GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 



Every grii' or boy, under 15 years of 

 ag-e, who writes a letter for this depart- 

 ment, CONTAINING SOME VALUABLE FACT, 

 NOT SRNKKALLY KNOWN, ON BEES O'" OTHER 

 MATTERS, will receive one of David Cook's 

 exoellent five-cent Sunday-school books. 

 Many of these books contain the same 

 matter th.at you lind in Sunday-school 

 books cdstinc: from SI .fO to S1.50. If you 

 hooks, (jive us the 

 ve may not sen<l the same 

 We have now in stock, six different 

 hooks, as'^ follows: Silver Keys, Sheer Oft, 

 The Giant Killer, Tlie Kobv Family, Res- 

 cued from Egypt, and Ten Nights in a Bar- 

 Room. 



ELL, little friends, Huber can walk 

 linally. You know bis papa is a 

 Yankee, but bis mamma is one of 

 England's fair daughters. AVell, the 

 Englisb are noted, as you may know, 

 for being cautious, and also for being some- 

 what stubborn : they have their own notion 

 of tilings, and they have a fondness of want- 

 ing to get things in their own way. We felt 

 sure some time ago that Iluber could walk 

 if he would; but instead of being in such 

 great haste to try every new thing, as the 

 Yankees usually are, he took after his ma 

 enough to decide he wouldn't walk until he 

 got ready ; and therefore no amount of coax- 

 ing or driving would make him venture av/ay 

 from the chairs and walls alone. One day, 

 after I had Ijeen trying to get him to walk 

 just a little, I happeiied to look into another 

 room where lie was alone, and I found him 

 very slowly and cautiously promenading all 

 alone by himself. When he saw me he sat 

 down very suddenly. You see, he wanted to 

 work the thing out without being bothered. 

 Well, he kept on that way for nearly two 

 weeks ; and now lie has got the thing at his 

 lingers' ends (or, perhaps, I should say, at 

 the ends of his little fat toes), so that he" .just 

 paddles about from morning till night, tirst 

 in one room and tlien in another, then out- 

 doors, if be can get out. He goes pretty 

 safely, and does not get many bumbs, ex- 

 cept when he comes to a '' down grade.'' 

 His oi'dinary good sense and discretion seem 

 to fail him "here ; for when it is down hill he 

 just puts on steam, the same as if it were on 

 level ground, or up hill ; and when his little 

 fat legs can paddle no faster, down he goes 

 with a bump ; and as he has not yet learned 

 the knack of saving himself by his hands, 

 his little pug nose often gets flattened by the 

 cruel hard floor. Yesterday he made it 

 bleed ; and before be could catcli liis breath 

 he wiggled his little head, writhing in pain. 

 Poor innocent childhood ! I suppose there is 

 no way but to take the bumps. 

 He got up into the large office yesterday, 



and sucli a smooth large floor seemed to be 

 the finest promenading ground he had ever 

 found. lie just made his little feet spin, 

 and flopped Jiis hands, and crowed, and 

 acted for all the world like a young robin 

 just out trying its wings for the lirst time. 



Sending \ipthe little l»alloons is one of his 

 rarest sports ; and just the minute he sees 

 me coming witli a package of them, he be- 

 gins to crow, and explain bow papa is going 

 to send them "a up /*/(//(." 



The morning of the Fourth we had a half- 

 hour prayer-meeting from eight to half-past 

 eight. It rained some, but we decided to go 

 for all that, Huber and I. He sat up in the 

 buggy, and drove old Jack, and enjoyed 

 himself hugely. We had never taken him 

 to meeting, but I thought I would risk him 

 this once. They were engaged in prayer 

 when we went in. He waited quite a spell 

 to see what was going on ; but the sight of 

 so many bowed beads in so large a room 

 was too much for his curiosity ; and before 

 the minister had got through, he plied his 

 papa with a great many questions of his own, 

 after his own baby fashion. But, Bro. Ryder 

 has got a baby-boy at home, and so be did 

 not mind the interruption. After the pray- 

 ers we sang 



" Come, thou Fount of every blessing." 



He listened quite a while, but finally be- 

 came so filled with the inspiration of the 

 music that he could not keep still any longer, 

 and so he joined in,inliisl)aby vo!ce,and suc- 

 ceeded in making some considerable merri- 

 ment, even if he didn't keep in tune all the 

 while. 



Don't you think it is ahappy thing to have 

 a morniiig prayer-meeting on the Fourth of 

 July? I am sure Iluber does, any way. 

 Wlien he crawled over to me tliat night, 

 and laid his tired little frowsly head across 

 his pajta, to go to sleep, it seemed to me it 

 had been a very happy Fourth of July ; and 

 tlie liappicst part of it was the hour spent 

 with Huber in the morning. It is our priv- 

 ilege, dear friends, to lead these little ones 

 from death unto life ; and who shall say it 

 is not their province, in their own prattling 

 way, to lead us, their parents, from death 

 unto lifcf 



Ma papa has between 50 and 60 hives of bees. I 

 watch tliem, so when they swarm they will not go 

 away. Lillie M. Luker, age 11. 



Cold Spring, Ky., June 26, 1884. 



ANOTHER SWARM-CATCHER. 



My grandpa lives with us; he has 50 hives of bees; 

 he sent to you for 30 hives; they have not come 

 yet. He has a broad board, one end on the fence, 

 the other on the ground, with a bunch of mullein- 

 tops fast to the under side to catch swarms. 



Emma L. Cline, age 10. 



Fayette, Wis., June 3, 1884. 



a young CANADIAN BEE-KEEPER. 



My pa has 14 colonies of bees; we extracted 450 

 lbs. of honey. Last year was a good one for bees 

 here. My brother and I go to school every day. 

 We have a binder and hay-loader. I did all our 

 horse-raking last year, and harrowing, and my 

 brother and I were ready for the exhibition at To- 

 ronto. T liked the fair very well. I like to ride on 

 the cars. My brother helps me to do the chores. 



