as pleasure from them than you can by the common plan. And, besides this, in the new way you need not kill your bees to get the honey. You must feel very sorry, I am sure, to smoke and burn your poor little industrious labourers after they have been working so hard for you all the summer; and I dare say you will be very glad to hear that there is an easy way of saving their lives, and having them work for you all the next summer too. Killing the bees is very wasteful as well as cruel; for the bees which you destroy are often worth as much as the honey and wax which you get, and sometimes much

more.

Well, then, if you are willing to try, you must get every thing ready before the time of swarming: and with a very little attention and trouble, I think you will succeed in saving your bees, and yet getting more honey from them, and better honey too.

What sort of Hive you must have.

First of all, get a clever hive-maker to make you a hive, not like the common ones, but in the shape of a hat without a brim, and with a flat top. The top must be made of wood: deal boards are the best, but any other wood will do. Fasten the top down to the hive with pegs or nails: but be sure you make it fast. In this flat wooden top you must cut two or three holes, as large as will let your two Make the holes round, and get some corks or bungs to stop them when they are not wanted to be open.

fingers through.

Next, you must have another hive made to put upon the top of the flat one. The best shape is with the sides straight, and the top pointed, like the picture at the side. Cut a little window in the side of it, and fix a piece of glass into the window with putty: you must also make a cover with a bit of thin board, or tin, which should be hung

over the window by a nail fixed above it, in the side of the hive, so that you can turn it aside when you want to look into the hive. By means of this window, you will be able to see the bees at work, and to find out when the hive is full of honey. This pointed hive is to be set on the top of the flat one; so that when the bees have filled the lower hive with combs, they may go up through the holes in the lid, and work into the upper one.

How to use the two Hives.

Suppose then, that you have got your two hives made: I will now tell you how to use them. Have the flattopped hive in readiness for the first swarm you can get; and keep the holes stopped with the bungs. When the swarm comes out, hive it into this flat-topped hive: and fix the hive on a stool as usual. In about ten or twelve days the bees will have filled it with comb; and it is then time to put the other hive on the top. Take out the bungs from the lid, and set the pointed hive on the top of the other, so as to cover all the holes. Then fasten it down

to the lower hive with a little cement or mortar; or drive a nail or two lightly through the lower row of the straw into the wooden top. This will keep it more secure from winds and from thieves: but do not drive the nails in too hard, as you will have to pull them out again by and by.

Another time I will tell you how to take the honey out of the upper hive without killing the bees; and now I will tell you.

Why this way of keeping bees is better than the common

way.

1. Because you will not need to kill the bees.

2. Because you will get better honey, and more of it. 3. Because your stocks will be stronger, and much less likely to die of cold or damp in the winter. 4. Because you will be able to feed them in all weathers, and with better food, and so keep them from dying of hunger.

5. Because your stocks being strong, and forward in

spring, will be likely to give you earlier and larger swarms.

These are five good reasons; and besides these, you will have the pleasure of seeing the bees work whenever you choose to watch them.

All these points I hope to explain to you in another letter, by and by: meanwhile, get your hives ready. Your sincere friend,

A BEE-KEEPER.

LABOURS OF THE CLERGY.

WE frequently hear complaints, that even the most active clergymen do very little, and spend but a small part of their time in ministering to the spiritual wants of their flock; and that a clergyman's life is a life of ease and comfort. The following extract from the diary of one, who calculated the amount of his labours in the course of a year, just to know how far he had endeavoured to fulfil his duties, will show that people frequently undervalue the work of ministers.

66 EXTRACT FROM A CLERGYMAN'S DIARY.

"In the past year I have performed divine service 178 times, and preached 141 sermons, besides 32 cottage lectures. And in addition to numerous marriages, churchings, baptisms, and funerals, I have spent 145 hours in the Sunday and day schools, and paid 1940 pastoral visits; and to pay them have walked 1350 miles, and employed 1030 hours."

Now, in going through all this, he must have been often put to great inconvenience, have been frequently obliged to sacrifice his own comfort and ease, and perhaps after all his endeavours met with unthankfulness and injury, from the very persons he was trying to serve. A love to them, and a desire to see them happy in this world and in eternity, led him to undertake what he did; these powerful motives were necessary to support him in the work. But when the clergy are thus exerting themselves for the public good, let not the people turn upon them and say that they do nothing, or that they are better paid than they deserve. S. M. L.

THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.

THE Cape of Good Hope has been generally thought to be the most southerly point of Africa, though in reality it is not quite so, there being another Cape near it which projects rather farther into the sea to the south.

Ön approaching the Cape, a very remarkable eminence may, in clear weather, be discovered at a considerable distance, and is called the Table-Mountain, from its appearance, as it terminates in a flat surface, from which the face of the rock descends almost perpendicularly. At the foot of the mountain, and between it and the sea, stands Cape Town, which is neat and well-built; it formerly belonged to the Dutch, but was taken by the English in 1795. The streets are broad and regular, and the houses built of stone, commonly not more than two stories high, on account of the violence of the wind, which at some seasons of the year, blows here with great strength and fury. The religion of the slaves is as little regarded here as in the colonies of other European states. They are treated, however, with humanity, and are lodged and boarded in a spacious house, where they are kept at work. The soil at the Cape is very productive, and the climate favourable to vegetation; fruit trees and flowers flourish there in rich abundance. It is much resorted to by invalids from the East Indies, who have suffered from the heat of those regions, and who are frequently quite recruited at the Cape without having to take a voyage to England. The mild or summer season commences here in September, and continues till March. Ships going to and from the East Indies usually touch at the Cape in order to take in provisions and water.

FLEMISH HUSBANDRY.

THE sagacious agriculturists of Flanders confined themselves to small allotments which did not exceed their means. These admirable cultivators not only added gradually to the extent of the soil which they tilled; every year the plough was made to go deeper; half an inch or an inch was thus gradually added to the depth of