l8 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 



at work studying up one that he can sell for 

 live cents on the front of his " hotel ; " and 

 when he gets a lot made I will give you a 

 picture of them. 



I am a girl ten years old. Grandpa keeps bees, and 

 takes Gleanings, and I often read the children's 

 letters, and I thoug:ht I would write too. Last win- 

 ter, all of grandpa's bees died. There were 13 swarms- 

 Last July, the 10th, there was a nice swarm came 

 here and went into a hive, and went to work before 

 we saw them. Grandpa did not want them in that 

 hive, so he changed them into another one. Now 

 they are at work nicely. He bovight 3 more swarms, 

 and he has 4 to winter. Grandda sent oil to Mr. 

 Burch for some bees, but they never came. I like 

 bees' honey, but I don't like them much, for they 

 sting me. I have a little brother who goes and sticks 

 his Angers into the holes where they come out. He 

 Is 5 years old. Luvan Gagek. 



White's Valley, Wayne Co., Pa., Dec. 7, 1881. 



Very well done, Luvan. You have given 

 several quite important facts, and they are 

 told, too, in quite a regular, orderly way. If 

 all the grown-up people ever get too lazy to 

 write any more letters, we might get up a 

 very good bee journal by the children's writ- 

 ings alone. We should probably get a good 

 many wholesome truths that we don't get 

 now. 



I am a little girl 11 years old. IMy brother takes 

 Gleanings. 1 like to read about Mr. Merrybanks 

 and his neighbor, it is so funny. My brother got a 

 swarm of bees last spring. They swarmed four 

 times; one swarm went off, and he sold one. He got 

 stung twice, and ic swelled up so that he could not j 

 see very well. 1 go to Sunday-school. 1 like to go 

 very well. The teacher is our minister's wife. She | 

 is very nice indeed. I study the Fifth Reader, spell- r 

 ing, geography, arithmetic, history. My pa is a 

 farmer; he keeps about 10 head of cattle; he built a 

 silo last summer, and he is about to open it; but as 

 he h»s not, I can not tell how it has kept. I like 

 very much to read, so 1 thought I would write for 

 the Juvenile Department. Lizzie D.Flint. 



Waterford, Oxford Co., Me., Dec. S, 1881. 



A^ery good, Lizzie, and 1 want particularly 

 to know about that silo, l^lease tell us 

 next time liow it turned out, won't you V 



nicer than any person could do it. When winter 

 comes, my papa has to feed them sometimes. One 

 day I went with papa among the bees to help him. 

 I put a veil and a pair of gloves on, thinking they 

 could not sting me. The first hive we went to were 

 hybrids, and they were very cross. The next were 

 Italians, and I thought they would be still crosser; 

 but they were as quiet as could be. He took some 

 honey out, and when the other bees smelled the 

 fresh honey they began to rob, and I got two stings 

 in one hand. 1 have been stung lots of times since, 

 but I have never been among the bees since. I am 

 now 12 years old. Mabel Nelson. 



AVyandott, Kan., Dec. T, 1881, 



Very good, Mabel, especially the part 

 about making fdn. If all the little girls 

 would tell how they help their papas do such 

 things, it might explain a good many mat- 

 ters to even our older readers, that we 

 grown-up ones don't think of. 



At school the other day, my teacher, Miss Farr, 

 gave us bees as a subject for a composition; and as 

 1 had a pretty good one, papa said 1 might send it to 

 you. 



A COMPOSITION ON BEES. 



Bees are very busy little creatures, gathe ing 

 honey in the summer, and eating up some in win- 

 ter. My papa has 50 stands of bees; some hybrids 

 and Some Italians. I often help him with the foun- 

 dation for the bees. He has a machine for making 

 foundation; he first melts the wax, and then dips a 

 thin board in the can of wax two or three times, 

 then cools it off in water. After he has enough 

 sheeted he turns the crank of the machine, and I 

 pull the wax through on the other side, and it is 

 pressed all over in little squares; then he trims the 

 edges, puts it in frames, and then puts it in the 

 hive. The bees then work it out into cells, and fill 

 them with honey, and seal it up, so that the honey 

 can not run out ; and when it is taken out it is sealed 



Well, Mr. Root, I am a sister of Julia Bannon, who 

 has been writing to you, so I thought I would write 

 you a letter and get a nice little book too. I am 13 

 years old. My pa gave me a stand of bees two years 

 ago, and they swarmed this summer, and that made 

 me two stands of bees. Julia and I helped pa to 

 pack the bees away in winter quarters last week. 

 Wg are going to send and get a yellow queen from 

 you for my bees in the spring, if we get them win- 

 tered all right. I read Gleanings, and think ever 

 so much of it. We have very nice and pleasant 

 weather here yet. I go to school and study reading, 

 writing, arithmetic, geography, grammar, spelling, 

 and drawing. My teacher's name is Miss Coplin. I 

 am a Sunday-school scholai-, and I get a nice book 

 every Sunday. You will find inclosed 25 cents for 

 c;irpenter's dividers. I nm going to make a present 

 to my pa of it. Dellie Bannon. 



Archie, Venango Co., Pa., Nov. 3,1881. 



I am always glad to know all the sisters, 

 Dellie; but you didn't tell us how much 

 honey you got. I hope your pa will like his 

 present. 



MKS. HARRISON TO THE CHILDREN. 



My dear young readers, we have now entered upon 

 a new year. A merry Christmas and a happy New 

 Year has echoed from ocean to ocean, and from 

 pole to pole. We hope that you enjoyed the holi- 

 days, and that old Santa Claus came down your 

 chimneys with a load for every one of you. If he 

 did not bring you what you wanted, do not destroy 

 what you have, or treat your parents or friends un- 

 kindly, for they may have denied themselves some 

 comfort to get what they did. 



The two past seasons have been poor ones for 

 honey, which means little rn^ney for bee-keepers; 

 and every one, even boys and girls, should be ambi- 

 tious to enter upon the new year free from debts of 

 every kind, excepting the debt of gratitude which 

 we owe to our kind heavenly Father for his watchful 

 care over us in years past. 



And now, children, as we are entering upon this 

 new year, let us all, each and every one, strive to lay 

 aside every thing not in accordance with that good 

 old Golden Rule,— 



" Do Unto othci-s as volt woitkl 

 Tliat thev slioliki do to yotl; 

 Wh.itc'er is liom-st, just, and good, 

 With uU your iiiiuut pursue." 



Peoria, 111. Lucinda Harrison. 



