1891 
471 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
No wonder your sales were largely Increased, for while our 
brother journalists quoted our praise of the plant, they in 
the kindness of their hearts spared you. 
“ If we desired merely to enthuse any one to engage in 
floral or horticultural pursuits, we should first of all hand 
him the catalogue of John Lewis Childs. If we were to 
advise as to the selection and purchase of seeds and plants, 
his name would never occur to us except as one to be 
avoided.” 
Eighth. —And the defendant, further answering, repeats 
the allegations contained in the foregoing paragraphs or 
subdivisions of this answer, and pleads the same in miti¬ 
gation of any damages the plaintiff may claim to have suf¬ 
fered by reason of said alleged libel. 
Ninth. —And the defendant, answering the second cause 
of action set forth in said complaint, repeats the allega¬ 
tions hereinbefore set forth respecting the first and second 
paragraphs of said complaint, and further answering it, 
admits the publication by the defendant of the article set 
forth in said second cause of action, but denies that it was 
published with the intention or motive in said complaint 
set forth, or falsely, wickedly or maliciously, or that it 
was a false, scandalous, malicious or defamatory libel, or 
that it was a scandalous, wicked or malicious publication, 
reference, statement or innuendo; but on the contrary 
alleges that the same was published without malice and 
from good motives and for justifiable ends, and herein it 
repeats and re-avers the statements and allegations con¬ 
tained in the paragraph or subdivision of this answer 
marked “ fourth.” 
Tenth.—A nd this defendant, further answering, and in 
justification of said alleged libel set forth in the second 
cause of action in the complaint herein, alleges that each 
and every statement therein contained is true, and each 
and every inference and conclusion is justified by the facts. 
Eleventh. —And this defendant, further answering, 
repeats the allegations in the above paragraph of this 
answer in mitigation of such damages as plaintiff may 
claim to have suffered by reason of said alleged libel. * 
Wherefore, defendant prays judgment dismissing the 
complaint herein, with costs 
NOTE AND COMMENT. 
OME of our correspondents seem to have great fear lest 
their names should appear in print—so much so that 
we often receive a letter some days after an article by the 
same writer, saying that mention of the fact that the name 
was to be withheld had been forgotten when the article was 
sent. 
Many seem to have a great fear of public criticism ; one 
young lady writes that she does not wish her name to be 
made known to “the unscrupulous public.” Young girls 
certainly cannot be too careful; and that a portion of the 
public is unscrupulous to the last degree cannot be gain¬ 
said. But it may be well for us who are older to remem¬ 
ber occasionally, that a large proportion of the public is 
fairly decent after all; this point will be clear to us if we 
consider that we, all of us, are a part of it. 
But for the reassuring of those who fear publicity we 
may state that it is the general custom to use in print, 
whatever signature follows the article, whether it be real 
name, initials or pseudonym. Any friend who will place 
at the close of her article the name by which she desires to 
be known, need have no further anxiety as to her real name 
being made public, except it might be, in the case of prize 
articles, when names should not be withheld. 
MONEY MAKING AT HOME. 
O you see that little house down the street half buried 
in lovely flowers, nestling among climbing roses 
and clinging vines? That lovely home and its money¬ 
making attachments are all the visible results ol one 
woman’s ability to make money at home. 
This woman had no capital, no home place securely left 
to her from moneyed ancestors; she had nothing to urge 
her on to conquest and victory, save a disordered liver and 
poverty; she had, however, a partner in the poverty busi¬ 
ness in the shape of a husband 1 Had Dickens’s drunken, 
shrieking virago made such exhorbitant demands for this 
woman’s liver at that time, I have no doubt that her de¬ 
mands would have been gladly met, of course on Portia’s 
plan ; for Mrs. Hinton’s liver was her thorn in the flesh at 
that time; but it has since proved to be an evangel of good. 
