AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Ring Out, AVild Bells. 



ALFRED TENNYSON. 



Ring- out, wild Ijells, to the wild sky. 

 The flying- clouds, the frosty light : 

 The year is dying- in the nig-ht ; 



Ring- out, wild bells, and let him die ! 



Ring- out the Old, ring- in the New : 

 Ring-, happy hells, aci'oss the snow : 

 The year is g-oing-, let him g-o ; 



Ring- out the False, ring in the True ! 



Ring out the slowly dying cause. 

 And ancient forms of party strife, 

 Ring in the nobler modes of life. 



With sweeter manners, purer laws ! 



Ring out false pride in place and blood. 

 The civic slander and the spite ; 

 Ring in the love of truth and right, 



Ring in the common law of good ! 



Xlic Honey almanac for 1891. 



This is now published and ready for 

 delivery. All orders in waiting have 

 been filled, and new ones are solicited. 

 It is printed on larger and better paper 

 than last year, and is otherwise im- 

 proved, but the prices will remain the 

 same as before. A single copy will be 

 mailed to any address for a nickel. 



Among its new and interesting features 

 are a statement of the virtues of the use 

 of honey in cases of that dreadful 

 scourge — La Gr^ippe. 



Besides the new illustrated pages for 

 each month of the year 1891, it con- 

 tains a calendar for a-year-and-a-half, 

 ending with June, 1892, and a lovely 

 full-page illustration. 



Apiarists as well as others may well 

 ask: "Who made the first Almanac?" 

 So far as we know, the first Honey 

 Almanac was issued by us over a year 

 ago, and we expect to continue it as the 

 years come and go, for it has earned its 

 right to exist by the good it has already 

 done in popularizing the use of honey, 

 and bringing to the notice of thousands 

 its excellent qualities, both for food and 

 medicine. 



In discussing the question of "Who 

 first began to use a calendar ?" Faith 



Latimer makes the following very inter- 

 esting remarks : 



How did the old patriarchs reckon 

 time ? How did Methuselah know how 

 to count his years and keep all his birth- 

 days ? The very earliest reckoning of 

 time was night and day, from the dark- 

 ness to the light, and the earliest that w(^ 

 know of counting the seasons was the 

 promise to Noah that, while the earth 

 remained, seed-time and harvest, cold 

 and heat, Summer and Winter, should 

 not cease. 



Months naturally began to be counted 

 by the changes of the moon. Do tvv^elve 

 moons make a year ? Various nations 

 have different times for the beginning of 

 the year ; the ancient Egyptians, Per- 

 sians, Chaldeans, Syrians, and others 

 began their year in what we call the 

 month of September. 



The ancient Jews began their civil 

 year at the same time, but their religious 

 year began in the Spring season. One 

 of the oldest calendars in existence, 

 except some dates cut on ancient stones, 

 is one which was unburied at Pompeii. 

 It is a square, with three columns on 

 each of the four sides, each column, for 

 a month, indicating the number of days, 

 the length of day and night, and the 

 holy or festival days in each month. 



The Julian calendar, which was intro- 

 duced by Julius Cajsar, first reckoned the 

 year as having 365^ days. This was 

 46 years before the birth of Christ. 

 Popes and councils have differed, while 

 astronomers studied and calculated, and 

 the common people had to accept their 

 decisions, for they knew very little about 

 it. Years, leap years and centuries went 

 passing by, and it was not until printing 

 had been discovered, and reading be- 

 come more general that a calendar or 

 almanac would have been of any use in 

 ordinary households. It is supposed that 

 the Arabs first used tables which repre- 

 sented almanacs as astronomical guides. 



In the British Museum are some man- 

 uscript almanacs of the 14:th century. 

 A German astronomer, Purbach, is said 

 to have made the first printed almanac, 

 at Vienna, in 1457. That was before 

 this country was discovered. We now 

 have calendars and almanacs for every 

 purpose of information and advertising. 



We Club the American Bee Journal 

 and the Illustrated Home Journal, one 

 year for $1.35. Both of these and 

 Gleanings in Bee Culture for one year 

 for $2.15. 



