502 
Iht RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Boys and Girls 
By Edward M. Tuttle 
Here is Our Page again, more interesting and pleasant every month 
Tico Kinds of Early Spring Wild Flowers. Can You Name Them? 
O Spring-timp sweet! 
Over the hills come thy lovely feet; 
The earth's white mantle is east away. 
She eiothes herself all in green today ; 
And the little flowers that hid from the cold 
Are springing anew from the warm, fresh mold. 
O Spring-time sweet! 
The whole earth smiles thy coming to greet; 
Our hearts to their inmost depths are stirred 
By the first Spring flower and the song of the bird; 
Our sweet, strange feelings no room can find. 
They wander like dreams through heart and mind. 
—Translated by James Freeman Clarke 
Tt is such a beautiful Spring day today 
(March 71 ! T wonder what all my boys 
and girls are doing this Monday morning? 
Probably most of you are on your way to 
school as I am writing this, for it is not 
yet nine o’clock. Can you picture all the 
readers of Our Page on their way to 
school? Think of all the roads they trav¬ 
el, of all the interesting things they see. 
Some roads are in the hills, others are in 
the valleys. Some are through open fields, 
others through woods or by running 
brooks. Who will send us a story of “My 
Road to School." making the word pic¬ 
ture so clear to ns that we will feel as 
we read it that we are walking that same 
road with you? 
This morning when I went out early to 
do the chores, here on my Long Island 
farm, song sparrows and robins were sing¬ 
ing to welcome the sunrise. They have 
only been here a few days. IIow good it 
is to hear them again ! Last night I stood 
in the barn door at sunset and beard a 
great chorus of red-winged blackbirds in 
the swamp -nearby. They know that 
Spring is close. The air is soft and warm. 
No frost is in the ground. I begin to 
think of plowing and planting, though I 
know that March still has days of cold 
and storm ahead. But they will be nearly 
over when you read this, and now we 
gladly turn to the wonder season when 
everything grows again. 
I have been thinking of how much we 
who live in the country have that other 
people miss. Are we sure we find it all 
and love it all? If you have ever really 
watched a tree closely all the year around 
you have a story more wonderful than 
any you could read in books. Think of 
the tender, delicate flowers that bloom 
so soon after the snows of Winter melt. 
Watch a pair of birds build a nest and 
feed and train their young. Out of a 
hard, dry cocoon comes a wet, crumpled, 
living thing that in a few hours unfolds 
into a great, beautiful moth. In poultry 
yard and barnyard the animals welcome 
ns and live their lives before our eyes. 
Fields and gardens change under our care 
from bare earth to green rows of thrifty 
food crops. Once every year all this goes 
on. and the person who does not see it, 
and thrill with it. and grow better be¬ 
cause of it. is poor indeed. 1 want you 
boys and girls to find these riches that 
are at your door. 
If you will promise that you will let 
no day go by without hearing some¬ 
thing more about the crops and the ani¬ 
mals and the wild life around you, then 
you may peep with me into 
The Mail Bag 
Early last Spring 1 thought that I 
would like to have some bees. So 1 sent 
for some with my interest money on my 
Liberty bond. 
In three days they were at the station, 
so papa went in the automobile and got 
them. They came in a box with a screen 
nailed on top. I had to smoke them so 
they would not sting me. 
Before they came I had to nail the 
frames and get the hive ready. In the 
picture you can see my brother Frederick 
nailing the frames. 
I had to find the queen. After I found 
her I named her Isabella Ariel, and Fred¬ 
erick named bis Azure Ann. The queen 
is the mother of all the bees. You can 
find her because she is the biggest in the 
hive. 
This year I am going to sell the honey. 
The gentle bees have not stung me yet. 
Your sincere friend. 
New York. many c. (8 years). 
Many of you will be interested in the 
start that Mary and Frederick have made 
in beekeeping. This is something that 
more of you can do if the conditions are 
right and your parents will help a bit. 
