874 



GLEAXIXGS IX BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 



30 SWARMS AND 1200 LBS. OF HONEY. 



My pa !ins 31 hives of bees, and he got 1200 lbs. of 

 honey, and thinks he could have got 20C0 lbs. if he 

 had had time to take it. Pa thinks rape is nice for 

 bees in the fall, as it blossoms, and bees work on it, 

 until snow comes. Pa once buried a swarm of bees 

 like potatoes, with straw six inches thick all around 

 them, and some dirt over, and the snow drifted 

 over them two feet deep, and in four months he 

 took them out and the.v were flying all around hira 

 before he could get them out. 



Bessie Green, age 8. 



Montague, Mich., Nov. 30, 1885. 



A LITTLE BROTHER WHO C.VLLS HIMSELF A. I. 

 ROOT. 



My papa has 11 stands of bees; he keeps them in 

 the front yard. I like to help him. Mamma has 

 one stand of bees. My little brother calls himself 

 A. I. Root. When he gets stung it knocks out some 

 of his self-conceit. I am going to school. I have 

 one pet pig. , age 9. 



Concordia, Ky. 



Give my respects to my little namesake, 

 my little friend ; but, what do you call yotn-- 

 setf/ I am glad that your brother thinks 

 enough of me to wish to be named after me. 



A LETTER FROM A LITTLE GIRL IN ENGLAND; 

 PHENOL FOR CURING FOUL BROOD. 



1 have been thinking of writing to you for a long 

 time, and now intend doing so. I need not tell you 

 that father keeps bees. I suppose you know he 

 docs. He can not understand how it is you do not 

 say any thing about the new cure for foul brood. 

 It is called phenol. He has sold a lot, and custom- 

 ers say it soon cures the complaint. He sent some 

 to Mr. Robert Lees, Lucknow, Ontario, whose bees 

 were verj' bad with the disease. Perhaps you can 

 find out whether he did any good with it. Have 

 you seen Mr. Cheshire's new book? Father says he 

 will post it monthlj' for you, if you like. 



Jessie Hollands, age 11. 



The Apiary, Waddon, Croydon, Surrey, Eng. 



Thank you, Jessie, for your kind letter 

 and inquiries. I have touched upon the 

 phenol remedy several times ; but so many 

 remedies have been proposed and afterward 

 dropped (luring the past years that this mat- 

 ter has l)een before us, that I hope you will 

 excuse me for being a little slow al)but rec- 

 ommending these new things. Besides, we 

 have had some reports already, if I am not 

 mistaken, saying that phenol' did not an- 

 swer, even when used exactly according to 

 directions. We shoidd be very glad indeed 

 to liave Mr. Robert Lees' repoit. We have 

 seen Mr. Cheshire's book, and you will find 

 a report of it on another page. 



FROM 16 TO 65, AND 3000 LBS. OF COMU HONEV. 



My pa had 165 colonics of bees a year ago, and 

 they all died in the winter but 16; he now has 65 

 good ones and has 3000 lbs. of honey in 2-1 b. sec- 

 tions. This year he raised his queens too, in little 

 bits of hives he called mine. Pa has gone to Ne- 

 braska with 1200 lbs. of honey. He went in a cov- 

 ered Avagon, with a four-horse team. Pa will be 

 surprised to sec my letter in Gleanings. This is 

 ray first letter. Birdie Needels, age 7. 



Alanthus, Mo., Nov. is, 1885. 



Thank you for your report, friend Birdie. 

 Your letter teachies at least one good thing ; 



namely, that we must never get discouraged. 

 If we get into Blasted Hopes one year, we 

 stand a good chance of getting out again. 

 Your papa certainly did well to average 

 nearly 200 lbs. of honey, besides the increase 

 and raising his own queens. Ernest. 



MORE .\BOrT R.A.TTLESNAKE AP1.\RV. 



After my last letter I thought I would not write 

 again, as others write more interestingly; but your 

 postal of Oct. ~6 was a surprise and joy to me. I 

 hope you may live many years to gladden the hearts 

 of both adults and juveniles. We had a killing 

 frost Nov. 26th; bees were bringing in pollen up to 

 that date. Pa has turned the bees over to me. He 

 said he would not have time ne.xt year to bother 

 with them. T am going to school, and will continue 

 to go until swarming time, April 1. My bees will 

 not need any more attention until that time. 



I went with my pa to Rattlesnake Apiary one day 

 last week, and prepared our bees for winter by con- 

 tracting the entrances and taking off one of the su- 

 pers, leaving them in twostory hives, the lower 

 story full of natural stores, with some in supers. T 

 don't like to winter in a two-story hive. On warm 

 days the bees go into the super, looking after the 

 treasures there. They are either unable or unwill- 

 ing to return to the cluster when the weather turns 

 cold, and are chilled to death. The first warm day 

 after each cold spell last winter I noticed a handful 

 of dead bees in front of all strong colonies. By 

 looking in the hives I found they chilled between 

 the combs in the supers. How is it to bo avoided? 

 How shall we winter in this latitude— 3C°.'' How are 

 we to take care of so many empty combs, without 

 the help of the bees to clean them up during warm 

 spells? Our home apiary, which 1 will call Jones- 

 Prairie Apiary, did not do much this year. It in- 

 creased from 45 to 64, and we extracted 1947 lbs. 

 They are in fine condition. The lower story has ten 

 full frames, with more than 1000 lbs. of nice comb 

 honey in supers. Those that have not forgotten 

 my report from Rattlesnake Apiary probably wish 

 to know why 20 weak colonies, spring count, pro- 

 duced so much more honey than 45 strong ones. 

 The two localities are within eight miles of each 

 other, yet the soil and growth are as different as if 

 they were 500 miles apart. Jones Prairie is a gray 

 sand, nearly all of it cultivated in corn and cotton. 

 The country east of us for three miles to the Brazos 

 River is a sandy timbered country. More than a 

 thousand acres are cultivated in cotton in bee- 

 range of our Jones-Prairie Apiary. AVe have never 

 had any honey from it. I don't think cotton as a 

 honey-plant amounts to much. 



Sam. H. Terral. 



Jones Prairie, Tex., Dec. 1, 1885. 



Friend Samuel, I do not think 1 would 

 contract the entrances for winter— certainly 

 not in your locality ; and if I left combs in 

 the upper story at all, I would lix it so the 

 bees could not get up on to them. This, 

 however, may not be necessary where the 

 upper story is close, so the bees will not try 

 to get out where they see light shining 

 through, instead of going down through the 

 entrance. Sometimes very strong colonies 

 cluster partly on the lower combs and partly 

 on the upper. In that case I should think it 

 would do no harm. I should not think there 

 ought to be much trouble in wintering, in 

 any region where cotton is raised. 



