are but few to do it, of course it will be a long time about, and much of the fine part of the season will be lost. There are the combs to be repaired and got ready, beebread to be collected, the young brood to be fed, and honey to be gathered for the food of those who stay at home and all this when flowers are scarce, and long distances must be travelled to get at them. The more labourers, therefore, the better: for the work will be done more speedily, and the bees will sooner be at liberty to gather honey for the winter, and for their owners,

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It is a great point to get large and early swarms. By giving plenty of room in the old hive, you may often keep the stocks from swarming at all: but as you will want swarms sometimes, it is well to get them as good as you` can. The best swarm is that which is the largest and the earliest. An ordinary swarm may weigh about 4lbs.: some have been known to weigh as much as 8lbs. and a swarm which does not weigh 3lbs. is worth very little. You may be curious, perhaps, to know how many bees there are in a swarm or a hive. It has been calculated that one pound weight of bees contains nearly four thousand five hundred, in number. So that in a swarm which weighs 4lbs. there are nearly eighteen thousand bees. And as a hive contains often about double as much as a swarm, we may reckon that in a good stock there are frequently more than thirty thousand bees. An astonishing number! particularly when we consider that they are all the offspring of a single mother. For there is never more than one mother-bee in a hive at the same time: and when a swarm goes out, it is led by a mother-bee, hatched only a very short time before. The mother-bee is called the Queen and this is a very good name for her; for she governs all the rest like a real queen, and they all pay her great respect. Some think that the old queen goes out with the new swarm, and that the young one, that is just born, stays at home with the old stock. The queen is chiefly busied in laying eggs and we are told that she lays from thirty to fifty thousand in a single season.

The swarms generally begin to come out in the month of May. They have been known to be as early as April; and I have even heard of their happening in March: but

May is the time when they may usually be expected to begin. Much depends on the situation of the hives, and the forwardness of the season. In a sheltered and warm situation, they will swarm earlier than in an exposed place, and in a mild and forward season earlier than in a cold and late one. A good deal depends also upon the management of the stocks in winter; and this is a matter which every bee-keeper should carefully attend to.

The chief thing in winter-management, next to feeding, is to keep the stocks from wasting by exposure to cold out of doors. A bee does well enough in the coldest weather, as long as it keeps within doors: but if it gets out, it is very soon liable to die of cold. Observe therefore,

How to keep the Stocks from wasting in winter.

If you lookround the hives in cold weather, you will often see bees lying dead on the ground, or, at least, seemingly dead; and if you pick them up, and put them in a warm room, they will come to life again. This shows that it was the cold that had benumbed them; and if they had remained on the ground much longer, they would have died quite. This continual loss of life makes a considerable difference in time, and very much weakens the stock before spring comes round again.

To prevent this, the bees must be kept as much as possible from coming out. The door of the hive must, however, on no account be stopped up, for the bees must have air, and must come out occasionally. But the way to keep them at home at such times as it is dangerous for them to come out, is by darkening the door. The most dangerous weather for bees is when the sun shines bright, but the air is keen and chilly. The warm sunshine wakes them up, and tempts them to get abroad, and then the cold air benumbs their little limbs, and they never get home again.

The best way of keeping the sun out, is to turn the hives round with the door-way to the north. They may be turned in November, and so remain till March; and this plan does so well, that the bees will seldom venture out but in safety. But if the hives are so placed that this cannot be done, the next best plan is to put a tile, or a

piece of board, before the mouth of each hive, so as to keep off the sun from ever shining into the hole. This will tolerably well keep out the light and heat, and yet let in the air; and the bees will not be tempted out to their destruction, but still will have room enough to pass out and in. This very little trouble of turning your hives, or putting up a board before the door-way, will be abundantly rewarded, by saving great numbers of your bees, and enabling them to requite your kindness by working hard for you all through another summer.

