five cents a pair, and shirts at 50 cents per dozen. She is compelled to accept less pay than men for the same service performed. We had a friend, chosen | as principal of a school on account of her efficiency, but she was compelled to accept lower wages than her predecessor, who was a man, and dismissed for his incompetency. But we have never found a dealer unscrupulous enough to offer less for a pound of honey because it was produced by a woman.

spects, a severe drought is just the nicest time in the world to rear bees and queens. Neighbor H. once said something, to the effect that he would be glad when the honey season was over, or he could get along a great deal better by feeding, than he could when the honey came in so fast as to be cramping the queens for room all the time. Never let bees die, simply because of a drought, girls; and when you can't find any

KEEP THEM.

DEAR GLEANINGS:- I thought you would like to

and so I will attempt to make a report that I hope will be of some interest to you and your readers. My two sisters and myself formed, last year, under the guidance of an old and tried friend, and scientific apiarist, a co-operative apiary association to carry on bee culture on our father's farm, adjoining the farfamed Bonaventure Cemetery. We had wintered three colonies on the summer stand without the least protection - not even a honey-board, and did not lose a single colony, nor did we perceive much dwindling; although we had the severest winter known for forty years. So you see the question of wintering, that is so extensively discussed in the bee papers, does not puzzle us here at all. Last spring we divided each of our three colonies into three, and with some nuclei given us by a friend, we attempted to build up fifteen or sixteen good colonies. After the unusually severe and protracted winter, spring vegetation came on rather late, but with a rush. The sudden abundance of forage seemed to demoralize our bees; they were taken with a swarming rage that nothing could control. Cutting out the queen-cells did not produce the least effect; and even the weakest colonies could not resist the swarming impetus.

After the turmoil was over, we found ourselves the possessors of 17, more or less, weak colonies, which we hoped to be able to build up into strong colonies for the fall crop. But we reckoned without the host. First we were invaded by foul brood, which destroyed two colonies before we could stay the pestilence by freely spraying with thymole; then came the long drought, lasting nearly five months, and proving to us as destructive as the last winter was to the Northern bee-keepers. In consequence, we could build up and retain only six colonies, and did not get a pound of surplus honey. And still we fared better than many a bee-keeper in these parts; for many lost their entire stock. But we do not feel discouraged, for we know that this was an extraordinary year, and that we will soon be able to recuperate, so do not put us into the Growlery. I think young women have no business, anyhow, to go into the Growlery, for they ought always to be of a hopeful and cheerful mood. At any rate I try always to preserve that. Hoping that I may be able to send you a more favorable report next year, I am Yours truly,T. LA DORA MILLER.

Savannah, Ga., Nov. 22, 1881.

I most emphatically agree with your closing sentiment, my friend; for if the young ladies should take to growling, where in the world should we all land? By the way, where was that "scientific apiarist," all the time during the drought? Couldn't he send or give you a little sugar, or something to keep your bees from starving? In some re

HILL'S DEVICE FOR WINTERING. Please send me two of those things to put on the frames (Hill's device). I know it is nice, for I put some large spools im to hold the chaff cushions up in the middle, last winter; made candy after your recipe, and fed a small swarm, and they did nicely. A. E. HARRower.

Lawrenceville, Tioga Co., Pa., Nov. 28, 1881.

TELEPHONES TO TELL WHEN BEES ARE SWARMING. I took down my telephone from the house to the shop, on account of the incessant thumping heard at each end by the bees. I thought it would be too bad if it served them as it did the pigeons which I so often see lying dead under our telegraph line here. R. WILKIN.

San Buenaventura, Cal., Nov. 28, 1881.

FLORIDA.

Bees have been gathering steadily for the past eight weeks, some swarms having stored 30 lbs. of surplus in that time. There is every prospect of their continuing at it until Christmas, as the sawpalmetto berry crop is still to come when the present one is exhausted. W. S. HART.

New Smyrna, Fla., Nov. 15, 1881.

UPS AND DOWS IN SCOTLAND.

