1889 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



141 



Your papa's frame-hook will answer the 

 purpose, but we should very much prefer to 

 use the ringers. We have sometimes used 

 such an arrangement to '* heft " the frame 

 —that is, to find out its weight in mid-win- 

 ter, when the day is warm enough to war- 

 rant disturbing the cluster. In lifting up 

 the chaff cushion, burlap, etc., we find that 

 it saves a little time to use such an imple- 

 ment. A little experience in lifting up at 

 one end will tell about how much stores 

 there is in each frame— consequently how 

 much there is in a hive. 



HOW PAPA HIVES SWARMS ; NO HONEY FROM 

 WILD CUCUMBER. 



My father hives bees in this way: The bees gener- 

 ally alight inj a, low place; then he gets the table 

 and puts the bee-hive upon that. He brushes them 

 down into the hive, then covers them up quickly, 

 and lets them stand until after sundown; then he 

 moves them to their permanent places. Last sum- 

 mer we had a new stand of bees, and their combs 

 broke down twice. Papa had quite a time chang- 

 ing them into a new hive, in order to save them. 

 He makes his own hives. We got only a few 

 pounds of surplus this year. Papa sends to you 

 for his supplies. The wild cucumber seems to be a 

 honey-plant in some places, but it is not so here, 

 for we raise them every year. It seems queer that 

 the bees never go near it, as it is so fragrant. I 

 like to hear papa read your travels to California. 



Waco, Neb., Jan. 26, 1889. Everett Phiery. 



hive of my own, but grandpa tends to it. I live 

 with him. Ma keeps house for him, as my papa is 

 dead. He.died last April. He was sick two years. 

 I have two brothers— a big brother and a little one. 

 I live at Albany Switch, a little place between Hen- 

 ry and Paris. I go to Henry to school, and board 

 from home. Grandpa takes Gleanings, and it is 

 always a welcome visitor. I have a pet cat named 

 Veda. When I call, it will come running as fast as 

 it can. I like to go to school. My teacher's name 

 is Miss Lillian Walters. She is tight, but still I 

 don't think she is any too tight. If we talk one 

 day we have to write one hundred words; and if we 

 talk two days we have to write two hundred; and if 

 we talk three days, we have to write three hun- 

 dred, and so on. Lounette Carter. 

 Henry, Tenn., Jan. 19, 1889. 



• Your letter is very interesting, friend 

 Lounette. We thank you for your very 

 kind offer ; but as we have so many of the 

 common kind of rats and mice, we shall 

 hardly want to accept of their white rela- 

 tives. We have seen them, and they look 

 very pretty in their cage. 



MY BROTHER'S BEES, AND HOW WE HIVE THEM. 



My brother takes Gleanings. He had 9 stands 

 of bees, and they increased to 14. It was a very 

 poor season for honey. They made enough for 

 themselves, and we got but a few pounds of sur- 

 plus honey. My brother left them out in the or- 

 chard, where they were all summer. He says they 

 are in good order. The way we hive them is this : 

 When they are up in the tree, so we can not reach 

 them very well, we saw the limb off and shake 

 them under a sheet, and thump on the top of the 

 hive. They always go in. Once when the folks 

 were all away but my two sisters (one of them is 

 fourteen and the other is but nine) and two visit- 

 ors, we got a looking-glass and settled the bees. I 

 got things ready for my brother and he came and 

 hived them. He took a bucket and shook them in- 

 to it. He covered them up with a cloth, and put 

 them under a sheet, and covered them up until 

 they went into the hive. Joseph Miller. 



Ege, Ind.,Jan. 33, 1889. 



GOATS ; white rats, bees, and other pets. 



I have been reading this morning in Gleanings 

 the little folks' letters, which put me in the notion 

 to write. We have 25 goats, and one of them is just 

 as pretty as it can be. It is just 24 hours old. We 

 have two kinds of goats, the common stock goat, 

 and the Angora goat. I think the Angora goat is 

 the prettiest. It is white, with long curly wool. 

 The common stock goat is black and white spotted, 

 and it has short wool. Mr. Root, did you ever see a 

 white mouse? I never did, but Mr. Littleton, the 

 doctor who put mamma's teeth up, is going to 

 bring us some; and if you want any white rats I 

 will try to send you some. Grandpa has 24 bee- 

 hives, and they are doing well so far. I have one 



A HOME. WITHOUT A PAPA. 



In the spring of 1887 I wrote to you that, the sum- 

 mer before, we built a large hay and cattle barn, 

 and a creamery near the well. We had been rent- 

 ing the fields for four years, but that year papa 

 hired a man and ran it again himself. Papa's 

 health seemed much better. In the fall he plowed 

 some fifty acres with the riding-plow, which he 

 hadn't been able to work in the field for eleven 

 years. It seemed nice to have him well enough to 

 be out around. He taught me much about farm- 

 ng; but on Jan. 6, 1888, he took a heavy cold and 

 Kept getting worse, and spitting blood every day, 

 and April 1st he died, which leaves mamma alone 

 with four children, and 1 am the oldest. We had a 

 sale, and sold off all but what we needed for con- 

 venience. We kept two swarms of bees. They 

 were in chaff hives. We have a great number of 

 hives that we did not sell at the sale. Mamma 

 says that, as long as she lives on the farm, she will 

 keep bees. In 1888 we had to rent the farm again 

 to four of our neighbors. I went to school six 

 months— two in the spring and four in the fall. In 

 harvest and haying I worked for 50 cts. a day. I 

 earned $31, which bought me all that I needed. 

 This year mamma rented all the farm to our near- 

 est neighbor. I think it is nicer than to have so 

 many different men working the farm, because 

 they seed down their own farm and run down the 

 rented one. Arthur J. Bossemever, age 13. 



Dixon, 111., Jan. 29, 1889. 



PA'S SOLAR WAX-EXTRACTOR. 



I have long wanted to get the book, Ten Nights in 

 a Bar-room, so I am going to try to get it. I will 

 send you a drawing of pa's wax-extractor. It is a 

 box about a foot and a half long, a foot wide, and 

 about ten inches deep, with a double cover. The 

 upper cover is lined with tin; the lower cover is 

 glass, both hinged to the box. Inside there is a 

 screen that rests on small cleats in which you put 

 the comb. Below this is a small dish which catches 

 the wax. When the cover is up in a bright sunny 

 day the heat will reflect from the tin through the 

 glass, and melt the comb very rapidly. 