“ You must be out in the open air” said her physician, 
“live out-of doors all the time; raise flowers; tend gar¬ 
den—anything to keep you in the fresh air and give you 
something to think over;” and after pocketing his last 
$20 fee this worthy disciple of Esculapius departed. 
“Be out in the open air,” mused our semi-invalid; 
“tending flowers—Ah, a modern Eve I suppose, minus 
Paradise; but how can I give all my time to that ? House¬ 
work, home duties, are they to be neglected ? ;Must my 
time be all devoted to this out-of-door prescription, while 
there will be no money equivalent for time and back aches 
if it fails. I must earn something, but how ?” 
Then an inspiration, born of dire necessity came to her. 
Bees ! Ah yes ; they would work while she rested. Once 
started, they would be her faithful workers and allies in 
the flowery field. 
So she purchased a hive of bees from a friend who in con¬ 
sideration of her situation charged her only $3.75. She be¬ 
gan at once to cultivate flowers, and to study bee culture 
—modes of hiving, habits of bees, etc. Then her flowers 
began to assume their true relation to bees and money 
making. A portion of the early morning hours was spent 
among her flowers while moments snatched for reading 
we're devoted to bee literature. 
She owned no broad acres—only a small lot in a western 
village; and western women have one disadvantage to 
contend with, if it can be so called. Such a generous 
spirit prevails in many western localities that flowers are 
given away or slips exchanged and small fruit donated by 
the bucketful to needy neighbors; or an invitation “to 
pick on shares” is often sent to a housewife or towns¬ 
woman known to be short of fruit. 
But honey—ah, there is always a market for ihat. It is 
easily shipped if the home market is glutted, and, however 
needy a housewife may be she cannot possibly expectmore 
than one box of honey as a “ compliment.” 
A hive of bees—nay, whole stands of them 1 this was 
Mrs. Hinton’s Aladdin’s lamp; bees and flowers the golden 
oil that kept it bright. 
At first she utilized old nail kegs with strips of wood 
across the middle to hold the combs; holes were bored 
through the bottoms, now the tops, and empty boxes in¬ 
verted for the surplus honey. Boxes too, she coaxed her 
husband to make, just to have ready. Not one swarm 
escaped her. 
“ A swarm In May Is worth a load of bay. 
A swarm in June is worth a silver spoon.” 
The truth of this bee doggerel she learned by experience ; 
for the earlier she secured her swarm the longer they could 
work for her; they would also reproduce healthier and 
stronger colonies. 
Next came a modest venture. After her first ready sale 
of honey, she Invested in a new set of scientific hives with 
all the newest attachments, and after studying her bee 
journal, removed her nail-keg occupants to these more 
commodious quarters. Another modest investment was 
made in grape slips, for our friend found that bees liked 
leafy bowers. A long avenue of grape vines soon stretch¬ 
ed across her yard, and each side of it was a miniature bee 
avenue. Then again she invested, this time in trees—“ I 
might as well buy an apple tree, cherry or apricot; they 
flower early, she reasoned, and cost only 30 cents each, 
then there is shade and fruit 1” Steadily her surplus honey 
increased; from one style of hive—she called it the Chaff 
hive—she never took less than 24 pounds. As she bought 
more hives and increased her corps of busy workers, her 
honey sales increased, and she began to ship both bees and 
honey. 
She has now 50 hives. She can weigh out and sell a 
pound of bees as easily as your grocer’s wife would a pound 
of honey; and she generally knows how many bees it corn- 
tains. I am told that 5,000 bees to a pound with a queen 
bee added, bought as late as June, have been known to 
throw off five, good, strong colonies. 
Her income ? Of course that varies with honey-produc¬ 
ing years; but $400 a year she has readily made—some¬ 
times more, and, moreover, her income from her fruit on 
vines and trees is considerable. 
