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they have died as by a pestilence. This holds true of all domestic animals, however, and shows that, to make them available, they must have our best attention.

I

Notes and Queries.

HAVE worked with bees over 20 years, and used

does not care for increase, and seasons are as poor as they have been in most localities for the past two years. Strong colonies will usually make a surplus, even during poor seasons.]

A STORY WITH TWO MORALS TO IT. The particulars of our deal has been the following: I sent two dollars by mail-one to pay for GLEANINGS, and the other for A B C. After waiting some time, I dropped you a line, stating the fact. You had not received the money, but you sent the A

the chaff hive the last three years with good satisfaction. Have put up 148 stocks for win-BC book, paper cover, and offered to stand half the

tering, the present winter. They all appear to be in good condition. I got a very short crop of honey

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HONEY FROM COTTONWOOD-TREES.

Please let me know if bees work on cottonwood

loss. I answered, saying I would stand my own loss. The money came back to me after going to Washington. I sent it again. Upon receipt of same, you sent me another A B C book, cloth cover, with letter stating that I might send back one of the books; but I concluded that, as I was dealing with a friend and an honest man, I would give the paper-cover book to a very poor man, as honest as he is poor, and a bee-keeper. He once had a fair property, but the patent-right men have used him up.

W. C. NEWTON. Fulton, Oswego Co., N. Y., Nov. 29, 1880. [You did right, friend N.; and may God bless you for your kindness to your neighbor, and your kind words to us. Once more, boys, beware of patent rights.]

LETTING THE BEES STARVE.

My bees are dying rapidly this fall. I have lost 9 stands already; might have saved them if I had been able to buy the sugar to feed. But such is a poor man's misfortune. E. L. KREGLoe.

Lexington, Va., Nov. 30, 1880.

[1 am very sorry for your misfortune,, friend K.; but are you sure you have done the very best you could in the matter? Could you not have sold a part of them at some price, and obtained money to buy feed enough for the other part? Of course, I do not know that you could have done better; but after investigating some cases of a like nature in our own vicinity, I have almost always found some way by which the sugar could have been provided. Do you use neither cigars nor tobacco? do you never remain idle a day when you could earn 50c.? Are you sure you do not invest in a single thing that you

trees. If you do not know, please inquire through could not have done without better than to let your

GLEANINGS, and oblige.

C. W. KENNARD.

Carey, Wyandotte Co., O., Nov. 24, 1880.
[I can not answer. Can some one else?]

I have 27 swarms now in pretty good condition. I got two swarms of bees this fall for nothing. The party was going to brimstone them, so I took my smoker and gave them a good smoking; took them out of his hives, and took them home in empty hives and put them with two of my weakest swarms. G. H. SHEEVES.

Clarksburg, Grey Co., Ont., Can., Nov. 17, 1880.

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bees starve? Please excuse me, if this sounds meddlesome; but such questions have started more than one brother on a better path, and they may help more than one whose eyes meet these pages.]

QUARTER-BLOOD ITALIANS.

I notice on p. 216, May No., where one of your contributors speaks of quarter-blood queens. Now, I had got it into my mind that there was no such thing as a quarter-blood queen. Dr. Harrison, a bee-man living about five miles from me, said to me at one time, while talking, that, even if an Italian queen were mated with a black drone, the drones of that queen would be pure, and vice versa. Now, do queens lay drone eggs without being mated? If so, will such eggs hatch? If they will, then the drones from such eggs must be pure, and, consequently, there would be no such a thing as a quarter-blood queen. THOS. R. TURNHAM.

Rockport, Spencer Co., Ind., May 17, 1880. [You have got the matter a little mixed, friend T. A hybrid queen, such as you mention, will produce pure drones, but not pure workers nor queens. The queens would be half blood, of course; and if they

mated again with black drones, we should have hybrid drones and quarter-blood Italians, as the progeny of such a queen. Such a hybrid queen does no harm in an apiary unless she is allowed to raise queens, as in natural swarming. Then we may bave any admixture.]

