HORSEMINT.

EES are just booming now, gathering honey from horsemint pretty rapidly. I had 30 colonies last fall, but doubled back in February to 27 strong ones; have had 26 new swarms to date, besides 40 three-frame nuclei; I have returned all I could, but some were too large to be returned. The chaff hive I got of you is the hive for Texas as well as North. Our sudden changes are more severe on bees here than the continued cold north.

J. S. TADLOCK. Luling, Caldwell Co., Texas, April 21, 1882.

I am going to change to the regular Langstroth hive, and discard all others. S. H. HUTCHINSON. Mechanic Falls, Me., May 4, 1882.

COTTON-SEED MEAL, AGAIN.

My bees prefer cotton-sced meal to any other substitute for pollen. D. S. HALL.

S. Cabot, Wash. Co., Vt., May 16, 1882.

Gallup gives my ideas to a "t-y-t." I never had but one to dwindle in spring. If you want to know, I will tell just what made it. J. W. D. CAMP. Camden, O., May 5, 1882.

[To be sure, we want to know.]

SPIDER PLANTS.

If there is any one who wants plants, they can get them of me by coming and pulling them up, for there are thousands coming up where my plants grew last year. J. PARSHALL.

Skidmore, Mo., May 4, 1882.

I could not find a cant file in Cleveland, not even at the file-works. C. N. MEECH.

North Ridgeville, O., April 24, 1882. [I am not at all surprised, friend M., for a great many of our files and other tools are made expressly for us, and can not be found anywhere else.]

FIGWORT.

I raised only one single plant last year, but I got as many seed from it as I wanted. I have about 100 plants, transplanted in my garden, now about 4 in. high. I raised them in my flower-house. Bonham, Texas, Mar. 28, 1882. J. P. INGRAM.

THE RIGHT WAY TO BEGIN.

Two years ago I started with two hives; last spring I started with ten; have 36 now; never bought any nor lost any by wintering. How is that for a beginner? HENRY LARGE.

Whigville, Noble Co., O., April 10, 1882.

GOOD RECREATION FOR STUDENTS.

I have been attending college here for the past two years. I brought a hive of my favorites with me, to watch and work with. I keep them in my bedroom window of the dormitory, third floor.

WALT. J. QUICK. Purdue University, Lafayette, Ind., April 22, 1882.

OPENING A HIVE THE FIRST TIME.

I must tell you of my first trial in taking out my frames. I went into them without a veil and got along splendid without a sting, and I have had them out four times and no stings; they are hybrid, too. W. L. RICHMOND.

Parkersburg, Wood Co., West Va.

I think in next GLEANINGS you had better tell us what to do with upper stories and hives for new swarms when we have no fdn. GEO. H. MCGEE.

Point Marblehead, O., May 22, 1882. [Why friend M., do as you did before we had any fdn. of course. Use comb guides, and make the bees build their combs straight, by keeping an eye on them, and if they build drone comb, cut it out and use it in the boxes. Go and visit Doolittle.]

ONLY 1 LB. PER MONTH, PER COLONY.

I have never had bees as strong as they are this spring. They consumed a little less than 1 lb. per colony each month, while in the cellar. There are plenty of young bees flying, and drones from some of the stronger. I am not afraid of their stores, as my 90 colonies had an average of 40 lbs. last fall. I haven't lost any yet, nor do I expect to, unless some thing unusual occurs. L. W. VANKIRK. Washington, Pa., March 28, 1882.

FRIEND GIVEN IN CALIFORNIA.

My health is still mending some, but I shall not be able to return East this spring. The prospects in California look well for a good honey crop this year. I have the care of some 255 stands that are beginning to swarm. D. S. GIVEN.

Los Angeles, Cal., April 8, 1882.

It is a very cold, raw, windy day. The first week in April could not be improved · bees did splendidly, and we bridged over the cold week following the freeze, by feeding liberally, and continue to do so every cold or stormy day. Our bees are in splendid

condition.

Peoria, Ill., April 22, 1882.

MRS. L. HARRISON.

SPRING VERSUS WINTER.

In my article, page 224, May No., I say, "If I kept over 100." It should be, "If I kept many over 100." I finished taking my becs out of the cellar April 30; have lost one out of 141 in the cellar, and three in the five days they have been out. I can winter bees, but how to get them through the spring is what troubles me. Judging from my experience other springs, if I have 100 the first day of June I will be well satisfied. N. F. CASE.

Glensdale, Lewis Co., N. Y., May 5, 1882.

SWARMING-BOXES.

