280 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUIIE. 



Apr. 



thatobject you will be apt to find that your friends me happy. A part of the plants were left 

 or neig-hbors will never know what that object is, uncovered, by way of experiment; but at 



and your life will be a comparative failure; and no the present "writiilg, those mulched with 



one wants that to happen to them. So, have an ob- 

 ject in life, and stick to it. 



Aunt Katie Hii.tox. 



manure or straw are away ahead. 



I wonder how many of my little friends 

 are interested in strawberries— strawberry- 

 Xtlanfs. I mean. I know you are all inter- 

 ested in the berries : but I tell you. my little 

 friends, if you really want to enjoy berries, 

 you must learn to help raise and pick them. 

 You can not set a real genuine relish in any 

 other way. Now then, if any of you have 

 have any thing to tell about strawberries. I 

 shall be real glad to see it in your letters. 



^.~^'^ -— sc 



1)111- Homes 

 photogrrapl 

 apo. Jn it i 

 Sflinipse of 

 pictures ol 

 Veil can have you 



ige, Avlio writes a 

 tter for this department, containing 



SOME VALUABLE FACT, NOT GENERALLY 

 KNOWN, ON BEES OR OTHER MATTEUS, 



will receive one of David Cook's excel- 

 lent five - cent Sunday - school books. 

 Many of these booirs contain the same ra.at- 

 ter that yon find in Sunday-school books 

 costing from 81.00 to 91 50. If you have had 

 or more books, give us the names that we 

 may not send the same twice. Wc have now 

 in stock six different books, as follows; viz.: 

 .Sheer OfT. The Giant - Killer. The Roby 

 K.amilv, Rescued from Eprypt, and Ten Nigrhts in 

 aBar-Room. AVt- liavc also Our Ilonus, Part L.and 



very letter that gives us some valuable piece of 



' A chiel's amang ye takin' notes; 

 An' faith, he'll prent it." 



T is spring time now. dear children ; at 

 Ieast.it is (|uitc si)riiiglike here in Medi- 

 na. The grass is liegiiiniug to look green 

 in spots, and, oh my! but you ought to 

 see our strawberries. I told you how I 

 fixed the ground last fall, just as Peter Hen- 

 derson said we should do it. We first made 

 undcidraiiis three feet or more deep, and 

 then we ploAved the ground, and subsoil 

 plowed it. Then it was harrowed fine and 

 soft, and then we drew on so much well- 

 rotted stable manure that the men said they 

 could not get it all dragged in ; but I told 

 them to drag it in as well as they could, and 

 then we planted right in this good ground, 

 more than lialf stable manure (that is, it was 

 on top), those nice potted plants I told you 

 about. The plants took right hold of the 

 manure, and grew like cabbages last fall ; 

 and when we covered them up in December 

 they seemed to be growing still, and that 

 was the last I saw of them until yesterday, 

 the Hth of April. I went out and moved the 

 straw away from whei'e I supposed it ought 

 to be, and" Iluber and I both had a jollifica- 

 tion over it. Mamma had to come and look 

 too. 'i'he leaves were just a bright shining 

 green, and great crowns were already burst- 

 ing forth with the promise of much fruit. I 

 did not know any thing could be so nice in 

 the way of strawberries. Some of them 

 were covered up with coarse manure, and 

 the.sc look a little the best of any thing. 

 The melted snow juid rains, made the past 

 wilder, have covered the plants with a dark- 

 colored licpiid ; but the beautiful green foli- 

 age peeping through the manure just makes 



GRACIE'S LETTER. 



My papa is a doctor. He keeps bees; he gave me a 

 hive, but mine died this winter, it was so cold. He 

 took a trip to Florida this winter, and I guess is en- 

 joying himself. Gracie Coulter, age 7. 



Marissa, 111., March 22, 1885. 



ALSIKE-CLOVER SEED FOR ONLY $4.C0 PER BUSHEL. 



We can not go to school this winter, so we are 

 learning to work and study at home. Lily is two 

 years old. One day mother was mixing bread v;hen 

 she ran up to it and said, " I'll dig, I'll dig," and put 

 her hands into the soft dough. It made us all laugh. 

 Father had 100 bushels of alsike-elover seed last 

 year. He sold it for less than .«;4.00 a bushel. We 

 get lots of honey from the alsike. Father has 5 

 acres of Bokhara clover for the bees next summer. 



Whitby, Ont., Mar. 20, 1885. Gertrude A. Orvis. 

 Well, Gertrude, that is a pretty big fact 

 that you furnish us in your letter, if there 

 isn't any mistake al)out it. AVhy should 

 your father offer for sale seed for 61.00 per 

 bushel, when the market price almost the 

 world over is from 88.00 to SIO.OOV AVas it 

 because the seed was not very clean, or be- 

 cause your Canadian market was so com- 

 pletely overstocked? If it had some of your 

 celebrated lln'sUr seed in it, very likely the 

 price was high enough. 



SEVEN-YEAR OLD PHEBE TELLS US HOW VERY COLD 



it was in CANAD.V. 



I I wash dishes, set table, and help mother cook. 



j When we take Lily out of mischief she gets up by 



i us and says, " Watch, watch, watch." It has been 



very cold here this winter. One night this week 



the milk froze on the table near the coal flre. 



Phebe Orvis, age 7. Per Gertrude. 



Very good, Phebe; and your sister Ger- 

 trude "makes a very fair juvenile amanuensis. 



ONLY 17 LEFT OUT OF 12. 



My father is visiting Florida; he went past New 

 Orleans, and visited the Exposition, and enjoyed it 

 very much. He visited Bi-ooksville last week, and 

 thought it the most beautiful place he had ever 

 seen. He wanted to see if it was a good bee-coun- 

 try. It was so cold this winter, that out of 42 hives 

 of bees he saved only 17. Ho gave mc a hive, and I 

 made $4.C0 from them. He did not make very 

 much from the honey last year. We have an ex- 

 tractor, and I help him extract the honey every 

 summer. Janie Coulter, age 13. 



Marissa, 111., March 23, 1885. 



And so, Janie. your father is thinking of 

 going to Florida, where bees do not die in 

 winter, is he? Well, you tell him for me 

 not to be in a great hurry about it, for there 

 are some good things about the frost and 

 snows, even if they do kill our bees. 