She has become quite an authority on bee questions, and 
her pleasant face is often seen at bee conventions. A friend 
of mine met her on the train coming home from one of 
these, and was charmed with the intelligent, well read 
little woman, who, with an Italian bee for an object- 
lesson, beguiled an hour’s tedious ride with Interesting 
chat on bee culture. She answered every question, told 
her plans, exhibited specimens of bees, artificial combs and 
starters, and so enthused her hearers that one at least en¬ 
tered into the spirit of bee and honey making there and 
then, bargaining for so many pounds of bees, a queen and 
a knock-down hive to be shipped immediately on Mrs. 
Hinton’s return home. 
“Ah, yes,” she laughed, “my bees are indefatigable 
foragers; they cost me very little for support, but there is 
not a buckwheat or clover field for miles around that they 
do not visit. And gardeners and fruit trucksters tell me 
they feel surer of strawberries after they see Mrs. Hinton’s 
bees amongst them.” 
This woman could echo truthfully Wesley’s versification 
“ No foot of land do I possess, 
No cottage In the wilderness.” 
before she began her bee venture; but now she values her 
little home and village lot at $900 and has paid for it all in 
Installments and secured the deed. Her “ partner ” jokes 
her on the exceeding generosity with which she treats him 
in allowing him to make sales for her, deliver her goods 
free of charge, and also deliver the money. 
She fears very little from wings or stings, and as the 
old modes of hiving are obsolete, she has no trouble in 
hiving and separating, transferring or strengthening her 
swarms according to the new methods. She uses a cold 
blast smoker when she wants to examine the bees closely, 
and her wire bee basket and tripod are all she needs to dis¬ 
lodge a swarm of bees from the highest trees. 
Her preference in bees is strongly in favor of the Italians. 
They are larger, stronger, more easily handled and more 
gentle, and she is fast introducing them into her colonies. 
For hives she finds the Simplicity, portico hives, all that 
can be desired, and buys them “in the flat” as it is termed, 
for 75 cents each, with a discount of five per cent for 20. 
Her honey in the comb retails for 15 cents a pound; 
while for strained honey she secures a fancy price, as her 
customers are sure that it is a pure article. Her sales from 
beas, comb3, honey and hives, together with the price of 
an occasional article or essay for conventions and journals 
bring her a very neat income, and as she does not expend 
all her time in waiting upon or feeding the bees, they have 
been a very profitable investment so far. 
Still another woman whom I know makes quite a neat 
little sum from just one article, that is fruit cake. She is 
an expert in making it and it sells readily for 25 cents a 
pound, and can be made to order, or kept for six months. 
She bakes it in large, square pans three Inches deep, and 
frosts the whole surface, sides, top and bottom, to keep it 
moist. Her recipe is: One pound of seeded raisins; one 
pound of washed currants; one-fourth pound of candied cit¬ 
ron (shredded); one-half pound of butter; one pint of New 
Orleans molasses ; two pints of brown sugar ; eight eggs 
well whipped ; one tablespoonful of saleratus to one pint 
of sour milk; two tablespoonfuls of allspice, two of 
ground cloves and two of cinnamon ; one grated nutmeg ; 
one teaspoonful of salt; one-half teaspoonful of pepper ; 
flour enough to make a batter just as stiff as can possi¬ 
bly be stirred with a spoon. Bake one hour in buttered 
tins. This recipe makes 10 pounds of fruit cake, for which 
she readily receives $2.50. 
For brides’ cake she takes the same recipe, but trims 
tastefully with raised frosting, or silver leaves; or, like 
an accommodating milliner, she uses such decorations as 
her patrons bring or choose. 
She has made many wedding cakes and fills orders for 
receptions and suppers; but the fruit cake is her main¬ 
stay. It sells at the Woman’s Exchange, in the village 
store—indeed, everywhere, on sight, is warranted to keep, 
and, if she feels unusually active, she sometimes makes a 
large supply to be kept on hand. Buying large quantities 
of fruit at wholesale prices is her plan for reducing first 
cost; and never offering a poor article her plan for securing 
and holding her trade. kendall perry. 
