combs of virgin-honey out of a common hive; but they are chiefly the combs at the side of the hive, which are small, and do not hold much.

Now by means of the double hive, you can get a whole hive of virgin-honey. The queen-bee lays her eggs mostly in the lower hive, and seldom, if ever, goes up into the other, especially if the upper one is kept rather cool by letting in a little air at the bottom; so the lower hive is kept for the nursery, and the storehouse is on the upper floor, over it. Thus the upper hive contains no beebread, no young brood, and no dark, discoloured comb. It is filled with beautiful white combs and pure virginhoney; and this honey, sold in the combs just as it comes fresh from the hive, will fetch half as much again as the honey out of the common hives. And besides this, when the honey is taken by smoking the bees, the smoke and the brimstone spoil the taste of it; whereas, by taking it in the way I described in the last letter, in the top hive, you want neither brimstone nor smoke, and the honey is obtained fresh and sweet, just as the bees left it.

Why you will get more honey.

Because in a double hive you have a larger number of bees employed in making honey. In every hive a certain number of bees are wanted for nurses: their business is to feed and attend upon the young brood, till they are hatched. About half the bees in a common hive are supposed to be thus employed; while the other half build the combs and fetch honey. Now as the queen lays only a certain number of eggs, there is only the same number of nurses wanted in a large hive as in a small one. A hive containing thirty thousand bees will have no more nurses than a hive containing twenty thousand. Say that ten thousand are busied in nursing: then, in a hive of twenty thousand bees, there will be ten thousand left to make honey; but in a hive of thirty thousand, there will be twenty thousand making honey. So that by keeping the swarm at home in a double hive, instead of letting them go seek another dwelling, you have probably twice as many bees making honey as you would if you let them go

out.

After a little while, it is as easy to have ten double

hives as ten single ones; and ten double hives will give you more honey than ten single ones to keep for yourself, besides what you leave for the bees to live upon in winter; and as the honey is worth so much more, your profit upon the whole will be much greater.

A gentleman, who kept bees in this manner, tells us, in a book which he wrote about it, that one summer he got 38lbs of fine honey from a top hive which had been put on only thirty days before. Who knows but that you may do the same? Only I should think that was a very fine season; and we cannot expect to have such seasons very often. Your sincere friend, A BEE-KEEPER.

PRECEPTS OF OUR BLESSED LORD ILLUSTRATED BY HIS EXAMPLE.

Matt. vi. 34.-"Take, therefore, no thought for the morrow for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you."-Illustrated by His example. See Matt. viii. 20. also John iv. 34.

Matt. v. 44.-"Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you."-See Matt. xxiii. 37. John xviii. 9. Luke xxii. 50; xxiii. 34.

Matt. vi. 3.-"But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth."-See Luke V. 14.

Matt. vi. 6.-" But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet; and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret.”—See Luke v. 16; vi. 12. Matt. xiv. 23.

Matt. v. 16.-" Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven.”—See John xiv. 13. Luke xix. 37.

Matt. vii. 1.—“ Judge not, that ye be not judged."See Mark xiv. 37. John viii. 11.

Matt. vii. 7.-" Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you."-See John xi. 41.

Matt. vii. 20.-" Wherefore by their fruits shall ye know them."-See Matt. xi. 4.

Matt. xx. 27.-"Whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant."-See John xiii. 4.

Matt. xxii. 21.-" Render, therefore, unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar's; and unto God the things that are God's.-See Matt. xvii. 27.

Matt. xxii. 37.-"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind."-See John x. 17, 18. Luke ii. 49.

Matt. xxii. 39.-" Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."-See Rom. v. 6.

Matt. xxiii. 2.-"The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses' seat all, therefore, whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works for they say, and do not."-See Matt. xxvi. 17.

Matt. xxiii. 10.-" Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ."-See Luke xviii. 18, 19. Luke vi. 30.-"Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods, ask them not again."-See Matt. xi. 28; xix. 14; xx. 32. The life of Christ is one continual fulfilment of this precept. Luke ix. 23, 24.—" If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me."-See John xix. 17; xi. 8. Matt. viii. 20. The whole life of Christ, His trial and crucifixion, was one continual fulfilment of this precept.