I have now told you what I had to say about the management of your bees; and I think I cannot finish better than by reminding you, that all the industry, and cleverness, and wonderful sagacity of these interesting_little creatures, are the qualities with which their nature is furnished by the express design of the great Creator. When we admire the curious instincts and beautiful works of these insects, we ought to admire in them the handiwork of God. And how much would the constant recollection of the universal presence, and power, and goodness of the Almighty, both increase our enjoyment of his gifts, and draw our minds to grateful adoration of the Giver. And if our hearts were set upon learning wisdom, how many a lesson might we gather from observing the actions even of so insignificant a creature as a bee. The wisest man that ever lived says, in the Book of Proverbs, "Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest'." And what Solomon, or, rather, Almighty God by the mouth of Solomon, instructs us to learn from the ant, we may in like manner learn also from the bee. If we would learn, by observing the bee, to imitate in our own daily life its diligence, patience, and forethought for times to come, how well might we live, both for this world and the next. By peaceable and persevering industry, with the blessing of God, we might abundantly provide for the few and simple wants of this present life:

"Man wants but little here below,

Nor wants that little long."

1 Prov. vi. 6.

And, above all, if we could but look forward to the future with as much earnestness as the poor little bees show in preparing for their future wants, how different would be our behaviour with regard to our spiritual concerns! The bee employs every shining hour of the summer in gathering a store against the long dark months of winter; and if she were idle in summer, in winter she would perish.—But we have to prepare for a much longer night, in which no man can work: the night of death and eternity. If we neglect the care of our souls in this. world, we shall perish eternally in the next; and when our day of grace is over, we shall have nothing left us but to lie down in sorrow, with the bitter lamentation of the sluggard: "The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved!" Your sincere friend, A BEE-KEEper.

CHARACTER OF A SCHOOLMASTER.

PIETY and godliness in a schoolmaster are of the first and last importance. He must, indeed, bring to his place a sound and competent knowledge of the things he undertakes to teach, otherwise his very scholars will despise him, and their parents will have good reason for complaint. But what will the best talents and acquirements profit, if along with them he brings a worldly and irreligious spirit, a disposition that either makes light of gospel truth, or treats it as a thing of forms, to be learnt as a task, and dismissed as a task; if he sets an example of violent and ill-ordered temper, is savage in punishment, and excessive and unreasonable in rebuke; if he is light-minded, wanting in seriousness, in self-control, or in a kindly or compassionate disposition? Oh, believe me, the choice of a schoolmaster or schoolmistress is a step of the utmost consequence a bad selection may go far to mar, and even spoil, the effect of all beside. Personal piety, a consistent character, a serious and sincere tone of feeling and acting, as far removed from cant and grimace as from levity and impropriety;-such are the qualities which, above all other, we would desire in the teachers of our children. For it is not the Bible chapter carefully repeated, nor the catechism and collect drilled into the

head, that will impress religion in any effectual form upon the heart. Children are shrewd and sagacious enough to observe in a moment the difference between the lesson read in the book, and the lesson set forth in the life; and they are worked upon far more by the example acted before their eyes, than by the precept conveyed in the task. One must assist the other to produce the full effect. By the blessing of a merciful God, it has sometimes come to pass, that in spite of the grievous deficiency of the human teacher in vital godliness, the word of Scripture, and the various holy lessons taught at school, have made their way against all disadvantages, and formed pious and Christianlike characters in the face of all earthly hindrances but this is not the case ordinarily. We must work by means, and if the means are faulty, we have no right to expect satisfactory results. There is an awakening of the country as to this matter. The value of good schoolmasters and good schoolmistresses is better understood and appreciated. Training schools, for forming the teachers, are in the course of institution; many already are established, and at work. And from these a more marked improvement in the system, and conduct, and principles of national education may reasonably be expected, than from any one single cause since a national school first opened its doors to the children of England. -From a Sermon by the Rev. E. Baines.

Sent by M. D.

MR. HATCHETT'S METHOD OF RESTORING MUSTY WHEAT.

THE wheat must be put into a vessel large enough to contain at least three times the quantity, which must be filled up with boiling water, stirring it occasionally, and removing the hollow and decayed grain, which will float. When the water has become cold, draw it off, and rinse the corn with cold water, to remove any must it may have taken up: drain it completely, and spread it immediately on the floor of a kiln; dry it thoroughly, taking care to stir and turn it frequently. This has succeeded with the most musty corn, on which ordinary kiln-drying had been tried without effect; and the diminution of weight by the