144 



GLEANINGS m BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 



viallon's candy for queen-cages without wa- 

 ter. 



The last queen bee you sent me came in splendid 

 order. The cag-e had no bottle of water in it, as you 

 well remember. You sent me three, and thej' got 

 all wet with the water in the cage, and one of them 

 died. The one you sent instead came in good order, 

 and started laying in a few days, and had a nice bit 

 of young brood in the hive. Jas. Anderson. 



Caledon, Ont., Can., Jan. 20, 1881. 



HONEY FOR SORE EYfS. 



A neighbor of mine had inflammation in his eyes. 

 He tried many things of many physicians; "was 

 nothing bettered, but rather grew worse," until he 

 was almost entirely blind.- His family was sick, and 

 I presented him with a pail of honey. What they 

 did not eat he put in his eyes, a drop or two in each 

 ej-e, two or three times a day. In three months' 

 time he was able to read coarse print, and now, after 

 four months' use, his eyes are almost as good as 

 ever. I have also found honey very good for com- 

 mon cold-sore eyes. S. C. Perry. 



Portland, Ionia Co., Mich., Feb. 18, 1881. 



THIRTY-SIX SWARMS FROM ONE IN EIGHT MONTHS. 



I had 1 swarm last spring; I now have 5, and have 

 extracted 50 lbs. of honey. I had, however, some 

 extra comb to help me. But this is nothing. Two 

 years ago, Mr. Archer, of Santa Barbara, made 36 

 swarms from 1 in 8 months, besides extracting about 

 (I forget the exact figures) 1500 lbs. of honey. I am 

 acquainted with Mr. Archer, and do not doubt the 

 statement. But it is not all rosy in California. 

 Some seasons we come out with half the number of 

 bees we start in with, and no honey at all. Again, 

 in good seasons the price is so low there is no profit. 



Santa Barbara, Cal., Feb. 9, 1881. S. P. Snow. 



CHINESE TEA-PLANT AS A HONEY- PLANT. 



If bee-keepers will get the report of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture for the year 1877, they will find 

 that the " Chinese tea-plant " is spoken of as a valua- 

 ble honey-plant. Can not they do a good thing for 

 themselves and the country too by disseminating it 

 throughout the land? The plant is nearly as hardy 

 as the peach-tree; can be propagated by cuttings, 

 and is easily cultivated. There are a good many 

 trees in the Southern States, and cuttings ought not 

 to be difiicult to get. William Haravood. 



Newberg, Cass Co., Mich., Feb. 12, liSl. 



[If the tea-plant can be grown as easily as you say, 

 friend H., it will be a matter of great surprise to us, 

 as we have not beard of any experiments with it be- 

 yond the State cf California. Can any one tell us 

 about this matter, and also about the honey-produc- 

 ing properties of the tea-plant?] 



TOBACCO COliUMN. 



HOW IT STARTED. 



fSEE by Feb. No. of Gleanings that a few care- 

 less words of mine [see p. 493, Oct. No.] are like- 

 ly to cost you quite a number of smokers. I 

 am not able to give away smokers, but would like, 

 through Gleanings, to give all who are trying to 

 quit the use of tobacco, a word of ad%nce and a word 

 of comfort; and perhaps the best way is to give a 

 little of my own experience. My mother used to 

 tell me that I was taught to smoke when about two 

 years old, and that my father taught me. I can not 

 remember the time when I did not like to smoke, 

 better than to eat. I am now 46 years old, and, 

 as nearly as I can estimate, smoking has cost me 



about eighteen hundred dollars, and I think no man 

 ever had the smoking habit more firmly fixed than I 

 did. Three years ago I began to think of the awful 

 waste of time and money that I was guilty of, and 

 to want to reform in this respect, as I had long be- 

 fore done with regard to drink; but all my friends 

 (those who were woi-kiug side by side with me in the 

 cause of temperance) told me that it was no use for 

 me to try to break myself of this awful hubit. Fi- 

 nally I began to look upon the use of tobncco, n it 

 as a habit, but as an awful sin in the sight of God. 

 With these thoughts in my mind I went to bed one 

 night, but not to sleep. 1 lay awake and thought of 

 my condition until about two o'clock in the morn- 

 ing, when all at once these woids came into my 

 mind: " Take it to the Lord in prayer." I got out of 

 bed and got down on my knees, and there in the 

 darkness, and with none but God to hear, I asked 

 for strength to overcome the awful habit of smok- 

 ing, to which for forty yenrs I had been a slave. I 

 thus wrestled with God for about two hours, when I 

 arose from my knees, conscious that 1 had gained 

 the greatest victory of my life. The next day I 

 worked all day in the shnp by the side of a man who 

 smoked all the time, but with no desire on my part 

 to smoke at all. 



This letter is now too Ijng. At some future time 

 I will tell of the many, who, under God, hive quit 

 tobacco through my intluenco, and I want you all to 

 remember that one who knows the power of prayer 

 prays every night for all who are trying to leave off 

 the awful habit of smoking. Henry M. Smith. 



Frankfort, Mich., Feb. 10, 1881. 



Do not, I i)ray you, friend S., call the 

 words careless, for 1 am sure it was God who 

 prompted you to write them. Do you not 

 see the good that is coming from it? Never 

 fear about the cost of the smokers ; God will 

 take care of that too. 



Having seen your offer to tobacco chewers in 

 Gleanings, I accept the .)ffer of a smoker. Send 

 me one of Bingham's o: Id-blast, large size, and 

 away goes tobacco-b'^x and all. Our bees are ap- 

 parently doing well. We have 10 colonies. We have 

 had quite a thaw. Bees flew very lively. 



W. R. Trussel. 



Cclby, Montcalm Co., Mich., Feb 10, 1881. 



Now I will take that smoker, you bet. As I have 

 to smoke fifty cents' worth of tobacco in one day, 

 you can have some idea how nice I must feel at 

 night, as I never could get used to getting along 

 without it. But I will take that smoker all the same, 

 as you say you will make every tobacco user a pres- 

 ent of one of your best smokers, he to have his 

 choice, if he will agree to give up tobacco. If I don't 

 use tobacco, I don't know what you would call it; 

 but I can use corn-cobs in your Simplicity cold-blast 

 smoker, and if I use tobacco again for the love of 

 the weed, you may shoot me. Chas. R. Ballow. 



Half Moon Bay, Cal., Feb. 2, 1881. 



It occurs to me, friend B., that tobacco 

 must be very high in California, or else you 

 have been using a great deal. I commend 

 your good resolves, and your energy ; but, 

 iny friend, you will have a terribly hard pull 

 unless you trust God to help you in the mat- 

 ter. Remember that we are praying for you , 

 and that you can hardly expect God to help 

 you to get out of debt while you waste money 

 on tobacco. [See page 141.] 



