1885 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



565 



and they will not live so long. Be sure not to feed 

 them; if you do you will have to change the water 

 every hour, and they get so uneasy that they are no 

 pleasure to look at. They get enough animaleuhr 

 from most waters to keep them. We kept two in a 

 tank where the water was run off on to a strawberry- 

 bed once a week; and when we wanted the water 

 for drinking we killed the flsh. One was full of 

 spawn, and the other was fat. They had been in 

 about eight months, and had grown considerably. 

 The well water was beautifully clear and sweet, so 

 they must have lived on the aniraalculHP, for there 

 was nothing else that wo could see; and, in fact, we 

 did not see them; but scientists say that the water 

 is full of them. I take their word for it without 

 looking, as I know I covjld not relish the pure, clear- 

 looking water if I had seen bugs and snakes in it. 



The largest of my pets loves to .lump. He will 

 start from the bottom of the bottle and rush to the 

 top of the water, and spri^ quite to the neck. His 

 flns will make quite a noise as he strikes the glass. 

 I thought he was after flies; but I caught and killed 

 a couple and dropped them into the water, and they 

 would never touch them. 



Minnows make nice pets, and they will catch and 

 eat flies, and in a short time you can teach them to 

 come to the t(j|) of the water for food: but you 

 must have lots of water and very few flsh, to be nice. 

 I have kept two flsh, about two Inches long, tail and 

 all, in a half-gallon Mason jar, for a year. A candy- 

 jar is prettier, as it is clearer, and they will piiy for 

 the trouble. Of course, goUI-fish are the pretficsl. 

 but they are not always obtainable, and they are 

 not so active as carp or minnows. 



I,ittle folks, try one glass of flsh lor pets, and you 

 will be delighted with them as soon as they get ac- 

 <a]8toraed to their new h<imc. Mr. Root thinks may 

 be the hot spring would be- a good place lor carp. 

 1 do not know if they could stand the sulphur; Init 

 if they could, wouldn't it be nice! The pou'l could 

 always be kept warm by the water running into it, 

 and (hey l<)\e warm watci-. 



Some one made an incubator- that is, a machine 

 to hatch eggs— and put it where the hot water could 

 run through it, and I heard that it hatched out the 

 eggs nicely. I want to go and see it; and may be I 

 will sotne day, for I love to work with chickens. 

 T,ight lirahinas are my favorites, but we are trying 

 Plymouth Ifocks this year, and we have an incuba- 

 tor that we are getting ready to set, and, of course, 

 lam interf-sted in all such things: bul we can not 

 all ha\e hot-spring incubators. We all can ha\e 

 carp, or flsh of some kinds, however, even if they 

 <lo not hriiur us much mf)ney. When Mr. H. was at 

 Santa Barbara last week, he and a friend went up 

 to the Old Mission, and they saw a large reservoir 

 back of the l)uilding. They went to it and saw a 

 lot of large carp in it, and (hey were so tame that 

 they followed them all around ihv reser\oir, look- 

 ing for soniething to cat. The men hunted in thrir 

 pockets for some crackers; but not finding any, Mr. 

 G., who uses tobacco, crumbled olf some and threw 

 that in. The flsh would take it in their mouths and 

 then spew it (uit again. The men had a good laugh 

 at their evident disgust at the uninviting repast. 



.1. P. Israel's piece is very amusing. We hope he 

 will come again. We think C. C. Miller will have to 

 hire a chrap boy"to hunt out the especial items for 

 him— one who does not care to read much, and 

 would go by the headings. I suppose he finds the 

 extras so interesting that he forgets all about what 



he had been wanting. I read every thing in Glean- 

 ings, although 1 am not financially interested in 

 bees, and am not very good friends with them any 

 way ; hut even the bee-articles are so spicy that I 

 would not miss them for a considerable. But I pre- 

 fer the carp and chicken stories, and especially the 

 Homes and comments. Aunt Katie. 



IjOS Alamos, Cal. 



Thank you, Aunt Katie, for the instruc- 

 tion you give in regard to keeping fish in 

 the house. A friend was down to see our 

 carp-pond a few days ago. who said that a 

 carp-raiser made his Avife a present of two 

 little fish not larger than a cucumber seed. 

 They fed tlie fish on small particles of oat- 

 meal, and he said that they doubled in size 

 in only three <n' four days. kSucIi pets are 

 not only amusiner to the children, but they 

 are instructive. You. my friend, have learn- 

 ed that fish can live in a glass jar without 

 being fed. etc.: and it seems to me that all 

 the knowledge we gain of this kind, by 

 practical observation and experience, helps 

 us along in the world. Wlien poor Nancy 

 was sick, oh iiow I did wisli tliat I knew 

 more about horses, lliiit I might be able to 

 give her at least a little intelligent relief 

 from her sufferings! \Viien the man who 

 took care of her came into the stable in the 

 morning, even though she was too nearly 

 dead to notice any thing she looked at him 

 and whinnied. 



— i M— — — 



THE TROUBLE THEY HAD AT CHAR- 

 LEY'S HOUSE. 



!1 HIS has been a poor season foi' bees so far. It 

 f has been cold and rainy. Our jirincipal lion- 



\\\ ey-i)lants are white clovei-, basswood, pojilar. 

 )cust, willow, maple, and buckeye. We can 

 tell when our liees are working on buckeye, 

 by the bright-nd i)ollen lhe.v gather fi-om it. Bass- 

 wood is jilentiful in our vicinity. Maples are nu- 

 merous in the swamjjs. The bees gathered lots of 

 maple pollen in the spring. Mustard, teasel, gold- 

 enrod. dandelion, and pennyroyal are also iilenti- 

 ful. Figwort grows wild in the woods. Last spring 

 we saw the bees of one of our large colonies rush- 

 ing in and out at a tcrrililc rate. Supposing that a 

 neighbor's Iiees had overpowered it, we shut it ui>, 

 and to keep them from robbing our other colonies 

 we shut them up also. Soon thousands of bees 

 gathered over the hive we supposed was getting 

 robbed, and a snuvller number on the other hives. 

 The day was a warm one. and late in the allernoon 

 we opened the hives. The bees that were on the 

 outside were gone. Now, what became of those 

 bees? This is a (piestion that I do not see into. 

 The nc.\t morning aU the bees went to work, and 

 the swarm we thought was robbed soon filled their 

 hive, made some surplus, then cast a fine large 

 swarm. What were these bees doing that day? 

 Could it be that they were taking honey from a bee- 

 tree'.-' and if we have any more such experience, 

 what shall we do'.' 



Our liees at i>resrnt aie working on white clover. 

 We have the A B (' book, and I like very much to 

 read in it. CnAru.in- L. OitEENHKM). age i:i. 



Somerville, Ohio. 



Friend Charley, your bees were out having 