There is a little mistake I see in printing my article [on p. 243]. You say, "5 or 6 boxes of different lengths." It should be on poles of different lengths. The reason why I think a "5-cent basket on a pole would not be as good as a box, is, it could not be handled so well, and crowded up through among the limbs of a trce, as a box, if well made

N. N. SHEPARD. Cochranton, Crawford Co., Pa., May 3, 1882.

TOBACCO COLUMN.

OUGHT DOCTORS TO USE TOBACCO? ALSO THE REASON WHY DR. TYRRELL NEVER DID.

OR many years I have wondered at the bad habits of smart, educated men, and that they will persist in using active poisons as medicines, while many of them admit that the people would be better off without such medicines; and nature and common sense teach us better than to use them. No

wonder that boys and illiterate men get into the habit of using whisky, tobacco, and other intoxicants when the example is so prominently set before them. I taught my boys while they were young, not to use tobacco, and not to use whisky, coffee, nor tea, as a beverage, and not to take poisons or any thing that would act contrary to nature, and only such as would assist nature in removing disease. And when they enlisted in the army I told them there was more danger in the hospitals with the surgeon's medicines than on the battlefield with the enemy's hullets. My patients in army hospitals and camps soon noticed the difference between my medicines and treatment, and that of other surgeons. I will not call their science of medicine "scientific ignorance," nor their practice "murderous quackery;" others may testify. When a boy, I quit the use of tobacco while walking home from meeting with the preacher's daughter, and have never smoked nor chewed it since. Success to you in all your works in every department of reformation! D. TYRRELL, M. D.

We

lengths, friend S. How stupid in us!]

HONEY FROM PEAS.

After our long drought, one colony of hybrids yielded me 50 lbs. extracted honey from the small pea crop grown near town, making about 100 lbs. for

the colony. The peas are the ordinary speckled or whippoorwill peas. They are planted here in May or June for cow feed. Immediately around town 10 or 15 acres are sown, and during the day till after sundown, the patches are in a perfect roar. As there are no other sources of honey supply at that time, I conclude they gather from the peas.

DR. T. J. HAPPEL. Trenton, Gibson Co., Tenn., Mar. 30, 1882. [Many thanks, friend H. The pea you mention is something unknown to us here. Will you be so kind as to send me enough to sow about acre? The matter surely needs looking after.]

ONE QUART PAILS.

I can't get 3-lb. pails made here for less than $16.00 per 100. Bees are nearly ready to swarm, the strongest of them. I did it by feeding. W. MALONE.

Oakley, Lucas Co., Iowa, April 27, 1882. [Tell your tinners, friend M., that if they wish to be up with the times they can, with a little machinery, be able to make these pails at the regular prices; or they could do a nice trade on them by purchasing a hundred or thousand at a time. There is at present a great demand for them, and customers will often give 5 or 10 cents for a little pail, for a single occasion, rather than to try to borrow one. Our price for a covered pail to hold 3 lbs. of honey is $5.25 per hundred.]

chap like yourself (begging pardon), if you did not just set about taking good care of her, and are in the same business yet, we shall feel very much disappointed. May be she will tell us about it; we are all listening. May we beg of you to be so kind, Mrs. T.?"

Please find pay for the Clark smoker you sent last fall, as I am again using tobacco. I am sorry, but the flesh is weak. J. L. MERCER.

Madoc, Ont., Can., May 8, 1882.

Well, I declare, friend M., did tobacco really come out master and you the slave? In any case, we know you are a square man," and a man of your word, and as such I respect and honor you. Here is my hand, old friend, and now I want to see you just "buckle to it," and, with God's help, just climb above that old appetite as did friend Balch. Just hear him.

March GLEANINGS came on time, and, as usual, the first place to read was Our Homes. Being in a hurry, and for what other reason I can not tell, unless it was to give me an idea what GLEANINGS would be without the Home Papers, I did not find it. Well, I threw it down, and began to think, "Has A. I. Root really backslid? if not, he would have written something for the Homes." Then I began to think of the many cares and trials in business; and as my thoughts ran along, "You haven't prayed for him lately," came into my mind. Then I picked up GLEANINGS again, and the next thing to look for important was the Tobacco Column, to see who had given up the filthy habit, and, to my surprise, not

