AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



10T 



The Axe-Covered Grindstone. 



Though bright to my heart are some scenes in 

 my lad-time, 

 Which fond recollections present to my view. 

 One thing I remember that brought me no 

 glad-time. 

 But lent to my childhood an indigo hue. 

 How awful when sneaking away from my 

 mother, 

 As down to the creek with my tackle I fled, 

 To hear father's voice, " One good turn needs 

 another ; 

 Come, turn at the grindstone that hangs by 

 the shed." 



The old crooked grindstone, 

 The wobbling- old grindstone, 

 The old squeaking- grindstone that hung by 

 the shed. 



Ah, many's the hour I've turned it and 

 grunted, 

 For it was the millstone that burdened me 

 down ; 

 While nuts were to gather, and squirrels to be 

 hunted, 

 There was always an axe or a scythe to be 

 ground. 

 It never was oiled, and was hard in the turn- 

 ing ; 

 " Only grease of the elbow it needs," father 

 said, 

 And the handle would often slip off without 

 warning. 

 And instantly tumble me heels over head. 

 The old dented grindstone, 

 The worn away grindstone, 

 It gathered no moss as it hung by the shed. 



'•This stone," father said, "like earth turns 

 on its axes, 

 But comparison fails on the matter of force." 

 I said, "Though the speed of the earth ne'er 

 relaxes. 

 I am sure it would stop 'neath those axes of 

 yours." 

 The nicks they were deep in the axe or the 

 hatchet, 

 And father bore on till sweat dropped from 

 his head ; 

 If I'd pause to put water on them I'd catch it. 

 "Watch the crank and keep on with the 

 motion," he said. 



Oh, that old shady grindstone, 

 That slow-grinding grindstone, 

 That hard-running griudstone that hung by 

 the shed ! 



Yes, dear to my heart are some scenes of my 

 childhood, 

 The orchard, the cider, the neighbor's peach 

 trees, 

 The school-hours 1 pleasantly passed in the 

 wildwood, 

 And the honey I stole unbeknown to the 

 bees, 

 But that circular horror, whose motion was 

 rotary. 

 To-day makes my anger all fly to my head, 

 And I'm willing to go and make oath to the 

 notary, 

 That I was ground dull by that stone by the 

 shed. 



That lop-sided grindstone, 

 That old hated grindstone. 

 That confounded grindstone that hung by 

 the shed. — Western Plowman. 



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California Bee-Keepers are 



about to receive some deserved recogni- 

 tion at the hands of the Government. 

 Mr. C. N. Wilson, in the Rural Califor- 

 nian for July, writes thus concerning 

 the prospects in that line : 



"At last the State University officers 

 are giving some attention to apiculture, 

 and a good beginning in scientific bee- 

 keeping will, no doubt, soon be made at 

 the University. So far, as we know, 

 none of its officers, either regents or 

 faculty, have any practical experience 

 in apiculture, and it may be necessary 

 to do as has been done at the Michigan 

 State University ; that is, secure the 

 services of a practical bee-keeper to take 

 charge of the work ; that institution has 

 an apiary of its own, and Mr. J. H. Lar- 

 rabee, an experienced bee-master, is in 

 charge. Prof. A. J. Cook has hereto- 

 fore given much attention to the work 

 in the apiary, and written and published 

 a work on bee-keeping that is a credit 

 alike to himself and the institution with 

 which he is connected. His experiments 

 have been of great value, so much so 

 that the Department of Agriculture at 

 Washington has given the matter at- 

 tention, and now the expenses at the 

 University are provided for wholly, or 

 in part, by the United States Govern- 

 ment. 



" If the expense to our University is 

 an item in the account, it is possible we 

 may induce the Agricultural Depart- 

 ment to do as much at least for api- 

 arian interests on this coast as has been, 

 or will be done by it east of the Rocky 

 Mountains. 



"Our climatic conditions and indigen- 

 ous growths of nectar-producing plants 

 are in most respects different from any- 

 thing in the East, and a different line of 

 experiments are required to get at the 

 best results. At any rate, the Univer- 

 sity officers will take some action." 



When You Have any honey to sell, 

 get some Honey Almanacs and scatter 

 in your locality. They will sell it all in 

 a very short time. 



