1802 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



761 



KtluM-s: hut tluMr nninbiM", as coiiiparcd witli 

 lioin'st lionoy-prodiK'iMs who ftvl aRfiricvod and 

 injiiivd bocausc of tlic mixing on liic part of 

 tlio I'ity I'luips is as notiiinij. Now, if we arr 

 wrong in our assumption — and possibly we arc 

 —we want tiio brotnicn every wlicrt' to speak 

 right out. If you do not wish to liav(> your 

 name as inforntanl mentioned in eonnoction 

 with tht> mattir. nor any tiling done al)out it at 

 all. say so; at any rate, tell us where you know 

 of a i)roducer who is engag<'d in the mi.xing 

 business, and we will keep it ■" under our hat" if 

 you say so. 



Hut our friend Israel, as above, has made a 

 good point as to /loir eomniission men maybe 

 imVHised on — not, we think, by bee-keepers 

 themselves, but by those who have bought from 

 bee-keepers direct; for not all honey, if we 

 understand the matter corr(H'l]y, goes directly 

 from the hives to the commission house. It 

 very freqtuMitly passes through the hands of a 

 second party. We should like to hear from 

 honey-producers and other commission men in 

 regai'd to this same matter. Let us have the 

 tnith. cut where it will.] 



REMINISCENCES. 

 i:kv. I.. L. la.>;gstroti[ uecouxts. ix a very 



IXTERESTIXG WAY. HIS EARLY" CAREER. 



I was born in the city of Philadelphia, Dec. 

 25, ISIO. but a square oiT from old Independence 

 Hall. My paternal grandfather was an Eng- 

 lishman, who. coming to that city on business 

 for his grandfather, was so much pleased with 

 the country that he made it his home, and mar- 

 ried a young woman from Berlin. Settling near 

 PhiUdelphia. he built one of the (irst mills in- 

 the Hritish colonies for the manufacture of fine 

 paper. At that time, the preference for every 

 thing English was so strong that it was only 

 after years of success that he ventured to put 

 his own mark upon his paper. By his friends 

 and acquaintances he was often called by the 

 honored title of "The Peacemaker." He was 

 noted for his skill in horticulture, and this once 

 lirocured for him a visit from General Wash- 

 ington. An anecdote, which I had from the lips 

 of my aged grandmother, will give a v -ry good 

 idea of my grandfather's character. 



One winter evening, toward the close of his 

 life, after reminding his wife how greatly God 

 liad prospered them, he showed her some pa- 

 pers by which he could estaV)lish his claim to a 

 considerable estate in England. '"But." said 

 he. •■ my relatives there are much more in need 

 of this estate than we are; and, with your con- 

 sent. I should like to burn these papers." She 

 told him that his wishes met her entire approv- 

 al. The pa{)ers were thrown into the fii-e, and 

 I have often sat before the old Franklin stove 

 in which the cremation was made. 



The mind of this venerable relative was so af- 

 fect<-d in her last sickin^ss that she spoke no 

 English, although it had long been familiar 

 to her: but her prayers and hymns and Bible- 

 texts were all in her German mother-tongue. 



My great-grandfather, on my mother's side, 

 was also of English descent, and his wife was a 

 I^orraine. descended from a ilnguenot who had 

 been impoverished and exili-d because he would 

 not renounce the Protestant faith. It will thus 

 be seen that English, French, and German blood 

 flows in my veins. The children of our family 

 who. in after-life, show marked traits of French 

 descent, often begin to gesticulate, even in their 

 cradle, with the index-tinger of the right hand. 

 I have inherited quite largely this French de- 

 monstrativeness. 



The old family house is still standing inChes- 

 tertown. Md., built of brick brought from Eng- 

 land l)y my motiier's anct;stors, as ballast to the 

 vessels whose return freight was mainly tobac- 

 co from tluMr plantations. 



When I was an infant in the cradle, acar«dess 

 servant, in the absence of my mother, threw on 

 to the tire a rag saturated with sulphur, and 

 left the room, which my mother, on entering, 

 found tilled with choking fumes. She had bare- 

 ly strength to snatch me from my cradle and 

 rush to the door, and then, by a supreme effort 

 throw herself, with me still clasped in her arms' 

 into the hall. ' 



Very early in life I began to take an extraor- 

 dinaiy interest in observing the habits of in- 

 sects. My mother has often told me that, when 

 I was about six years old, although my teacher 

 reported me as doing well in other respects, she 

 sometimes had to ptniish me for spending so 

 much of my time in catching Hies and shutting 

 them up in paper cages. I remember very well 

 how she once put me into a dark closet, after 

 tearing up my cage and letting out my flies. I 

 think That, if I were again In that room I 

 could, even if blindfolded, find the closet aiid 

 creep into the corner where, as a little child, I 

 cried myself to sleep. 



Although my parents were persons or good 

 intelligence, and in comfortable circumstances 

 they were not at all pleased to see me spend so' 

 much time in digging holes in the gravel walk, 

 and filling them with crumbs of bread, pieces of 

 meat, and dead flies, to attract the roving ants, 

 so that I might better watch their curious hab- 

 its. I know that I was once whipped because I 

 had worn holes in my pants by too much kneel- 

 ing on the grav(>l walks, in my eagerness to 

 learn all that I could about ant-life. No books 

 on natural history were given me; but I was 

 considered a foolish boy whose strange notions 

 ought to be severely discouraged. But nothing 

 that could be said or done prevented me from 

 giving to my favorite pursuits much of the 

 time which my school companions spent in 

 play. 



Somehow I discovered that flies, apparently 

 drowned, could often be brought to life by ex- 

 posure to the sun's heat: and a proud boy I was 

 when I..made a practical proof of this fact to my 

 incredulous companions. In my country ram- 

 bles on Saturday afternoon (our only playday) 

 I often brought home tne nests of wasps, which 

 I tied to the branches of sunflowers, so that I 

 might watch with absorbing interest the ma- 

 turing young leave their cells, and make so 

 soon a vigorous defense of their homes. They 

 did me no harm: but my companions were not 

 always so fortunate if they ventured too close to 

 my strange pets. 



I can not show better the bent of my mind, 

 and habits of observation formed so early in 

 life, than by giving a particular account of 

 what I noticed of the habits of the seventeen- 

 year locust, and another si)ecies very closely al- 

 lied to it — some of which could be found every 

 year. I could not have been much over eight 

 years old when theses locusts first attracted my 

 attention. Year after year I visited the' Center 

 Square, a public park of IMiiladelphia, to secure 

 specimens and to study their fascinating ti-ans- 

 formations. The larv;e of these insects- came 

 out of the ground late in th(> afternoon: and I 

 noticed that the holes out of which they crept 

 were almost as smoothly bored as though made 

 with an auger. As .soon as an insect emerged 

 from its hole it made for a tree or some other 

 object, up which it could cree|j to a satisfactory 

 height. If sudd.^nly approached while in the 

 act of mounting, it would often. " 'possumlike." 

 drop to the ground as if dead. After fastening 

 its sharp claws into .some chosen surface it re- 



