576 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 



MY little sister found a swarm of bees on the 

 hedge. My father took a box and hived 

 J them, and then went to friend Scovell's and 

 bought one of his movable-frame hives, and put 

 them in it, and got 40 lbs. comb honey. The next 

 spring my father bought 5 moie swarms in box hives, 

 and transferred them; Increased them to 20, and got 

 400 lbs. honey. That winter 2 swarms died, and we 

 then started in the summer with 18; increased to 29; 

 got no honey, but got enough to winter on. They 

 wintered safely last winter. This summer we in- 

 creased to 42; got 943 lbs. of extracted, and 280 lbs. in 

 1-lb. section boxes. We winter our bees on their 

 summer stands. 



I am a boy only 18 years old. My brother, younger 

 than I, helps me take care of the bees. We did all 

 the extracting. David Kirk. 



Columbus, Cherokee Co., Kan., Aug. 15, 1880. 



Pretty well done, friend David, both on 

 the bees and making ont a report. Why, if 

 yon continue to keep on at this rate, some of 

 our big bee men will have to look out for 

 their laurels. May God's blessing rest on 

 the boys of our country ! 



I suppose I mu3t report my honey crop. I om- 

 menced the season with two swarms; increased to 

 five by artificial swarming. Theyareall Italiansbut 

 one. I sent for a queen to Mr. W. Z Hutchinson, 

 but he could not fill the order, and now 1 will wait 

 until next spring, and then send for one. Well, I 

 have taken 90 lbs. of comb honey in sections and 

 Small boxe3. The 5 swarms have 240 lbs. in their 

 hives for winter. The greater part of the bee-keep- 

 ers in this section of the country report almost a 

 total failure for surplus. My honey is from buck- 

 Wheat and Spider plant mostly. There are great 

 quantifies of buckwheat, raised in this locality. 

 There is no white clover nor basswood in reach of 

 my bees. We had very dry weather here part of the 

 summer. I intend to pack my bees with buckwheat 

 chaff f<T winter. Which is the better, buckwheat 

 eft' or out chaff? I make rustic hives for winter, 

 with 5 inches ,;f space all around the hive, which sits 

 -•.side of a "nigh box. Do you think they vvill winter 

 prepared thus in this locality? I am but 10, and 1 

 send you quite an order for one of my age. 



Albert Osburn. 



Spring Rluff, Adams Co., Wis., Oct. 21, 1880. 



Thanks, friend O. Your plan of fixing 

 the bees will do very well, as you will see 

 from an article in another column. Buck- 

 wheat chaff is thought by some to be even 

 better than oat chaff ; but I am inclined to 

 think the latter a little warmer and dryer. 



I thought you would like to heir something about 

 bees from a little boy eight years old. Pa gave me 

 1 wo stands of bees the first of August. I have fed 

 them rrgularly, and have six frames of bees and hon- 

 ey. I have them in a chaff hiv. I put them away 

 tho first of this month; packed them in chaff on 

 e <eh side, and on ihe frames and banked the hive 

 around half way up to the top outside with sawdust. 

 I am going to school, and 1 read your ABC book at 

 night. Pa takes four bee journals, and I read them. 



I like to read about bee-keeping. I help my pa at 

 queen-rearing, and finding them for him. The bees 

 are going to starve where they have not been fed, 

 and some are dead now. Pa has his all packed in 

 chaff hives. He has 33 stands, all in good order for 

 winter, but not as strong in bees as he would like to 

 have them. I will let you know how I get along in 

 the spring. Freddie L. Craycraft. 



Salem, Ind., Nov. 6, 1880. 



Well done, Freddie! Your letter is tip-top; 

 and, as you are the youngest bee-keeper that 

 I ever had a letter from, I would like to en- 

 gage you as a regular contributor. You 

 know, we pay some of our oldest bee-writers 

 for the time it takes them to tell us how 

 they manage. Well, we will send you a 

 5-cent Sunday-school book for each letter as 

 long as the above, if yon will send us one 

 every month. Tell us all about your pa's 

 bees as well as your own ; and be sure to 

 tell us how many die in wintering. Tell 

 your father he must look sharp, while "a 

 duel's amang ye takin' notes,'' in very 

 truth. 



BEES I\ UTAH. 



ALSO SOMETHING ABOUT THE'COUNTRY. 



fHAVE been thinking that I would say some- 

 thing to you about our beloved country and 



" bees. I well remember, when I was a boy, I 

 heard people talk of this country; but little did I 

 think, at that time, that I ever should become a per- 

 manent citizen of that far-off country. But circum- 

 stances brought it about. I emigrated to this coun- 

 try in 1862; stopped a few years in Salt Lake, and 

 am now living here in a little village called Wash- 

 ington. From the time I left my native State (Indi- 

 ana) until I reached Salt Lake, the scenery was tru- 

 ly grand and romantic. I often thought, how 

 strange, how great, is thy creation, O God I 



Utah, as it is in a natural state, is every thing but 

 invitin?. You can travel for miles, and see nothing 

 but a barren, sterile country; every thing that grows 

 is of a desert nature, living without water. It real- 

 ly looks as though red ants and lizards were the 

 chief inhabitants of this extensive Rocky-Mountain 

 country, to say nothing of the honey-bee. But how 

 changed the scene when irrigation is properly ap- 

 plied! It puts new life in the land; vegetation of 

 all kinds springs up; every thing is gay and lovely. 

 You, my friends, who live in rainy countries, have a 

 drought for a few weeks; how do things look in 

 that short time? Quite wilted. We have some rain 

 hero, say a good shower every year or two. 



In the first settling of this country, bees were 

 shipppd from California; and it was for several 

 years a great struggle for them to live. Many colo- 

 nies died for the want of stores. Bee pasture was 

 so deficient on account of the barrenness of the 

 country, that it rendered it almost an impossibility 

 to keep them alive through the winter; but very 

 soon the water was taken from the mountain 

 streams and spread over the land ; farms were ta- 

 ken up; orchards were planted; largo bodies of land 

 taken up, and planted in vineyards. Water, in this 

 case, has made the mare go; water has soaked the 

 earth; and it has brought a variety of flowers, and 

 so the busy bee is at home in Utah, even down to 



