ISifj 



(iLKAMNCiS IN I5KK CUI/niliK. 



t*>r a (.•liromo of a little child, whose eyes follow 

 any one wheiover he may he in the room. The 

 fiowei's are ari'ansred in a wn-atli ai'onnd it. 



The yellow- headed huniltle-hees are vei-y 

 pretty, killed, and a [)in stueU thioiish them, 

 and [)iiine(i to a tlowef. Tliey do not withei" up 

 as hoiiey-hees do. Do not impale tliem with 

 th<> jiin until they nvo dead. One of more hnt- 

 terllit>s are pretty in a wreath if the hntterlly is 

 not too iarse nor too many of them. I kill 

 them by lioldinjr th(>m by tiie wing and cutting 

 across the abdomen. It costs too ntuch to buy 

 many cutters. I buy only i)hlo\. verbena, and 

 leaf-mold cotters, though cutters foreach Mower 

 can be purchaseil: but they would lu^'d to Ix' 

 made ditTereutly froiu the directions 1 hav<' 

 given. 



1 think I liave mentioned all the tools that 

 are needed, as I ha\'e made several large wreatlis 

 and a good many bouciuets. Next time I will 

 tell how to luake a wliite cross, and arrange 

 other flowers into cross(>s or a harp. 



Instead of purchasing a picture-frame for the 

 front of the wax-tlower box they look very well 

 with only a large sheet of glass glued to the 

 box: but I prefer a nent frame that fits on 

 tigiitly aud is screwed to the box of wax flowers 

 — not put on to open and shut like a door: that 

 lets in too much dust. When fastened in I also 

 paste over all cracks thin cloth or paper, as 

 flowers will last a lifetime if kept from the dust 

 and insects, and from getting too warm in win- 

 ter from a stove. The natural heat of summer 

 will not melt them unless stove heat is also 

 added, as I have a large wreath I liave had for 

 twelve years or more in perfect preservation. 



Roseville, 111.. Jan. 33. Mrs. L. C. Axtell. 



FOUNDATION-FASTENEKS. 



TUE DAISY. 



AM) WHAT MISS WILSOX THIXKS 

 OF IT. 



When Dr. Miller came home from Medina he 

 told me he had bought a Daisy foundation-fas- 

 tener, and wanted me to wait until it came be- 

 fore commencing to work on the sections. I did 

 not say so to him. but I thought. "I know I 

 won't like it as well as the Clark." I don't 

 know but I've said I didn't want any thing bet- 

 ter than the Clark. But Tve changed my mind 

 — I do. I want the Daisy, for it is far ahead of 

 the Clark: and if you have any thing better 

 than the Daisy, I want that. When I first tried 

 the Daisy I could do very good work with small 

 starters, but could not irianage the large ones. 

 We use a small starter ■'i in. deep at the bottom 

 of the section, and a large one at the top that will 

 almost till the remaining space. It was thes(> 

 large starters tliat bothered me. Their own 

 weight would invariably bring them out before; 

 I could turn the sectif)ns over, and I could see 

 no way to avoid it. With the Chirk I had plac- 

 ed my fingers behind the foundation, supporting 

 it as I turned the section over — a thing I could 

 not do with the Daisy. But I kept trying dif- 

 ferent ways. I had not worked very long before 

 Dr. Miller says he heard a very emphatic "I 

 have it I" I had to give up altogether the in- 

 struction to pusliin the section with the riiig 

 fingers. Instead I used the third and fourth 

 fingers of the left hand on the top of the sec- 

 tion, and the thumb on the bottom, to push the 

 section in place, and with the tips of the first 

 finger of each hand pressed thi' foundation in 

 place as it slipped off the healed plate. Then 

 letting go the right hand. I turned the section 

 over with the left, still holding the foundation 

 in place with the tip of the first finger, as I 

 turned it over, and it worked nicely. 



Mr. I{oot, did you ever try putting in large 

 starters, and could you make it work? You 

 s(M', you can't throw sections with large start- 

 ers directly from the fasierier into a basket. 

 They must be set right side up, b(H'ause the 

 large starters will come out while warm, as I 

 have already said, tfieir own weight i)ulling 

 them over. Indeed, I don't think that at any 

 time it would be ji good plan to thr(jw sections 

 with large slarteis into a basket indiscrimi- 

 nately. 



Let me name some of the advantages that the 

 Daisy has over the Clark. Yon do not have to 

 use the fet't, iind using the feet all day is very 

 tiresome. You are noloiiliged to wet tlu! foun- 

 dation-fastener to keep it from sticking. The 

 foundiition is heated as you put it in, and you 

 are not obliged to ket^p your foiuidation in nice 

 even piles so as to have one edge warmed. 

 (Sometimes those piles would tip over, much to 

 my annoyance, so perhaps the Daisy saves my 

 temper.) Cold foundation is easier picked up 

 than warm, because it doesn't stick together so 

 much; and with the Daisy, cold foundation 

 works better than warm. So you can have your 

 foundation in your lap, and thus avoid reaching 

 for each piece — no small item in a day's work. 



The hotter you can keep the plate, the Ijetter 

 work the Daisy does, both as to speed and se- 

 cure fastening. I questioned a little at first 

 whether the sections would stand hauling as 

 w(>ll as they did when fastened with the Clark: 

 but I do not think there will be any trouble on 

 that score, as they seem to be very securely 

 fastened when you keep the^ plate hot enough. 

 In fact, if properly put In you can not pull the 

 starter away from the wood, as the foundation 

 will give way elsewhere. Emma Wilsox. 



Marengo, 111., April 21. 



[We never put in large starters for our trade, 

 as they would not stand shipping. For large 

 sheets it may be necessary to modify the direc- 

 tions some; in fact, we rather imagine that 

 every one will have his own way rather than 

 follow any prescribed directions. Y^es. we were 

 certain you'd like the Daisy, and told Dr. Mil- 

 ler so.] 



THE MOUNTAIN LAUREL. 



HOW THE BEES GATHER HONEY FROM IT IX 

 KENTUCKY; THE HONEY' NOT POISONOUS. 



In the Apr. 1.5th number. J. W. Grove says he 

 has a young man living with him who lived all 

 his life in Northeast Teiuiessee, saying he never 

 saw a bee on wluit is called " mountain laurel " 

 there, and believes bees can not work on it. on 

 account of the fact that the blossoms are too 

 sticky. Yes. bees do work on it here in West 

 Vii'ginia, on the Alleghany Mountains. There 

 arc hundreds of acres here in these mountains. 

 There are two kinds— big anil little laui'cl. The 

 little is the kind the bees work on tnost. Last 

 summer bees worked on laurel quite sti'ong in 

 preference to white clover. True, the blossimis 

 are sticky, but bees load up, I think, in half the 

 time they do on white clover. I never lieard of 

 any one being sick here from eating laurel hon- 

 ey, although the leaves of the little laurel are 

 poisonous to cattle and sheep: but I hardly i)e- 

 lieve that laurel honey would have so much 

 poison as to make one sick. I have found about 

 40 bee-trees since I came here, and all in reach 

 of laurel. The honey from these trees never 

 made us sick. John Slauraugh. 



Eglon. W. Va., April 29. 



[See Prof. Cook's article, page 374.] 



