THE RURAL WEW-YORKER 
OCT 20 
Xvx l\)t Boitmj. 
BEES AND BEES, NO. 1. 
H. A. EARHART. 
HE honey bee has received the 
attention of eminent writers 
and intelligent observers in all 
ages. In the earliest authentic 
writings, of which we have any 
knowledge, they are favorably 
noticed. The ambrosial liquid 
gathered by the bees has ever 
been considered one of the 
greatest delicacies. Frequent reference is 
made to it in the sacred writings, showing 
how highly it was esteemed by the inspired 
fathers of old. Neverthele js, but little of the 
natural history, habits and wants of bees 
was known, until the present century, when 
bees were made a life-long study by a few in¬ 
domitable and persevering individuals, whose 
indefatigable investigations threw new light 
upon the subject, and broke the thick veil of 
superstition, which had enveloped many of 
the unknow n mysteries of the hive for cen¬ 
turies. Some of their discoveries were so 
marvelous that the people only laughed them 
to scorn; and even at the preseut day there 
are many who disbelievo some of the most 
clearly demonstrated facts. But, “Where 
ignorance is bliss, ’tis folly to be wise.” 
There is no subject of rural economy upon 
which so little has been written as upon that 
of bees. Many consider it as being devoid of 
interest; but there is no subject that is as re¬ 
plete with the wonderful, as the history and 
habits of the bee. The lover of nature and 
ardent searcher after the good, the true, and 
the beautiful has here a vast field for specula¬ 
tion and observation the study of which, will 
lead him to hope aud holiness iu God, 
A lifetime is too short to unravel all the mys¬ 
teries of this little insect. Many a lesson of 
untiring perseverance aud industry can we 
learn from it. 
The honey resources of our country are in- 
exhaustable; and thousands of apiaries can be 
established yet, w ith profit. This is plainly 
verified iu Europe, iu some parts of which 
they baA T e ten apiaries to our one. and the pas¬ 
turage is not nearly as abundant as with us; 
they all yield a fair income. Millions of 
pounds of honey are lost annually for the waut 
of a sufficient force of these busy little toilers 
to gather it. This might all be saved and be a 
new source of revenue. Is it not profitable to 
have servants who perform their duties well, 
aud at the same time charge nothing for their 
labor, aud board themselves? 
“There is a lesson iu each flower, 
A story in each stream aud bower; 
In every herb ou which you tread 
Are written words, which rightly read, 
Will lead you from earth’s fragrant sod, 
To hope aud holiness iu God.” 
Thanks to a wise Father who has given 
into our care such an industrious insect—to 
labor aud collect for our tables the sweets of 
countless flowers. Never weary of her task 
she roams over hill and vale— 
“From early moru ’till dusky eve, 
From early Spring 'till Wiuter’s chill; 
Through storm and calm, sunshine and showers 
She sips the nectar from the flowers.” 
Dear reader, do you suppose that the earth 
was clothed in such a magnificent array of 
flowers, for the sight only? Ah, no! Not for 
the sight alone, but for a far nobler purpose— 
flowers are the receptacles in which nature 
has deposited her distilled sweets for the toil¬ 
ing, little bee that collects it to supply the 
wants of man. By tracing the kindintentof 
a Divine power, as displayed in the varied 
tonus of His works, and the wonderful in¬ 
stinct which He has given to t he busy bee, we 
we are taugbt to look with awe aud wonder on 
His handiwork. 
In writing this series of articles I shall en¬ 
deavor to present facts aud hints iu as striking 
and pleasing a light as my ability will udrnit, 
and thereby hope so to interest and instruct a 
host of the young readers, as well as some 
o.der ones of the Rural —that they will de¬ 
cide to become practical apiarians. 
In the preparation of these articles for pub¬ 
lication, 1 am indebted to the works of Huber, 
Bevan, Laugstroth, Quinby, Miner, King, 
Chambers, and others for much valuable in¬ 
formation. If iu casting these seed-thoughts 
upon the waters, they spring to life in quiet 
nooks and comers, aud cause two blades of 
grass to grow where ouly one grew before, I 
shall feel amply rewarded. 
NOTES BY UNCLE MARK. 
With the last issue ended the tenth discus¬ 
sion of the Horticultural Club, and which as I 
predicted at flint, has been the most successful 
one. Much care and thought appear to have 
been taken in the preparation of the articles, 
which have resulted 1 trust iu a fund of good, 
both to the participants and to the silent ones. 