FILLING COMBS WITH SYRUP FOR FEEDING. Do you know of any plan of filling empty combs with honey, so that they can be used as feeders? E. L. WOODSIDE.

Baltimore, Md., Nov. 30, 1880. [Yes, sir; pour the syrup so as to fall a foot or more, from a sprinkler, and you can fill a comb completely. The plan is old, and has been mostly dropped, because of the trouble and daubing it

ly. Please notify me when you try it; and if it comes in good order. WM. DEWOrth.

Bordentown, N. J., Nov. 8, 1830.

To see how the mandrel would work, when sent out to our A B C class, I used it to fill the first order we got for one of the wooden ones spoken of. Here is the result:

I received the goods several days ago. When I got the bill I was much surprised to find myself charged $2.60 for a wooden mandrel (which I ordered), but when goods came I was as much surprised to find a better one than I expected. Thanks for you discretion in sending it. I put up a saw yesterday, and it "works like a top."

Greenville, Ga, Dec. 13, 1883. F. M. LEDBETTER. You see, I have given our friend who

usually entails, and the danger of inciting robbing.] made the mandrel, a free advertisement;

A CHEAPER MANDREL FOR FOOT

POWER SAWS.

GREAT many have been asking, for some time back, if we could not furnish a cheaper mandrel for those who wished to use home-made foot-power saws like the one (or similar) described by friend Hutchinson on page 385, Vol. VI., and by friend Carpenter, page 163, May No. for 1879. It is true, our friend G. A. ., on page 366, Vol. VIII., did give a very ingenious plan by which a wooden mandrel might be made; but not all have skill to make even this. Some of the friends wished us to make them; but if one were going into the business of making mandrels, it would be better to make a durable steel one.

Well, just in the nick of time, as it were, our friend below comes up, bringing a very pretty mandrel, or, at least, sending us a sample by express, which amounts to the same thing. We at once ordered a couple of dozen, and are looking for them daily. Here is what he says of it, with a picture made from it by our engraver.

DE WORTH SAW-MANDREL/

I shipped sample saw-mandrel to-day by express, as postage costs nearly as much. The mandrel is subject to your alterations, if there is any. Your price list says, 10 inches long; but as I dispense with the journals, I make them only 7 in. long, and there is no need of their being over 6 inches long; but I can make you mandrels the same as sample for $2.00; but I would want an order for more than a

dozen or so, as I would have to buy several tools that I could not get along without. Now, then, if you will give me a chance, I will get to work. I am

trying to build myself up with bees, and I don't spare any time in doing so. I have 17 hives, and will get 10 more this week.

DIRECTIONS FOR USING FOOT POWER SAW MANDREL.

See that both boxes are level, and then tighten setscrew only until there is no shake in the mandrel. Apply a little oil, and you will find it will work fine

and I am willing to give you all one when I find any thing that I think will prove a public boon. Is not this right? If I discourage patents, I certainly ought to do something else to encourage invention. Now, here is another point. I am going to make a public test of your good nature, or call it, if you choose, liberality. I told “ 'right out," just what these mandrels are going to cost me, and what I am going to sell them for. It is generally accepted, in all kinds of business, that it won't do to let customers know what goods cost. Why won't it do? Well, because we are all so prone to selfishness, I suppose. Now for the test: if you know those mandrels cost me only $2.00 each in two-dozen lots, are you willing to pay me $2.75 for them? I am pretty sure a great many of you will say 50c profit would be a plenty. Well, I wrote the same thing to friend De Worth, but he thought it hardly enough, and suggested, if I am correct, that we should retail them for $3.00. I split the difference, and called it, in my editorial notice last month, $2.75. As a reason for making the profit 75c instead of 50, I would suggest, that the freight is to be paid on them from friend D. to myself; that I have to invest cash to the amount of $48.00 each time I order, to lie still, perhaps, several months, besides the probability that something later may at any time supersede any such goods, and necessitate selling them at cost, or not at all. If I tell you what all my goods cost, and what I sell them for, are you sure you will not feel less friendly toward me than you do now, and that I shall never look confused and embarrassed when I own up that I charge you $2.75 for an article that costs me only $2.00 or perhaps a little more. When the matter comes right out before you all, I confess I rather wish it was put at only $2.50; but friend D. does not wish me to sell them so low, and I do not feel right to decide the matter without his permission. Do you not catch a glimpse of what a millennium we should have in business matters if there were no longer any necessity for having any thing to be concealed?

