18S(i 



GLEANINGS IN JJEE CULTURE. 



n7 



the nest altcrwarii. I should Judg-e there was near- 

 ly a pint of them, as it was a very large nest. 



Borodino, N. V. G. M. Doolittle. 



Friend 1)., 1 have all along had a notion in 

 my head tliat I had seen bees in the liive 

 witli this thread-lil^e appendage, indicating 

 that they liad lost their sting ; and I shouldn't 

 have been surprised had" it been decided 

 that they wonkl live as long without a sting 

 as "with" one. Perhaps the juveniles will 

 need assistance from their fatheis and moth- 

 ers in making tests, by placing the stingless 

 bee in a cage with some other bees. While 

 shipping queens we can easily put in a bee 

 or two destitute of stings, and then ask tlie 

 recipient to report.— Your experience witli 

 hornet-stings is much like mine. One day I 

 dropped a coal out of the smoker on my 

 hand. Supposing, at tirst, it was a bee-sting 

 I let it lie imtil I could conveniently remove 

 it; bnt 1 mentally decided that the" bee was 

 stinging rather milder than usual. ^Vhcn I 

 saw that it was a coal of Mre that had bnrned 

 a blister, I mentally noted down that I had, 

 by accident, positive proof that the pain of a 

 bee-sting is much more acute than the pain 

 of leaving a burning coal on the bare flesh. 

 But we are so used to bearing bee-stings 

 with a martyr-like spirit that we hardly rec- 

 ognize how much fortitude it does require. 

 While I am about it, it is my impression 

 that there is more pain in a bee-sting than in 

 having our flesh burned witlt tire, or cut 

 with a surgeon's knife. By force of habit 

 we shudder at the knife or tire, while we 

 have learned to take the bee-sting as a mat- 

 ter of course. Well. I got stung by a yellow- 

 jacket; and as I had been taking bee-stings 

 as a matter of course, 1 perhaps took the 

 yellow-jacket in the same way. But I was 

 considerably siu-prised to tintl tlnit it was a 

 different kind of medicine, having a good 

 deal more '■ pungency," as nearly as I can 

 express it. I was prepared for the familiar 

 sensation of a bee-sting, but not for the dif- 

 ferent sensation of a yellow-jacket, and there- 

 fore I made as much fuss about it as 1 used 

 to when a boy in the huckleberry swamps. 



HONEY IN PLACE OF SUGAR FOR MAK- 

 ING CORN BREAD, ETC. 



Mas;. HAUKISON OFFERS A UESOr.UTK >.\. 



fUIRNP ROOT;— While I was fretting- dinner I 

 had a revelation; and with your permission 

 I'll tell the women about it— the men needn't 

 list<in. 

 I was stirring up corn-bread, liek at-a-eut, 

 and I thoug-ht J'd put in a si)oonful of sugar, to 

 make it a little sweeter and richer, you know, 

 when my eye rested on a bowlful of honey. The 

 other fellow within said, " Why not put in a spoon- 

 ful of honey/" Yes,;why not? Mr. Muth produced 

 evidence at the late convention at Detroit, prov- 

 ing: that honey is sweeter than sugar and syrup, 

 and why not use it? Worth more than sugar? 

 Suppose it is; it takes time to sell hopey and buy 

 eugar, and why not use it and save tariff? 



The new ye.nr i,s ii general time of paying off old 

 scores and making good resolutions, and I put this 

 motion before the house: 

 JiCSolrc</, That we (honey-producers) boycott sug-ar 



and syrup of all kinds, as far as practicable, using, 

 in their stead, honey, the purest of sweets, believ- 

 ing that this course, and this alone, will bring forth 

 good to ourselves, and the land in which we dwell. 



" Wh.at is sweeter than honey?" is an open ques- 

 tion since the time of Samson, and is as yet unan- 

 swered. Bees lived upon it for thousands and thou- 

 sands of years, and no complaints are recorded of 

 its not being good enough, until the last decade. 

 Now it is advocated to take away the honey from 

 the bees, and give tliem sugar syrup instead, bcnc- 

 flting the sugar market to the detriment of honey. 

 Are we going to teach the bees tljat their own pro- 

 duction is not fit food for them, thereby imitating 

 the wealthy manufacturers of oleomargarine, but- 

 terine, and glucose? No: if they can't live on their 

 own production, let 'em die. Are we going to ex- 

 tract their honey, and go to the great labor of 

 feeding back to them in return sugar syrup, and 

 let the honey go begging for a market at four and 

 five cents per pound? Not mucli, if the court knows 

 herself." 



Now let us feed our bees the dark, rich, good 

 sweet honey, and not depress the market with it. 

 What the bees can not consume, use in pickling 

 meats, preserving fruits, making vinegar and gin- 

 ger-snaps. Put it into the mince pies, doughnuts, 

 bean-pot, where beans are baking, in lieu of molas- 

 ses, and make it into taffy for the children. 



Dr. Mason, of Ohio, had S(|uai'e blocks of candied 

 honey at Detroit, that were far superior to any con- 

 fectionery that I ever tasted. He gave me some, 

 and I ate and ate, and I could not find a place to 

 stop; and if I had not been taught manners wlien I 

 was a child, I'd been eating yet. If I drank tea and 

 coffee (but I don't, our water is so good) I'd sweeten 

 some with it, and see if it would be bad to take. 



It is a mistaken idea, that honey Avas given to us 

 to ship by carloads to large cities. Stuck-up city 

 folks don't even know it is there— don't see it; they 

 telephone to their grocer for silver drips, honey- 

 dew, and pure maple syrup from the woods of Ver- 

 mont, while Chicago has a larger sugai- camp than 

 all New England. 



Now let's have less of this foolishness; eat all we 

 can, pay every debt we owe with it, make it legal 

 tender; sweeten all our pet charities; the Christian 

 home mission; foundlings' home, orphans' home, 

 old-ladies' home, and, by all means, don't forget the 

 shoe-blacks; see that j-our minister's table is well 

 supplied ; and if your doctor doesn't eat honey, don't 

 take his pills any more. In England, sugar is so 

 cheap they have been experimenting to see if it 

 would not be economical food for stock; and isn't 

 it worth our while to see if honey wouldn't be ex- 

 cellent food for the old cow? Mrs. L,. Harrison. 



Peoria, 111. 



Mrs. II.. I second your motion; and if I 

 were presicient I would ask all in favor to 

 please say aye. As the price of honey now 

 is getting so near the price of sugar, all that 

 is needful is to decide that sealed honey is 

 as wholesome as stores of pure sugar. Be- 

 low we submit a paper from another friend 

 who has got the same ideas in his head you 

 have. He is a little mofe vehement about it 

 than you are, it is true.— In regard to blocks 

 of candied iioney. if you were taking 

 GL^:ANiN(is so long ago you may remember 

 that was once a big hobby of mine ; but I 

 got over it for the simple reason tbat Jiobody 



