282 



GLEANINGS IN iiEE CULTURE. 



Apii. 



has got a great many bees; this is a good country 

 for them. Permxa Morgan, ag-c 13. 



Boj-ce, La , Feb. 14, 1PT>. 



Dear me, Perliua I so you are planting po- 

 tatoes away down there, are yon V Do you 

 know, that since reading the proof-slieets of' 

 our new potato-boolv I am just getting wild 

 to plant i»otatoes ? 



NAOMI'S DEStrtlPTION OF A .JUVENII.K WI.NDOW 

 G AH DEN. 



Grandma takes Gleanings, and we like it very 

 much. Wo have 19 swarms of bees. One day last 

 summer, when papa was away, we had a swarm to 

 hive, and my eldest brother and I took our first 

 lesson. Our bees did well last year. I have three 

 brothers, two older and one younger than myself. 

 They all go to school, and I am taught at home. 

 Mamma has been blind seven years. Grandma and 

 I read Gleanings to her, and she enjoys the.iuven- 

 ile letters and Our Homes. I like much to hear about 

 Huber. 1 think he would like our new way of 

 window gardening. Fill a glass with water, and tie 

 a thin cloth over it, then scatter turnip seed on the 

 cloth, keep the glass full of water, so that the seed 

 will be moist, and you will have a cute little garden. 

 Xaomi D. Rhoades, ageO. 



Locust Grove. Va., March 18, 188."). 



Thank you. Xaomi ; and Iluber and 1 are 

 going right to work to make just such a 

 window garden, and Avhen the turnips get 

 up we will report. Pretty good for a nine- 

 year-old little girl. 



LENA'S ACCOUNT OF THE WAV HER FATUEIt PRE- 

 PARES Ills BEES FOR WINTER. 



I live on a farm. My father keeps bees ; he has 13 

 Langstroth hives; he has kept bees since 1867. He 

 sold one year 1200 lbs. of strained honey. He has 

 got a " sliuger." He said he was going to get a new 

 one in the summer. Father takes Gleanings. I 

 like to read the stories A^ery much. He has a little 

 building he calls his oflice, where he slings out 

 honey. I will tell you how father keeps bees in the 

 winter. He takes the honey-board oH', and in its 

 place he puts a kind of arched rack over the lower 

 stori', or breeding apartment; on this rack he 

 covers with woolen carpeting in squares, to cover 

 the bees up warm. Ho uses 4 or 5 thicknesses; he 

 has tried several other ways, but likes this best of 

 all. He wintered them this way six years. He has 

 used the racks 4 years. Lena Wilcox, ago 1:3. 



Olney ville, R. L, March 27, 1885. 



Very good, Lena. So yoiu' extracting- 

 house is the "office,'" is it? 1 itresumc that, 

 with such a dignitied title as that, the room 

 will always be kept nice and clean. If that 

 is the case. I think such a name is a pretty 

 good thing. I will explain to our readers, 

 that with the aljove letter Lena sends a very 

 good drawing of her father's wintering-rack. 

 It is a sort of Hill device on a large scale. 



WILLIAM'S ACCOUNT OF THE REVIVAL. 



While I was at school to-day our folks opened the 

 hives and there was brood in every hive, and young 

 bees in all thf; hives. They cover the combs of 

 three frames in c^.ch hive, and in the hybrid hive 

 that had one drone in October, the drone is still 

 there. We fed them to-day lor the first time, with 

 rye flour and thin syrup. They saw the queen that 

 is in the hive belonging to my brother and mo. 



There has been a glorious revival in this town. 



At the Methodist church, 87 joined, all of whom 

 were converted, and about 3 more converted besides. 

 Last Sunday the Friends' church commenced a 

 series of meetings, which have resulted so far in 

 six conversions, and last night three arose for 

 pi-ayers. Wm. m. Nordvke. 



New ^■ienna, Oliio, March 21. L'-H.'). 



Friend William. Ave have had a glorious 

 revival in our Metliodist church too; and 

 the best part of it is.;_tliat a number of boys 

 and girls belonging to'our i'acLory are among 

 the new converts.— I am glad to know your 

 bees are doing so well. 



ALBERT S REPORT. 



My pa and one of our neighbors sent otf for a 

 foundation-machine to Mr. Given in April, but we 

 did not get it till the middle of October; but we 

 heard that It was in the Toronto custom-house. 

 The expenses and all together cost us S73. We 

 have had some very cold weather here during the 

 winter. Last year was not a very good one for bees 

 here. We extracted over .300 lbs. of honey last 

 year. Albert McCurdy, age 13. 



Hormby, < )nt., March 9, 18S5. 



But, friend Albert, yon did not tell us 

 whether the delay was caused by the manu- 

 facturers or by the custom-house officials — 

 perhaps a little of both. It seems to me our 

 friends in Canada, with all their other good 

 (jualities. should have enough good feeling 

 for the wants of their fellow-men to notify 

 them when things were lying al the custom- 

 house. We have had some pretty severe 

 trials with the slowness of the makers of the 

 Given press, as Avell as the Canada custom- 

 houses. 



RACHELS report; MORE TESTIMIJNV IN FAVOK 

 OF SUGAR SYRUP. 



I have had several circulars addressed tome from 

 bee-keepers, they thinking, as you headed my letter 

 in your journal, " Ray and his Chickens," I was a 

 boy too. We have had a very cold winter; bees 

 that are chaff-packed out of doors have got badly 

 hurt. Pa had nine colonies and five nuclei out of 

 doors, and thej' are half dead. Pa says there are 

 about twelve in cellar that have dysentery; he says 

 that they are old colonies, and that it is caused by 

 the honey-dew, as those that had white-clover hon- 

 ey and sugar syrup are in very good condition. 



Rachel Addenbrooke, age 11. 



North Pi-airie, Wis., March 16, 1885. 



We really beg pardon. Eachel : but we 

 would advise you in future to either give 

 vour whole name, or make it clear in some 

 way that Kay. in your case at least, is a 

 giri"s name. Sometimes mistakes of this 

 kind are a little embarrassing, and we want 

 to avoid them.— I think you are right about 

 it, that it was the honey-dew that killed the 

 bees. Neighbor 11. has lost vc.v b.cavily 

 from tins trouble. Last fall, when he was 

 fixing his bees for winter, he foinid one very 

 weak colony that was clear out of stores, 

 and starving to death. He felt so sorry 

 about it that he gave them two big milk- 

 pans of sugar syrup as fast as they would 

 take it, so as to be sure they would not get 

 that way again. Well, this 2d day of April 

 they are one of the best colonies he has. 

 Avliile great stnmg ones with natural stores 

 died. 



