U()6 



CILEAKINGS IK 13EE CULTURE. 



Xov 



pleasantly, and explained to them the rea- 

 son why we could not permit them to have 

 fun with the car; and as I looked into their 

 faces, one after another, I was pleased to 

 see that I had succeeded in bringing a smile 

 to the face of every one. Yes, even the 

 dirty-faced l)oy smiled too; but it was such 

 a comic smile through the dirt that / had to 

 smile in spite of myself. I don't think the 

 boys liave hothered tlie car any since. JJut 

 the question is, AVhat have they been doing 

 meanwhile? I am obliged to say. 1 do not 

 know; in fact, 1 haven't thought of them 

 very much since then, unless once in a 

 while, to wonder what I can do for them. I 

 used an ear of sweet corn to catch the chick- 

 ens. Is that a good way to catch boysV To 

 a certain extent, I think it is ; and I am well 

 aware that I could get a whole dozen of boys 

 any Saturday afternoon — boys brimful of 

 good nature, and ready to do any thing 1 

 ask them to do, by the judicious use of a 

 few nickels. Shall I hire tliem with money 

 to be good boys? God forbid. J can do 

 this, however: i have just purchased a peat- 

 swamp (or a little one, at least), that lies in 

 sight of where I am now writing. It is cov- 

 ered with small underbrush and little trees. 

 and a great amount of gnarly roots. I want 

 these roots and bushes chopped into fire- 

 wood. Now, I could employ a dozen boys 

 profitably, without much doubt, some Sat- 

 urday afternoon, in clearing up this swamp. 

 1 shall probably need to purchase a dozen 

 cheap hatchets," and, more than all, I shall 

 need to be right with them personally. Al- 

 though I have many good men in my em- 

 ploy, yet I feel pretty sure that I should suc- 

 ceed much better with the boys than any- 

 Itody else. They would do more work if I 

 were with them, and I am pretty sure, also, 

 they would enjoy the work more. Xow, 

 then, dear reader, are there not Christ's 

 lambs in i/onr neighborhood — lambs that are 

 full of restless energy, longing for some one 

 to lead them, and ready, for any thing you 

 know, to be led to Christ Jesus, if you and I 

 can only have faith enough to accept the 

 responsibility, and take hold of the work. 

 May God help us to remember these liftlr 

 neighbors of ours ! 



WILLIE'S COMPOSITION ON THE BEE. 



AS IfEAn UEFOHE HIS SCHOOl, KUIKNDS. 



fHK bee is a peculiar little insect. It leerls up- 

 on the honey secreterl in the flowers of our 

 roads and fields. It carries its honey to its 

 home and stores it away in its cell to feed the 

 young' bees, and also for winter food. 

 When the cell is full of honey they cap it over with 

 a white capping-, making it very pleasing to the 

 eye, and delicious to the taste. A good colony con- 

 sists of about ."(0,000 bees. A large bee, called the 

 queen, presides over every colony of bees. In the 

 summer time, in every colony are found lots of 

 drones, which is the male bee. In the summer 

 season, when the bees are gathering lots of honey, 

 and the hive becomes crowded with bees, for want 

 of more room they swarm out, making a wondei-- 

 ful uproar in the air; the queen is among the last 

 to leave the hive. After roaring around in the air 



for awhile they usually settle on some branch or 

 tree, when the good man or boy of the house puts 

 them in a hive, and they are ready for work. The 

 old (jueen having left the old colony, they now 

 proceed to raise some r.ew queens. About six days 

 after the queens hatch out, we have what is called 

 the second swarm, or after-swarm. In these after- 

 swarms wo sometimes find two, three, four, or 

 sometimes a half a dozen young queens. We hive 

 this second swarm as wo did the first. 



In the fall of the year, when the bees do not 

 gather much honey, they rob other colonies. If 

 the colony is too weak to defend themselves, the 

 robber-l)ees will take all their honey; and for want 

 of food they usually swarm out. We hive this 

 absconding swarm, as it is called, as we did the 

 first and second swarm. We hive the bees with 

 a box with a lot of holes in it, and a long pole 

 attached to it. We set the hiving-box by the bees, 

 leaning it against the branch or limb which the 

 bees had settled on; then we have a hook, with a 

 long pole attached to it, to shake the bees off of 

 the limb, and they usually settle in the box. After 

 the bees are all in the box, we take them down 

 and put them in a hive, and give them some bi-ood, 

 honej% and some foundation. We have all of our 

 frames made so that they will fit all of our hives. 



To prevent baes from swarming is to take an 

 empty hive and lift half of the frames, bees and 

 all, over into the empty hive, and give both col- 

 onies some foundation to work on. This is called 

 transferring bees. The old queen having been 

 took away from the old colonj*, they now proceed 

 to raise some new queens. After the queens are 

 about to hatch out, the man or boy of the house 

 takes all of the queen-cells out but one, and makes 

 a small bee-hive, with about two or three frames 

 in it. He divides this as he did the first, and gives 

 them one of the (jueen-cells and some brood and 

 honey. After the queen hatches out they go to 

 work. This small bee-hive is used in raising 

 queens, and is called the nucleus hive. A good 

 Italian queen is valued at .*!, i^2, S3, *4, and up to 



*«.oo. 



There are different kinds of bees. The common 

 black, or German brown, the Italian, the Assj'rian, 

 the Holj'-Land, and the Carniolau bee. The most 

 popular bee is the Italian; the Carniolan is said to 

 be the gentlest bee we have. The Assyrian bee is 

 said to be the crossest— so cross that a boj' like me 

 had better keep hands off, if he don't want himself 

 peppered with the venom of its stinger. The 

 queenbee i.« now shipped in cages through the 

 mails from the old countries, even from the city of 

 Jerusalem, where our Savior used to be, and 

 brought over here and introduced in our hives. 



So, now, young friends, I have told you about the 

 bee. May we learn a lesson from the busy bee, and 

 be always industrious as the working bee, and not 

 as the lazy drone, who is stung and driven out of 

 the hive. Wili-ie M. Bot.tox, age 11. 



Stanley. Putnam Co., (). 



\'ery good, friend Willie; but it seems to 

 me your figures, .50,000, would make a rous- 

 ing colony. The number laid down in the 

 books is, I believe, about 40,000 ; but this 

 would probably refer to a swarm in the 

 spring of the year, pretty near sw^arming 

 time. We have more colonies of bees that 

 would run 20,000 than 40,000 even, in my 

 opinion. 