I have got your A B C book, and think it is up to the times. I try the bees in a small way, but I have not got a lick of honey this season, as I had even to feed in the month of June to keep them from starying. I had a rare good "smile" last year, so can stand a little long face this, but don't mean to "growl." THOS. EWART.

Lanrick Castle, Doune, Perthshire, Scot'd, Nov., '81.

IN THE SUN OR OUT OF THE SUN, FOR WINTER. I have a row of hives standing in the shade of a south building, and the sun will not shine on them till spring. All are on summer stands. Now, which will do better, move them to where the sun shines on them, or shade till spring?

MRS. D. A. DONNELLY.

Valmont, Colo., Nov. 24, 1881. [This matter of shade in winter is an unsettled point; and, if I am correct, different winters would give different results. I would say, give us the sunshine. What has been the experience of others?]

AN APOLOGY.

The Southeastern Michigan Bec-Keepers' Association met the 15th. There was a small attendance, but a very interesting meeting was had. A little apology for not giving notice in GLEANINGS Would

be satisfactory to your subscribers, and relieve me from blame. New officers were chosen.

A. PRUDDEN, Ex-Pres.

Ann Arbor, Mich., Dec. 20, 1881.

I do most humbly apologize, friend Prudden, and if you will tell me when you meet next, I will give you a notice that I hope will make all amends.]

HONEY-PAILS AND CANS.

I had some honey-cans made this year, and the party that made them put mouth-pieces to pour in and out of, and I assure you that it is annoying to pour honey out of them or in them. I had three 100-lb. cans, and two 6-gallon cans made. Can you manage to nest the large cans, say from 50 lbs. down to 1 gallon? or for what can you sell me 1 dozen 1gallon cans and 1 dozen 1⁄2-gallon cans? Now, what

I wish, is enough different sizes so that when I extract I can fill the cans from the extractor, and in that way obviate the difficulty of drawing honey when I go to market, as it will be in suitable vessels to deliver to purchasers. Please let me know about freight and price at once, so I can order when I send for hives. I know that you advertise nests of cans such as Dadant uses, but I do not wish any thing under 1⁄2 gallon, as I do not retail much under that J. D. FOOSHE,

size.

Coronaca, S. C., Nov. 30, 1881.

[I think, friend F., the tendency is, of late, to prefer covered pails instead of cans, for we then can nest them in shipping. Candied honey can be casily got out, and the pails are always wanted by the purchaser of the honey. Covered pails will be found on our counter list, from 1 pint to 1% gallons. We can furnish 5-gallon pails for 50 cents each, and 10gallon pails for 75 cents each. For prices by the hundred, see lists. Freight will be very much less on nested pails, because they make a solid package, compared with covered pails all of one size.]

Blasted Hopes,

Or Letters from Those Who have Made Bee Culture a Failure.

SEND you three dollars for three subscribers. I thought I could get a club of five by this time, but I have failed. The bee-keepers in this section think bees are a perfect failure, and those who write for the paper tell too many big stories about the amount of honey they get from a stock of bees. I am not discouraged yet quite, if the honey don't pour in by the barrel. I have twenty stands nicely tucked away in boxes, filled with chaff, to try my luck again this winter. But there is one thing that I have got disgusted with; that is transferring and fixing up my neighbors' bees, and then they will let them stand and never look after them till something goes wrong, no odds how much I tell them how to look to them, then somebody is to blame. I love to work with the bees, and have worked and handled them for three years, and taken and read two bee journals, so I think I know something about them. T. M. PEARSON.

Tippecanoe City, O., Nov. 26, 1881.

That is right, friend P.; do not get discouraged, even if honey does not pour in by the barrel right away. God will send you the barrels full in his own good time, providing you do not get weary in well doing, nor get out of patience with your neighbors. I wonder if they will feel hurt if they should see this. If both you and they have a Christian spirit, they will not, assuredly; but on the contrary it will do them good to be told of what they must know is their own shortcomings. It just now occurs to me that this letter don't belong in Blasted Hopes after all.

TOBACCO COLUMN.