Learn to study out any piece of work be¬ 
fore you begin it. so that you will be more 
certain to succeed. There are too many 
persons, older as well as younger, who 
rush into things with a great deal of en¬ 
thusiasm, but no knowledge, who soon get 
tired, lose interest, neglect their task and 
fail. Don’t ever be a failure. Stick to a 
job until you are master of it; then you 
can quit if you want to do something else 
more. We thank Mary for the two good 
pictures that go with her letter. 
I am a boy nine years old and in the 
third grade. I live on a farm. This 
Spring I made a bird-box. It is a wren 
box. 1 have not got it up yet. I want to 
rent it to a pair of wrens. I have got a 
bluebird box. too. I have got it dp now. 
I have already rented it to a pair of blue¬ 
birds this Spring. A new friend. 
Ohio. RALPH F. 
Good for you. Ralph ! There is an old 
saying that the early bird catches the 
worm, but we know, don't we. that the 
early box catches the bird. You will 
have a fine time watching the bluebirds, 
and I hope some wrens will find their 
house, too. 
Some of you boys and girls still ask for 
directions for making bird boxes. I will 
mention again a few of the most impor¬ 
tant points. 
1. Make the box out of old boards, 
slabs of hark, or a hollow limb. Have a 
good roof on it. 
2. For the smaller birds have the box 
about a foot high and six inches across 
inside. Flicker boxes must be much 
larger. 
3. Have only one hole in the box. Make 
the hole round and place it above the cen¬ 
ter cf 'me side. It should be one inch in 
diameter for wrens and chickadees, and 
one and one-lmlf inch for bluebirds. 
4. Put the box up early in the Spring 
on a post or pole about eight feet high. 
If you fastirn it to a tree do not put it in 
much shade. The birds want sunlight. 
Fasten the box so tightly that, it will not 
blow down and kill the little birds. 
5. If birds rent your box, protect them 
from cats and other robbers. Watch all 
their habits, but be careful not to dis¬ 
turb them. 
I am very much interested in the Boys’ 
and Girls’ Page in Thk R N -Y., so I 
thought I would write and tell you about 
my home. 
I have a very nice home and a very 
kind father and mother. I have a brother 
IS years old and one eight years old. I 
am 13. I live in a large farmhouse 
about one-half mile from town and three- 
quarters of a mile from the railroad sta¬ 
tion. My home is a very pleasant place. 
We have a large barn in which we play 
hide and seek, and jump in the hay. There 
is a valley back of the barn. In this val¬ 
ley there is a brook in which the children 
wade. In the Winter time this valley is 
frozen over and we have great sport slid¬ 
ing and skating. 
I have a little yellow and white kitten 
which my brother found in the lot. I 
brought it. up on milk, which it drank out 
of a spoon. We call it Patsy. My broth¬ 
er has a puppy which he calls Betty. We 
have about 1 50 sheep. I have a pet 
sheep which we call Smut Nose because 
she is all white except a black spot on 
her nose which looks like smut on corn. 
I am sending you her picture. Father 
has three cows, six horses, five pigs and 
75 hens Mamma has eight turkeys, and 
mv brother has a flock of hens and geese. 
Sincerelv yours, Florence o. 
New York. 
Thank you for the picture, Florence. 
.You have given us a fine description of a 
good farm home. What a wonderful place 
a farm is for boys and girls to work and 
play and grow in ! 
I am a little boy 10 years old and T 
live on a farm with my father and moth¬ 
er and little brother. 
When I get home from school 1 feed 
my rabbits and water them. Then I feed 
the chickens and gather the eggs. When 
I get that done I get. the hay for the 
horses and cows. Then I get the straw 
down for the horses and give them some 
bay. After this I go to the house and eat 
my supper. Then I go out and put the 
two calves on the cows. I feed the horses 
their grain, then go to the house and split 
my kindling wood and split the chunks. 
Now I go to bed. 
