I8a5 



(;hKA\lN*ns TN KKK CULTUllK. 



HOW TO MANAGE 



So as to Have the Hives Full of Bees When 

 Fruit-blossoms Come. 



CONTRIBUTED BV A I.ITTT^E BOY 9 YEARS Or,D. 



V brother and myself have three colonies of 

 bees. I will tell you how we manage ours 

 to have them full of bees when the blos- 

 soms and flowers are all ready for them to 

 g-ather honey from. We take tin pans, such 

 as mother has to bake pies in, and put some rye 

 flour and oatmeal in them, and then put them in 

 front of the hive, and string- a little honey or sugar 

 syrup from the entrance to the pan, and put a small 

 spoonful of honey or syrup in front of each hive, 

 and when they get eight or ten bees on the flour we 

 carry them away and put them on a post or any 

 place we can And. Then we take some sugar syrup 

 and put it in a tumbler, place two thicknesses of 

 thin muslin over the top of them, and turn 

 them upside down on the frames. This we com- 

 mence to do now, or as soon as the bees begin to 

 fly, and keep it up until thejcan get natui-al flowers 

 to work on. If this is worth a book, send me Giant- 

 killer. Geohoe KiNr.SBi'RV, age !•. 

 Mt. Vernon, Ohio, Jan. 28, 1885. 



Well, now, I tell you. George, that is pret- 

 ty well told. Many of the veterans may 

 profit by the instruction you give : and there 

 are few of us who could tell just how to do 

 it, better than you have done. By the way. 

 I do not know of any prettier sight for young 

 and old than bees working on rye meal, or 

 bits of finely ground oatmeal, in tlie spring. 

 There is not a bit of dilliculty in getting 

 them at it whenevei- the weather is warm 

 enougli for tliem to fiy. Feeding should be 

 done OTit of the wind as much as possible ; 

 and. by the way, the bees ought to be out of 

 the wiiul tliOMiiselves. I have just been think- 

 ing of making a sort of cave in a side-hill, 

 with glass sasli in front, but arranged so the 

 bees can go out if they want to. and then 

 every sunshiny day we will liave Iheni work 

 on meal placed not very far from tlieir hives, 

 in the sun but out of "the wind, and out of 

 all danger of wind and snow. AVith the 

 present low prices of sugar, it is my opinion 

 that by such an arrangement we can raise 

 bees a great deal clieai)ci- than to buy them 

 wlien we want an increase of stock. "Plenty 

 of sugar syrup, and rye and oat meal, will 

 set brood a" booming. This cave in tlie south 

 side of a hill or bank, it seems to me, could 

 be easily arranged so that the hive might 

 stand where it won't freeze after March 1st, 

 say. Down by the carp-pond we have (}uite 

 a steep bank fronting tiie south, and it is 

 quite a warm place tliere for the children to 

 play, when it is windy and cold almost eve- 

 rywhere else. The place is a kind of hollow 

 between two banks, so that it gets all the 

 sunshine, and but little or none of the wind; 

 and a roof over it, so arranged as to let in all 

 the sun, would keep off all the rain and most 

 of the snow, and still allow the bees to fly as 

 far as they Avant to go. May be it will lie a 

 nice place for chickens as well as bees — who 

 knows ? and if the bees and chickens enjoy 

 it, I guess likely Iluber and Caddie and 

 ('onstance will find it a i)leasant place. Of 

 course, we want to keep the chickens by 



themselves, so that our plans do not conflict 

 with each other. 



i'ou see. (jieorge, your little letter has just 

 woke me up to the importance of getting 

 our bees at work early; and why can't we 

 set the bees at work early, as well as chick- 

 ens and garden stuff V Some writer has said 

 that he would not wonder if as much honey 

 were yielded by fruit-blossoms as by bass- 

 wood, if colonies were as strong and as full of 

 young bees as they are in basswood time. In 

 "t he }fr.is hat'GLEANixGs has been going, 

 we have had several reports of protected 

 places for bees under a side-hill. Now, then, 

 wlio will work it out fiist V With the skill 

 and knowledge we have acquired by this 

 time. I do jiot think there need be mucli dan- 

 ger of spring dwindling. Of course, we will 

 try a few colonies to commence witli, until 

 we are sure it is working nicely. We send 

 you a book, (^eorge, and place half a dollar 

 to your credit, which j'ou can have in mon- 

 ey, or trade out. as you desire. 



MUS. (HADDOCK S EXPERIENCE WITH FIRE.\RMS. 



JU.'^RD to think that if any thing would make mo 

 religious it would be to have a boy around with 

 a gun; but I ran a gun brigade for ten years, 

 and am still alive, and I don't feel so timid of 

 them now. Mr. (haddock's three brothers lised 

 to be here, and they all had guns, and were always 

 shooting them off " promiscuous" like. 



One day one of the boys sat on the porch and 

 cleaned his gun till it went off, and the whole load 

 of l)uek8h()t came in through an ojien door and 

 passed over the dinner-table— where we had been 

 washing dishes not Ave minutes before— atid went 

 clear through the outside door. Then one of them 

 flred the gun off in the bedroom downstairs, and the 

 marks are there yet; another of them let his gun 

 go off in the sitting-room, and the floor carries its 

 mark. I do declare, when I would think of it it 

 seemed like living in a fort, with the enemy bom- 

 barding me all the time. I never felt safe. Then 

 they all began to marr^- oft, and go to Kansas, and 

 they bought a revohcr apiece, and they sat around 

 the Are and loaded and reloaded them; picked them 

 to pieces, and wii)ed them out, and every now and 

 then they let one go off accidentally; and the one 

 that went off was always the one that was not load- 

 ed. Then they shot at marks, to get their hands in. 

 They fully o.vpectcd to be robbed when they got to 

 Kansas, and they wanted to bo able to shoot the 

 robber. They had pieces of paper stuck on the 

 woodhouse, the ash-hopper, and the big elm-tree; 

 they had them on all the fences and the garden 

 paling, and they would shoot awhile at one mark, 

 then change to another, and I never knew exactly 

 where they would be shooting next, and I hardly 

 dared go to the well for water, or to the woodhouse 

 for wood, and it seemed more than pvei- like living 

 in a tort. 



But, the darkest houi- is just before the dawning; 

 they soon went west, and for six years I have 

 breathed freely— never having to dodge a shot nor 

 tremble at the sound of a gun. Hut now, alas! can 

 Providence have the same trials in store for me? 

 am I to go out of quiet, peaceful life, into another 

 fort? Am I to be shot at, shot over, and shot un- 