N the first place, in regard to stopping Our Homes: I vote, "No, sir!" every time. I quit the use of tobacco after you offered to pay men out of your own pocket (you don't owe me any thing for

scratching, or scraping. At first he thought it was overhead, but finally decided it was under the floor. His father could not well be under the floor, for there was not room for him, unless he lay down on his face, and crawled. He opened the door on the side opposite the storm, and looked under. There was his father, sure enough, scraping out a place in the dirt, so he could manage to sit up by bending low his head. John was soon under there too, by his side, and very soon, by the aid of the spade, shovel, and hoe, they could both work quite comfortably. It is true, the water started two or three times to run in on to them, from the rain; but by vigorously banking up the dirt it was kept away, and by breakfast time a place was made that would almost do to call a cellar. Did they enjoy it? To be sure, they did; and as John bowed his head while the father asked God's blessing on all the little household at their morning meal, I am sure every one of the four echoed his words from the bottom of their hearts, even though it was a damp and rainy morning. Before noon, John's father struck a rock which proved to be the same one found down by the new spring. The rock was at a depth that made it rather high for the cellar bottom, and John proposed they should split out pieces, and use them for a wall on which to support the building.

"But we are not masons, my boy, and we don't know how to cut stone and lay it up into a wall, even if we had a mason's tools." But, father, I know we can do it, if we only try hard; and we can do it rainy days, so it won't cost any thing."

"All right," said his father; “we will do our best at it."

With the spade, a place was cut into the rock, comparatively soft through dampness, right under the center of the house, and in this a post was set, that just drove under the main timber of the house, effectually preventing the tottering of the floor overhead, even if John should get excited and jump up and down at the success of their experiments. They soon found the hole in the rock filling with water.

66

66

Why, father, it must be another spring."
Very likely."

"Oh! I'll tell you! We will just make that drain in the rock, that runs up to the spring, come clear up into the cellar, and then the water won't do any hurt. Can we not do that, father ?"

"I was just thinking of the same thing, John, and I think we can do it." It took a great deal of hard work, but it was done. More than that, a place was scooped out in the rock, for setting pans of milk, and there they had a nice little spring-house right in the cellar.

which you will see in the picture on page 563, Nov. No. A secure dam of stone was made across the brook, and in the center of the little pond thus formed was a tuft of aquatic plants and grasses,-a sort of little island in appearance. Of course, the children all took a very lively interest in the work, and when the beautiful little fishes were set at liberty, their admiration and joy hardly knew any bounds. The fish soon became quite tame, and would come up to be fed as readily as a lot of chickens, when no stranger was near; but at the first glimpse of a strange face they were off under the little island so quickly that no one would ever dream there were any fish at all in the little pond. However, if he came up and stood there a while, pretty soon, to his great surprise, he saw a beautiful fish in the water, where, a second before, there were none, as it came so suddenly and quietly he was half tempted to say it then and there for the first time sprung into existence. In this way, another and then another would all at once start into view, with a suddenness that would lead you to declare most positively they could not have swum out from the weeds in the center island. Well, as little fishes, like little bees, are always ripe for mischief or adventure, it was not long before they found their way through the subterranean passage, up into Mr. Jones's cellar, and merry times did the children have watching for them by lamplight, as they came trooping in one after the other, only to scud around the pans of milk a few times, and then hustle off down to the pond again. through the narrow way cut in the rock. Of course, everybody had to see the speckled trout, and so it transpired that all of Onionville, and some folks who didn't live there, came to see the sight, and were thereby induced to make purchases at John's "hotel." Of course, every one must have a drink out of the tin cup, and then pretty nearly every visitor had to take a cup home, just because - well, I really do not know why everybody had to buy one, unless it was because they looked so bright and clean; for John did not make them much faster than people wanted them.

Close beside the little trout pond was placed a gentle colony of Italian bees, and the sight of the pretty creatures, as they sported in front of the hive, which was nicelý leveled up, and banked in front with white sand, was almost as great an attraction to visitors as the speckled trout. A path ran up to the barrel, where one could look in and see the sand still boiling up in the bottom, as the pure spring water came forth from the rock. On either side of this path, and, in fact, over the whole tract of ground that had been the slop-hole, John's father had sown turnips, and planted white beans, as these were the only two crops he knew of that would mature so late in the

ly in sight, it was kept very cleanly tilled; for, in fact, so pleasant a spot was it that the whole family were frequently out there with their hoes; and Nature, as if in gratitude for their care, smiled with a most luxuriant vegetation. Some way, some flowers got in along the border, and among them were a

"But, mother, is it not most beautiful?" said John.

