188.5 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



713 



AN ESSAY OX BEES. , 



Bees are very industrious little Insects. They 

 g-ather honey every sunshiny day in the summer, ! 

 and on cloudy days they make wax. They gather 

 honey from clover-blossoms, and almost every kind 

 of flowers. Bees will not sting- if you do not molest 

 them. Their color is brown and yellow. They are 

 a little larger than the common house-fly. They i 

 kill all the drones when winter comes. I live in the j 

 western part of Iowa. Here the bees get honey , 

 fvom wild flowers, and I think from dogwood flow- 

 ei'S. I should think bees would like columbine- i 

 blossoms. Mav Drew, i 



Glidden, la. ' 



Youf es.say is very good, friend May, but ! 

 1 am afraid it Ls not all of it altogether true. 

 Bees do innke wnx on eloudy days, but I am [ 

 not sure that they make it then more than i 

 they do on sunny days: and 1 am afraid it \ 

 is not always triie, that bees do not sting 

 unless you molest them. It is a pretty good 

 letter, though, for all that. 



A .TlVENIt.E SrPHF-V-UEAl.EK. 



Mr. Daniel Howard came to pa's house, and stayed 

 three or four months, and gave me one of your cat- 

 alogues. J ain a small boy; and as all boys like to ; 

 have some pocket change, I spoke of sending to jou 

 for a few articles and selling them at a small profit, 

 and, by so doing, turn ray little mile over to ndvan- 

 tage. My first attempt was rather discnuraging; 

 but your kindness reassured me. 



.My father is a jdanter on the Ouachita River. He 

 owns 600 acres on the river, of as good land as is in 

 the State. He owns a steam-gin and grist-mill. His 

 steam-power is sufficient for a saw, and his unculti- 

 vated lands are covord with splendid timber. It is 

 as healthy as any place in the»^outh. He has three 

 nice settlements on his land, and pa wishes to go 

 north. If you see any one who wishes a cheap bar- 

 gain in a healthy neighborhood, good schools, nice 

 people, recommend them to pa. He will sell at 

 very reasonable figures. Wii.me Bl'SSEM.. 



Donaldson, Hot Spring Co., Ark., Sept. 14, 1885. 



getting plenty of honey somewhere else. Am 

 I not right about it, boysV 



SOME KIND WORDS FROM A JUVENILE. 



We all look for your paper, which comes regular- 

 ly. Papa says he wonders how you do it. W"e are 

 all sorry you lost your horse. We were pleased 

 with your article about paying a fair price for 

 what you buy. Pa a-ead it all out for us, for people 

 often call him foolish because he won't beat a 

 man down when he asks a fair price for what he 

 sells. I help papa with his bees. We lost none last 

 winter. March, 1884, we began with four boxes. 

 Now we have 1.5 hives. Papa is an engineer. He 

 makes his own hives. We want him to succeed 

 with his bees. He is not strong, and has bad health. 

 We wish we could taste some of those apples, straw- 

 berries, and raspberries you write about. We can 

 not grow any of them here. Papa planted lots of 

 trees. None of us use tobacco, except my eldest 

 Iirother; he thinks he looks like a man. 



Frederick Haii.es. age l:.'. 



Hondo City, Texas, Sept., 188,'i. 



Why, Frederick, is it indeed true that you 

 can not raise apples, strawberries, and rasp- 

 berries, in Texas V .Vre you not mistaken 

 about this? It seems to "me I could make 

 them groAv wherever it is not too cold or too 

 hot. 



SOME KIND WORDS, AND FACTS OF GENERAL IN- 

 TEREST. 



My papa takes (Si-eanings, and likes it so well 

 that when his six months is up he will take it all the 

 time. We started in with six colonies, and this 

 spring one was alive. We got two nice large 

 swarms, and they have done well. We got 33 lbs. of 

 nice white comli honey. Wc have 12 spider plants, 

 to give the bees a trial, and they won't touch it. 

 What is the rcasonV We can just see the little 

 (hops of nectar in each flower. Mr. Ifoot, do you 

 give smokers yeti' If you do, please send my papa 

 one. He has quit chewing and smoking. It he 

 chews or smokes we will send you money for it. 

 We like the way you talk in the A IJ C introduction. 

 Papa says he thinks you are a Christian. We like 

 that kind of God-fearing people. Brother and I 

 both belong to the church. I will close, for fear 

 you toss this into the waste-basket. 



Clarence and H.\rry Boone, ages 11 and '.>. 

 Shelbyville, Ills. 



May (Jod bless you, Clarence and Harry! 

 and most gladly do we send your papa a 

 smoker. What papa could l)reak his pledge 

 when iwo of his boys, aged nine and eleven, 

 stand as vouchers for the faithful perform- 

 ance of his part of the contract?— The bees 

 neglect your spider plants because they are 



KIM) WORDS FROM A I.ITTLE GIRT- WHO DOES NOT 

 FEEL TH.\T SHE IS A STRANGER. 



I know I am a little stranger to jou, but I don't 

 feel as if you were one to me, because I have seen 

 so many of your kind replies to little letters in 

 Cleanings that it made me feel as if I wanted to 

 hear from you too. My mamma says she thinks 

 that y<)u are a man with a great deal of patience to 

 answer all the little letters from children. I don't 

 [ know of any thing that 1 could tell you about bees 

 that you don't already know, for I often ask my pa- 

 pa if he doesn't think that you know every thing 

 about bees. My papa doesn't use tobacco in any 

 form. There was a very serious case happened to 

 a man who lived in our neighborhood who did use 

 tobacco. He was going from the store, and a hard 

 I breeze came just as he was going through the gate, 

 I which slammed and drove the pipe-stem down his 

 throat, and he nearly died before they could get him 

 home, but 1 am glad to say that he is better. My 

 I pai)a has been keeping bees three years; he began 

 I with one hive of black bees in a box hive and one 

 nucleus that he got from you. He now has nearly 

 j 50 hives of bees. 1 have a little book called "First 

 Steps for Little Feet, ' and I have read it through 

 now, and 1 think that it is just elegant. 

 Church Creek, Md. Kmza K. Busick, age 8. 



Thank you. Eliza, for your kind little let- 

 ter. You need not be a stranger any longer, 

 for I always feel at least some acquainted 

 ; -with every one Avho writes for Gleanincs. 

 1 A great many of the children are calling for 

 [ the book you speak of—'' Fii'st Steps for Lit- 

 tle Feet,"^ and I have just decided to buy a 

 whole hundred dollar's worth at one time, 

 so my little friends can all be supplied. The 

 1 best thing about the little book is. that it 

 ' teaches even the little feet to step toward 

 heaven. Your sad story may not teach very 

 much of a lesson against tobacco, but it does 

 I teach people to beware of going about with 

 , something sticking out of their mouth. 



