318 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



April 15. 



elements placed therein by the bees during 

 the process of ripening. The nectar of the 

 flowers is not the same as honey. — Ed.] 



"he;" the irishwoman's calf. 



I want to tell Bro. Hasty a story in support 

 of using the pronoun he on all occasions, and 

 without regard to sex. An old Irishwoman 

 lives near us, whom we all call Aunt Mary. 

 She is quite old (she does not know how old); 

 can not read or write, is very energetic, and a 

 great talker — surely a good "household" 

 authority. She keeps a cow, a pig, and chick- 

 ens. A year ago last summer her cow raised 

 a calf that gave her a great deal of trouble. 

 On one occasion "he" wound her up in the 

 rope by which she led "him," and trampled 

 her severely. Said she, " I thought sure an' 

 he would kail me, and all I could do was just 

 to say, the Lord have mercy! and he jist kept 

 a pullin' at the rope." And again, she said, 

 "I want to sell him. He's a nice calf. He's 

 a heifer." 



With this Mrs. B. came near going head 

 first into the wash-tub over which she was 

 standing, in her effort to keep back the laugh. 

 You see she had not learned the rules of liter- 

 ature yet. 



Now, Mr. Editor, Mrs. B. has it in for you 

 just a little for what you said on p. 82 about 

 associating "she" with "softness," for she 

 says some of the softest things she ever saw 

 were two-legged animals in the shape of men, 

 and she has seen women just as "smart" as 

 their brothers or husbands. Of course, she 

 makes no allusion to her husband or to you 

 either. J. W. Beauchamp. 



Hatfield, Mo. 



[Aunt Mary was fully justified in using the 

 pronoun he when referring to her obstreper- 

 ous heifer. As I said, I associate with the 

 pronoun he smartness and wickedness ; and if 

 that calf did not possess those qualities, then 

 he should have been called she. 



Yes, I kno n there are some men who are 

 quite feminine in their general make-up, and 

 I should be inclined to refer to them as she. 

 There, I had better not say any thing more, 

 lest I get into trouble — Ed.] 



SELLING HONEY; SOME OF THE PLEASANT 

 FEATURES OF THE BUSINESS. 



Soon the time will come to dispose of the 

 crop of honey we shall have been able to se- 

 cure, and, at the same time, develop the home 

 market. After I had traveled over my usual 

 route last fall, one warm sunny day I went in 

 a new direction. While enjoying the warm 

 sunshine of a beautiful fall day, having driv- 

 en about three miles I espied a man pulling 

 turnips. I left the team and went to him and 

 inquired if he would like some honey. His 

 reply was: "Wall, now, yes. I would like 

 some honey ; but you see times are hard and 

 money is kinder scurse, and farm stuff don't 

 fetch much ; so I guess I'll have to do without 

 it." 



I had quite a talk with the tiller of the soil, 

 and it ended in my selling him eight one-pint 



jars of extracted honey. I took my pay in 

 turnips. 



The next place I called at I took an old sew- 

 ing-machine, and I will endeavor to make a 

 section-cleaner out of it. 



In this way I passed a most enjoyable day 

 in disposing of 300 pounds of extracted honey 

 and 100 pounds of comb. 



There was one little incident which pleased 

 me more than all else. At the last place I 

 called, there were some children. The mother 

 said she would like some honey if she had any 

 change. One of the little girls asked me if I 

 would give them some honey for some guinea 

 pigs. Well, I could not refuse the little tot ; 

 and so, in exchange for a pair of the guinea 

 pigs, I gave her a pair of rabbits and some 

 honey, as she thought the pigs were worth the 

 rabbits and honey together. 



When I got home I had a mixed wagonload 

 consisting of turnips, eggs, beets, a sewing- 

 machine, a calf, a pair of guinea pigs, and $16 

 in money. 



Why is it not as well for the producer to ex- 

 change his product with those he deals with ? 

 Perhaps it is not convenient for all to do so ; 

 perhaps others would or could not get the en- 

 joyment out of such a day's work as I do. 

 The pleasure that the little girl got from the ex- 

 change of the rabbits and honey for the guinea 

 pigs was worth more to me than all the money 

 I received. I gave the pigs to another little 

 girl, and she was made happy. 



Charlton City, Mass. GEO. L. Vinal. 



miller's rack for hauling bees; how to 



MAKE IT. 



Dr. Miller; — I can not get as much from the 

 photo in Gleanings as to construction of 

 your rack for hauling bees as I should like. 

 Could you make a diagram ? What are the 

 dimensions of the two pieces you build on ? 

 Do you make the under side, or floor, close. 

 How fasten top pieces to the frame? How fast- 

 en the hives to prevent toppling over ? 



Steel Creek, N. C, Jan. 18. A. L. Beach. 



I'm afraid I couldn't make a diagram that 

 would add much to the idea you get in the 

 photo ; but I think that, by answering your 

 questions, I can give enough information to 

 enable you to make a rack. Its advantage is 

 that, at a very small expense, you can make 

 one to fit any wagon you may happen to have. 

 It is no doubt better to have a wagon with 

 springs, but that is not absolutely essential. 



Answering your questions in order, the two 

 pieces I build on are fence-boards 4 inches 

 wide, but that's nothing to you; they must be 

 just what the wagon requires. The under part 

 of the rack, or floor, is not close. The top 

 pieces are nailed on with 2^-inch wire nails. 

 The hives are not fastened on at all. 



Now I'll try to answer more in detail. You 

 are supposed to start with a common wagon- 

 box. Make a frame after the usual manner of 

 making a wagon-box deeper, having it of such 

 depth that, when put on, it will make your 

 box just deep enough to take in your hives, 

 for you will want to fill your box with hives 

 before putting on the rack. Your rack may 



