188-5 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



13o 



the golden mean wonkl be about such a 

 price as would do the most ^M)()d to all class- I 

 es of people, and that would be what we call | 

 a fair price, would it not? I^ow prices are 

 hard for the producer, but a blessing to the 

 consumer ; so it is not all a misfortune when 

 prices run low. j 



TEA AS A HONEy-PLANT. 



1 thank you for that book you sent me. Our bees 

 have been at work for the last two or three weeks, 

 and we have had pleasant weather this far. The 

 bees have been bringing- in pollen and honey. I 

 have seen them on roses, tea-blossoms, and palmet- 

 tos and peach-blossoms. I send you a tea-blossom. 

 May be j-ou have never seen any before. I hope the 

 blossom will reach you in good order. ' 



Francis, Fla., Jan. 4, 188.5. Charles Levvkaz. , 

 Many thanks, my little friend, for the tea- 

 ])lossom. Isn't that a novelty, that bees] 

 work on the blossoms of the plant that bears 

 the tea we use on our tables? I wonder if 

 we hadn't better run opposition to the 

 brethren in China, and commence raising it 

 so as to get honey. I 



the way .tohn hatches quekn-celi.s indek a \ 

 sitting hen. i 



Our bees are all in good condition now. 1 forgot | 

 to tell you that we had 4S colonics of bees and two 

 Italian queens in nucleus bo.xcs. The little swarms | 

 died. I put the royal cells in small wire cages when 

 I put them under the old hen. We have a good | 

 place to sell queens and honey too. Our bees can j 

 not make enough honey to fill orders. We charge j 

 $1.00 for untested queens, and *».00 for tested. I 

 thank you very much for that book you sent me. 

 My leg is all right now. 1 go to school. I went into 

 a larger spelling-book to-day. .John KoiiKins. 



Schoolhill, Wis., Jan. 26, 1885. 



lots of apples and cider when I go up the vallej' to 

 see him. I like to read the letters in your books 

 that my pa gets from you. Freddie W. Rex. 



Lehighton, Pa., Jan. 22, 1885. 



I hardly think, Freddie, that your grandpa 

 keeps the bees too warm by covering them 

 with straw. Is there not some other cause 

 of their dying?— Somehow I feel a little 

 sorry when you say you drink cider when 

 you go to see your grandpa. Cider makes so 

 much trouble with people who have a lean- 

 ing toward intemperate habits, that most of 

 the people nowadays have decided to get 

 along without it. Don't you think it is a 

 better wav, Freddie? 



NEIil.JE'S LETTER, FROM A TOWN WH KUE A SALOON 

 HAS NEVER BEKN KEPT. ! 



Papa kept bees in Towa, and now 've intend to [ 

 keep them in Nebraska. We came out hero last fall [ 

 and brought one swarm with us. They are still 

 alive, and out for a flj- yesterday. Some people say 

 bees wont live here; but I guess they will if they | 

 get a chance. Papa had 20 swarms in Iowa. I have 

 been reading some in natural history, and it says , 

 that cucumbers and squashes won't grow without 

 the bees; is this item new and useful? And now I j 

 want to say a word for our fast-growing town. Our 

 town lies on the Burlington railroad; has 700 inhab- [ 

 itants, two churches, and a Congregational acad- I 

 emy. There is not, and never has been a saloon I 

 here; and if any of your readers wish to go west, I 

 and would like to give their children a Christian 

 education, Franklin is the place to come to. 



Franklin, Neb., Jan. 31, 1885. Nellie Fav, age 10. 



Well, Nellie, your concluding fact is not 

 only valuable, but it is a cheering and en- 

 couraging one. 



KEEPING BEES TOO WAR.M IN WINTER. 



My pa has 11 swarms, G in big bo.vcs with old cur- 

 pet and rags on top, and 5 in Simplicity bo.xes with 

 leaves all over them. 1 must keep the holes open 

 for the bees, my pa says so ; my grandpa has 20 straw 

 baskets with bees in, and big bundles of straw over 

 them to keep them warm. Last winter 8 died. My 

 pa says he makes thein too warm. Is that soV 

 Grandpa is TO years old. Nike him. lie gives me 



MINNIE S PET RABBITS. 



I notice in Gleanings of Dec. 15, that Mr. Fraden- 

 burg sent you a pair of rabbits. Well, I will tell 

 you about mine. Last summci", one evening I was 

 sitting on the lawn, and my kitty came along with 

 something in his mouth. I looked, and it was a lit- 

 tle rabbit. Although it was a wild one, it made a 

 nice pet. I fed it, and it grew so it could run 

 around, and then we made a yard for it close to the 

 house. We left it out at night a couple of times, 

 and so one morning I went out to feed it, and could 

 And it no place. Then I saw some fur and blood 

 around in the pen, and we supposed it was a cat 

 that killed it, for we saw a cat sneaking around the 

 pen several evenings after that. Its name was 

 Bunny. What were your rabbits' names? 1 felt 

 very badly about it, but I will soon get a pair of 

 tame rabbits. Minnie Khodes, age 12. 



Wilmot, Ohio. 



Isn"t it a little singidar. Minnie, that your 

 kitty carried the yoiuig rabbit in that way 

 witfioiit killing it ? 1 believe it is true, how- 

 ever, that cats do sometimes take care of 

 rabbits, or even chickens, about as they 

 would a kitten of their own. I am sorry to 

 know that poor little liunny was killed by a 

 cat at last. We call our rabbits Bunny too. 

 and you ought to see Huber tease to go and 

 see them. 



VERSES COMPOSED BY LITTLE 10-VEAR OLD lAU- 

 RIE, ON THE DEATH OF HER BRt)THER. 



Mamma has 5 stands of bees, and papa makes bee- 

 hives to sell. Mamma gave each of her children a 

 stand of bees. My stand swarmed, but died. Papa 

 packed his stands in planer shavings, and they kept 

 well. I have a sister to play with. She is a little 

 girl, but 1 love her very well. I have 8 brothers. 

 The one that was our bee-man that helped manuna 

 hive bees when papa is away from home died. The 

 verses, I composed. I go to school; am in the fifth 

 Reader. lam 11 years old; I was 10 when I com- 

 posed my verses. 



IS MEMORY oy JIV BROTHKK. 



There is a i)lace to me most dear; 

 The evergreens are growing there. 

 Mv deare.st brother there must be, 

 AftliouKh hi.s form I can not see. 

 Four evergreens were planted there. 

 And they were Krowing green and fair. 

 When to this saered place I strave<l. 

 Behold 1 one evergreen is dead. 

 There is a vacant place, I said: 

 And in <iur home a vacant bed. 

 Then to this tree I softly said, 

 • You, like my brother, too, are dead." 

 REFRAIN. 



We can plant the tree at will, 



Itnt brother's place there's none can til!. 



Carrie M. Swartz. 

 Scluiltzville, Pa., Jan. 26, 1^8,5. 



