1885 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



351 



FROM A YOUNG BOATMAN. 



My pa keeps bees. He liad 50 stands in the fall; 

 but the winter has been so cold that I do not know 

 how many we have now. We did not get very much 

 honey last fall. We take Gleanings. I learn a 

 great deal by reading it. We live on the Desmoines 

 River. My pa is ferryman. I am a little boy, but I 

 can row a boat. Come over and T will give you a 

 boat-ride. Eldie Wai.kek. 



Kousseau, Iowa, Feb. 7, 1885. 



FIVE CENTS a SWAKM. 



My papa keeps bees. I watch them, ainl wlicii 1 

 sec them swarm 1 get 5 ets. One day lust suinnier a 

 swarm came out, and we just got them hived when 

 a wind storm came up. It blew the hive over, and 

 we lost a good many bees, anti lost the (pieen. 

 A neighbor wiis hi^lping papa hive the l)ees, and the 

 bees alighted all ovei' him, and stung him so badly 

 that he did not slee)) any that night, and he said he 

 would rather eat the honey than to hive the bees. I 

 am a left-handed girl . Annie Bennett. 



Alexandria, Minn., March, 1885. 



ABOUT strawberries. 



I don't like honey, but I like strawberries. Papa 

 has a nice bed of Parry, Sharpless, and Crescent 

 Seedling strawberries. He thinks the best way to 

 raise them is to set out a new bed every spring, 

 and dig or plow up the old ones as soon as they are 

 done bearing. Harkv T. Dow. age (i. 



Corning, Steuben Co., N. Y. 



SUSIE'S LETTER. 



Pa commenced with 16 stands of bees last spring, 

 and increased to 60, and e.vtracted 1400 lbs. of honey, 

 and I turned the extractor. All of the bees died | 

 but 41 stands, and they came out all right this j 

 spring, and those that died had plenty of honey in | 

 the bives. I should like to know the cause of it. 

 Last summer I had to let pa know when they ] 

 swarmed. We hope to have a good honey crop this 

 year. Susie Garrison, age 11. 



Whitehall, 111., April 25, 188,5. 



THE FIUST SWARM OF BEES FOR 18S5. 



.V swarm of bees alighted on a fence at one of our 

 neighbor's, and they found them and put them in a ! 

 hive that had comb and honey in it, and he says 

 they are doing well. It was on the llr-st day of 

 April. They must have come from the woods. 

 There was about a quart of them, and they had a 

 queen. My papa hns si.v swarms of lees in ehalf 

 hives; ht; lost noiu^ this winter; my grandpa Inst a 

 good numy of his bees, and so have our neighbors. 



Dayton, Ohio, .\pril l.i, IHS.'i. Vioi.a Tiumm:. 



.VN OlilMIAN IIOV'S I,KTTi;i!. 



I am a little boy of i:!. I work in the Held every 

 day. We have a great numy hives of bees, and get 

 a great deal of honey. We sell it by the gallon. We 

 oat a great deal of it on the table. It is very good ! 

 in cold weather. I have a large truck wagon, and I . 

 work yearlings to it. I am an orphan boy, but I I 

 have a good guardian. I have been with him si.v 

 years. I have a little single-barrel shot-gun. It 

 throws shot liKI yards. I can kill a bird H.\ ing, or 

 any way. T. 8. Tu wim.ian. 



Caseyville, Mi.-.s., Apr. 8, 1885. 



HOW MINNA LOST THE BEES BECAUSE SHE KoltliOT 

 AND LEFT THE COVER OF THE HIVE OFF. 



I luid a swarm of bees, and moved them 13 miles, 

 and they did well for about a week. They com- 

 menced coming out, and I went out to look at them 

 and left the top of the hive ofT. and next morning 

 they were all dead. I was very sorry, for I loved to 

 tend them. Grandma and myself went on shares, 

 and she had 36 swarms and lost all but 4, and I lost 

 mine too, but I am going to get me another one. 

 Minna Dickens, age 14, 



Mossing Ford, Va , April 1!), 1885. 



THE dead queens. 



We have six hives of bees. One colony carried 

 out a great many dead bees and three dead (jueens 

 one day last month, and laid them on the alighting- 

 board, and they have one live queen and a great 

 many bees yet. Father picked up the dead queens 

 and put them in a glass tumbler. He sujs the 

 young queen stung her mother and sisters, and 

 killed them. One other colony carried out their 

 queens, and faiher bought a queen and gave them. 

 XoN.\ Johnston, age s. 



Brock, Xeb., April 7, 1885. 



HOW .JOSEPH S FATHER GOT A START IN BEE- 

 KEEPING. 



My father takes Gleanings, and thinks it is vrry 

 interesting. He has 15 colonies of bees, but they 

 did not make much honey last year. You can not 

 guess how i)a got some of his bees. He was out 

 hunting two years ago last .January, and he found 

 them in the top of a big tree, hanging \Hider a limb, 

 and he shot them ofl' with his ritle, and then piled up 

 the comb and went home and got a bucket, and 

 brought them home and put them in a hive. 



.Joseph H. Thakp, age Id. 



Ihniiiony. Iredell Co., X. C, March, 1885. 



another letter fro.m daisy white. 



.M\ |)a keeps bees; he has 1(13 swarms a1 home, 

 and 45 swarms away from home. It has been so 

 cold for four weeks that pa doesn't know wliether 

 any swarms have died or not. We have got an 

 acre of strawberries. 1 su|)poso we shall be very 

 busy next summer, picking them. I have a Imby- 

 brother, and he can sing ever so many tunes. He 

 is not (wo years old yet. He enjoys riding on the 

 little sled as well as Huber. He likes to see us 

 skate. 1 should like to go out to Medina again. I 

 had such a nice tinu- when I was then-. 1 enjoy 

 reading the letters in Gleanings. 



New London, (t. D.msv White. 



( hauley's poetry, etc. 



Had luck with my bees this week. I had only two 

 hives; one of them was in the woods. Father went 

 to it yesterday, and themiee had killed the bees and 

 eaten the honey, so that leaves me only one hi\ c 

 but I hope they will swarm this spring. 



THE BEES. 



L'p thf\ ;ni-, liiijjlit mikI earl.y. 



rtnl 



line clearl 

 the (lay. 

 • lit pla.v. 



buzz their winfr.s. 



I'.ut wlicn llio i-.>ia uinUTi' .-. 



And shuts them in thiii- lioni.s. 



B.v cold they'll all l)e slain. 



If they come out trxi smn airaiii. 



Charles T. Haudkn, .In. 

 Windsor, X. C, April 6, 1885. 



LETTER FROM A CALIFORNIA JUVENILE. 



Our bees swarmed and alighted on the fancy 

 woodwork of our cupola, or tower; my brother is 



