62 



GLEAKINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb, 



dropped with a unanimity that would have 

 done credit to a bee convention, and all hands 

 cut for the house, laughing and screaming. 

 "Whom should they lun against, as they 

 turned the corner of the house, but Mr. Mer- 

 rybanks, as jolly and rosy as he was when 

 we last saw him rolling down the liillV 



hive. Little did any of the parties dream 

 that morning that this same little incident, 

 or perhaps accident, was eventually to make 

 such a stir, not only throughout all Onion- 

 ville, for that was the name of the place, but 

 clear out into the outside world as well. As 

 Mr. Merrybanks has promised us a descrip- 

 tion of the Wooden-Pail-Cracker-Barrel bee- 

 hive, belonging to himself and John, for 

 next month, I think I won't tell you any 

 more about it now. It winters bees perfect- 

 ly (even if they haven't a drop of honey), 

 and costs only — dear reader," Barney" says 

 I have got to stop, for he can't squeeze an- 

 other word into this number of Gleatstixgs 

 '• no how." 



I^f turning over the great bundles of papers that 

 come to me from all directions daily, I scarcely 

 know from whom or why, I occasionally catch a 

 glimpse of many g6od things. The following caught 

 my eye this moment, from the Philadelphia Chris- 

 tian Slandard :— 



Xothinp can equal in power and influence a holy life. The in- 

 flnence may be silent, but it is luijfhty. Books anil tracts may 

 111' read, and their instructions and advices and appeals may be 

 (lisresrardcd: sermons maybe preached, and their expositions of 

 tmtUnnd their exhortations to repentance may gro unheeded ; 

 but a Christ-like example, a quiet, blameless, beautiful walk in 

 the path of purity, is, at least, more difficult to resist. 



ARE THEY BU3IBLE-BEES OR HONEY-BEESV 



Friend M. hustled the children into the 

 house, and the bees, after buzzing about the 

 door awhile, buzzed back to their pail hive. 

 Mary had a bee or two tangled in her flying 

 hair, but these friend M. got out quietly, 

 without even a sting, and John was the only 

 one of the three who got stung at all. The 

 bees that got out of Mary's hair, when found 

 on the window, proved to be one-banded hy- 

 brids. Friend M. lighted a chunk of rotten 

 wood, and after rigging out the different 

 members of the family with sundry veils, 

 the whole party cautiously approached the 

 pail bee-hive. A little smoke was blown in 

 at the entrance, and friend M. carefully 

 turned the pail so that a view could be had 

 of the inside. Sure enough , there was a good 

 colony. They had evidently built the first 

 comb parallel with the bottom of the pail, 

 and the next one right by its side, and so on. 

 The queen had commenced her brood in the 

 center, and circled around so that their stores 

 were above and at the sides. All were loud 

 in their praises of these beautiful " wheels " 

 of honey-comb and honey, except friend M. 

 He stood with his smoking chunk of rotten 

 woodiuhishand, and gazed as if spell-bound. 

 Mary first broke the silence, — 



" I guess pa is studying up a patent bee- 

 hive, made out of pails : don't you think he 

 isV" 



At this, John grabbed hold of friend M.'s 

 other hand and exclaimed, "Oh Mr. M.! Mr. 

 M.! it'll be half mine, won't it, 'cause I in- 

 vented it when I lost the swill-pail?" 



At this sally there was a loud laugh all 

 around, and even John's mother joined while 

 she suggested he would certainly make a 

 great inventor some day, if every thing he 

 lost or forgot turned out like the pail bee- 



SOME one of my kind friends sent me a little book 

 entitled "The Christian's Secret of a Happy Lite," 

 and by so doing he has conferred a greater favor 

 than if he had sent me a thousand dollars (yys, a 

 great deal greater, for the money would very likely 

 have done harm; but the book will do good through 

 endless ages.) May God's choicest blessing rest on 

 the woman who wrote it, and all praise be to Him 

 who put it into iny power to call your attention to it. 

 I shall probably make some extracts from it next 

 month. 



THE SPIDER PLANT, AND SIMPSON-PLAKT. 



I WOULD not advise any one to raise plants to sell, 

 for last year's experiments abundantly proved that 

 both could be raised in the open ground soon enough 

 to get a good crop of honey. Of course, you will get 

 better plants and an earlier yield, by starting them 

 as you would tomatoes and cabbages, in the house, 

 in a hot-bed, or even in the open ground, covered 

 with sash, until all cool weather i.s past. We had 

 several thousand raised in the latter way last sea- 

 sou, and they bloomed nicely in the late fall months, 

 when needed most. 



MRS. COTTON. 



On page 571, Dec. No., I asked all who had com- 

 plaints against Mrs. Cotton for keeping their money 

 and not sending any thing, to write to the address I 

 then gave. Well, in the Jan. No., page 47, 1 said 

 very few had reported. The truth of the matter is, 

 no o?iereported. All cases of that kind seem to have 

 been adjusted before Mr. Holmes undertook to look 

 into the matter. The only thing that now remains 

 unsatisfactorily adjusted is the complaints of her 

 customers that the goods she sent were not satisfac- 

 tory, nor what one would expect from her adver- 

 tisement. My way of fixilig these complaints would 

 be to refund such damages as they think they should 

 have, or ask them to return the goods. Inasmuch 

 as she is not the only supply dealer who has declined 

 to settle with their customers in that way, she 

 hardly should be classed with humbugs aid 

 swindlers on that account. 