"Yes, my boy, it is most beautiful: but you know the beauty did not come without most earnest, hard work."

"No, indeed, it did not, mother; but why did we not have it so last summer?"

The mother did not answer; but if we could have looked into her thoughts, I think the answer would have been, that, a year ago God and the Bible had not yet entered into their little household. The garden and little dooryard were not the only things that had changed, for now the whole family, including both John and Mary, were members of the little church just over the way, and not only had they helped some to pay the minister his salary, but a payment had been made on the old gray horse; and with the amount of work Mr. Jones had found to do with him, the prospect was fair that he would be entirely paid for in due time. All these changes had come in but little more than two months' time, since that eventful Saturday night.

As Onionville is a rather small place for very much trade in a certain line, John found he must make larger articles of tinware, to do very much of a business, and these would require expensive tools and machinery. Besides, the vacation was over, and he must go to school. John once did offer the suggestion, that he should attend to the hotel, in place of going to school; but a single look from his mother made him drop that idea.

Is not our boy, with all his skill and ingenuity, to be also one of education and cul

ture?

But, mother, I can work at the tinware nights and mornings and Saturdays, can I

not?"

"Surely, my son, if you do not deprive yourself of the outdoor exercise schoolboys always need."

"And you will sell things to folks when they come after them, will you not?"

To be sure, I will; and days when father does not find work he is going to make some things of wood that we hope may sell as well as the tinware."

"Oh! what things, mother?"

"Well, we do not exactly know yet, but perhaps, when you get home from school tonight, he may show you some of them."

Sure enough, when John got home that night his father had quite a number of knife or nail boxes made up, just like the picture below:

THE TEN-CENT KNIFE-BOX.

The boxes were made of basswood, that he purchased at a planing-mill near by, and

OLDROYD'S MITER-BOX.

You see, he sawed the boards out to the right width, planed one edge, and placed these planed edges all exactly level. Then they were wedged in the miter-box, which had a cut to give exactly the right bevel and slant, and he could saw a tight joint as easily as he could cut a board square off. This made the sides and ends; and when he made the middle piece, that holds the handle, he clamped several boards together, cut the ends in the miter-box as before, and then, without loosening them, he bored three holes the corners, and smoothed the oblong hole through all, where the hand-hole is, cut out with sandpaper. Then the whole were firmly screwed in his vise, and the tops finished down to a pattern, with draw-knife, plane, and sandpaper. After the boxes were all nailed (except the bottom) they were turned over, and the lower edges dressed level; and then a 4-inch bottom was nailed on, so as to project a little on all sides, as you see. The trays, as he made them, were 8 x 12 at the top, and 10 x 7 at the bottom. The sides were 2 in. wide. John and Mary started out in high glee to sell them among their neighbors. John took six, and Mary four. John's father was a carpenter by trade, and knew how to do a nice job, and the pretty white basswood, so neatly sandpapered. seemed to captivate everybody's eye. only ten cents?" said the people curiously; "why, I am sure I can afford that trifling sum;" and before dark every box was sold, and people were coming to see if they had got any more of those "handy little boxes." Even the one that John's mother had got so tidily placed on end in the pantry, leaning back against the wall, with the forks on one side and the knives in the other, had to be emptied and given to a customer. Friend Jones had worked pretty hard, and got only $1.10 for his day's work, and the lumber he had used had cost 22 cents; but still, he felt happy. This lot had been but an experiment, and he knew he could make twice as many the next day, having every thing all arranged as he had. He found it quite à saving to have John do the nailing, as he could, after a little practice, nail one in five minutes, right along.

And

One evening at supper, John's mother looked quite tired. Selling the cups, boxes, etc., aside from her other work, proved quite a task, and even her boy was kind enough to notice it, and put in a plea that she should