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RULES AND REGULATIONS

To be observed by MOTHERS and NURSES.-By Th. N. R. Continued from p. 182.

DIRECTIONS FOR BATHING INFANTS.-CLEANLI· NESS AND ECONOMY.

A YOUNG child must be bathed every morning and evening in water warm, as already directed; but after he is a month old, if he has no cough, fever, nor eruption, the bath should be colder and colder (if the season is mild) and gradually used as it comes from the fountain. After carefully drying the whole body, head and limbs, another dry soft cloth, a little warmed, should be used gently, to take all the damp from the parts that fold together. Then rub the limbs ; but when you rub the body, you must take special care not to press upon the stomach or belly. On these parts your hånd should move in a circle, because the bowels lie in that direction. The utmost tenderness is necessary in drying the head, and no binding should be made close about it. Squeezing the head, or combing it roughly, may cause distempers, and even the loss of reason. A small soft brush, lightly ap plied, is safer than a comb. Clean cloaths every morning and evening will tend more to a child's health and comfort, than the same expense laid out in any other way. I knew a very poor woman who had only the remnants of things she had in better days, to give her youngest child. She patch ed out four suits for him, and as she worked so hard that she had time for washing only once in the week, she put his cloths out to sweeten in the air. He had a fresh suit every day. One in use, one laid up clean to be ready in case the twe that were out of doors might get rain; and so the baby was always free of any disagreeable smells, and healthy and merry as a little bird. This good woman's daughter, when married, lived in a town. She could not have the benefit of the fragrant birch bushes to spread her child's clothes upon, but she had lines in the outside of her window, on which she hung the little wardrobe. She durst not leave them out at nights; but the air they received in the day was serviceable.

To be continued.

The Progress of Genius

FROM OBSCURE AND LOW SITUATIONS, TO EMINENCE AND CELEBRITY.

"Genius is that gift of God which learning cannot confer, which no disadvantages of birth or education can wholly obscure."

MATTHEW PRIOR,

AN eminent English poet and statesman, on losing his father, when he was very young, was taken care of by his uncle, who after sending him to school, took him home with an intention of bringing him up to his own business, a vintner near Charing-cross. He still, however, pursued his studies as occasion permitted, and happening to give the Earl of Dorset a specimen of his abilitics, when his lordship at one time was in his uncle's house with some company, this nobleman became the patron of young PRIOR, and sent him to St. John's college Cambridge, of which he was chosen Fellow, and afterwards filled some of the most distinguished offices under government.

ALLAN RAMSAY,

THE far-famed Scottish pastoral poet, was originally bred to the profession of a barber in Edinburgh.

He particularly distinguished himself by several ingenious poems and songs in his native dialect, among which the favourite rural drama of the Gentle Shepherd has long been held in deserved esteem.

Directions for managing BEES.

(Continued from p. 185)

THE queen is larger than the working bee.. Her belly and legs are a brighter yellow than theirs; but her upper parts are darker. Her hinder part tapers more, and her wings do not cover half her body. The wings of the drones and working Bees cover them intirely. Young bees are whitish and mouse-colour. Old bees black and glossy.

The drones should be killed when the first swarm is off. Sit opposite to the hive in a fine day, and press them to death with a small flat board as they come out. Never in

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terrupt

terrupt your bees in their natural processes, but in cases of absolute necessity. They sometimes lie out in clusters on the edge of the hive, even so long as a fortnight; and foolish bee-masters urge them to desperation by forcing them into hives. A judicious manager will watch their motions from eight in the morning till five in the afternoon, and if he has an old hive with combs, he will place it near them; but he knows it is in vain to compel them to go there. They are waiting the maturity of a young queen, and will not settle elsewhere, till she accompanies them. Small swarms are not worth keeping, and after the end of July the hive should be prevented from swarming by joining a piece to it at the bottom.

Take care to keep large hives for winter, not more than three years old, and well stocked with bees. A hive for preserving should weigh from thirty to forty pounds. Place them in October where they are to remain, observing the same precautions against vermin, or winds, as directed for April, and the milder months; and giving them if possible a distance of six or eight yards asunder, that they may not rob each other. Set your hive after sun-set. Plaister the edges firmly round with plaister lime, all except the entrance. Fit a piece of hard wood to the aperture; cut two holes a quarter of an inch square, and fix the board as a door with plaister lime. Cover the hive with drawn straw tied together at the top; and fix it with straw ropes around. Cut the straw a quarter of an inch below the board, for a few lengths may conduct vermin into the torpid community. Once in four or five weeks raise the hive from the board after sunset. Scrape the board clean, and brush away dead bees. Observe when you turn them up if they move their wings; if not, you must bring them into a warmer situation, free from noise, and the light excluded. Keep them there till the extreme rigour of the season is past, and then return them to their old stance after sun-set. If you move more than one hive be sure to mark the stance and hive, that you may return each to its own station.

