62 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 



fattier sits on the stoop and kills all that come near 

 him. They all like honey, but I don't. 

 Cornwall-on-Hudson, N Y. Mabel Briggs. 



PAPA'S PACKING-BOX FOR W1NTEBING COLONIES. 



My papa tins Dine colonies of bees. He packed 

 them November 5th. He made a rough box of lum- 

 ber, the front of which looked like this: 



It was notched out at the lower board, opposite 

 each colony, the full width of entrance of the Jones 

 hive, which he uses. He puts a little board over 

 the entrance so as to keep the packing from falling- 

 down so as not to interfere with the bees coming 

 out. He weighed each hive, and put the weight on 

 a little board inside on each colony. He says it is 

 to know how much honey they eat during the win- 

 ter. He put a super box on each, filled it full of 

 chaff, and then he filled up the rest with sawdust. 



Papa likes Gleanings very much. He may omit 

 reading other things, but he never misses Glean- 

 ings. He lends it all around to every one, I think. 

 I am just 11 years old, and this is my first attempt 

 to write for the public to see. Minnie Coulter. 



Oil City, Ont., Dec. -'4. 



PAPA'S HIVE-CART, AND FOR WHAT IT IS USED. 



My papa has a device for hiving swarms, and for 

 other work about the apiary. It is shown in the 

 photograph which I 

 send you. You see 

 that it is a table up- 

 on a wheel, with 

 legs like a wheel- 

 barrow. The wheel 

 is large and strong. 

 When he wishes to 

 hive a swarm of 

 bees, or do any oth- 

 er work about the A hive-cart. 

 apiary he puts his hive or other fixtures upon it, 

 and wheels it wherever he wishes to work. There 

 is a drawer beneath the table, where he keeps his 

 necessary tools. In the photograph you can see a 

 hive on the table. Papa has 200 colonies in that 

 kind of hive. You can also see my father and my 

 younger brother. I was at my uncle's helping him 

 with his bees when the photograph, was taken. 



Jesse A. Aldrich, age 12. 



Morristown, Minn., Dec. 6, 1888. 



Your papa"s hive-cart, we are sure, will 

 work real nicely. The large wheel will cause 

 the cart itself to run very smoothly. You 

 know a large wheel will lt walk " right over 

 uneven places on the ground, just like a 

 —a man, while a small wheel will go "bump- 

 ity-bump." Hut is not the platform of the 

 cart pretty high up from the ground to be 

 handy? 



A COLONY WHICH HAS FOR 20 YEARS MADE ITS 



ABODE BETWEEN THE CLAPBOARDS AND 



PLASTERING OF A HOUSE. 



I will tell you of a swarm of bees that went into a 

 house near here 20 years ago. and is there still. It 

 is a large farmhouse, old-fashioned. The posts, or 

 studding' are 10 inches wide and 4 feet apart. The 

 plastering and clapboards are 10 inches apart. 

 There is a knot hole on the south side of the house, 

 as large as a silver dollar. Twenty years ago a 

 strong swarm of bees came and took possession of 



the space between the clapboards and plastering. 

 They did not swarm for four years, and at the end 

 of that time they cast a large swarm very early; 

 and ever since then, every spring, they swarm from 

 three to four times. In the summer they cover 

 nearly hi feet square, and in winter they huddle to- 

 gether opposite the parlor stove; and by striking 

 on the wall they answer every time. This year they 

 east four swarms. The man lost all his bees every 

 year but this one. Two years ago they saw honey 

 dripping out of the lower row of clapboards, and 

 fixed a trough and caught over 100 lbs. It was so 

 hot it broke loose, the man says. Father has offered 

 to take them out for him, but he says he would not 

 disturb them for any thing, as he has prospered in 

 the last 20 3 ears. Frank W. Reed, age 8. 



Milford, Wis., Dec. 10, 1888. 



"Why, friend Frank, you have told us a 

 very interesting fact indeed. Usually such 

 large swarms in a dwelling will not swarm 

 —at least, not very of Leu. Ten feet square 

 and ten inches thick is a large colony in- 

 deed. No wonder they would respond in 

 winter, even though they were less than 

 half this size. 



A PIG STORY, AND A GOOD ONE TOO. 



Mr. Boot:— I saw your notice in Gleanings, Dec. 

 15, and thought, as there was little or nothing to be 

 said about bees, as they are all in the cellar, 1 

 would write a letter about something else. Last 

 July, father and Edgar, my big brother, gave us a 

 little pig to raise. He was the runt (you know there 

 is always a runt), and he could not get enough to 

 eat with the others. We started to feed him milk 

 with a spoon, five times a day. He soon learned to 

 come when we went to the barnyard and called, 

 " Come, Johnny, Johnny." We weighed him every 

 week for a while on the honey-scales, afterward 

 whenever we had time. He learned to drink with- 

 out the spoon in a few weeks, and then we began 

 to give him ground rye, wet with warm milk; and 

 as he grew bigger, we wet it with water. After a 

 while he was able to fight his way among the rest, 

 without any help, and get his share. Then when 

 the rest got big enough to eat from the trough he 

 could not reach, so we had him stand on a stool and 

 then eat. He is now able to eat with the others, 

 and can reach into the trough as well as the next 

 one. When we first took him to raise he weighed 

 4 pounds. Now he weighs over 80. 



We have a thoroughbred Durham calf, about 

 two or three weeks olcL and father agreed to give 

 us that for the pig. Father is to have the calves 

 and butter and milk, if our calf lives to be a cow. 

 He is not one of those men who would claim the 

 money after the calf is sold. It is our calf, and 

 will be our cow. Albert Hallett. 



Galena, 111., Dec. 28, 1888. 



Yes, Albert, we are glad you told us 

 about the pig. Perhaps it will induce oth- 

 er papas to give their children something 

 which is all their own. It is worth some- 

 thing to a boy to learn to take care of prop- 

 erty ; not only to take care of it, but to in- 

 crease its value. The early habits thus ac- 

 quired will be worth something. But it is 

 cruel, after the boy has worked hard, for the 

 father to sell his pig, calf, or whatever it 

 be, and then pocket the proceeds. There 

 are a few papas who do this, but your fa- 

 ther evidently is not one. 



