1885 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



873 



the big iron bars. It looks as if it were built to 

 keep wild beasts in. I SVdnt to bo a good boy, and 

 not get drunk uud steal, and grieve ma's life, as 

 those boys did theirs. I have One stand of bees, 

 and got 126 lbs. of extracted honey from it. Pa had 

 11 in the spring; has TO now. I have a big pig. 

 Georgetown, 111. ^Sammv Lindley. 



SUDDEN DEATH OF A COLONY FROM FEEDING. 



One of our neighbors fed dark syrup to a stand of 

 bees at 11 o'clock, and at 12 they were all dead. 

 Feradale, Cal. Georgie Spaulding, age 9. 



HONEY NOT FIT TO EAT. 



One of our neighbors had a lot of bees, and they 

 made beautiful white clear honey; but when they 

 took out the honei' they could not eat it. It was 

 made of laurel and wormwood and fennel. 



Ferndale, Cal. Maggie Spaulding, age 11. 



A kind WORD FOR GLEANINGS. 



I will write to you, and tell you something about 

 our bees. We have about 200 hives of bees. We 

 got about 80C0 or 9300 lbs. of honey this year. 

 Papa takes Gleanings, and he says he couldn't 

 get along without it. Ada McPhail. 



Gallinas, Texas. 



THE LOSS OF TWO COLONIES. 



Pa put two colonies of bees in the cellar in the 

 fall, and they were looking well until lately he look- 

 ed at them and found them all dead. Thej- had 

 plenty to cat, but it was too wet for them. It 

 wouldn't be such a loss if there were anymore bees 

 near here. These two colonies cost at least $25.00. 

 If any of the readers of Gleanings are dealers in 

 fruit-tree seeds, please send price list of seeds, es- 

 pecially Ilussian mulberry, grapes, plums, and crab- 

 apples. 



The bee, the boo. the busy lice. 

 Gathers honey otl flower and tree. 

 He toiln and toils the n\ clong daj-, 

 ■r has he a word to say. 



Mil 



WHAT bees do when THEY GET DOWN LITTLE 

 BOYS' BACKS. 



I have got my ma to write for me, for I can't 

 write, but I like bees. I like to watch them gather 

 honey, and to see them go in the hive with their legs 

 loaded with pollen. My pa's bees came out one day 

 this winter, and I was out to see them, and there were 

 twogot down my back and stung me. I have been 

 through mj- First Reader once, and going thi-ough 

 it again. 1 have one pet, and that is a cat. 



Cameron, Pa. Earnest Wykoff. 



" throwing GROUND" TO BRING DOWN A SWARM; 

 HOW A .JUVENILE MANAGED. 



lu 1883 pa and I went in the lot to cultivate pota- 

 toes. We then saw a swarm of bees Hying over us. 

 We ran after them till we got past them. We 

 threw ground amongst them till they clustered on 

 a little bush. Pa told me to watch them while he 

 went home to get a hive; and while he was gone 

 the bush got heavj' and bent down, and the bees 

 dropped off. They commenced to fly. I was afraid 

 they were going ott', so I covered them with my hat; 

 and they all clustered in Jt. When pa came he just 

 shook them in the hive, and then we left it there 

 till night. Then pa and brother John went and got 

 them. Michael Zeiir, age U. 



Indian River, N. Y. 



KING-BIRDS iilLLING BEES; CATCHING BUMBLE- 

 BEES. 



My father had 18 swarms of bees last fall. Two of 

 them died this winter. One of them had no queen. 

 The king-birds would come and eat the bees last 

 summer, but George and I would shoot them when 

 we got a chance. Sometimes they will stay up on 

 the tall trees, but sometimes they will come down. 

 Geoi-ge, my y'ounger brother, used to catch bumble- 

 bees and shut them up in a hive, but they would 

 not stay. There are lots of wild ducks that come in 

 the pond, and we boys stone them. 



Cameron, Pa. Willie Wykoff, age 13. 



CUT STRAW AND SAWDUST FOR PACKING; HOW TO 

 TELL RIGHT SIDE UP OF SECTIONS. 



Papa has 120 swarms of bees, packed with cut 

 straw and sawdust, on their summer stands. He 

 got about 5000 lbs. of comb honey and a good deal 

 of extracted that we did not weigh. You can al- 

 ways tell which is the right side up of a section of 

 honey; for unless the sections are turned over on 

 the hive, the bees always leave the largest holes in 

 the lower corners. Lucy Hurlbut, age 9. 



West Bethany, N. Y. 



A SELF-MADE MARTYR; A BEE LIVED JUST FOUR 

 HOURS AND A HALF AFTER HAVING STUNG. 



Seeing that you had proposed to the juveniles the 

 plan of removing the sting from a bee, to see how 

 long he would live without a sting, I was so much 

 pleased with the idea that I at once tried it. I went 

 out into the apiary, and attempted to catch a bee; 

 but just before I could capture one, a little fellow 

 that had been buzzing unpleasantly near my ear 

 concluded to be accommodating and save me the 

 trouble of catching one of his companions; so he 

 flew at me with an angry " m7( 12," and popped his 

 Sting into my liand. Of course, his fate was seale<l. 

 so I caught him and put him into a queen-cage, and 

 then put the cage on top of the combs in the hive. 

 Hefore putting the cage in the hive, I put a few 

 drops of honey in it. I put the bee in at half-past 

 eleven o'clock a. m. and he lived until four o'clock 

 P. m., so you see tlie poor little fellow lived only 

 four hours and a half. I hope some of the other j u- 

 vcniles v.ill try the experiment. 



Our bees have done exceedingly well this year. 

 Papa ordered a lot of iron-jacket cans, to put his 

 honey in. He received them the other day. He 

 gels all of his apiarian supplies from you. 



Florence Boles. 



Church Hill, Miss., Nov. IT, 1885. 



Well done, little friend. I am going to 

 tell our mailing clerk to send you a large 

 and beautiful chromo, which will be in ad- 

 dition to the book already sent you.— So you 

 really are a self-made martyr to" the cause of 

 science. I wonder if that little bee, when he 

 stung you, knew he was going to die ; if he 

 did, don't you think he was a martyr also to 

 his dear little homeV Or do you think he 

 was just like little folks sometimes are, 

 when they feel a little mad and want to give 

 somebody a "dab "?— Your bee lived four 

 hours and a half. Ilulda Myers" (page 791) 

 lived seven hours. Now let us have quite a 

 number of reports upon this point, until we 

 shall have this matter settled. To every ju- 

 venile who gives an answer to the problems 

 I gave in Oct. lo. page 711, we will send a 



nice present. 



Ernest. 



