470 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 



op' §($artyi<wl 



tR. ROOT:— I am very young-, and never had 

 any experience with bees in my life, until I 

 bought one hive of black bees, a year ago 

 this spring. They gave me two swarms, and I win- 

 tered two colonies. Last fall, I found one of my col- 

 onies had no queen. I was at a loss what to do. I 

 saw a man who told me that I could get an Italian 

 queen of J. H. Nellis, so I sent to him and got one; 

 I tell you she was a nice one. Well, there I was, 

 with a queenless hive, and a queen, but how to get 

 them together, I did not know. I went to work 

 however, and got her introduced, and then got a 

 frame of fdn. of a neighbor. In just 12 days, I 

 looked at them, and the bees had the fdn. all capped 

 with brood. She proved to be the best queen in the 

 world. This spring she gave me a swarm on the 17th 

 of June, and one the 18th, and one the 19th. "How 

 is that for high?" My blacks gave me two swarms. 

 I have 7 swarms now, besides one I bought this 

 spring. They have not swarmed yet. 



James H. Craft. 

 Rockland, Sullivan Co., N. Y., July 5, 1880. 



Pretty well for "high," for a boy, friend C. 

 I hope "you will have as much energy and 

 zeal with your 7, as you did with your first 

 few. Bemember what the Bible says about 

 those who are faithful with a few things. 



I am a boy 16 years old. I commenced to keep 

 bees three years ago, when I had one swarm and 

 now have fifteen. Ten died during the winter. I 

 had a swarm of bees this summer measuring about 

 half a bushel. They alighted on the limb of a tree. 

 I got about half of them into a hive, with the queen, 

 and they were coming out again so fast that I 

 closed the entrance with a piece of wire cloth. The 

 rest of the bees, which I did not get, were flying 

 about in great commotion in the air. I did not know 

 what to do about the bees which were flying through 

 the air, but thought I would get a queen from an- 

 other hive, put her in a queen cage, and hang her 

 up on the limb where the bees had swarmed. I had 

 not had the other hive open more than two or three 

 seconds before the bees which were flying through 

 the air rushed for the hive. In about 15 minutes 

 they were all in. I would like to know the reason 

 why, as I have seen nothing of the kind in your 

 ABC book or Gleanings. 



I made a pair of friend Faris' plates, and proceed- 

 ed to make fdn. according to your directions in the 

 Gleanings. The fdn. came off all right, without 

 sticking, but would crack into small pieces. Please 

 tell me the reason. Andrew S. Myers. 



West Woodstock, Conn., July 17, 1880. 



It was rather an accident, I think, that 

 caused the bees to rush into the hive you had 

 just opened. They were flying about in a 

 sort ot lost condition probably, hardly know- 

 ing where their queen was, but at the sight 

 of the bees in the hive, they probably thought 

 she must be in there, and so followed each 

 other in.— Your sheets of fdn. cracked, I 

 should say, because you had your wax too 

 hot. 



I have been keeping bees for the last eight years, 

 and I am now 21 years of age. I have also a step- 

 brother, 13 years old, who is going into bee culture. 



April 6th, 1KS0, he bought one Italian swarm which 

 weighed 15 lbs., for I took them down from a fig 

 tree, and put them into a sheet, and weighed them. 

 They have built 18 combs, 13x17 inches, but they are 

 very cross. Whenever we get near them they sting 

 us. My brother bought them from a negro man, 

 and paid 25c for them. I will have to make another 

 hive, for they have no more room in two hives. He 

 put section boxes on them, but they would not work 

 in them. We have not taken any honey from them, 

 because they are rearing nothing but bees. It is the 

 largest swarm of bees that I ever saw in my life. 



I have a tested queen from Oliver Foster, for $1.50. 

 I put the queen into the hive at 2 o'clock, and at 6, I 

 turned her loose, and not a bee balled her. The 

 next morning I looked at her, and she was laying. 

 That was the first queen that I ever introduced. 

 When the queen came by mail, mother began laugh- 

 ing at me, and said that I was getting out of order, 

 but I told her I was trying it. Geo. A. Shafer. 



New Orleans, La., Aug. 11, 1880. 



A LIFE PIOTUKE IN TWO CHAPTERS. 



CHAPTER ONE. 



fAM afraid you will have to put this ABC schol- 

 ar in the Growlery, if this thing continues a 

 " few days longer. I go down to my farm early, 

 every morning, and get back after dark. I live next 

 door to the depot agent, a very amiable gentleman, 

 and a most faithful oilicer of the Co. I ring at his 

 donr-bell every night, about 10 o'clock; the poor, 

 over-tired man jumps up in alarm, and cries. "Who 

 is that?"— "Mr. Thompson, have the Italian bees 

 come?" This has been done four consecutive 

 nights, and necessarily must be so, for I leave di- 

 rectly after breakfast in the morning, and Mr. 

 Thompson is at the depot, which is some distance 

 off, and the bees might starve there. I say he is an 

 amiable gentleman, but I am sure he "cusses" me, 

 you, and Italian bees, in his heart, every night. 

 Again Mr. Jim Ware is interested about them, by 

 my lending Gleanings. He has ordered two queens 

 of you by mail, and says he is going to subscribe for 

 Gleanings, and buy ABC book, and have your 

 Simplicity hive, &c. Every morning, as I pass the 

 block of buildings in which his store is, he cries at 

 the top of his voice, as I rattle past in quick trot, in 

 my one-horse wagon, "Brother Fontaine, have the 

 Italian bees come?" "Not yet, brother Ware." 

 There are 4 brick stores in the block. All the mer- 

 chants are interested by Ware's talk, and at that 

 early hour, when there are but few.customers, they 

 sit under their awnings facing the west, smoking 

 their pipes and reading their papers. They look up 

 and smile. Four miles on the road, I meet from 15 

 to 20 gentlemen or more on horse-back, in buggies or 

 wagons, that are coming into town. They all stop 

 and ask if my Italian bees have come, for they pass 

 by my house and have seen the hives. My dear sir, 

 do end this state of things, and let me say -"Yes, 

 gentlemen; they have come." In great haste— 



Wm. L. Fontaine. 

 Reidsville, N. C, July 20, 1880. 



CHAPTER TWO. 

 Put me down in the Smilery. My Italian bees, or- 

 dered on the 8th, arrived safely on the night of the 

 22d. I carried them to Leguria on the morning of 

 the 23d, and introduced them without difficulty, hav- 

 ing fed them well with honey before uncaging them. 



