266 
AMERICAN AG-RtCULTTTRIST. 
For tlie American Agriculturist. 
A PREMIUM FOR THE BEST BEE HIVE. 
I want the best Bee-hive in the United States, 
and am willing to pay for it, and no doubt thou¬ 
sands of others are willing to do the same. I 
have bees enough to make annually a difference 
of one hundred dollars in my profits, if each 
swarm could be made to add 50 cents to its pres¬ 
ent products. Is there a patent hive that will 
do this, when I use only the common hive fitted 
up with glass boxes ? If so, I will pay for the 
right of using, 500 per cent, in addition to the 
usual price. But, before I pay such premium, 
I must be satisfied that said patent hive posses¬ 
ses the stipulated merits. I cannot take the in¬ 
terested recommendations of every patent-ven¬ 
der, for the simple reason that I suppose no 
sufficient test has ever been instituted. Even 
without taking into account the difference in in¬ 
dustry natural to swarms of the same size, loss 
of queens, or other casualties, it will not do to 
contrast a hive, situated in the midst of acres of 
honey-yielding flowers throughout the season, 
with one where drouth or other causes have cut 
off the supply. I have known a vast difference 
in the collections made by bees in precisely the 
same kind of hive, when a distance of only two 
miles sepai’ated them. It will not do to hive 
one swarm the first of June, and another three 
weeks later, and then contrast the amount for a 
test; because if we allow two lbs.fjas the collect- 
ions of a large swarm per day, there will be a 
difference of over 40 lbs. to start with—give that 
to the patent hive, and there will be apparent 
evidence to those not understanding it, that a 
peculiarly-constructed hive produced the effect. 
It will not do to contrast two swarms, when one 
is but half the size of the other; even should 
they issue in one day; much less will it do to 
contrast the productions of one year with that 
of another ; as I have known a variation of 800 
dollars in two seasons by the same bees. A great 
many people have yet to learn that bees collect 
honey— never make it, and no hive can be filled 
without the means, any more than the ox would 
fatten without the food. Could it be made to 
appear that the same sized family of bees inha¬ 
biting a patent hive, will obtain a greater number 
of loads, or lbs., than in the common one, it will 
be an advantage that I am not disposed to reject. 
It is bad economy “to save the penny and 
lose the dime.” For my own interest, and that 
of bee-keepers generally, I will endeavor to test 
impartially the merits of several patent hives; 
providing there is any patentee or agent willing 
to risk the result by the side of the common 
one, and will agree to the stipulations which fol¬ 
low : 
The patentee must furnish at least two hives, 
free of expense, at the R. R. Depot in St. 
Johnsville, Montgomery county, N. Y., before 
another season, with the price of an individual 
right, cost of construction, &c., and secure me 
against loss by their use, providing such pa¬ 
tent hive fails to equal >the common one. On 
my part, I will agree to introduce swarms as 
near one size, and as near one time as possible; 
(I shall probably have swarms enough for the 
purpose,) they will not be fed except to prevent 
starving; I will take all the necessary care, and 
keep a correct account of all the proceeds—- the 
swarms to be estimated by one standard to 
their size and time of issuing; the surplus honey 
according to its amount and value in market 
—it will all be sold to the best advantage. 
By this rule, after a trial of two or three years, 
any patent hive making annually 25 cents, 
better returns than the one I now use, after de¬ 
ducting expense of construction, and say one- 
twelfth of the price of right—I will pay double 
the price for such patent—if 50 cents better, five 
times the price. The hive I now use is fully 
described in the “Mysteries of Bee-keeping 
Explainedthe cost is only 25 cents when ready 
for the bees, the cover for the boxes 124 cents, 
stand 124 cents, making a total of only 50 cents 
—glass boxes always sell at the same rate as 
honey which pays all the expense for them; 
but with wood boxes tare must be allowed. At 
the end of three years, if not before, I will 
report (under oath if necessary) the result, 
that the bee-keeping community and public 
may have means of judging which is the best 
hive, without relying on the interested state¬ 
ments of the patent-vender. Should any com¬ 
petitor be successful in the result, he cannot 
fail to obtain, in some measure, a reputation 
for his hive that no other means will give him. 
M. Quine v, 
Author of “Mysteries of Bee-keeping Explained 
December, 1853. 
For further particulars, address M. Quinby, 
St. Johnsville, N. Y. 
Agricultural papers please copy. 
- * ©« -- 
SOLICITUDE OF PARENTS. 
Of course it is utterly idle to urge the need 
of such an education for sons und daughters, 
by limiting its uses solely to worldly advantage. 
We go up to the true basis of life for firm 
ground to build upon. Take that ground de¬ 
cidedly, and then vve view all true culture as 
part of the training of souls under the Kingdom 
of God. We are not to live by bread alone, 
but by every Divine word, by all of God’s gifts 
to us. They are cruel parents who slight the 
moral and spiritual wants of their children, 
and train them in worldly passions. This is, 
in the saddest sense, giving them a stone in¬ 
stead of the Bread of Life. So we all think 
and are ready to say. Take care lest our con¬ 
duct belies our words. Whatever its position 
or professions may be, that is a wretched 
household whose polity is not based upon a 
Divine standard—which does not acknowledge 
a rectitude above the world’s ways, an;! breathe 
faith iu God and things eternal. The very dis¬ 
cipline of a true home will be modelled after 
the heavenly order, and will try to win the 
spirit of the benignant Father of all, who tem¬ 
pers firmness with kindness so wonderfully 
iu the government of his creatures. 
