708 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



make you happy? I am trodden upon, 

 perhai^s, more than any thing else in the 

 world; but the treading onl}^ makes me 

 harder and harder." 



At this speech the little mignonette 

 nodded in the sunshine, which just then 

 poured over them, and said, "Being trod- 

 den ui3on brings out my fragrance. In 

 this way it makes me hapi^y." 



Now, friends, you who jjrofess to be live 

 Christians, does being trodden on bring 

 out the fragrance of your Christian life? 

 In Luke 6 :22 and 23 we read, "Blessed are 

 ye when men shall hate you, and when they 

 shall separate you from their comjDany, 

 and reproach you, and cast you out as 

 evil for the Son of man's sake. Rejoice 

 ye in that day, and leap for joy, for your 

 reward is great in heaven." 



Let us now see how this promise fits. 

 When Roosevelt turned against his old 

 friend and comrade in many a political 

 bout, had it the effect of calling out from 

 the President a Clu'istian spirit that was 

 like fragrance before this sin-stained world? 

 I am afraid not; and when peoide told 

 stories about Roosevelt because he aspired 

 to another term, did he in like manner 

 breathe the fragrance of a Christian spirit 

 and a mind so great that he kept smiling, 

 and kept gentle under severe provocation? 



Lest 3'ou think I am all the while de- 

 fending the Anti-saloon League, let us come 

 a little near home. I made a clipping 

 from these Home papers for Sept. 15, 

 and sent it to the editors of both the Vin- 

 dicator and the American Advance. They 

 replied courteously, and in a rather better 

 siairit than I expected; but as a matter 

 of course they claimed that the Anti- 

 saloon League was wrong and that they 

 were right. I made extracts from some 

 of their letters and forwarded them to 

 the officers of the Anti-Saloon League. Now, 

 wait a minute. The most of the officers 

 and speakers, and especially those who oc- 

 cupy important positions in the Anti- 

 saloon League, are ordained ministers, 

 many of them having for a term of years 

 preached the gospel. Did I find the Chris- 

 tian spirit in their replies that I have 

 long been hungering for? May be I am 

 demanding too much. I will tell you what 

 I wanted to see and what I wanted to hear, 

 and that was something like this: "Father, 

 forgive them, for they know not what thev 

 do." 



As I have said before on these pages, 

 if the Anti-saloon League and the Prohibi- 

 tion party, the Endeavor Society, the Y. 

 M. C. A., and the Christian people, would 

 unite, the liquor-traffic and the saloon busi- 



ness would go down like a rocket after it 

 has exploded in the air. For years past 

 I have begged and pleaded for brotherly 

 love between the temj^erance forces. I can 

 forgive people for not thinking alike. There 

 is not a single church in our land where 

 all the members agree, and think alike in 

 every thing; but they hold together and 

 hang together because of that charity that 

 "thinketh no evil and is not easily pro- 

 voked." 



Do not, dear friends, think for a mo- 

 ment that I am posing as a model Chris- 

 tian. God knoAvs I am far from it. There 

 is only one model and one j^erfect sample 

 of a inan — the Lamb of Grod who taketh 

 away the sin of the world. Shall we ever 

 have a President who fears God, and who 

 does not fear the rum traffic or any other 

 form of sin and iniquity? Yea, verily; we 

 have God's promise. But this depends very 

 largely on the spirit that you and I show 

 when we are trampled on or unjustly ac- 

 cused, like the little mignonette. It should 

 only make us more gentle, and bring out 

 that fragi'ance which is, before the world, 

 of more effect than any thing else the 

 world has yet known. 



THE ANNUAL YELLOW (INDICA) SWEET CLOVEE. 



Mr. Root: — The annual yellow (or Indica) vari- 

 ety of sweet clover has been advertised somewhat 

 as a lioney-plant and as a soil-improver. In the 

 hope of saving others disappointment I will say 

 that it has proven a complete failure with us. The 

 seed germinated fairly well, but the plants made so 

 little growth that a person not actually looking for 

 it would scarcely have noticed its presence. The 

 ground upon which we tried it had been heavily 

 limed, and contained soils of several sorts. A por- 

 tion of the seed was also mixed with soil from a 

 patch of sweet white clover containing nodule bac- 

 teria. 



As both the white sweet and common red clover 

 averaged a fair growth in the same field, I am 

 led to conclude tliat the yellow annual is entirely 

 unsuited to this climate. This conclusion I find 

 is confirmed by the recent United States bulletin on 

 sweet clover, it being therein stated that it makes 

 very little growth in sections where the other sorts 

 are usually grown. The Bokhara Seed Co., sweet- 

 clover specialists, speak of it as the "worthless an- 

 nual," and state that the seed is obtained as a by- 

 product in the cleaning of wheat in some parts of 

 the West. 



The lower price at which the seed of this variety 

 is sold has been an inducement to its planting; and 

 since a farmer who has failed with one kind is 

 likely to be suspicious of all, it would seem to the 

 interest of beekeepers to help make its inferiority 

 known. H. D. Tennent. 



McConnellsville, Ohio., Aug. 27. 



The above indicates that the annual yel- 

 low sweet clover is not a success in that 

 locality. Now, in drawing conclusions let 

 us remember there are two varieties of 

 yellow sweet clover; and while the annual 

 mentioned above is not a success in his 

 region, it may be successful in other places. 

 We shall be glad to hear from the friends 

 in regard to it. 