When I get up in the morning I build 
the fire. Then my father gets up. I go 
to the barn and feed four horses and clean 
the horses’ stables. Then around to the 
cow barn, and feed the cows and take the 
calves off. Then I take a pail of milk to 
the milkhouse. Next I take the two pails 
to the house and help get breakfast. I 
eat mv breakfast, feed my rabbits and 
feed the hens. After this I water the 
horses and clean out the cow stable. Then 
I go to the bouse and get. ready for school. 
When I get to school I build the fire. 
Then the other scholars and my teacher 
come. When it is nine o’clock she calls 
school. In the morning we read over the 
reading lesson, do the arithmetic and get 
our spelling. Today we went, up into the 
woods. 1 whistled the Spring call of the 
chickadee. I called a flock of chickadees. 
They flew around our heads. We picked 
out 17 kinds of trees that we knew. We 
have two pieces of suet on an apple tree 
by the school window. The chickadees 
come to the suet. We are learning to sing 
“Busy Children,” which we found in one 
of the Cornell leaflets you wrote. Your 
little friend, GLENN S. 
New York. 
Glenn begins his letter by saying that 
he is a little boy 10 years old. But the 
rest of his letter sounds as though lie were 
a big. strong man. I know lie is strong 
in heart, and hope he is so in body. I be¬ 
lieve in work for boys and girls, but I 
believe in play. too. < >f course 1 your main 
work is at school, and for that you should 
be fresh and ready. At home you will 
gladly dn your share of the lighter chores, 
but I hope you may not have to work be¬ 
yond your strength, else your whole life 
will be weakened. 
I am glad that there are schools that 
are not afraid to go out to the woods'and 
fields sometimes where there are lessons 
to learn as great as any between the cov¬ 
ers of a book. Any boy or girl who knows 
how to call the chickadees down close 
has learned something that will give joy 
all through life. 
T am going to write you to tell what I 
think of The R. N.-Y.’s Boys’ and Girls’ 
Preparing for Beekeeping. Frederick 
Xailing the Frames. 
Page. It is fine. The letters urge others 
to try different I kings. [ have raised 
chickens for three years. I love chickens. 
I want to raise both chickens and ducks 
this year. 1 raised the chickens for my 
father for a third and made $20 last Sum¬ 
mer. They need a lot of care. Last, year 
we had geese. Out of one lot only one 
hatched. Father gave me that one and I 
turned him in with my chickens. lie was 
so big he made a good mother for them, 
but would make an awful noise if he lost 
track of them. The two chickens ran 
with him until I sold him. The hens are 
laying now. I do not like the sparrow 
hawk. lie came down in the yard and 
killed one of my chickens. Father tried 
to shoot him, but the gun would not; go 
off. ETHELS., 13 years. 
New Jersey. 
Ethel has learned how pleasant and 
profitable it is to take care of poultry. 
Others of you will want to raise some 
chickens this Spring. Read up about it in 
farm papers and talk with any of your 
friends who have had experience so that 
you will learn tlje best methods. Then be 
faithful and regular with your care and 
you will be successful. 
The Nature Puzzle Was a Locust Tree 
Margaret P. gave us a good nature puz¬ 
zle last month. Many of you knew the 
answer and sent the name to me. The 
tree was the common yellow or black 
locust. Below you will find a list of the 
names of those who sent right answers up 
to the time this page was written. Also 
there are parts of two letters telling some 
interesting facts about the locust tree. 
New York State: Madeline McK.. Hel¬ 
en W. Florence M.. Dorothy A.. Jennie 
S. Madeline II.. Wendell B., Helen B.. 
Ella S. Mabel W., Alice R.. Etna II. 
Frances 11., Marguerite S.. Richard P.. 
Agnes N.. Lucy W.. Ililton W., Margaret 
M.. Josephine M., Carrie P. and Eliza¬ 
beth <1. 
Pennsylvania : Mary S.. Dorothy S . 
Levi <).. Carl lb. Thelma Y., Emma W.. 
Weldon C., Helen 1)., Louise F., Frances 
W„ Sylvia C., Eugene S. and Helen G. 
Learning to Care for Bees 
