492 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 



and, please dcu't blame me when I say that 

 I feared it would not last over an hour or 

 two ; "but it did. He worked all the fore- 

 noon and all the afternoon ; and when we 

 gave him other work for a change, he work- 

 ed hard at that. Tiie boy had been out of 

 work until he was hungvy for something to 

 do. Oh, how I do like to lliid people who are 

 hungry for something to do, and who are ac- 

 cordingly thankful when work is furnished 

 them, no matter what kind of work it is! 

 I told my wife that my heart was turning 

 strongly toward her father's namesake. 



Some time after this a lady called, begging 

 me to try her boy ; and as business was then 

 crowding I consented to try him also. He 

 was about Daniel's age; and with Daniel 

 for an example, the boys soon came to be a 

 kind of "span," as it were. Of course, they 

 would have their fun when they were at 

 work together ; but altogether I felt happy 

 about my two new boys that were at work 

 outdoors out in the garden. A great part of 

 their work was setting out little plants from 

 the seed-boxes, and, like most other boys, 

 they pretty soon began to get tired of it : 

 but I told them it was the only work I had 

 for them to do, and that they would have to 

 work as long as they could, and when they 

 got tired they could mark off their time and 

 rest. They each get 11 cts. per hour. This, 

 you know, would only about pay for their 

 board ; and as many hands in the factory 

 work over-hours during the busy season, as 

 it is now, the first I knew, my two boys, 

 Daniel and Walter, were working till Seven 

 o'clock without their supper. I expostulat- 

 ed a little ; but Walter said they had liard 

 work to pay for their board unless they put 

 in more time than ten hours a day ; and he 

 said they did not mind waiting until seven 

 before they had their supper. I»told them I 

 didn't believe they could work from one 

 o'clock till seven, neither in justice to them- 

 selves nor to myself ; and I found by watch- 

 ing them that they frequently got so tired 

 during the afternoon that their work did not 

 amount to very much ; but toward night 

 they would frequently brighten up and set 

 out plants at a pretty good rate. To show 

 you what kind of work they had, I will give 

 you a picture right here that I have used 

 before. 



The little plants were taken out of the 

 seed-boxes and planted in the open ground, 

 in just the order they are seen above, using 

 the transplanting-frame, shown on page 136, 

 to space them. Now, in transplanting cab- 

 bage plants we put one in the center of each 



A BOX OF WHITE-PfjUME CELERY-PLANTS AS IT 

 APPEARS WHEN FIRST TRANSPLANTED. 



mesh ; but with celery we put two in each 

 mesh— one in each of the acute angles of the 

 six-sided opening. I knew the boys were 

 not making the progress they ought to make, 

 and yet I knew, also, that they tried hard 

 to be industrious. Each one had a large 

 wide board to rest on while he worked at 

 his plants. The wide board, yoir will no- 

 tice, prevented him from injuring the 

 smooth surface of the bed or the plants, 

 where the plants had been transplanted. 

 The wide board is laid right across the 

 frame, so they can get close down to their 

 work. It also allows them to recline, if 

 they choose, resting part of the time on one 

 side and part of the time on the other side. 

 The ground is kept constantly wet 

 by means of a sprinkler. Well, I told the 

 boys to look at their Waterbury watches 

 and S3e how long it took them to transplant 

 a frameful. It took them about four hours 

 apiece, while Mr. Weed, who has charge of 

 the greenhouse, could plant a frameful in 

 about an hour. The trouble was, the boys 

 had got tired and wearied of their work ; 

 and even if they tried they could not awak- 

 en an interest in it, and did not enjoy it very 

 much, simply because it had become monot- 

 onous. 



Now, please don't be impatient, dear 

 reader, because I dwell so long on these lit- 

 tle details in regard to a couple of ordinary 

 boys setting out plants in a garden. The 

 boys were just about such boys as I used to 

 be ; in fact, I saw myself as I watched them, 

 Now, I did not keep an eye on them solely 

 because I expected or wanted to make some 

 moneij out of my celery'plants ; l)ut I kept a 

 careful eye on them because I was working 

 and praying over this great problem, — 



" WHAT TO DO, AND HOW TO BE 

 IIAPPr WHILE DOING IT." 

 What should be done to give these boys an 

 interest in their work? AVHiat should I do 

 to enable Daniel to set out plants, with the 

 same life and energy that he picked up roots 

 and stones the first day he worked for me? 

 Well, I had a plan in my mind, dear readers, 

 and I was just getting ready to put it into 