BEE CULTURE 
ROM the last of May to the middle of August the 
amateur apiarian must have her eyes and ears open 
ready for the first note of “ bees swarming,” and to the 
beginner in apiculture this is always a season of anxiety. 
It is quite likely that she has paid a good price for her 
first venture; but if she can succeed in getting and keep¬ 
ing her new swarms she will feel very well satisfied. If 
she has watched the work going on inside the hive, she 
will know when the queen cells are well under way, that 
the time for swarming is close at hand, and so need not be 
surprised, if she hears an unusually loud humming or roar 
in the air, just when she is in the midst of getting dinner. 
The work is dropped instantly at our house, as far as 
my part of it Is concerned, and I hasten to see from what 
hive the bees are issuing, and then stand quietly by till 
they begin to cluster. No noise is made to cause them to 
alight as in the olden days. 
When I find they are settling, I hasten for hat and bee 
veil, (the latter is a large square of mosquito netting), and 
protect my face and neck. I never wear gloves, but some¬ 
times pin my sleeves closely about my wrists. The next 
essentials are a pail of cold water and the hand pump, or 
a brush broom, which answers as well ; a long-handled 
dipper, a sheet and the hive are taken to the cluster ; also 
a small table if the swarm is pretty well up on the branch. 
Those who have practiced bee culture for a long time and 
have all the modern conveniences, may smile at the num¬ 
ber of articles called for, just to put in a swarm of bees ; 
but our lady amateurs are not apt to have modern conven¬ 
iences at hand. 
The bees are well sprayed with the cold water; the sheet 
Is spread upon the table, or ground, as the case may be, 
under the cluster, andjthe hive, which has been prepared 
for the new comers days before, is set upon the sheet, but 
a little to one side of the bee cluster, which by this time is 
hanging in fairly good shape. I then take the long-handled 
dipper, and dip the bees from the bottom upward, and 
pour them down in front of the hive, and they passat once 
into their well-darkened home. Those which I cannot dip 
off, I shake or brush down, and when they are all or nearly 
all In, I close the entrance, wrap the sheet about the hive 
so that the bees are close prisoners and “ tote” them into 
the cool, well-darkened cellar; then I take off the sheet, 
open the entrance, and leave them to reflect upon the pleas¬ 
ures of a quiet life. 
In the evening I take the lamp and make them a visit to 
see if they have taken kindly to their new home, and are 
all gathered quietly within the four walls of the hive ; 
sometimes I find them all clustered out on their porch, 
but a little smoke, from the bee smoker, soon drives them 
inside. Towards night of the third day, they are carried out 
and put on their summer stand ; in an hour one will find 
them bringing pollen. The next morning they are well 
shaded, and they stay. 
I know old beekeepers will say they lose too much time 
in the honey season; but how much honey will you get 
from them, if they go to the woods in an hour or even stay 
till the next morning and then decamp ? A frame of un¬ 
sealed brood placed in the hive will sometimes keep them, 
but not always, and the amateur does not always have it 
to put in, for it is seldom found in a hive that has just sent 
out a swarm. may maple. 
Michigan. 
Tennis and Yachting Gowns— Light colors are chosen 
for tennis gowns this season—pale blue, lavender, or 
white—brightened by a contrasting color, or varied with 
stripes or accessories of some darker shade, says Harper’s 
Bazar. The fabrics are the summer homespuns of sheer 
quality, serges and flannels. Blouses and shirt waists are 
made of the washable silks. For yachting, navy blue 
serge is almost the only wear, with a few gowns of white 
serge, darkened by a bodice or vest, or perhaps sleeves of 
navy blue. A young girl’s tennis gown of white serge is 
made with a belted bodies hooked in the back, and a plain 
skirt. It is prettily brightened by serge with bars and 
dots of bright red used on the bias for a collar, belt, and 
skirt border, and for the upper part of the sleeves. The 
soft hat is of white felt. 