Sunshine in snow is destructive to bees if they get out. You must then put a platting of twigs accross the holes to give air and yet to confine the inmates. Never confine them more than 8 or 10 days, for they must get out to relieve nature, and except in snow and sunshine their own sagacity will direct when it is safe to go out. It is absolutely neces sary for their health to have leave for going in and out in tolerably mild weather.

The best way to feed bees is to have a thick wooden hoop, about six inches deep, to set upon the board when you take

up

up the hive, and set honey-combs, with the natural honey in them, or filled with sugar a little moistened, and set the hive upon it. A piece of an old hive will make a good hoop. Old empty combs should be carefully kept covered up with a piece of thin linen or muslin, in a very clean place, for feeding the bees. Weak hives should be removed at a distance from the rest, when they must be fed; if near, the strong will rob them. Remove them in the following manner. Take up the board with the hive, tie a cloth firm over it, and with a hand-barrow carry it gently between two where you wish to place it. Troughs of pithy wood, filled with moistened sugar or honey, and thrust in at the aperture of the hive, is a good method of feeding. Be sure when you raise a hive from the board, to fix it down again with plaister lime.

Be not hasty in concluding a hive is dead, though the bees seem inactive. Expose them at mid-day, turned upon a white sheet, where the sun is most powerful, for half an hour; then house them in a warm place, where neither noise, bad smells, nor light can annoy them.

If you wish to purchase a hive, defer it till May. Set careful persons to watch at several stalls, that they may reckon, by watch time, every loaded bee that comes in for ten or fifteen. minutes. That which has most labourers should be your choice. All the refuse honey, after draining the best in jars,, should be kept in a clean place for feeding the bees..

The management of honey is very simple. As soon as the hive has been smoked, let it be well shaken to clear away the dead bees. Loose the sticks with a pair of pincers. ↑ Take out the combs, laying each different quality separate. The colour shews whether it is fine or inferior. If you wish to press some in the comb, chuse the fairest and such as have not been broken: carefully brush off dead bees. Wrap each comb in white paper, such as lines the blue cover of loaf sugar. Set it edge ways as it stood in the hive, and you may preserve it many months. The combs yon mean to drain must be cut in-slices. Lay them on a hair-search, supported by a rack over the jar, in which the honey is to remain; for the less it is stirred after draining, it keeps the better Fill the jar to the brim, as you will have to take off a little scum. when it has settled. A bladder well washed in luke warm. water, ought to be laid over the double fold of white paper with which it is covered. Mr BONNAR, whose ingenious experiments deserve to be generally known, recommends a. method for saving the bees before the hive is smoked. Werefer the reader with much pleasure to Mr BONNAR'S Treat ise, for many particulars highly interesting to Bee-masters.

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The N. R.

USEFUL INFORMATION.

ACCIDENTS FROM WATER.

PRECAUTIONS IN BATHING.

Never venture into COLD WATER when your body is much heated.

DR. FRANKLIN relates an instance, within his knowledge, of four young men who, having worked at harvest in the heat of the day, with a view of refreshing themselves plunged into a spring of cold water: two died upon the spot, a third the next morning, and the fourth recovered with great difficulty. Nearly allied to this case is another melancholy one which has been lately reported to us in the newspapers: On Monday evening, the 16th of February, died at her house in Grafton-street, after only two days illness, Lady Catharine Stewart, wife of Major General Stewart, and sister of Earl Darnley. The indiscreet application of water to her head when she was warm, is said to have been the cause of the death of this amiable and accomplished woman.

Be very careful where you Bathe

THOUGH you can swim ever so well, lest there should be weeds to entangle your feet, or any thing else to endanger your life. It is by the neglect of this very caution, that many good swimmers expose themselves to greater danger than those who cannot swim at all, and their very expertness becomes fatal to them, by tempting them into places where their destruction is inevitable.*

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If you fall into the water, or get out of your depth and cannot swim,

Ir you wish to drown yourself, kick and splash about as violently as you can, and you'll presently sink. · On the contrary, if, impressed with the idea that you are lighter than the water, you avoid all violent action, and calmly and steadily

strive

*A gentleman who was bathing some time ago in the river near Cambridge, is said to have lost his life by venturing among some weeds, where he got entangled. People are sometimes seized with the cramp when bathing, by which they are much endangered. For the cure of the cramp when swimming, Dr FRANKLIN recommends a vigorous and violent shock of the part affected, by suddenly and forcibly stretching out the leg, which should be darted out of the water into the air, if possible.

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