We suggested only one change in the mandrel sent us, and that was, that the collar that holds the saws be made so as to be one piece with the pulley, except a small dividing groove. If wanted by mail, the price will be 58 cents more; the price to be $2.75, unless friend D. consents to have it $2.50.

GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE.

Our Homes.

He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.-PSALM 126:6.

UNDAY-SCHOOL was over; I had finished my dinner, and was on my way down to visit my mother, as usual, during the three hours that intervene before the young people's prayer-meeting. I had gone about half a mile, and was reflecting that my life seemed rather unfruitful in the work of saving souls for the past few weeks. Was it possible that, amid the cares of business, I was losing that happy enthusiasm that I had especially enjoyed Sabbath afternoons, and that my life was settling down to a kind of letting the world go on as it pleased, so that it did not interfere with my plans and purposes? How many a Christian worker has had similar thoughts! The Abbeyville school was stopped; it seemed no fault of mine, but still was it not possible I could have done more to have kept it going? Our class at the Infirmary is stopped too, because of the inconvenience of finding an hour for services not conflicting with other duties in the short winter days. It is true, I have our own great Sabbath-school on my hands; but they have abundant helps and good teachers, and some way I do not feel just as happy after the school is over as I do after my work among those who have not had all these advantages, and to whom the gospel is, at least in a measure, new. I longed and hungered, as it were, for that joyous exuberance of spirits that I feel after explaining the way of salvation to some poor boy in jail. Was there any such work within my field that God wanted me to do? In that little book called the Still Hour, by Austin Phelps, he says that a Christian has a right to have this joyous feeling always. I firmly believe it is possible for us to have it, if we are right in the harness, where God wishes us to be. As I walked along I prayed to have my way pointed out, and promised to follow in it. Almost immediately my mind recurred to a young man whom I had met a few times, but whom I felt pretty sure was not a Christian. lost his property by some misfortune. I Somebody told me he had knew he was working hard, for I had noticed him pushing ahead with considerable energy in different employments, and the last time I met him he had a lemonade and candy store next to our counter store at the fair. My thoughts ran something like this: "Go and see this brother this very afternoon."

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But I do not even know where he lives, and I am half way down to mother's now. I will go next Sunday.'

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Next Sunday you may not feel like it; the roads may be bad, and your besetting sin is to never do at all the things you do not do on the first impulse."

I began meditating whether or not this were not really the voice of God, speaking something as he might have talked to Jonah when he was told to go to Nineveh. pondered, I walked slower. As I

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43

Why, I rather think he lives at or near B-; but that is three or four miles another way, and I am now a full mile toward and will feel sadly disappointed if I do not mother's; besides, she is watching for me, send her any word I am not coming. Beget there." The objecting voice almost said, sides, it would be almost dark before I could too, "What in the world will he think to see you coming away off there on Sunday, with no sort of a rational errand in the world." But the last observation was very feebly offered. I had come to a standstill.

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and if you get tired, you know, from past ex-
Nine miles is nothing for you, my boy;
perience, that God will give you strength
by simply asking for it.
mother before, that, when you fail to come,
she must keep in mind that a call has come
You have told
for you to go elsewhere."