Although I have desired to here and there 
say a few words in the discussion, owing to 
the number of articles sent in by the mem¬ 
bers, and to the limited amount of space at the 
disposal of the Club, I have felt it necessary 
to reserve my remarks until after the discus¬ 
sion was over. I was pleased to sec so much 
interest displayed by the members of the 
Club, and hope the next meeting may pos¬ 
sess an equal amount, if not more enthusiasm. 
I would like to make a suggestion. I nm 
receiving quite a number of letters from the 
Cousins in which historical questions are 
given for the members of the Club to answer. 
Now\ would it not be better and more profit¬ 
able to ask questions relating to agriculture, 
a subject about which we know' so little and 
have so much to learn? How many members 
of the Club know when the potato first came 
into use as a food, and where it originated? 
Who originated the Baldwin Apple? How' 
tomatoes were introduced in the United 
States? Who was Jethro Tull? By asking such 
questions I am sure the Club will be much 
more benefitted than by raking up musty his¬ 
torical problems for young farmers to pore 
over. 
Considering that the essays of O. B. Fuller 
and Blanchie C. Burton, showed more care 
and thought, were most correctly written, 
aimed more particularly to discuss the main 
points of the subject for discussion and eon- 
Xnined the most, valuable information, I feel 
that justice demands that the promised prizes 
be awarded to them, i have attempted to 
award the prizes iu a perfectly impartial mau- 
uer, and hope that the members of the Club 
will feel satisfied that they have gone to the 
right persons. To those that may feel dis¬ 
appointed, I would say, do not get dis¬ 
couraged, but try, try agaiu. 
The following States have been represented 
in the discussion: Massachusetts, New York, 
New Jersey, Illinois, Ontario (Canada), Iowa, 
Kentucky’, Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin and 
Pennsylvania. A good list, is it not? 
I wish the members of the Club would care¬ 
fully read the letter from Uncle Richard and 
take note of its contents. By adopting his 
suggestion and reporting the results to the 
Club, the contents of the Youth's Page may 
be made more interesting and instructive, 
and the young experimenters may find them¬ 
selves pursuing a course, which without 
doubt will lead to much profit in the future 
in more way’s than one. 
LETTERS FROM THE COUSINS. 
Dear Uncle Mark:—I have written a let¬ 
ter recently for the Cousins’ Department but 
would like to answer Ursa Major’s queries, 
viz: What is the “Ostend Manifesto?” “What 
is the Monroe Doctrine?” The Ostend Mani¬ 
festo w’as a paper published by the American 
Ministers to England, France and Spain who 
met at Ostend in the Kingdom of Belguim and 
declared that there could be no peace for the 
United States until the Island of Cuba was 
acquired. 
In December 1823 President Monroe gave 
to the “ world and the rest of mankind” the 
famous doctrine since known as the “Mon¬ 
roe Doctrine ” The United States had sub¬ 
sequently’ recognized the independence of the 
South American States, and did not wish Eu¬ 
ropean nations to attempt the subjugation of 
portions of the American continent. The 
doctrine he enunciated, and which has 
brought us so prominently before the world 
sometimes, is as follows: “ Thut we should con¬ 
sider any attempt, on the part of European 
powers to extend their system to any portion 
of this hemisphere, as dungerous to our peace 
aud safety, aud that we could not view auy 
interposition for the purpose of oppressing 
or controlling American governments or 
provinces in any other light than as a mani¬ 
festation by European powers of an unfriendly 
disposition toward lhe United States.” This 
doctrine has since become the approved sen- 
time t of the United States, and has affected 
the course of foreign governments in their 
intercourse with our own. Your niece, 
Stoekbridge, Wis. B. c. B. 
Dear Uncle Mark. —I have a question to 
propose to the “Club” for some future discus¬ 
sion. It is this; How’ far does a crop depend 
upon the quulity’ of the seed ? I started an ex¬ 
periment to determine this, but the Dost of 
Sept, 10, cut it short. 
1 used seed which I gathered myself from 
my first crop of “Henderson’s First of all Pea.” 
In one row I sowed five peas which wore each 
the sole crop of their respective vines. These 
vines were grown on poor soil without 
manure and reached a height of only four 
inches. In a second row 1 planted 10 peas 
from two pods on one vine, which grew to the 
height of 30 inches aud yielded 28 peas. 