1

one name in that. Then it came to me, as it has before, "Better tell how you stopped using tobacco." Really, I am not writing this for a smoker, but for the glory of God. Yes, praise his name for what he will do when we ask him in simple faith. I commenced to use tobacco when a boy, nearly 30 years ago; my health has been very poor for the past 3 years, and my physician told me it was no use to doctor, unless I would stop using tobacco. Says I, "Doctor, I have such a tas.e formed, and the habit is so old, that when I stop for one day I am so dizzy that I stagger and reel like a drunkard. I have tried, time after time, yes, very many times, and shed tears over it, used thoroughwort in its place for some time, yet with no success. I"hankered" after it more than for my meals, or any thing. None but one who has had the experience can have any idea how much I suffered. Last August I went to one of these noisy (bless God) Free Methodist camp-meetings, where the minister said, "We do not rua this meeting with whisky nor tobacco." After preaching, all who wanted religion, and all who wanted more religion, were invited to come forward to the altar. The Spirit of God that was sent into the world to convince men of sin, righteousness, and judgment to come, said to me, "THOU ART THE MAN." Pride said, "You! an old professor, belonging to a church of another denomination for 20 years? yes, and here are lots of them besides, and some who have been in your B.ble-class. You will make a pretty show! A nice representative from our church;" yet the Spirit said, “You are a sinner; go forward." And I started (praise God, I feel the fire welling up now). When I got to the altar, the first thing I said, and that just as soon as I got there, was, "Lord, take away all desire and appetite

Send me one smoker, for which I will pay you when I resume the use of tobacco, if not before. I have used the weed 35 years, except about 5 years during that time; and for the last six weeks, your writings have caused me leave it off, and I hope many others will be led by you to leave it off, for it is injurious to the human race; and may the Lord help them to quit it. A. W. MATTHEWS.

Pott's Station, Ark, April 18, 1882.

Amen to your closing remarks, friend M.; and if I get poor in furnishing smokers, I can feel that it was in a good cause.

I saw in one of your GLEANINGS that if any one would quit smoking tobacco, you would send them a smoker; so, away goes the pipe and the tobacco; and if I turn to the habit again, I will pay for the smoker. E. A. MUMFORD. Annawan, Henry Co., Ill, April 21, 1882. All right, friend M.; and may God help you to hold out!

I see you have a tobacco corner. May I give the experience of one who began its use at 11 years of age, and left off at 65 years not in my own strength, for I had tried several times, but always got back again; but in the strength of Jesus it was dropped from me like an old garment. Now don't put this into your Tobacco Column. I may give my experience in meeting some time, but not now. J. L. L.

But, friend L., we can't well excuse you, for your experience has something in it that I know will be helpful; and, even if you do "speak in meeting" sme other time, we want this from you now. Our evil habits should drop off from us like an old garment, when we commence in real true earnest to follow the Master.

Oran, N. Y., April, 1882.

I presume, friend B., you must have had a journal, a part of which was carelessly omitted; but if such accidents always brought letters like the one you have given us, I do not know that I should feel so very badly about it. When a revival brings us a religion that makes men give up their sins and bad habits, the world, with almost one accord, decides it comes from God. When noisy meetings will lift us up to as good a purpose as they lifted you out of your bondage and slavery, by all means let us have the noise. I feel like grasping your hand, and saying," Bless God" too, brother B.

If you will make me a present of a smoker, I will promise you faithfully that I will stop using tobacco

for ever. I am not able to buy one, for I have been saving up for a long time to get money enough to buy those things. J. M. CUNNINGHAM.

Uniontown, Pa., March 20, 1882.

to apply for the smoker, and bid adieu to the whole tobacco business. I have, in partnership with my father, 60 stands of bees. We wintered in a pit in a sandbank; lost none. Becs all wintered well in this section. Had a very mild winter.

MCE. STEWART. Orion, Richland Co, Wis., April 5, 1882.

There you have it, boys. When a young man commences to smoke, he does it because he wants to put on style. Friend S., we rejoice that you have had the manliness to come out and own up your fault. We pray that God may help you to have a higher motive in living.

Please send me Clark's smoker. I will never use tobacco again. I will pay for 20 if I do. I will pay the postage at Louisville. JOHN B. Cox.

Louisville, Tenn., Feb. 24, 1882.

May the Lord help you, friend Cox, just as he helped friend Balch, in the other letter: and be assured he will, if you trust him, and fight it through as he did.

I had been a great slave to tobacco for 23 years, but I have not touched it since the 15th of Decem

Well, now, you will kill two birds get a smoker, and save your money too.

Rockwood, Ill., April 13, 1882.

JOHNSON WILSON.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have ever asting life.-JOHN

3:16.

