12(3 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 



THE DISCOVERY OF SILK. 



COMPILED AND WRITTEN BY MISS NELLIE LINCOLN 

 HOSSITER. 



Continuetl. 

 ^N the meantime, the demand for .silks had pro- 

 Ji|[ digiously increased, along with the wealth and 

 — '- luxury of the Grecian court, of the inhabitants 

 of the capital, and other principal cities; and the 

 Persians enriched themselves by carrying- on that 

 trade. This awakened the jealousy of the Emperor 

 Justinian in regard to that branch of industry and 

 commerce, and he determined to secure the same 

 advantages to his own empire. His first step to this 

 purpose was to send an express embassy to the 

 kings of Ethiopia and Abyssinia, to invite them to 

 appropriate to themselves the silk-trade, consider- 

 ing that they could obtain the silk direct from India, 

 and had it in their power to send it to Alexandria 

 through the Nile. The ambassadors explained the 

 great advantages that would accrue from it; ob- 

 serving, by way of argument, that Christian sover- 

 eigns ousht not to permit the heathen enemies of 

 the emperor to enrich themselves at the expense of 

 his subjects. These suggestions had, however, not 

 the least success, and the autocratic sovereign of 

 the great Roman Empire in the East failed to pro- 

 cure for his subjects, the silk-trade. A mere chance 

 produced what no exertion had been able to effect, 

 and it gave a new face to every thing connected 

 with that industry, and occasioned the production, 

 fabrication, and trade of silk in Europe. Two 

 monks presented themselves at the court of Con- 

 stantinople, and offered to reveal the secrets of the 

 rearing of silkworms, which they had learned during 

 their missionary expedition in China. The emperor, 

 in his joyful surprise, made them rich presents; but 

 it seems that the friars possessed only some seed of 

 the mulberry-tree, and considered themselves there- 

 by completely provided, because they thought that, 

 when the trees should grow, " the worm could not 

 fail to accompany them," as in China. But this was 

 a hasty conclusion; and the monks being encour- 

 aged by the many splendid promises (f the emperor, 

 returned to China in search of silkworm, eggs, 

 "though the exportation of them from that empire 

 was punished with death." They got back to Con- 

 stantinople in safety, toward the beginning of the 

 year 555, and brought the precious eggs with them, 

 concealed in their hollow pilgrims' staves. Nothing 

 was now wanting to the success of the new industry. 

 According to Byzantine authors, the eggs were 

 hatched by heat of manure, and this process is still 

 followed in parts of some countries. As soon as the 

 mulberry-trees began to bear leaves, they served to 

 feed the worms. 



In Greece, too, noble ladies were the lirst to attend 

 to the rearing of the worms, with the assistance of 

 their servants and their children, and encouraged 

 and extended the culture and the fabrication of 

 silk throughout the whole country. Under Justin 

 II., the successor of Justinian I., ambassadors from 

 Sogdiana declared that the Grecian silk was, in no 

 respect, inferior to that of China, and highly com- 

 plimented the emperor upon his success. Silk was 

 at length produced in such abundance that the em- 

 peror Alexius, as it is related by his daughter, 

 Anna* the historian, " distributed, in the year 1005, 



*Anna Commena. See Gibbon, in regard to the 

 merit of her history.— The Transi^ator, 



on the eve of a battle with the Scythians, among 

 those of his soldiers whom he was unable to provide 

 with armor, helmets and breast-plates of iron-col- 

 ored silk." 



SOMETHING FURTHER FROM THE 

 SOUTHERN EXPOSITION. 



THE UEE-HIVE, and SOME BEES THAT OUR FRIEND 



FREDDIE CRAYCRAbT NEGLECTED TO TELL 



ABOUT. 



fREDDIB CK^rCRAPT wrote a very nice de- 

 scription of the great Southern Exposition, 

 — ■ which was held at Louisville last fall; but I 

 did not see any mention of the wonderful hive of 

 bees that was on exhibition. They fairly outdid the 

 Cyprians and Syrians, for they were not only in full 

 blast after dark, but they actually swannrd at 10 

 o'clock at night. As to their disposition, it was so 

 fiery that the exclamation of the Irishman who got 

 stung by a honey-bee might have been very well ap- 

 plied to each of them: "Och! murthir, how hot bis 

 little toot is!" 



But to lay aside joking, I will tell t.f them. When 

 the daily papers announced that, in honor of the 

 bee-keepers' convention, there would be shown in 

 the fireworks exhibition a piece entitled "Busy 

 Bees," I Avas very anxious to see it. So' when the 

 sky-rockets began to fly, and the blue lights and Ro- 

 man candles to blaze, I hastened out into the park 

 and secured agood position to see the "Busy Bees." 

 In due time that particular " piece," as it was called, 

 was ready to be tired off; and in order that my 

 young friends who have never seen an exhibition of 

 fireworks may understand, I will say that the 

 "pieces" which are intended to represent different 

 objects, or mottoes, consist of great numbers of 

 little Roman candles, lights of different colors, pin- 

 wheels, squibs, and other kinds of fireworks, ar- 

 ranged on a framework of wood, and raised ten or 

 twelve feet from the ground on posts. Well, the 

 pyrotechnist stepped up to one of these, touched a 

 light to the quick-match that ran down the post, 

 and immediately there was seen a streak of fire run- 

 ning up the post, and all around over the frame- 

 work, lighting up innumerable little blazes that 

 burned steadily in every color, and made a very 

 good picture of an old-fashioned straw skep, with 

 the motto under it, in large letters of fire, " By In- 

 dustiij We Thrive" Just at the entrance of the 

 hive, little squibs were continually falling and dart- 

 ing here and there, as they went toward the ground. 

 It was a perfect representation of a hive of bees in 

 full blast. After this scene had lasted some little 

 time, suddenly it seemed as if the hive opened, and 

 the little fiery bees su!(n//icd out in great numbers, 

 just as honey-bees rush from a hive. They shot up 

 into the air, of all colors and sizes— blacks, Italians, 

 and Cyprians; drones, workers, and queens, darting 

 to this side and that, and I rather think that even 

 drotu'x of this variety of bees would sting consider- 

 ably, if you should happen to catch them in your 

 bare hands. 



When it seemed that enough bees had swarmed 

 out of that skep to fill several Simplicity hives, there 

 was a loud explosion, a dozen sky-rockets shot up 

 toward the heavens, and as a battery of Roman can- 

 dles began to pop, pop, pop, near by, the wonderful 

 bee-hive was gone, and nothing remained to tell of 

 its brief existence but a wreath of blue smoke Jloat- 

 ing away through the trees. W. C. Pelham. 



Maysville, Ky., Jan., 1884. 



