and milder in flavor than the buck- 

 wheat honey I have seen heretofore. 



Aug. 2g. — The bees were slipping so 