66

happy already. As I passed the jail, I stopped and explained to the one inmate there, who Right about, face," I turned, and I was was just about turning from a wasted life to immortality, that I might be late before I had my usual talk with him; and when I explained where I felt called to go, he knew the man, and with the help of the sheriff, told me where he lived. through the iron-barred door he said:As I passed out errand, Mr. Root." "My best wishes go with you on such an

will pray for me while I am gone?"
Do you not mean. friend D., that you

As I

but I know, by the look in his face, that it was not an unpleasant suggestion. I can not remember what his reply was; passed over the hills I was somewhat weary; but God gave the strength as it was needed. To be sure, I went on foot; for, some way, it does not seem as if I could do good work without the exhilaration of walking; and, besides, people treat me differently (at least it seems so) when I come on foot and alone. When on a hill, where I could see the house, I spoke to a couple of young men, and after I had passed I saw them watching me. Perhaps they were curious to know what had brought me out of the way so much on such a day. house, a crowd of temptations assailed me, just as they have a hundred times before. As I crossed the bridge near the time that my errand, and the whole thing, All joyousness had gone, and I felt for the lever went into before. I stopped and gazed into the frozen river, and at the same time was the biggest piece of "tom-foolery" that gazed into these feelings in my own heart. I wondered where they came from, and why it should be so every time. I was not afraid now, for I had seen them soon give_way_beahead. I trembled some as I raised the latch fore, to a different feeling when I pushed to the gate; but I prayed more earnestly me plainley why I was thus called away over than usual, if possible, that God would show here, and that his Spirit might go before me and make the work sure. come, the painful feeling vanished, and it into the house, and received a pleasant welAfter I had got was no great task to speak.

"My friend, I have taken the liberty to come clear over here on foot to talk with you, and to invite you to accept Christ as

44

GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE.

your savior and your guide. If I have made
a mistake, or if I am intruding, I will go
away at once, without another word."
"No mistake at all, Mr. Root; I am very
glad to see you, for I know it is just what I
and all the rest of us ought to do.

In a few minutes the young men I have spoken of came in. At first, I was so shortsighted as to think this might prevent my having my talk with him; but almost at once something whispered that God' was guiding it all, and had sent them. Thereupon I told them my errand, and that, inasmuch as Christ knew no differences, I would tender the same invitation to them.

Pretty soon, still another young man came
in, and I said the same to him, and finally
we had almost enough gathered there for a
little prayer-meeting. After some talk with
them all, some one suggested we should
have a Sunday-school started there every
afternoon, and you may be sure I gladly
enough accepted the invitation to lead them.
After singing "Sweet Hour of Prayer," and
asking God to bless our undertaking, I came
away. As I got outdoors, I found it was
dark; but there was no darkness on my
spirits now. Pretty soon I saw some one
He
coming after me. I spoke, and found it was
one of the young men I had left there.
told me his father had recently died, and
that, while on his death-bed, with his Bible
near him, he enjoined his boys to lead
Christian lives. A few weeks had passed,
but yet he had taken no steps to unite with
Christian people. Was it accident that led
me over in this out-of-the-way place this
afternoon, or was it the still small voice that
so often pleads with us, and yet is so often
disregarded when we can not see exactly the
whys and wherefores of it?

Do any of you ask, my friends, what is the
good of a Sabbath-school, after all? Well,
I will try to tell you a little of what I hope it
will do. As I pass the saloons of our town,
I notice that very may of those who enter
are boys from the country. They live a few
miles out of town, and have always been in
the habit of getting a glass of beer when
they come to town on almost any kind of an
errand. Once in a while these boys get into
jail, and then I get acquainted, and have a
good talk with them. They almost always
say they have never been to Sunday-school,
and a good many times it seems as if no one
Suppose I
has ever invited them to come.
could have these talks with them before
they get into jail; do you not think it would
save some expense to our State and county?
May be it might save an immortal soul.
Will it not be worth while to try?

