14 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 



rapid flight for bees, have formed their opinions 

 from observin'? their apparently rapid flightthrough 

 the air. The eye is very deceiving; and when an 

 object so small as a bee is watche'^, its passage 

 through the air seems very rapiil, while larger bod- 

 ies appear to move slow, although going with great 

 velocity. A bee, though moving through the air 

 many times its length in a minute, moves no great- 

 er distance than a large animal; and, as all the real 

 statistical evidence we have on the subject prove?, 

 not faster than an ordinary farm horse can gallop. 



A bee is formed as a beast of burden, not for 

 speed. It is broad, blunt, and strong. Let us in- 

 <iuire what was the design of the Creator in giving 

 the world the bee. Fortunately, science has discov- 

 ered the object of divine wisdom in this. Without 

 bees to carry the pollen from flower to flower, many 

 of the choicest fruits man enjoys would scarcely 

 produce sufticient to maintain their existence. So 

 also with the grasses that form our most valuable 

 pastures. It requires millions of insects to accom- 

 plish this work, and it was therefore necessary that 

 the bee should be endowed with instinct to propa- 

 gate its kind rapidly, and with great power and in- 

 dustry to gather food to nourish the millions of 

 young b^es. Hence it is that the parent colony 

 casts a swarm as soon as the family can spare it, 

 and that swarm migrates a mile or two, when it 

 makes a nest, ami rears and casts off other swarms 

 to do likewise. In the meantime, millions of flowers 

 are openirg on every side, needing the assistance of 

 the busy insects to fertilize them, in order that 

 abundance of fruit may be produced for the use of 

 man and the lower animals. 



Speed and carrying power are never associated in 

 the same animal. The bee is essentially a creature 

 of burden. Why should it be endowed with powers 

 of speed to carry it 90 miles an hour? It has no use 

 for such speed, and the Creator, who forms nothing 

 In vain, has not given it speed, but a capacity to car- 

 ry, and move comparatively slow. When friend 

 Phin argues that a bee being able to cnrry a load of 

 honey much greater than its own weight, when re- 

 lieved of the lo.id ought to increase its rate of speed 

 in a corresponding ratio, he evidently ignores his 

 own maxim, and it "must be very amusing to any 

 one who has the most elementary knowledge" of 

 the laws of gravitation, and tho resisting power of 

 the atmosphere. E. E. Ewinq. 



Highlands, N. C. 



HAI.F-HEARTEDNESS. 



ARE WE GUILTY OF SUCH SINS? 



SOME months ago, at one oE our young 

 people's prayer-meetings, our pastor said 

 that one of his greatest sins was the sin 

 of half-hf artedness ; and then he gave a good 

 talk on the subject, and I have not got over 

 that talk yet, and I hope I may never get en- 

 tirely over it. I had long been thinking 

 there was a great trouble somewhere, and 

 that this trouble was also a grievous sin with 

 many of us; but 1 had not made up my 

 mind just what to call it. I suspect that it 

 is a very prevalent sin among bee-keepers, 

 and one that brings about many grievous 

 troubles. I know it does not belong to those 

 alone who are working for somebody else; 

 for farmers and others who are working 



i solely for themselves are guilty of this same 

 i sin. 



i Within the past few months I have been 

 besieged by people, young and old, for a 

 place in our new factory, to an extent that 

 indicates a very great want among humanity 

 ; in general ; and I have been studying and 

 praying over the means to meet ihis great 

 want. Why are so many seeking employ- 

 ment V and at the same time they are thus 

 seeking and pleading and begging for some- 

 thing to do, I happen to know that there is 

 a great want, and a constant great want, or 

 need, of competent men and women, for a 

 , thousand and one places in the duties of life. 

 Why, then, can not this superfluity of labor 

 : fill the constant want for such labor V I sus- 

 pect the trouble is the great and prevailing 

 sin of half - heartedness. I was once in- 

 I clined to think that the golden rule would 

 ' prove a remedy for this half-heartedness ; 

 but when I discovered that those who work 

 for me work with this same half-heartedness 

 when they are working for themselves, I be- 

 gan to think that the whole trouble consists 

 in a sort of mental laziness. When people 

 tind that they can get men or women who 

 put their whole hearts in their work, then 

 these men and women are in demand. Now, 

 1 do not want this paper to be a fault-find- 

 ing one, and therefore I will take up some 

 of the pleasant features of life, as well as 

 some of the unpleasant ones that I am com- 

 l)elled to take up. Occasionally I have 

 found both men and women here in the 

 factory who seem to have a way of going in- 

 I to every thing with a whole heart. You 

 : doubtless know such people yourselves. Are 

 ; they not pleasant to meet V They seem to 

 j have a sort of love for doing things well and 

 ' accurately ; and when they have made a 

 i mistake or omission, they are ready to make 

 such a full-hearted apology that you are 

 ■ sometimes tempted to feel that the fault is 

 ' perhaps fully atoned, or a little more, above 

 ' what you have suffered from carelessness or 

 I neglect. 1 have mentioned some of their 

 names in some of my writings. 

 j When we were excavating our cellar, it 

 I was found necessary to have another scrap- 

 ' er ; and to get the dirt out of the way, it was 

 necessary to have one at once. One of the 

 men was about to be sent for it ; but I told 

 Mr. Gray that the directions were so very 

 indefinite as to where it was to be found, 

 that I feared they would not get it. 

 I " Well, what shall we do V " said he. 

 I 1 told him to send " Jacob." Jacob was 

 brought forward, and told all we knew in 

 regard to where he could find the scraper, 

 and was also told the urgent need for one at 

 once. 



" All right," said he ; " I will get it." 

 I In a very short time it was on hand, and 

 the dirt was being rapidly moved away. I 

 asked him how he found it. 



'' Why," said he, " I jusc stopped and in- 

 quired at every house, after I got where you 

 said, and kept going till I got it." 



Now, that is one secret of why Jacob suc- 



cpeds in almost every thing he sets out to do. 



He just keeps going until he gets it ; and if 



I men are waitiQg, he goes i)retty lively too. 



I He has been scolded sometimes for driving 



