1862 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



69 



Department, and Merrybanks and his Neighbor. My 

 father got a Waterbury watch in connection with 

 Glf.aninGS, and he said that if I would go through 

 my practical arithmetic this winter ho would give it 

 to me, and I am trying hard to get it. 



John B. Rogers. 

 Grand Rapids, Mich., Jan. 9, 1882, 



Stick to the arithmetic, John. 



I THOUGHT I WOULD PRINT A FEW LINES 

 TO YOD. I AM A LITTLE BOY SIX YEARS OLD. 

 I GO TO SCHOOL EVERY DAY, BUT I HAVE NOT 

 GONE THESE LAST FEW DAYS, AS I HAVE 

 BEENT SrCK WITH THE CHICKEN -TOX. MY 

 FATHER HAS 38 HIVES OF BEES, AND I AM NOT 

 A BIT AFRAID OF THEM. I GOT FIVE CENTS 

 FOR EVERY SWARM I SAW THIS SUMMER, 

 AND I HELPED MY FATHER TO EXTRACT; 

 BUT OUR BEES ARE NOW PACKED IN A CHAFF 

 BIN, AND THEY ARE IN GOOD SHAPE. MY 

 FATHER TAKES THE A. B. J, THE ABC, AND 

 GLEANINGS. ALFRED RUSSELL. 



MILL BROOK, ONT., CANADA, NOV. 21, 1881. 



Well done, Alfred ! Here is your book, 



I like my book very well. I like to read it better 

 than any book I ever saw, I think the "Giant- 

 Killer" a good storj'. That picture of pa and 

 the bee-hive was nice, but ma says he is better look- 

 ing than the picture. I send you 5 cents for a book 

 for Eddie (my elder brother), as he is too old to write 

 for one. I think that was a funny mill you had, to 

 grind all night by itself. Our mill runs by steam, 

 and it would not do much if there was no one to at- 

 tend to it. Pa is out looking at his bees, and Georgie 

 Is at the window calling him. Georgie can eat more 

 honey than any person I ever saw. It saved his life 

 once, I think honey a good medicine, but I don't 

 like bee-stings, John G. Spites. 



Spring Station, Ind., Jan. n, 1882. 



Tell your ma, John, that she and my wife 

 think exactly alike — about their 'husbands, 



I will sooTL b? 11 }o rs ol . I like to read the 

 Utters .rom the young people, but I -. o not like 

 t > work with bees, for they sting me awfully, 

 and I have no rheumatism to cure. I goto school ti 

 mamma at home. I study astronomy, geography, 

 history, arithmetic, dictionary, trammar, reading, 

 and writing. And then 1 help to cook with mamma. 

 I can make excellent bread and coffee, and can kill a 

 chickon, clean it, and fry it, or make it into a pie as 

 nicely as any one. Besides, I can make preserves 

 and jelly. I have two sisters and one brothnr, and 

 he is fond of helping about the bees. We all go t 

 Sunday-school, and every three months we get one 

 of David Cook's books as a prize, I wish you alia 

 happy new year, Lem Faw. 



Plantersville, Texas, Dec. 13, 1881, 



Pretty good, Lem, and I think your mother 

 must be a rare teacher, not only in " astron- 

 omy," but in some things closer to our 

 homes. Are yon sure you could make a 

 chicken-pie for me, if 1 should some day pop 

 into your house to see your bees and pay 

 you a visit V 



I am a little girl 11 years old. I have 4 sisters and 

 4 brothers. My eldest sister is married, and has left 

 home. We live 3 miles from the city, on a farm; 

 but we attended Sunday-school this summer at our 

 district schoolhouse, which has just closed for the 

 season, and myself and sister were rewarded by our 



teacher with a present for Christmas, Our house is 

 surrounded on the north and west by a thick grove 

 of timber; to the south and east is our farm land. 

 On a sloping ground on the south side of the grove, 

 father keeps his bees. He has 10 in the cellar, ana 8 

 out in the apiary, packed in tenement hives, and 

 chaff cushions on top; those in cellar have cushions 

 also. I like to help him work with the bees be:tcr 

 than to wash dishes. I like the Italians better than 

 the blacks. The blacks do not keep the niolh out of 

 their hives. Father took about 4U0 lbs. of honey last 

 summer; about half of it was nice comb houej*. We 

 are all so fond of Gleanings, I do not know that wo 

 could keep bees without it. We have kept bees only 

 two years now. Lizzie Bkickseii. 



Decorah, Iowa, Dec. 20, 1881, 



I am 11 years oil. My father has got 5 hives of 

 bses; they did not carry upany honey fortwo j'ears. 

 My brother has two hives. He has been feeding 

 them. I have a brother Herman, who had a hive, 

 and it did not lay up any honey, and he forgot to 

 feed them, and they died. My brother put straw 

 around his hive. He has been feeding his bees 

 syrup, made of sugar and water, by putting it into 

 a can and putting a cloth over it, and turning it up- 

 side-down in the upper part of the hive, where they 

 could carry it down into the combs. He has not 

 been feeding it for a week or two. I want to get a 

 swarm as soon as I can. I had a swarm once, but 

 they died. Father had a swarm of bees go off, and 

 my brother, about 12 years old, followed them to a 

 tree, and sawed off the limb, and carried them home 

 on his shoulder, and all the people turned out of 

 the road, for they were afraid of getting stung; but 

 they did not sting my brother. Once there was a 

 swarm alighted in a tree near by, and we did not see 

 them, and they started to go off; but my father took 

 the looking-glass and fetched them down to a little 

 tree, and my brother sawed off the limb. Some of 

 them fell off to the ground, and my brother picked 

 them up and they did not sting him, and hived them. 

 I go to church. Clarence Green. 



Independence, O., Jan, 7,1882. 



I am only 7 years old, but I thought I would see if 

 I could print you a little letter for Gleanings. I 

 can't write, but I can print a little. Well, I will tell 

 you about my papa's bees. He had 20 stands last 

 year, and he has 52 now; he didn't get much honey. 

 His bees are all yellow. I help him work with them 

 sometimes. Papa was at your home about six weeks 

 ago; he said he didn't get to talk to j'ou but a min- 

 ute, because your father was dying. H- has just 

 been reading in your paper about your father's 

 death. I am glad my father isn't dead. He said 

 your boys and girls were good to him when he was 

 there; he said he never saw your little Blue Eyes, 

 but he saw hi(j Blue Ej-es (Bess). My eyes are not 

 blue, but my little sister Anna's are. Theyareblueas 

 a bluebird. Papa says you like little girls who go to 

 Sunday-school. Well, I live within 50 steps of the 

 church, and I go to Sundaj^-school every Sunday. 

 Well, Christmas is over, and I have got a lot of pres- 

 ents. We are going to have a Christmas-tree to- 

 night, and I will get some more presents. Papa says 

 you don't like men who use tobacco, and you give 

 them presents to quit. You won't have to give my 

 papa presents, for he don't use the nasty stuff, nor 

 drink whisky either; but he won't go to Sunday- 

 school with us all the time. He would rather watch 

 the bees. Well, Mr, Root, this letter is so long I am 