R

EADER, does it pay you to live? Is life a boon, a blessing? Have you never, amid trouble, trial, perplexity, and sorrow and disappointment, been tempted to think it didn't any more than pay? I say tempted, for one is surely tempted of the evil one when he harbors such thoughts. They may come, as all other selfish thoughts at times present themselves to poor frail humanity; but I trust they don't come to you often, and that, when they do, you give them to understand very quickly they can have no dwelling-place with you. As I sit at my type-writer the sun is just rising, and it is the 19th day of May. The apple-trees are in bloom, and, as the day is warm, we shall have a merry time with the bees to-day. All nature is lovely; but the happiest part of it to me is the little verse at the head of the chapter. As I read it over and over, my heart swells with thankfulness, and the most precious word in the whole verse is that one "loved" for God so loved the world. As I am one of the world, it means me as well as you, and all the rest of us. God loves us. These are the words of Jesus himself; and just before he uttered them he said,

If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things?

Then this verse was one of the heavenly things he alluded to. It is indeed a heavenly thought, that God loves us. I know what a great sea of unbelief rises up to contradict and deny it. I have tried to tell the men in jail of this great and wondrous love of God, and have heard their unbelief expressed. Many of them would like to believe it; but with their past habits it seemed a great undertaking to grasp it all at once. I have heard those out of jail deny it, too, as an impossibility. If God loves us, why is it thus and so? Poor, weak, sinful humanity,poor, warped humanity,-says, "If he loves me, why does he thus afflict me?"

I once knew a beautiful child, so pretty and beautiful that his kind parents called him "Lovey." They were well to do in the world, and the child had every thing he could ask for. As they lived in town, he was beautifully dressed every day, and was a great part of the time on the streets, attracting the attention and kind words of the passers-by. He had bright, smart, pretty ways, and, as a consequence, was rewarded with cakes, candy, and sweetmeats, a great part of the time. Years passed, and lost

sight of him. When we were building our factory, a shabbily dressed fellow came prowling around; and, as he had no errand, was finally driven away from the station by the agent, and some of the boys said he was crazy. After committing some petty theft, he in anger smashed in a window of one of our stores, and for that and some other offenses was sent to jail. He was the victim of an ungoverned temper, until some called him crazy. I had some friendly talks with him, but he was too stubborn and unyielding for me to get much acquainted with him. It was the child "Lovey"- the one who was so lovable in his childhood, and, with sadness I think of it, might have been a lovable man still, with the proper training. Now, friends, I ask you the question, How should the parents have shown that they truly loved that beautiful boy God had given them? Even in his infancy his childish will needed subduing, and very likely he and the street loafers who gave him candy would have thought his parents hard and cruel had he been trained in the way he should go. He is now in the penitentiary; but the bondage of that unrestrained will and temper is a thousand times worse than the stone walls and iron bars that cut off his liberty. In fact, that very stubbornness seemed to be a barrier I could not get through, even sufficiently to tell him about God's love for a sinful world. It will shut him out of heaven.

Now before you declare that there is no God about it, or that God could not thus afflict one whom he loved, will you not consider the point now before us? Is it not a kind hand that afflicts? and are not these afflictions and trials, that we may grow strong and good? We shall not grow strong and good, mind you, unless we take these things patiently, and with a submissive spirit; for parents punish, and God punishes, oftentimes, when it only hardens the heart. Many a parent has been made even more bitter toward God because a loved child was taken away; and very likely children have, in a few cases, been driven away from home because the parent insisted on obedience. The discipline of the law sometimes hastens the criminal to ruin and death. Shall we on this account abolish law? You see, friends, these afflictions and trials are beneficial, only to those who take them as coming from a loving hand. Had this boy, when desired by his mother to take off his nice clothes, give up his candy, and carry in wood, said to himself, "I know that my mother loves me, and would not require of me any thing that isn't for my best good," you all know he would have risen to be a good and useful man. Proper training, from infancy upward, will almost always make a good man; but the time must come, sooner or later, when the child feels the power within him of deciding for himself, and the fearful responsibility comes up before him,

Choose ye this day whom ye will serve.-JOSH. 21:15.