Firmness is not enough—kindness is not 
enough ; but the two must go together. Firm¬ 
ness without kindness becomes the stony aus¬ 
terity that crushes the will into servile con¬ 
formity instead of training it to filial obedience ; 
kindness without firmness readily becomes a 
feeble expediency that changes with the hour 
in a facility serpentine in more senses than 
one. Firmness with kindness gives a discip¬ 
line authoritative and flexible, applying just 
principles in a mild prudence suited to all 
times and needs. Of old perhaps the rigid 
temper most abounded, and austerity made 
parental rule a rod of iron ; but now the other 
extreme most prevails, and a feeble indulgence 
allows self will to be the law of childhood, 
and fosters in many a dwelling a j uvenile jaco¬ 
binism, which needs only time and chance 
to ripen into utter anarchy. This error 
does cruel wrong to parent and child ; to the 
child by fostering an ungovernable temper, a 
perverse caprice that scoffs at all restraint, 
and chafes even at the limitations which God 
has imposed; to the parent by bringing upon 
him the contempt of those who owe him re¬ 
spect, and by the painful conviction that the in¬ 
dulgence begun in apparent kindness has been 
as fatal as wilful severity. Away with the 
folly and the puny sentimentalism from which 
it springs ! The family is the safeguard of so¬ 
ciety—a government founded by Heaven itself. 
Parents are to rule, children are to obey. This 
principle, if carried out with energy and dis¬ 
cretion, will adapt itself to the various ages 
and circumstances of life. The element of 
authority will be imbued with the attractive 
power of the truth and love upon which it rests; 
and as the child grows into youth or maturity, 
the authority that trained him, without losing 
its dignity, will appear less and less an arbi¬ 
trary will—nay, authority itself will seem but 
the sterner aspect of persuasion. 
For all this we need an unworldly faith and 
a spiritual mind. They that would nurture 
others in the true fife must themselves be 
nurtured upon its true element. For them¬ 
selves they must breathe the prayer for daily 
bread in a true sense of its meaning—a true 
sense of dependence on God for moral power 
as for bodily strength. Nothing short of a 
temper and purpose truly religious will make 
the household a school of faith and a home of 
wisdom and peace. We are apt to be too 
negligent, indeed, of modes of instruction and 
forms of worship. Too often a parent neglects 
to tell his children what is deepest in his own 
heart, and with many not wholly worldly per¬ 
sons, the years pass away without any regular 
habits of Christian teaching and worship in 
the family. The remedy cannot come from 
mere formalism, but it must spring from a 
truer heart—more of the right spirit showing 
itself in the right way—in all wisdom aDd 
prudence, charity and devotion. 
Speaking thus, who of us does not see a 
startling thought staring us in the face—the 
thought that our own personal character is 
the measure of our influence, and that we 
cannot expect to teach or impress what we 
have not taken to our own hearts. We can¬ 
not cheat our children into the virtue which 
we affect, for they will find us out, and distin¬ 
guish what we do and are, from what we say. 
influence cannot rise above the level of charac¬ 
ter, nor the fountain above the fountain-head. 
What motive to a truer life—what warning 
against vice und godlessness—what encourage¬ 
ment in all good—that the chief patrimony of 
children is the character of their parents; and 
with this treasure small gifts are wealth, and 
without t his treasure rich gifts are poor indeed. 
Unhappy is the man who leaves to his children 
the influence of a heart hard as stone and a 
worldliness wily as a serpent! Precious the 
influence, blessed the memory of a parent, 
whose life has made the ways of wisdom pleas¬ 
ant uni peaceful, secured to his offspring a 
childhood pure and happy, given a sacred and 
cheeiful remembrance to be the handmaid of 
an immortal hope. 
The affections, it has been said, press down¬ 
ward more strongly than they lise upward, 
and parents love their children more than 
children can love them in return. If this were 
so, it would but the more illustrate the fact 
that life is not utterly selfish, and men live not 
for themselves alone. It is true that we do 
not live for ourselves alone. The merchant at 
his counting-house has thoughts beyond his 
gold r.nd merchandise—visions more fair and 
kindly than these ; and the hard handed work¬ 
man who does his ruder labor, spares of his 
earnings for his children at school. But the 
love is not all on one side, although time may 
be needed to adjust the balance, and teach 
childhood to appreciate a true parental care. 
God holds the balance, and will make it true. 
In the motive and in the result, he secures the 
reward of fidelity. Time and eternity will 
show that the love which he has inspired shall 
win harvests of blessings that cannot perish.— 
The Hearthstone, by Rev. Samuel Osgood. 
LADY NAPIER AND THE MONKEYS. 
Lady Napier related to me an amusing in¬ 
cident in connection with animals. As she 
and Sir Charles were coming down the Maha- 
bleslnvur hills, they chose to pitch their tent 
and remain for the night on a spot which was 
inhabited by a tribe of monkeys. These beasts 
were drawn by their intense curiosity close to 
the travellers, and Lady Napier sent for some 
nuts, put them into the pocket of her apron, 
and fed one, which was bolder and tamer than 
the rest, with them. When they withdrew 
info the tent, their apish guests likewise re¬ 
treated. On awaking next morning, Lady Na¬ 
pier was startled at finding that her purse, 
which was in the pocket of the apron, had been 
stolen in the night. An inquiry was instantly 
