1885 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Ml 



WARREN S LETTER. 



Thirteen years ago Eagle Lake was a forest, and 

 now it has 300 inhabitants. My uncle is in the bee 

 business. He makes his t)wn fdn. My father is a 

 soldier. I'd like to see Huhcr. 



Eagle Lake, Minn. Warhen Keebaugh, age 12. 



IMUJPOLIS xMAUE <JF PAINT. j 



The bees do funny things sometimes. Pa made 

 some paint, to be used hot. Some was left, and 

 thrown out. When pa opened one of his hives ma j 

 said, " That is funny-looking propolis. " Pa surap- i 

 ed some off, and smellcd of it, and said it was some I 

 of that paint ho threw out. There was nothing i)oi- 

 sonous in it, e.vccpt a little red lead. j 



Anna Barsham Kussell, age 10. 



Osteeu. Fla.. Aug. 5, 1885. \ 



BROTHER FREU'S AtlSCHIEl'' ; 25 STXNG.S l)N HIS 

 HEAU. 



My papa has 50 stands of bees. He lost \H swarms 

 through the winter. We have taken off 8;K) lbs. of 

 honey. 1 have one swarm of bt^es. My little broth- 

 er Fred is two years old, and is very mischievous. 

 He got stung 25 times on his head. 



LlNA Langton. 



Windham, Portage Co., ()., Aug. 9, 1885. 



Whew I So your two-year-old brother got 

 stung L'o times," (lid he V ' \\' hy, some of the 

 old veterans would make a howl if tliey got 

 that many all at once. 1 should think your 

 brother must be iiretty good grit— is he not? 



season not favorable for BEBS ; STRAWBER- 

 RIES BV THE THOUSAND QUARTS. 



Our bees are not doing very well ; for in spring it 

 was too wet and cold, and now it is too dry. They 

 are working some on sand mint. This is the worst 

 season for bees we ever had. We have 15 new 

 swarms. We had lots of strawberries. Sometimes 

 my bi-others shipped as many as a thousand quarts 

 a day. We did not have so many raspberries or 

 blackberries, as it was too dry and hot here. I like 

 to take care of bees better than I used too. I hive 

 them barefooted. Fred Wirt, age 15. 



Keithsburg, Mercer Co., 111. 



A "BIO GOOSE ; " .\ S\r) EXPERIENCE. 



Grandma Koosa gave brother ami me a pel goose. 

 To-day it was going by the bee-hi\e, and the bees 

 saw her, and oh how they did sting her! She ran 

 and turned over and over, and jumped on the bee- 

 hive, and rubbed hvv head, and you don't know 

 how sorry we were. Our bees arc good ; they don't 

 sting us at all. 1 think it is because none of us use 

 tobacco. Y(^u know they don't like tobacco. 



Border Plains, la., Aug. 8, 1885. Frank Koosa. 



Why, Frank, that goose must have beeu a 

 " big goose "^ for sure, to jump on tlu^ bee- 

 hive after she had been " goose "" enough to 

 get so near the bees as to get stimg. .\nd 

 so you think the reason why your folks don't 

 get stung by the bees is because your folks 

 do not use tobacco. 



letter from a fujrida .juvenile. 



1 have lived in Florida nine years, and have just 

 started to make a flower-garden. Flowers do nice- 

 ly, if aiiyl)ody will take care of them. I have sev- 

 eral kinds of Howcrs. 1 got a few geranium cut- 

 tings from Eva S. Glawson. She has (piile a num- 

 lier of flowers. 1 think roses and magnolias are the 

 prettiest kinds of flowers. 1 have got a nice madc- 

 ria vine climbing up the window. It is about a 

 foot long. They have a pretty flower. 



I have four tame blue-Jays. They will come and 

 eat out of my hand. They are a pretty bird, and 

 very tame. There are a great many kinds of birds 

 here. 



The bees have not done much this year. 1 like 

 honey cappings better than extracted honey. Our 

 oranges will soon be big enough to eat. The insects 

 are not bad this summer. 1 guess they have all 

 gone north to spend the summer. 1 got a letter 

 from my aunt some time ago and she said that she 

 saw a few flying about after dark, so I guess it is 

 true about what 1 said. Minnie S, MunpeIv. 



Hawk's Park, Fla., July 29. 



HOW.IOHN'S FATHER MAKES A "POLLEN-SCRAPER." 



The bees arc getting lots of pollen from corn. Pa 

 has made some pollenscrapers. He takes a strip of 

 tin as long as the entrance of the hive, and makes a 

 row of holes in it, each a scant 3-16 of an inch in di- 

 ameter, and nails the tin over the entrance; and 

 when the bees go in it scrapes the pollen off their 

 legs, and aljout noon I brush the pollen away, and 

 take ofl the tins so the bees can take out the dead 

 ones ; and iu the morning I put the tins on again, 

 John Ralston, age 14. 



Vinton, Benton Co., la. 



Very good, John ; but what in the world 

 does your jtajta or anybody else want a pol- 

 len-scraper forV I have heiud of the friends 

 having too much i»ol]en in the hives, but I 

 never saw a hive with too much itollen in it 

 yet. especially if I were raising bees and 

 queens for sale. And although 1 may be 

 mistaken, it seems to me you will do your 

 colonies damage by depriving them of the 

 pollen they worked so hard to gather. 



EDNA'S REPORT. 



Our bees arc working as fast as they ever have. 

 They will be so thick in the air that 1 ask ma or pa 

 if they are not swarming. They look just as if they 

 were. I am watching the bees now. We had one 

 swarm this forenoon. We have lots of new honey. 

 Some is so white you can hold it ui> to the light and 

 look right through it and see things. Our liees are 

 not cross one l)it. When the bees swarm and pais 

 not at home, and ma is doing something, and her 

 sleeves arc rolled up, and there is not a b(jnnctor 

 bee-veil in reach, she will run out bareheaded to 

 look for the queen, and the bees will not sting her. 

 I have to laugh at her. Pa is not at home now. He 

 is at the upper bee-yard, a mile from here. Novice 

 watches the bees there ; and when they swarm he 

 runs down and t'-lls pa, and then he rides up with 

 pa. We have three large rabbits and seven young 

 ones. We did have four. One was lemon color. 

 We got them of Mr. Fradenburg. The lemon-color- 

 ed one got away. Edna A. Boo.mhower. 



Gallupville, Schoharie Co.. N. V. 



Thank you. t^dna. It does us lots of good 

 to hear from little girls whose napas we have 

 known for many years, as we have your pa. 

 You see. we shbiildnt know that the papas 

 had any little girls, if these same girls didn't 

 write lis nice little letters like yours. 



HOW THE BEES ROARED ON BUCKWHEAT WHERE 

 COREN.V LIVES. 



We have a big j)icce of buckwheat. The other day 

 when I went to dig potatoes the buckwheat was 

 covered with bees. 1 looked all over, and thought 

 it was a thrashing-machine. I stick the foundation 

 into the bo.xes for pa, and |)ut them into the frames. 