The five in the first row ail came up and had 
grown to a height of seven inches when the 
frost came. They each had one blossom, and 
three had two buds iu plain view. The 10 in 
the second row responded witli only eight vines 
aud had grown nine inches when they wore 
eut down. Six of these had one blossom each 
and five showed two additional buds, each. 
So it seemed the seed of the tallest vine, 
made taller viues than that of the short 
ones; from my experience, I should have 
expected larger aud more numerous pods on 
the taller vines. Both rows were planted on 
well-manured soil. 
W ill not some of the Cousins try this experi- 
periment, saving seed for it this Fall? Yours, 
sincerely, uncle richard. 
Essex Co., N. Y. 
Dear Uncle Mark: —I take this opportun¬ 
ity to ask you to admit me to membership in 
the Club. My r Papa has been a subscriber to 
your paper since last December. He says he 
could not do without it. 
I am 12 years old, aud large for my age. I 
tend and feed the chickens for mother. Papa 
made her a common sense incubator, and we 
hatched a fine lot of chicks; a good many 
died from gapes; but no more hatched in the 
incubator than those hatched by heus. I have 
350 fowls. Mother shipped some to New York 
and to Baltimore, aud we ate some. We 
hatched 500 eggs. 
We have three fourths of au acre in straw¬ 
berries We raised a full crop which sold from 
five to 20 cents per quart basket. Papa gave 
us oneceut per basket for picking. I made en¬ 
ough to l»uy myself a nice set of silver jewel¬ 
ry. We have the Champion, Charles Down¬ 
ing, Cumberlnud Triumph aud Kentucky. 
The Dowuing did not do as well with us this 
year os did the other varieties. 
We have a fine little colt named Chester.W r e 
live two aud a half miles from Chester River. 
We are right iu the midst of the peach liar- 
vest now. W r e will only’ have about 400 crates, 
as our orchard is small and old. No one has a 
full crop in this county. I am afraid I do not 
know enough of bees to write about them; 
Papa has nine colonies, aud we have a good 
deal of honey’. The bees make mother run, 
when she gets too near the hives. 
We have plenty offish and oysters here, and 
plenty of malaria. Papa thinks of selling the 
place here and buying a farm in East Tennes¬ 
see as it is much healthier there, and much the 
best country for sheep. Here, it is too fiat aud 
wet. This letter is not written well, but I left 
school as soon as strawberries began to ripeu, 
and I have been so busy picking them and 
peaches, tending my chickens, and helping 
work the garden, that I have written but lit¬ 
tle since. 1 had almost forgotten to say that 
I love the Rural as well as Papa and Mam¬ 
ma. Your niece, annik eckr. 
Queen Anno Co., Md. 
[Yes, Uncle Mark is real glad to have you 
join the Club, and I guess you will make a 
good member—at least you have begun well. 
For a girl 12 years old, this is a very nicely 
written letter, aud I think very interesting. 
Can’t you tell us something about your poul¬ 
try? You have so much, you ought to be able 
to give the Cousins a good deal of real prac¬ 
tical information concerning the care of fowls, 
about which so little is written by the Cousins. 
—Uncle Mark.] 
Dear Rural Cousins:— I have been much 
interested iu the letters, aud have often 
wondered why the Cousius never told us 
more about their surroundings and places of 
interest which they have visited. 
I wonder how many of the Cousins have 
read “Pansy’s” books. I have lately read one 
of her latest, “The Hall in the Grove.” Her 
descriptions are so real that one can almost see 
the ohjects, aud is carried away by a desire to 
visit Chautauqua. 
Several of my friends visited the “Madison 
Monona Lake Assembly,” which has just been 
in session. '1 hey considered the speaking ex¬ 
cellent, and described the“Chautauqua”salute, 
the silent waving of white handkerchiefs by 
the vast audience, which wus given to favor¬ 
ite speakers, as both beautiful and affecting. 
I spent a day at the Milwaukee Expositions 
last Fall. I am passionately fond of musie. 
and was charmed with the great orgau which 
filled that immense building with musie. Near 
the large fountain, which is nearly iu the cen 
ter of the building, stands an artificial rock 
which would interest the Club Everything 
ubout the rock is artificial; artificial flowers 
occupy its crevices, uml there should have been 
a small stream trickling through it, but for 
some reason, that was not iu order. If any 
of the Cousins visit the Lo uisvillo Exposi¬ 
tion, will they not tell us about it? 1 am sure 
it will interest all. 
I must close now for fear 1 shall occupy too 
much room. A Cousin. 
Clinton, Wis 
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