1885 



GLEAXIXCS IN BEE CULTURE. 



ABOUT OUR CAT. 



My brother keeps bees; he has the A B C. One 

 year ago last summer our cat caugrht 3 weasels, and 

 this summer he caug-ht 4. 



Nettie H. Cranston, age 10. 



Woodstock, Ohio, Nov. 31, 1884. 



LUTIE S liETTER. 



AvR. rOOt I Have onE stAA'D OF bEes I HejLp- 

 Ed pa HiVa BEes L4sT sTavavEh. I Have a CAt 

 AND A DoG MY DoGs iYAavE is ROTEk. T gO TO 

 sABbaTh schOoL. LUTIE Y0C( )M, age 5 



R7vErTOA\ IlLIA'Ois, DEc. 31, 1884. 



moving bees on a mud-boat. 



Pa's bees are getting- along well. They are all 

 right. He has 21 stands of bees. We moved them 

 about a quarter of a mile on the mud-boat, and up- 

 set two of them in the snow, and had quite a time. 

 We got them in the hive again all right. Pa put 14 

 stands in the cellar, and T outside. 



Me.xico, Tnd., Dee. 8, 1884. Sheridan E. Howkk. 



CHARLIES report. 



Pa had 30 hives of bees last fall. It was so cold 

 that pa had to unite 8 hives, and feed all of them 

 for winter. It was so dry last sunuiier that we did 

 not get much honey. Pa says he will have to raise 

 19 queens, early next spi-ing, to take the place of 

 old ones. His bees did not swarm last summer. 



Charlie O. Perkins, age <.K 



El Dorado, Kan., Dec. 30, 1884. 



MINNIE S IDEAS IN REGARD TO SWAU.MS AI.KIHT- 

 INO IN THE SAME PLACE TWKJE. 



Papa has 10 hives of bees now; they swarmed 6 

 times, and they never alighted in the same tree 

 twice. If they do that ne.\t year I think alighting 

 on same limb twice is all bosh. 1 have a baby 

 brother; he is like little Huber; he likes to play in 

 the coal pail. Minnie K. Andf.kson, age T. 



Greenfield, Iowa, Dec. .30, 1884. 



five hives of bees for *r)0.(H». 



Papa has sold five hives of bees for ^10 apiece, 

 but we've got some more yet. Papa is going to buy 

 some more. His bees have been housed up ever 

 since Christmas, until day before yesterday; the 

 weather turned warm, and they are having a fine 

 time, and doing well. Nannie Austin, age 6. 



Austin Springs, Tenn., Dec. 31, 1884. 



A letter fro.m a three-vear-old "rnicx." 



Papa has got lots of bees, and I's afraid of dem. 

 T likes honey and bisits. I don't go to day school, 

 but I go to Sunday-school; papa takes Gleanings, 

 and I like to hear him read about bees. As I tan't 

 write meself, I get Uncle George to write for me. 

 Jennie A. Austin, age 3. 



Pretty good. .Jennie ; but I guessed some- 

 body wrote your letter for you. 1 sliouldn't 

 wonder, liowever, if you told it to them, be- 

 (rause some of your "vvords sound very luucli 

 like a three- yeiir-old little girl. 



STELLA'S AND ALTIE'S BEES. 



We keep bees. Those bees we got from you are 

 doing well. T have .') bee-hives— one Italian and the 

 rest are black. The moths bother our bees in the 

 spring. We put salt around the stand. 1 help with 

 the bees. I like to work with bees. Stella Cox. 



We transferred 3 stands of bees last spring. We 

 use comb foundation. I like to put in foundation. 

 We have 90 bee-stands. This is my first letter. 



Springerton, III., Dee.28, 1884. Altie Cox. 



harry s bee-feeder. 



Here is the description of a cheap and easily made 

 bee-feeder: Take an oyster-can, cut out one side, 

 and pound the edges down smooth, then take about 

 six pieces of wood, just about long enough to go in 

 the can without touching, and far enough apart for 

 the bees to get their heads between them : then take 

 two pieces just long enough to go in crosswise, and 

 tack them on at each end, to hold the other pieces 

 together. This frame will float on the syrup, so the 

 bees will be handy to the honey, and the weak ones 

 will not get drowned. Harry Scudder. 



Greenwood, Ind., Nov. IT, 1884. 



WHY THE bees WOULDN'T STAY IN THE HIVE. 



My ma has two colonies of black bees, and we got 

 about 15 lbs. of honey in the comb. Mr. Dinnit has 

 two colonies of Italian bees that he brought from 

 Indiana: he got his queen from you. Please tell 

 me what made our bees come out of the hive. We 

 settled them three times before they would stay in 

 the hive. Minnie Bingham, age 13. 



Lamar, Mo., Dec. 30, 1884. 



AVell, ]Minnie. it is a pretty big question to 

 answer, as to why your bees would not stay 

 in the hive, even after having been put back 

 two or three times. The A B C book is full 

 of the matter, and there have been many 

 long articles written in regard to it in the 

 l)ack volumes. 



A LETTER FROM CANADA. 



I have a swarm of Holy-Land tees. They are in 

 the cellar. It was ten degrees below zero last night, 

 and it is very cold to-night. We can hardly keep 

 the cellar warm enough. My bees are in a Lang- 

 stroth hive, but pa extracted from them last sum- 

 mer. I don't know how much honey they made, for 

 pa extracted it with his. He is going to sow some 

 alsike clover next spring. It makes the best and 

 most honey, the l)est hay, and the highest-priced 

 seed. Sela W. Michener, age 8. 



Low Banks, CaiL, Dec. 20, 1884. 



.JACOB'S LETTER — "shearing " QUEENS' WINGS. 



I like bees. I am staying with my uncle; we have 

 7 stands of bees new. We had 13 bees this summer. 

 I think bees do accordingly more than men. We 

 took corn fodder and straw to pack our bees for 

 winter. Last year we had 13 stands, and got 28 gal- 

 lons, and seven boxes of pure comb honej-. I think 

 we took 2.') gallons out this year. My uncle gets 

 Gle.IlNings. I helped to catch queens, to shear one 

 of their wings off so they wouldn't fly. We still 

 separate our bees. We do not like to get them 

 when they hang high jp in a tree. I have no bees. I 

 have seen black bees and the kind Italians. Italian 

 bees arc very nice looking. .Iacob A. Miller. 



LaG range, Ind. 



GEORGE'S BEE-KEEPING. 



I bought one swarm of black bees in a box hive, 

 and had a swarm of hybrids in a box hive given to 

 me. In the summer of 1883 a swarm of bees clus- 

 tered on my fathers house. Papa hived them; they 

 did not have enough to winter on, so I took them 

 up. Then I thought I'd like to keep bees in 1884, 

 and see if I liked the business, and now I like it 

 well. From the black swarm I got one swarm this 

 fall, and killed the young swarm and the mother 

 colony, and got about 40 lbs. of honey. The hybrids 

 gave me 2 swarms. I am uniting the 2 young 

 swarms. I have one swarm in a Langstroth hive. 1 



