330 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 15. 



gel upon my knees around a hive. I put down a 

 cover and kneel upon it. It would be inconven- 

 ient to carry a chair around, and the height 

 would not suit me as well as the cap does. I 

 do not believe I could sit upon a cover, as Er- 

 nest Root does. Perhaps our young ladies can. 

 I use hives for seats in diffei'ent places around 

 the apiary, under the green ash, when I'm 

 watching for swarms, and sit down to eat a 

 bowl of pounded ice, or in my office scraping 

 out hives, which is under the leafy cover of a 

 grape-arbor. 



I have, in my rag-bag, a ripped-up pair of 

 brown linen drilling pants. I intend to make a 

 pair of mits of these, extending to the finger- 

 tips. I know I can handle frames much quick- 

 er with these on, and the bees do not sting 

 through linen. Their stings appear to slide 

 over it and not penetrate it. 



A GOOD DINNER. 



That good dinner that Mrs. Axtell speaks of 

 is a desideratum dui'ing the busy season of the 

 apiary. But how to get it \^•hen there is no re- 

 liable help in the house is the question. I find 

 that I can not leave food cooking over a gaso- 

 line stove, as well as over a coal fire. It is so 

 much hotter, it boils dry sooner. If it is a cool 

 morning I make a fire in the cook-stove, bake 

 graham gems, and, if I want to cook snap 

 beans. I put them on over the remaining fii'e, 

 and they will cook slowly for hours; and if it 

 goes out I light the gasoline to finish. Vegeta- 

 bles that cook quickly, like green corn, aspara- 

 gus, etc., I get readyin the early morning, and 

 cook over the gasoline. Mrs. L. Harrison. 



Peoria, 111., April 5. 



[Ever since this matter of seats has been 

 mentioned in different letters, I have been feel- 

 ing a little uneasy because I have not told yi)u 

 my own experience. I have several times been 

 on the point of being used up through nervous 

 prostration; and perhaps some of my friends 

 think me notional even now, because I refuse to 

 consider an important matter without first sit- 

 ting down. The book-keeper will come tome 

 with a list of bills to be paid, wanting my ap- 

 proval. Now, a great many times when I am 

 putting on my nose-glasses 1 reach instinctive- 

 ly for a seat. As it does not look well for a 

 man to set down and leave a woman standing, 

 I often tell her to sit down too. But she says 

 she does not care for a seat. Well, a good many 

 times I don't; but when I am really suffering 

 from lack of exercise, and when I could walk a 

 mile through the woods and over the fields, I 

 often feel that I should be used up if I did not 

 have some place to sit down before I undertake 

 any mental effort. I know other people don't 

 care as much for a seat as I do, because they do 

 not say any thing about it. But any comforta- 

 ble place to sit down is to me. when full of care, 

 like a drink of cool spring water to a thirsty 

 man. or like an oasis in the desert to the fa- 

 tigued traveler. When I get my book written, 

 " How to Doctor People Without Medicine," I 

 assure you that plenty of handy scdts will be a 

 conspicuous figure in the work. It is not only 

 out in the apiary, but wherever people are era- 

 ployed where they are ohWged to f<ta ml still a 

 good deal, that seats are a saving of strength, 

 and I feel sure, many times, a saving of life. 

 One of the housekeeping journals advised the 

 housekeeper to have handy, light strong stools 

 of different heights. I often go through the 

 rooms where our girls and women are at work; 

 and I not only suggest but Insist, on their hav- 

 ing stools to sit down on, when their work ad- 

 mits of it. If I am to show them any thing 

 that occupies more than a minute or two, I 

 want a stool to sit down on; and I want my 



pupils to sit down likewise. Now, stools some- 

 times play an important part in matters of 

 more import than business and success in life. 

 Sometimes I feel as if I should like to have a 

 good talk with some of these good friends on 

 their spiritual interests; and oftentimes I know 

 beforehand that they will perhaps evade, and, 

 may be, try to shift responsibility. At such a 

 time I want to sit doivn by them, and I want 

 them to sit down by me. in order that we may 

 fully understand each other. Sometimes just 

 the opportunity and circumstances seem to be 

 at hand, and the only thing lacking is a couple 

 of chairs or stools. If I could sit down comfort- 

 ably, and see my friend also seated in like man- 

 ner, it seems to me I could speak a word for 

 Christ Jesus in a way that would surely bear 

 fruit and bring happiness to the brother "or sis- 

 ter in question. Now, then, who shall say 

 again that a place to sit down is of little conse- 

 quence ?] 



A HANDY SEAT FOR THE APIARY. 



A PATENTED (?) ADJUSTABLE SEAT. 



You ask, Mr. Root, for a description of the 

 seat we use in our apiaries. We have tried a 

 number of different kinds, but the one we have 

 settled upon as the most convenient is simply a 

 box 17x13x9 inches. For the end, take two 

 pieces of K-incli lumber, each piece 11x8 inches. 

 For the rest, use i-f-inch lumber, 17 inches long. 

 A box closed on all sides is not very easily pick- 

 ed up. To make it so, put a hole in the middle 

 of one side, Sxl^-i inches. For greatest conven- 

 ience, put one in each side. This makes a 

 strong, light seat, and one that is very easily 

 picked up. It gives us three different heights, 

 which is of considerable importance. Turn the 

 picture on one side, and you will see the seat 

 at a different height. 



I don't know why it is. but Dr. Miller and I 

 never want the same height in a seat. He gen- 

 erally sets the box on end, using the 17-inch 

 height, although he sometimes uses it at 13 

 Inches. I prefer a low seat, and, if working at 

 the hiv(> when there is no tiering up, I like the 

 9-inch height. I can use the 13-inch quite com- 

 fortably: but the 17-inch would be very uncom- 

 fortable, unless working at an upper story, 

 when it is quite convenient. So you see the 

 advantage of having different heights. 



HANDY bee-keeper's SEAT FOI! DIFFERENT 

 HEIGHTS. 



Pine is good material for this seat; but some- 

 thing a little tougher might be better. It is 

 very handy indeed to have a number of them in 

 each apiary. It is nice to be able to offer com- 

 pany a comfortable seat, aside from the con- 

 venience it is to yourself to have an extra one 

 or more lying around handy. They are quickly 

 and easily made, and almost any bee-keeper 

 will have plenty of waste boxes or other lumber 

 that can be utilized in making them. So the 

 item of expense need not be counted. It's a 



