1^02 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



801 



be helped b}' being' in a church, and can 

 help the church at the same time. If it's 

 right for each one to stay out of a church, 

 then there's no need to have any churches. 

 Just imag'ine the missionary work going- on 

 withdut an}' churches! The excuse that 

 you don't want to be in a church where 

 there are hypocrites will hardlj' go. If you 

 can't stand it with them for a few 3'ears in 

 this world, how are you going to stand it 

 with them all the time in the other place? 

 [Then you politelj' imply that the non- 

 church member and the hypocrite maj^ go to 

 the same place — the bad place in the next 

 world. But it sort o' seems to ine the hypo- 

 crite, because he professes to be what he is 

 not, because he is a living lie, pretending- 

 to be a follower of Jesus Christ when he is 

 a servant of the evil one — why, it seems to 

 me that such a person deserves to be in a 

 hotter place than the ordinary non-church 

 member who lives just as g^ood a life as the 

 other fellow, but whose life is not a living 

 lie. I believe the great and just God will 

 see that the hypocrite will get his just re- 

 ward. I have no sort of patience with a 

 professed Christian who will not affiliate 

 with some orthodox body of believers, sim- 

 ply because his particular church has a 

 different creed. I believe I would attend 

 the services of any orthodox creed rather 

 than stay away entirely. — Ed.] 



^J^eioJhbor^Jieldj 



"Pa," said little Sammy King, 



"What makes hard coal so high?" 



"Because it's down so low, my son," 

 The father did reply. 



\b 



The seventeenth edition of the British 

 Bee-keepers' Guide-book, by Thos. Wm. 

 Cowan, is now before the public in better 

 form than ever, and fully abreast with the 

 times. It has 172 pages besides a full in- 

 dex, and is, apparently, the same size of 

 page (4x6) as the previous editions. This 

 celebrated work is too well known to bee- 

 keepers to need any thing more said in its 

 favor. Probably no man among bee-keep- 

 ers is better known for his practical and 

 scientific knowledge of the bee than Mr. 

 Cowan ; and his name alone is sufficient 

 guarantee for the faithfulness with which 

 the work has been done. This book is spe- 

 cially meritorious for the great number of 

 illustrations adorning its pages, every step 

 being made plain through "eye gate." A 

 fine {portrait of Mr. Cowan is seen on the 

 frontispiece. With his usual modesty he 

 says its appearance there is very "dis- 

 tasteful " to him, and he consented to have 



it appear only at the urgent solicitation of 

 his friends. The size of the book renders 

 it an easy matter to hold it in the hand ei- 

 ther lying down or sitting up. It is a val- 

 uable acquisition to any bee-keeper, and 

 has been translated into French, German, 

 Danish, Swedish, Russian, and Spanish. 

 Its outward appearance is elegant. 



Concerning the reclaimingof alkali lands, 

 the Oklahoma Farm Journal says, in reply 

 to a correspondent: 



"This problem has been studied exten- 

 sively in California, where there are large 

 areas of alkali lands, some of them having- 

 been made so by the use of irrigation wa- 

 ter on higher levels. Trials of saltbushes 

 in Oklahoma, in so far as we know, have 

 not been very successful, but doubtless 

 something could be made out of them. Their 

 specialty is growing- on land that is so 

 salty that nothing else will grow. 



" Where the alkali or salt spots are small, 

 they may be improved by incorporating- 

 large quantities of coarse manure, straw, 

 or any thing that will furnish organic mat- 

 ter, with the soil. This will improve the 

 mechanical condition of the surface soil and 

 make it possible to grow sorghum and other 

 crops that remove considerable of the solu- 

 ble mineral constituents. If drainage can 

 be provided so that heavy rains will leach 

 out the soluble salts and carry them away, 

 it will be an advantage. At best the work 

 is slow, and it will take years to get such 

 spots in satisfactory condition." 



REVUE INTERNATIONALE. 

 All the German reviews strongly recom- 

 mend the cultivation of phacelia. It does 

 well on all soils, yields a rich green fodder 

 for cattle, and is a honey-plant par excel- 

 lence, as its time of blooming lasts a month. 



In the August number of the Revue will 

 be found a detailed and interesting sketch 

 of the life of the late Charles Dadant, 

 written by his friend J. Crepieux-Jamin. 

 Few things are better calulated to make us 

 think still better of Mr. Dadant than the 

 following tribute he pays to his wife: 



Her death has made me ten years older. I do not 

 pass a single day without mourning for her. Her loss 

 is my only grief, as I am with my son and grand- 

 children. Camille's wife is as good to me as if I were 

 her own father. Never, for twenty-five years, has a 

 single word nor the least di.scord disturbed the har- 

 mony existing between those two women. 



A writer says, "For a long time I have 

 noticed the aversion that bees have for naph- 

 thaline. I prepared, accordingly, a paste 

 formed of two parts of vaseline and one of 

 naphthaline. After having melted the vas- 

 eline in lukewarm water I mixed with it 

 the napathaline finely pulverized. After 

 rubbing the hands with this mixture I was 

 able to overhaul 28 hives without receiving 

 a single sting, while my assistant, in spite 

 of veil and gloves, was obliged several 

 times to save himself by flight from the fu- 