Again, it is a hard thing to reform a man
grown. If they are reformed, they are very
apt to get back among their old associates
unless they are pretty closely watched and
cared for. If we can take the boys and girls
before they have grown into fixed, bad hab-
its, they are far more apt to stand. It makes
a terrible wrenching of things, if I may so
express it, to take a strong man and bring
him to Jesus' feet as a little child. Battles
have to be fought day by day that might
have been saved if he had been led into wis-
dom's ways when his mind and appetite

May God have
were young and tender.
mercy on those who have grown up in their

sins!

Some of the friends will have it that I pro-
these pages my views, while I will not
pose to teach in the Sabbath-school, and on
give them a chance to answer and express
their views. They are right thus far, and
no further; viz., I certainly can not consent
to have these pages filled with arguments
and controversy on theology, doctrine, which
day is Sunday, baptism, or any like matters.
It is not my business, and I know God has
subjects must be discussed, talk them over
not called me into any such fields. If such
with your pastor, or the best men in your
churches, and decide for yourselves.
work I can illustrate best in the following
little story:-

My

A poor market-woman was once, in order to get along and "keep even with the world," in the habit of using a peck measure that held a scant peck. She knew it was wrong; but competition was so close she had to do it, or, at least, she told her conscience so, It and so the best friends she had, together with her foes, were treated (or, rather, cheated) alike, day after day. Finally she some way happened that the sermon was on decided, one Sabbath, to go to meeting. honesty, and, although much of the talk was beyond her comprehension, she gathered enough so that she went and burned up the scant peck measure the very first thing she did when she got home. The next day a friend said.

66

Why, Mary, they tell
to church."

Yes, I went yesterday.
"Who preached?"
"I don't know."
"What was the text?"
"I do not know."

you have been

"What was the sermon about?"

66

'I can not remember that either." "Why! can you not remember some story or anecdote, or something the minister said in his sermon?"

She declared she could not remember any thing.

"Why!" said her friend, "it certainly didn't do you any good, if you don't know who preached, what he said, nor any thing about it."

"But I tell you it did, for I went and burned up that small peck measure the first thing I did when I got home, and I am going to give full, honest measure, after this, as long as I live."

Who sent hom at sermon to her heart? and whose voic, was it that she heard? Was it not God's voice? and are not such sermons just the kind we want? Is there any difference of opinion in this matter? Now, if I can so write to you that you forget me, what I say, and every thing else, except the truth that I am endeavoring to send home to your hearts through God's voice, which I hope sometimes reaches you through these pages, I am content.

Now, to those who are suggesting a different course for these Home Papers, and who think I am omitting important subjects, I would respectfully suggest that my way

seems to be bearing good fruit. I can not say that any one of you really burned up a bad peck measure literally, because of these talks; but great numbers have written me that they had started with fresh vigor in serving the Lord, and some few have turned right about, and are leading new lives. A few days ago a good friend wrote he was not a professor of religion, and did not attend Sabbath-school; but his letter seemed to

Bible, as you spoke of "in the middle," and read
the 91st Psalm. Oh what blessed comfort and prom-
ise we find in that psalm! Read it; and I should
like all the readers of GLEANINGS to read it and ap-
preciate it as I do.
JAMES PARSHALL.
Skidmore, Nodaway Co., Mo., Nov. 11, 1880.

sins: Here are two letters on the subject,In regard to the matter of midnight assasone on one side, and another on the other:

say he was not very far off from the kingdom. I wrote him briefly, and, if I am corIs it not a Christians duty to protect his house and Would rect, then kneeled down and prayed God to family? Whosoever stealeth, murdereth. move his heart, for I felt then vividly what you stand back and see your wife and children a tremendous undertaking it is to get a full-bound, and perhaps gagged and abused by the burggrown man to relinquish his stand and sub- lar to complete his spoil, and offer no resistance? I mit to be led as a little child. I know he should think that takes a coward. Do you think it wields a strong influence in his vicinity, and is a Christian's duty to suffer himself to be robbed so I was more deeply anxious. Here is a of his hard toilings, and perhaps bread, and offer no postal from him, right under my hand. resistance? I I answer, No! And I will say that I think it is a Christian's duty to protect his wife and family, by crippling the midnight prowler, as it is a warning to others to lead a holier and better life, and pray to the Lord God for their daily bread.

