64 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



JaK. 



think I shall get an extractor when I get enough 

 money. I have sent for some sections. j 



George J. Wilson, ag-e 13. i 

 Ri'lsrefiekl. Ct., Nov. 25, 1884. * 



AVhy. George, what in the world did you 

 kill the young swarm and the mother colony 

 for y Are you not a little bit Ijehind the 

 times V We do not kill queens nowadays to 

 get the honey. It is like killing the goose stings 

 lliat lays the golden egg. it 



wire screen in front, so he can see. He puts his 

 sleeves in his gloves, and ties strings around them, 

 then the bees can't sting him. Our bees have hot 

 feet. Maky Wing, age VZ. 



Lamont, Iowa, Nov. 26, 1884. 



Your papa's bee-armor is quite a novel ar- 

 rangement, Mary, and no doubt it would be 

 very convenient for one who is afraid of 

 but I think I would ratlier not have 



SALT AND HONEY FOR A COLD; ALSO SOMETHING 

 ABOUT SARAH'S LITTLE BABY-SISTER. 



I am going to tell you about my little baby-sister. 

 She is 16 months old the 10th of this month, and I 

 think she is just as big a mischief as Hubei-. She is 

 running around all the time, except when she 

 is sick or sleeping. She makes every one of us do 

 just as she likes. She was sick with a cold, and ma 

 mixed some salt and honey, and gave it to her, and 

 she soon got relief. It is very good when any one 

 is choked up with a cold. 



The bees out here did not get as much honey this 

 year as they did last, for the season was short. I 

 help pa with the bees in the summer. The import- 

 ed queen he got from you is the best he ever had, 

 and he says he can handle them without veil or 

 smoker. Pa has .58 swarms this fall. 



Sarah A. Christian, age 1.3. 



Lorraine, Ont., Canada. 



I ORRIE S LITTLE LETTER. 



! I live in Ghent. My aunt Viola keeps bees. She 

 I has about .50 swarms. They did pretty well. She 

 1 has some in the round house, and the rest on sum- 

 I mer stands, packed. We live by a stream called 

 Yellow Creek. I have got a little sister Mary, and a 

 j little brother Tommy. Orrie Pierson, age 8. 



Ghent, Ohio, Dec. 7, 1884. 



: Thank you. Orrie. Your grandpa used to 

 be one of my particular friends before he 

 died. I am very glad to know one of his 

 daughters has taken up bees, for I suppose 

 your aunt is one of his daughters. I used to 



I visit your place occasionally, down by that 

 beautiful little stream, and I think yoii have 

 a very pretty place to live. 



buckwheat and carp-ponds. 

 Uncle Will sowed 2'i acres of buckwheat, and had 

 60 bushels. I don't know much about raising carp, 

 but I know one of our neighbors had a great deal of 

 trouble making the dam so that the crabs would not 

 make holes in it. If this is worth a book please 

 send me Pilgrim's Progress. 



Minerva Duncan, age 10. 

 niack Lick, Pa., Dec. 1, 1884. 



Of course, your letter is worth a book, 

 Minerva. It was only night before last that 

 we found a liole through the bank of our 

 carp-pond, large enough for a kitten to 

 crawl through, and the water was gurgling 

 out just as fast as could be. Will Avent and 

 got some good yellow clay and puddled it, 

 and pounded it into the hole, and tliat 

 stopped it. Now the question is, '' What 

 made tliat holeV" 1 should not wonder if it 

 were those pesky crabs you tell about, for 

 the hole was made just on a level with the 

 water's edge in the pond, and went down 

 throiigli the bank into the creek that runs 

 by tlie side of the pond. If there are any 

 more such troubles we are going to draw 

 some tin scraii down to the pond and make 

 the horses tramp it in well along by tlie edge 

 of the water. 



(jetting bees down out of the tree; .mary's 

 papa's bee-armor of oil-cloth. 

 My pa has 29 swarms of bees. Our bees did not 

 make very much honey this season. One day last 

 .luly pa went to town, and the bees swarmed, and I 

 went after my brother to come and hive them. 

 Five swarms came out at once, and two went away, 

 and the other three alighted in one tree. My broth- 

 er climbed the tree and sawed the limbs oil' that 

 had the bees on, and then took a rope and tied it 

 aro\ind the limbs, and then let them down beside 

 the hives. Pa has an oil-cloth shirt, to handle bees. 

 He puts that on, and then an oil-cloth hood with 



ELL.VS letter just AS SHE WROTE IT. 



Wei[ unkle Am°3 i rotE you on e letTeR aNd re- 



j CaveD mY BOok. loan noT Kead^m it tO Ma.Wh 



j en PA wAs looJviNg tHrough tHa BeoS My Lit TIE 



B.iotherstooD By tHe Ki^es Amd said hE Wa^j Qo 



to BeaB maN. PA H\<g 26 CoLiniEs °f acE S i 



; LiKe to he LPea E ><■ tvn.n and CAt The cAPiNs- i do 



I Not Go to S0HO = L moW i woUId like to gO tO ScH 



'• ooLBut iT Is tc Fur for Me i le arn S'Ome at Horn 



a. unKIe AmoS if tHig letter is WortHaBook Pie 



as geNd Me SilVerKee. Ella Kirk. 



* Columbus, Kan., Dec. 6. 1884. 



But you did not tell us how old you are, 

 Ella. 'From the looks of the letters you 

 make, and from the fact that you could not 



; read your book, we think you must be pret- 



' ty young. 



CLARENCE'S EXPERIENCE IN HUNTING QUEENS ON 

 HIS OWN HOOK. 



I will tell you my experiment in bee culture. 

 Last summer my mother gave me a swarm of bees. 

 I used to help my father to hunt the queens. One 

 day he was away, and I thought I would hunt the 

 queen in my hive, but I could not find her. Then I 

 opened one of pa's hives. The bees got after me in 

 great numbers, and stung me. I " hollered," and 

 ma came running to help me. They got after her, 

 and she ran in the smoke-house and shut the door, 

 and I ran in the hitchen, and they after me, sting- 

 ing. Then I ran into the stable and got behind the 

 i door, and the bees went home. I have not hunted 

 queens alone since that time. 



Zearing, Iowa. Clarence Haslet, age 8. 



I HOW ARTHUR S FATHER MOVED THE BEES ON .V 

 LOAD OF STR.\W. 



We moved our bees the middle of October, about 

 two miles. I have 2 lambs, named Smut and Dick, 

 and I have some ducks and chickens. I did not 

 have room for any before I lived on a farm. 



T will tell you how we moved our bees. Pa took a 

 hay-rack, and put on a good load of straw, and set 

 the hives on, and stuffed straw between the hives. 