Luke xii. 4, 5.-" Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do: but I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear; fear Him which, after he hath killed, hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him."-See John xix. 10; xviii.

11.

Luke xii. 40.-"Be ye therefore ready also for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not."See John xvii. 1.

Luke xvi. 9.-" Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness."-Luke ix. 16.

Luke xvii. 3.-" If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him."-See Luke xxii. 61, 62. 1 Cor. xv. 2. John xxi. 15.

E.A.

EXTRACTS FROM MY FAMILY BIBLE.

Matthew, chap. v. from verse 43r3, to the end of the chapter. MY DEAR FAMILY,-The Jews had heard from their teachers that they were to love their neighbour and hate their enemy; but they never heard this from God; for though they were commanded to put to death the Canaanites, yet this was a particular direction of the Lord, on account of the particular wickedness of this people. They were commanded to take care of the stranger or foreigner that came amongst them, remembering that they themselves had been strangers in the land of Egypt; and they were positively forbidden to hate an Edomite and an Egyptian. (Deut. xxiii. 7.)

The truth is, my family, that the Jews, like some Christians, were more willing to follow the notions and doctrines of men than the plain meaning of the word of God; and so they listened attentively to those who told them that God's law obliged them to love none but Jews, and them but coldly.

Fall not into the sin of the Jews; pray that you may extend your love to all enemies as well as friends, and that your love may not be measured by the selfish notions of your natural hearts and of the world you live in.

The corn of the unjust, as well as of the just, grows by the help of God's gracious sun and rain; and to the ungodly, the blessed Son of righteousness, and the Holy Spirit of truth and love, are mercifully offered. If you, then, would be the children of God, love all men: you are not to love the sins, but you must love the souls of sinners; for though the publicans or taxgatherers among the Jews, only loved those who helped them in their extortions, yet recollect that God loved you while you were yet sinners, and that while you were such, He sent His Son to die for you.

God is the high example proposed to you by your Saviour; his perfection you are through his grace to imitate, and though in all things He shows himself the very essence of all that is good, yet in this, above all, is God perfect, that He "is Love."

Make, therefore, God's perfection in love

your constant

aim, that you may be known for his children, for the disciples of his Son, and for the converted of his Spirit. A LAYMAN.

CULTURE OF THE PARSNIP.

THIS plant is much better suited for agricultural purposes than the carrot, it being more productive, and growing more freely on a greater variety of soils; it will do well on most soils that are not stony, but a clay or strong loamy soil appears best adapted for it: on these soils from 450 to 500 bushels per acre are frequently grown. The land that this root is intended to be grown on should be ploughed as deeply as possible, or trenched in the autumn; and as early in the spring as the season will allow, it should be well dressed down and cross-ploughed, at the same time ploughing in from fourteen to sixteen cart loads of good rotten dung per acre; then well scarify, harrow, and pulverize the land, and sow the seed the latter end of March, or beginning of April; but be certain that the seed is of the last year's growth, as, if kept over the year, it frequently will not vegetate. It may be sown broad-cast, drilled on the surface, or drilled on the ridge; and the manure then deposited in the same way. The latter plan is to be preferred, as the parsnip requires a considerable depth of soil, and by this means a greater depth is given. The distance between the rows should be from twenty to twenty-four inches; and in about ten days or a fortnight after the plants make their appearance they should be hoed, and in about a fortnight after set out for the crop, from ten to thirteen inches apart. If on the ridge, much care should be taken not to hoe the earth from them; and once or twice during the summer the earth should be drawn up to them, as the roots should not be exposed to the sun and the air. As parsnips are very hardy, and whilst standing in the ground will bear the most severe frost without injury, it is not necessary to dig them up to preserve them, as carrots, potatoes, &c. but they may be dug up as wanted for use; yet it would be well always to dig up a portion of the crop the latter end of October or beginning of November, because if a severe frost should set in it will be impossible to take them up at that time.