Friend Root:-Between you and my children, I am "boxed." As I was on my way to Sunday school Sunday morning, I said to my oldest girl, "The next thing after getting me into your Sunday-school will be getting me into your church." She very coolly replied, "If the church can stand you, I think you might stand the church!" I said nothing more then; but before the close I had to give five dollars towards a Christmas tree; and now they want $5.00 more for a library. What will a library for say 140 scholars cost with you-say 2, 3, 4, or 500 volumes in neat book case? L. M. SHUMAKER.

North Danville, Pitts. Co., Va., Dec. 14, 1880.

PRESTON J. KLINE.

Coopersburg, Lehigh Co., Pa., Dec. 7, 1880. In reading Our Homes in the Dec. No., I was so glad to see the letter of June 4th, from J. Sykes Wilson, that I have wanted to write you on the subject of non-resistance, but circumstances prevented. Now, you say, "What is the Christian to do when he finds some one with his hand in the pocket of our trousers? Answer, any one."

Suppose it was our own brother according to the flesh, the one we love more than life; would we shoot? would we strike? would we not pray, rather, that he might not be found out? Would we not say,

come and get it if thou has need; but do not come in that way? If we are disciples of Jesus, laboring for the love of God to bless humanity, we will not care who takes the money, so we can do them good. If we recognize tnat all there is belongs to God, and he causes the rain to descend upon the unjust as well as the just, I am well satisfied that, in the case

May the Lord bless that "oldest girl," friend S., and all the rest too, as well as the whole school. I felt like shouting glory as I read the card; and were it not one of my besetting sins to get extravagant, at times, IO my brtoher! this not only, but my life, is thine; do not know but that I should have done so. I do not sell the things you mention, but I have desired two of the best publishers I know of to do the best they can for you. The work that is opening before you may take some of the treasure you have laid up here on earth; but when you are on your dying bed, taking your last leave of these kind friends, with all these Sabbath-school scholars gathered about you, a crown of glory will be yours, and the companionship of angels will be yours, as you cross the dark river. 'Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these, you have done it unto me."

Every time I get a letter from the friend who next writes, I fall to wondering why I could ever have done any thing that should merit such kind words as he writes; but at the bottom of the letter I always find the well-known signature of our friend Parshall; and when I reflect that his life seems, through God, to have been the fruit of these Home Papers, I feel like shouting glory again.

Now a word to you, brother Root! How I wait and look for the first of the month to hear you talk, and how it encourages me, and I feel like grabbing you by the hand every time I read Our Homes. My brothers have forced on me the office of class-leader, besides Sunday-school superintendent, and your kind words does me worlds of good. May God bless and keep you, is my prayer. After reading the last Homes, which I did before breakfast, I opened my

above, we should pray to the Lord for instruction, and for the conversion of the thief; and remembering, "not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit,"

we should depend entirely upon this Spirit; and if the money was taken away, wait to see the object of the Lord in permitting such things to happen. It might be to try our faith; it might be to bring the thief to Christ by the workings of conscience. There are many ways of bringing sinners to the Lord, and our ignorance should not presume to question God's wisdom; and the example set by Jesus, of living to do good and bless humanity instead of making and keeping money, should be more practically considered to-day. The teachings of Jesus are practical to those who live to do the will of God; but they are impractical to those who seek

rather the riches of this world. Give unto him who asketh of thee, and from him who would borrow, turn thou not away." Who would steal from any one who practices that teaching? No one! Still comes the question, What shall a Christian do if some one steals his money? I hold, a Christian can not own any money; it is all the Lord's, and all he has to do is to ask the Lord what to do with it; and does he not promise to instruct us on all occasions? I am afraid that if we are not careful we will be in

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