188 



GLEANINGS IN liEE CULTUKE. 



Fkb. 



says any one can, if he will, quit the use of tobac- 

 co and whisky. Please send me cards against pro- 

 fanity. Alice Jones, ag-e U. 

 Sedalia, Mo., Jan. 31, 1885. 



WHY HONEY FROM SPANISH NEEDLE DOES NOT 

 CANDY THIS YEAR, ETC. 



Our bees have been shut up for two months, on 

 account of cold weather, with the exception of one 

 day two or three weeks ago, when they had a fly in 

 the middle of the day. They showed signs of a 

 great many dead ones. All the bees in this part are 

 on their summer stands, and generally without any 

 protection. Will you please tell me why pure Span- 

 ish-necdlo honey doesn't candy this year? 



lola. 111. CoHA Long. 



I do not know why the lioney does not 

 candy, friend Cora. That seems to be an ac- 

 cidental property. The lioney from some 

 phmts remains persistently a liquid; and, 

 again, the honey from the same plant will 

 candy one season, and the next season it will 

 not. " 1 suppose tliat, by some accident in na- 

 ture, the honey tiiat does not candy contains 

 a different proportion of dextrine in its 

 make-up. Tiie lot that doss not candy is 

 like the liquid glucose, and that that does 

 candy is more like its solid near relative, 

 grape sugar. 



L.\URA'S LETTER AB(JUT HER P.Al'A, WHt) IS DEAD. 



I go to school. I study reading, spelling, and 

 writing. I have two brothers, one 16 years old and 

 one ten, and two little sisters. My papa kept bees. 

 He is dead now. He died last May. Oh how we 

 miss him! We have 16 colonies of bees. Mother 

 takes care of them. She wants to sell most of them, 

 as she is not able to take care of so many. Our bees 

 didn't swarm much last summer. My papa used to 

 take Gleaninos, and we all liked it. We would 

 take it now, but mother thinks she is not able to. 

 My paiia was a soldier, and got a pension, now we 

 get it. We are getting along pi-etty well. I should 

 like to read some of your nice books. 



Laura Willi.\mson, age 7. 



Willow Island, W. Va., Jan. 29, 1885. 



>Iay (Jod help you, my little friend Laura, 

 and your poor afflicted mother, and all the 

 rest of you, in your loneliness. By reading 

 your little letter I was led to wondering what 

 little Iluber would say, and liow sad he 

 would feel, if his papa were taken away as 

 yours is; and while re.v.dlng it, it seems to 

 come over me as it never did before, what a 

 sad, sad thing it must be for little children 

 like you to lose their dear papa, nevermore 

 to see him in ths world. Tell your good 

 mamma that I will gladly send her Glkan- 

 iN'os for one year, for your little letter, and 

 I will send it to her with the prayer that it 

 may help her some with the bees, in the ab- 

 sence of that companion whose place noth- 

 ing in this world can ever fully supply. May 

 (Jod's blessing be with you all. 



bee-keeping for school-teachers. 

 Two years ago pajia put camphor gum in the 

 hives, and he didn't have any trouble with the 

 moths, and this year he kept neglecting it, and the 

 moths killed two or three swarms. Last summer he 

 had only I.") swarms, and now he has 24. In the sum- 

 mer he lost three swarms, which left. Sometimes 

 he has two swarms come out at once, and they all 

 cluster in one i)lace. My eldest sistfu- at home is 



learning to hive bees, and she is teaching school 

 this winter. She thought teaching and bee-keeping 

 would go well togethei", because she said she could 

 teach in the winter and tend to the bees in the sum- 

 mer. As they have only seven months of school, 

 five for the winter term and two for the spring 

 term, she thought she would have time to tend to 

 bees in the summer. Daisy Phelps, age 12. 



Springfield, 111., Jan. 2,), 18S5. 



Friend Daisy, 1 think bee-keeping will be 

 tiptop for your sister, for any man or 

 woman who can take care of a school full of 

 children would probably be able to manage 

 the honey-bees.— You do not want any cam- 

 phor about your hives, to keep moths away : 

 in fact, I do not believe much in medicine of 

 any kind to keep away insect - enemies. 

 Have your hives so they can be opened 

 easily and quickly, and give the bees a fair 

 chance, and they will take care of the moths 

 themselves, and I believe the same rule will 

 api>ly to insects that trouble our plants and 

 vegetal)les. (iive the plants such a good 

 start in life that they will take care of 

 themselves in spite of the insects. With 

 potato-bugs, pitch into them with such ve- 

 hemence when they (irst show their '• noses." 

 that you scare tliera to death in the outset, 

 and save the money you would have to pay 

 for Paris green. 1 do not believe the cam- 

 phor would bother the moths at all. 



TEACHING .M.\M.MA TO SK.\TE ON THE C.\RP-POND. 



I like your description of the carp-pond. I went 

 to skate on my papa's pond, and fell and cut my 

 knee so badly that I have been a cripple for some 

 time. I will not skate any more this winter. Papa 

 took mamma down to the pond to skate, but she 

 tumbled around so she kept the children laughing 

 themselves almost to death. He gave it up as a bad 

 job, trying to teach an old lady to skate. She was 

 raised where there was neither snow nor ice. I 

 should like to pull Huber and my little brother on 

 the sled. My brother is older than Huber. 



how to CURE FROSTED FEET. 



As there are so many people with frosted feet 

 this winter, I will tell you a cure for them. Get the 

 green moss off the roots of the forest-trees; put it 

 in a pot, and cover with water. When it boils, 

 place the feet over the pot while the steam is ris- 

 ing; keep a blanket wrapped around, to keep the 

 steam in. It will be painful for a few minutes, but 

 will cure them. Pearl Tvler, age 9. 



Knob Noster. Mo., Jan. 25, 1885. 



You see, Pearl, your mamma did not learn 

 how to skate when she was a giii. lluber's 

 mamma was brought up right close to a riv- 

 er, and she learned to take to ice as ducks 

 take to water. I think what we learn when 

 we are children we seldom forget. Don't 

 you think. Pearl, we ought to be very care- 

 ful what we learn wheii we arc children?— 

 About your cure for frosted feet, I can not 

 think the moss has any thing to do with it 

 whatever. Suppose you try it without the 

 moss. I am sure youWill tiiid it works justs 

 the same, unless somebody has so much 

 faith in the moss that it is the faith that per- 

 forms the cine; or, at least, they imagine 

 they are cured, and without the moss they 

 woidd imagine they were not cured. I do 

 not mean thai people are not honest, but on- 

 ly that they get notions sometimes. 



