1888 



gLeaKiKgs in See OuLtuue. 



81 



never yet has been a price put on them 

 scarcely. When we bought the nice lot of 

 honey of our neighbor Chase, last tall, we 

 had one case of half-pound sections. The 

 regular one-pound sections sold promptly ; 

 but folks had never seen the half-pound, 

 didn't know what to make of them, and 

 would not buy them ; and I am afraid our 

 folks did not make very much effort to 

 make them move off. You say the one- 

 piece section, as made now, makes an acute 

 angle for the bees to till. Well, friend H., 

 there need not be any acute angle there at 

 all. The cutter-heads can be made to leave 

 the end of the slot, where two sections are 

 pushed up tight together, in the form of a 

 half-circle, just as well as not. We have 

 started out to liave them done so a great 

 many times ; but some way or other we 

 have not quite got to it. 



PEKSIMMONS. 



SOMETHING ABOUT THE JAPANESE PERSIMMON. 



T|p FTER my remarks in regard to per- 

 ^^Mk Simmons a few months ago, quite a 

 j^f number of the friends in the South 

 ■^^ sent me samples of the native fruit, 

 for which I tender the thanks, not 

 only of myself, but Iluber, Caddie, Connie, 

 mamma, and, in short, about all the rest of 

 the Root village. They were exhibited at 

 the noon service, and we had enough of 

 them so we could offer some of them to 

 each one of the friends at the factory. But 

 the best part of it was the one whicli friend 

 Miller sent us. It was a Japanese persim- 

 mon as large as a good-sized peach, but 

 more delicious than any peach 1 ever tasted 

 in my life, I believe. Perhaps if 1 had seen 

 lots of persimmons, and had never seen 

 more than one peach, I might change my 

 mind. But I tell you, friends, if you never 

 tasted a Japanese persimmon, a treat 

 awaits you. They are not like a peach, nor, 

 in fact, like any other fruit you ever tasted 

 in your life, but they are just beautiful. 

 Below are the remarks in regard to it : 



Mr. A. I. Root:— I send you by mail one Japan- 

 ese persimmon and a few of our native liind. The 

 Japanese was sent to my father, from the son of a 

 correspondent of father's in Louisiana, by the 

 name of Mr. Stone. The specimen I send you is 

 one of four received, and is only the third largest 

 in size. The largest one measured over ten inches 

 in circumference. We are told they commence to 

 bear when the trees are two years old, and that 

 small trees, only a few feet high, bear fifty to sixty 

 of these fine large persimmons. The large select 

 ones sell at 10 cents each, or three for 25 cents, and 

 the smaller ones for5cts. each in Shreveport, La. 

 The others that I send you are just picked from a 

 tree in our front yard. It came up there from 

 seed, but proved to be barren. Father grafted it 

 with a variety sent him by a friend in St. Thomas, 

 Mo.; a few years later it commenced bearing, and 

 has continued to do so every year since then. It is, 

 therefore, a native of this State, and is somewhat 

 larger than the average, though the specimens I 

 send you are partly drj' and therefore not full size. 

 A great many people think the persimmon a fruit 

 worthy of very little attention, as they grow wild 



in abundance; but I tell you, this year, when ap- 

 ples have been almost a failure, they are very nice. 

 Part of the tree still hangs quite full, and the little 

 spotted woodpeckers come around now and then. 

 Bluffton, Mo., Dec. 5, 1887. S. E. MlLbEU. 



Since the above was written, I have made 

 inquiries of our nurserymen, and find that 

 the Japanese persimmon will not stand the 

 climate in our locality, but that they are 

 successfullv raised in different parts of the 

 South. 



FOR THE JUVENILES. 



BKOWNIE. 



fAPA brought in a little brown pullet, saying, 

 "Here is a chicken that is blind; it is funny 

 to see her running her bill over the gi-ound, 

 and can not find a kernel of corn. I think 

 the very best thing that I can do would be to 

 chop her bead off." 



Mamma says, "Oh, no! give it to me." So mam- 

 ma sat down and fed biddy some bread and meat. 

 She had to open her bill and put it in; but biddy 

 was balky, pulling back all the while. Then she 

 put her bill into some water. How glad she was! 

 She drank herself, though sometimes she put her 

 head on the outside of the cup. 



Papa said, " Oil her eyes." 



Mamma said, " Mrs. Chaddock cured sore eyes 

 with honey, and we will try that first." So honey 

 was put into Brownie's eyes, which were closed en- 

 tirely. In a short time one of her eyes was cracked 

 open a little mite, and she could feed herself. 



Next day, when the door was open she went off 

 to the other chickens. I'm sorry to tell this of 

 them; but they picked poor Brownie, and papa 

 brought her in again and put her back into her 

 basket, behind the kitchen stove. More honey was 

 put into her eyes, and in a daj' or two one eye was 

 wide open, and she got into mischief, leaving her 

 basket and flying upon the table and on to the top 

 of the water-bucket. So mamma let her out to go 

 with the other chickens, and in a few days she was 

 as well as any of them. 



Honey cured Brownie's eyes, and saved her life. 

 Now, children, if any of your pets have sore eyes. 

 try honey; or if you have them yourself, or If you 

 have a cold, eat honey first, last, and all the time. 



Peoria, 111. Mrs. L. Harrison. 



It is a very good point you make, my good 

 friend, that honey is Nature's remedy for 

 some kinds of sore eyes. 



DRONES. 



at what AGE ARE DRONE-BEES DISPOSED TO MATE? 



aN page 662 of Gleanings for 188.5 I published 

 some observations showing that, under con- 

 ditions apparently quite favorable, a drone 

 crept out of its cell in about 24 days and 8S4 

 hours after the queen had laid an egg there. 

 After nearly two years of prostration from severe 

 head trouble, grateful to Him who has restored my 

 health, and with kind greetings to the bee-keeping 

 fraternity, I continue the record of observations 

 then made: 



August 13, 1885.— Drones fully two days old can 

 make only short, flying leaps. 

 August U.— When three days old, if tossed up into 