It has been suggested, that man got his bodily form from the lower forms of animal life, by successive stages of evolution. It is not in my province to discuss whether or not this doctrine agrees with that laid down in

the Bible, but I have often thought of the idea advanced, that, if such were the case, there must have been a point in the development when man, instead of walking on all fours, began to stand up erect, and look about him. We might imagine it was about the same time that God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and he became a living soul. I believe I have heard something of a missing link" that isn't yet found, just about here; but we won't stop to argue on that point just now. We are here, and we are living souls and responsible beings. There is a good deal of the animal left about us, still; but there is with it all, enough of the breath of life in us for us to look up and claim relationship with God, because he created us in his own image." Weak, wicked, foolish, and sinful as I am, I know that God loves and cares for me. I have a jovial sort of a brother-in-law, who has a way of saying there are but two things in this world we are positively sure of. The two things are death, and taxes." Not very comforting, friends, is it? Well, now, there is something I am sure of, and it is comforting, too, I assure you. It is God's unchanging love. Again my heart bounds and thrills when I think of it. It has grown stronger and steadier, and more enduring, too, I trust, than it was when I first began to write these Home Papers. I can feel his approving love, too, when I write these words to you, and tell you where you may find in his word,

I know that my Redeemer liveth.-JOB 19:25.

A consciousness of God's love gives hope. It gives energy and zeal. The inebriate who is sinning his life away, will tell you all mankind are corrupt, and that the whole plan of creation is a hopeless failure. The libertine will talk worse than that, and his power in jeer and sarcasm is not only satanic, but it is poisonous. The coldest, hardest, and most steely bitterness toward God and humanity is that which wells up from the mouth of one guilty of this last-named class of sins. It sometimes seems as if you could see the imps of darkness leering and blazing out of his eyes, when you attempt to talk to such a one of God and his love. Hatred of God comes first, then of your fellow-men, and, finally, of yourself and your own life. With the hatred comes lack of faith in God, man, and yourself, and the end is often suicide. A pure, unselfish life, brings love and faith in God, faith in your fellow-men, gratitude, and thankfulness.

The work of missionaries in reclaiming savages is first to assure them of God's love; and our work in the jails and penitentiaries is the same, to first convince men of God's love for sinners. At a temperance meeting last evening, the lady who spoke mentioned some of the discouragements they had a few years ago, during the woman's crusade. One man was especially bitter. He hired men to persecute the women with dirty water, mud, tripping them up with a concealed wire, etc. They were praying women, and not easily discouraged. They went to the man, and plead and prayed with him. It only made him worse. Anybody might have known those foolish women would have had

no effect on a man like him. Wait a bit! At the last moment, he confessed that he could not sleep nights, the matter lay so heavily on his mind; and just one step further, and down he went on his knees, saying, "God have mercy on me a sinner." He became a converted man, and a Christian. Wait a bit again. This hard, bitter man, when he was converted, set straightway about telling everybody else about God's love, and by and by he was allowed to hold services with the convicts at the penitentiary, Mrs. Woodbridge, for it was she who told it, has just visited him and his work there, and out of the convicts present at their little service, 73 arose and told of the love to God that had lately sprung up in their hearts. Those who have little faith in God and man will insist their penitence was not genuine; but the real earnest Christian worker will thank God for the start they have taken, and hope and pray that they may each and every one leave a record, like the man who was converted by the efforts of the woman's crusade. God honors energy and faith, when they go together.

God's love goes with us through sickness and death. The following is an extract lately received from our old friend A. F. Moon, whom many will remember as a former editor of one of the bee journals:

I have suffered pretty badly with my limb- the one that was amputated. It was taken off about eight inches below the knee, but not high enough to get the diseased bone, and his never healed up, and

at times is quite painful - so much so I almost give up, but still keep around. But it can never get well unless it is taken off higher, which I can hardly consent to have done, as it is quite hazardous to my life. Yet I suffer enough every month to have it done. For two years I have done but little or nothing in raising bees or queens. I have not been able to take care of them; about all I have done was to take care of house plants and flowers, and the most of it was sitting on a bench.

I have been so cramped by losing my limb, that it seemed almost impossible for me to clear up my little matters; trouble and misfortune have ruined

me. What shall I do?

Rome, Ga., March 13, 1882.

A. F. MOON.

Several years ago my youngest brother wrote me of the death of their little boy. He was a sweet, loving child, and before he died he put his arms around his parents' necks and bade them good-by. In his grief and sorrow, my brother wrote me. It was my duty to offer some kind of consolation. As I did not then believe that God loved the world, or, in fact, in any thing particular, I could not think of a word to say to cheer or comfort them. The child's good-by rung in my ears, but I dare not try to point out to them any comfort in that direction. The letter was a very brief one. About all I could do was to say I was sorry for them. What shall we say to comfort friend Moon? To go on, is a lingering disease with much pain and suffering, and death at the end: to submit to another operation will be terrible pain, and there is much danger that he may not survive it. Shall we say,

Friend Moon, we are very sorry for you