140 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 



British Bee Journal so thinks. The addition 

 of flour to the bee-candy as a winter food is 

 a little risky, even with the best granulated 

 sugar. We recommeiKl the admixture of 

 flour, only for the purpose of stimulating 

 brood-rearing in spring ; but it is hardly to 

 be advised in the dead of winter. 



Every boy or girl, under 15 years of age, who writes a let- 

 ter for this department, containing some valuable fact, not 



GENERALLY KNOWN, ON BEES OR OTHER MATTERS, will receive 



one of David Cook's excellent five-cent Sunday-school books. 

 Many of these books contain the same matter that you find in 

 Sunday-school books costing from $1.00 to 31.50. If you have 

 had one or more books, give us the names that we may not 

 send the same twice. We have now in stock six different 

 books, as follows; viz.: Sheer Off , Silver Keys, The Giant-Kill- 

 er ; or. The Roby Family, Rescued from Egypt, Pilgrim's 

 Progress, and Ten Nights in a Bar-Room. We have also Our 

 Homes, Part I., and Our Homes, Part II. Besides the above 

 books, you may have a photograph of our old house apiary, 

 and a photograph of our own apiary, both taken a great many 

 years ago. In the former is a picture of Novice, Blue Eyes, 

 and Caddy, and a glimpse of Ernest. We have also some pret- 

 ty little colored pictures of birds, fruits, nowers, etc., suitable 

 for framing. You can nave your choice of any one of the 

 above pictures or books for every letter that gives us some 

 valuable piece of information. 



CONDUCTED BY ERNEST R. ROOT. 



'E haven't received many drawings 

 from the little folks yet. Haven't 

 we got some little artists among our 

 number who write for this depart- 

 ment? Oh, yes ! we are sure we have. 

 Remember to make the drawing represent 

 something useful, and remember, also, to 

 make the picture without the aid of papa or 

 mamma. 



PA'S BEES. 



My pa has 30 swarms of bees. They swarmed six 

 times last summer. He has 11 colonies in chaff, on 

 summer stands, and 19 in cellar. He carr'ed them in 

 his arms. He has the entrance the whole width of 

 the hive, and a top entrance. He put the bees in 

 the last of November. Wilber L. Boyd. 



North Monroe, Maine. 



HOW PAPA WATERS HIS BEES. 



Papa has 28 hives of bees. He saw them gather- 

 ing pollen the middle of January this year. They 

 got it from alder-blossoms. Papa had one swarm 

 of bees last year on the last day of March, and six 

 more the next week. I will tell you how papa wa- 

 ters his bees. He lets the water drip slowly from a 

 barrel on a plank that slants downward. 



Cuthbert, Ga. Joe Ddoqan, age 9. 



ABOUT A PIG. 



Last winter my grandma gave me a pig. I fed it 

 lots of corn and milk, and it got very fat. I told pa 

 if he would get me a little wagon he might have the 

 pig, and so he got me the wagon, which cost $2.25, 

 and then something got the matter with the pig's 

 throat, and about two months ago it died. I got 

 my pay for it any way. Ernest Baldwin. 



Stewardson, 111. 



PACKING-BOXES. 



My father winters his bees on their summer 

 stands. He gets a box that is larger than the hive. 

 Between the box and the hive we fill with chaff. 

 For the roof we use siding, and the whole amount 

 cost 25 cents besides the work. We never lost any 

 bees while we wintered them that way, and they 

 seem to do first rate. Hans C. Nelson, age 14. 



Barnes, Kan. 



NOT A CARP-POND, BUT A TROUT-POND, AND ONE 

 THAT TWO BOYS MADE. 



My pa hasn't any bees, but he got two colonies 

 three years ago; and when winter came he put 

 them in a little underground cellar out of doors. 

 It got so damp in the cellar that the bees died. He 

 has a sawmill, and has a lot of saws, and can saw 

 frames and lumber for hives. He is going to get 

 some bees by and by. He is going to get some carp 

 also. We have a good place for a pond. My broth- 

 er and I made a pond, and caught some trout and 

 put them in it. They were from 2 to 12 incd.es 

 long. They would swim around and jump up for 

 flies. One died because the water was too warm. 

 Ernest Seaton, age 14. 



Ellensburgh, Wash. Ter. 



FOUL BROOD AND CHESHIRE'S REMEDY. 



Five years ago papa had 46 colonies, and they all 

 got foul brood. Papa tried Mr. Cheshire's remedy 

 of "Calvert No. 1," phenol, early, on one, and then 

 built them up to a full colony. They cast three 

 swarms that summer. Papa hived the new swarms 

 in clean hives, and buried the combs of the parent 

 stand. The past season was a very poor one. We 

 got hardly honey enough to pay for the work. 

 Mamma hived all the swarms with the weak ones. 

 She caged the queen that came out with the 

 ewarms, and let her run back into her own hive. 



Coldwater, Mich. Ida Carls, age 10. 



You say in your letter, friend Ida, that 

 your papa tried Mr. Cheshire's remedy. Al- 

 though you intimate that the bees were 

 cured, you do not say so in so many words. 

 As you are perhaps aware, this remedy was 

 a failure with us. So far as we can observe 

 from the letters of our correspondents, it is 

 not very apt to be a success in the hands of 

 any one. We should be glad to know 

 whether the parent colony stayed cured. 



WANTS A LITTLE ENGINE; PAPA'S FRAME-LIFTERS. 



Papa has 8 colonies of bees, mostly Italians, in 

 Simplicity hives. He is wintering them on their 

 summer stands. He put the hives in boxes, and 

 packed them with leaves and chaff. He makes his 

 own bee-fixtures. He has a foot-power saw, but he 

 wants a little engine very bad. I have made sec- 

 tions and frames alone, and they looked as well as 

 papa's. 



Papa made two hooks to take out frames with. 

 The ring is large enough to put one or two fingers 



Ointo; he puts it under the frames 

 1 and lifts them out. I thought if I 

 wrote about it you might send me 

 a book. This is a picture of it. 

 Grafton, Vt. George E. Walker, age 11. 



If your papa has many hives to make on a 

 foot-power buzz-saw, I do not much wonder 

 that " he wants a little engine very bad." 

 See what we say in regard to foot-power 

 versus steam, on page 91 of our last issue. 



