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GLEANINGS INBEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 



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 hooks costing from 81.00 to 81.50. 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 l.,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, flowers, etc., suitable 

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

 above pictures or books for every letter that gives us some 

 valuable piece of information. 



GRANDPA'S BEES. 



My grandpa has 16 colonies of bees. He has one 

 hive on a large rock. He makes bee-hives. He 

 has a sawmill. He runs the mill by horsepower. 

 Will Harrington, age 11. 



Setley, Pa., Nov. 28, 1889. 



Papa has 45 swarms and 10 Simplicity hives. He 

 has some Italians, blacks, and hybrids. He doesn't 

 like the hybrids very well, but he likes the blacks 

 best. He did lose two swarms. We take Glean- 

 ings, and expect to for sometime. 



Elijah B. Wilson, age 11. 



Blaine. W. Va., Nov. 21, 1889. 



AN OLD LADY 94 YEARS OLD. 



I was over to Uncle Henry Bixby's. He takes 

 Gleanings. My papa lives on a rented farm, and 

 takes care of an old lady. She is the oldest person 

 in the town of Hornby. She is in her 9tth year. 

 She reads her Bible without glasses, and she can go 

 upstairs as spry as a cat. I am 11 years old, and 

 love L 'to go to Sabbath-school. Uncle Henry Bixby, 

 as we children call him, is our pastor and superin- 

 tendent. We all love him. Mattie Fero. 



Dyke, N. Y., Oct. 13, 1889. 



HOW A BOY MADE HIS BEES PAY. 



I am 14 years old; and having a desire to learn 

 the bee-business, last spring I bought a colony of 

 pure Italian bees, for which I paid $6.00. This 

 season they made 30 pounds of nice comb honey, be- 

 sides 'being in good shape for winter. I have sold 

 enough honey to pay for Gleanings, and think it 

 is a valuable paper for bee-keepers. I bought your 

 ABC book last spring, and have learned a great 

 deal about bees. Chas. V. Hoffman. 



Sidney, N. J., Nov. 25, 1889. 



EAKLY-POLLEN GATHERERS. 



For five years past I have been writing to you 

 annually, when the bees commenced bringing in 

 pollen. In these Ave years they commenced about 

 the first of February each year. This year they 

 commenced bringing in pollen on the 16th of Janua- 

 ry, from the water or white elm. This is a large 

 tree growing on the river, and buds very early. 

 The pollen brought in was of a canary color, and 

 very soft. My pa closed the season with 102 colo- 

 nies; but after uniting several he went into winter 



cjuarters with .s2. These he wintered on their sum- 

 mer stands in Simplicity hives, and protected them 

 from the cold northers by a high plank wall. 



Lizzie L. Mullin, age 13. 

 Oakland, Tex., Jan. 22, 1889. 



BEES AND FRDIT; VALUABLE TESTIMONY OF A 

 LITTLE GIRL. 



We saw in your journal that some think the bees 

 eat the grapes; but my pa does not think they do, 

 unless the little ruby-crown kinglet bird makes a 

 tiny little hole in them. We have 75 hives of bees, 

 and have sold six tons of grapes. We have a large 

 peach and apple orchard, and the bees do not dis- 

 turb them. Marcia Hopkins, age 11. 



Brownhelm, Ohio, Oct. 20, 1889. 



LILLIE REPORTS A GOOD YIELD; WHITE FALL 

 HONEY. 



We got from 35 colonies, spring count, about 6000 

 lbs. of honey this year, and increased to 70. The 

 clover season lasted about two months before linn 

 bloomed. After the linn and clover were gone we 

 had a good crop of fall honey. There were about 

 10 hives of comb honey that were partly filled be- 

 fore the fall flowers bloomed, and we did not take 

 the honey off from them until October, and it was 

 as white as the clover honey that we got in June. 

 Is it possible that they could have finished them 

 with anj* thing but smartweed, Spanish needle, and 

 the other fall flowers? We have the Syrian bees, 

 and have not been troubled with robbers this fall, 

 as usual, but we have had one or two stolen. 



Lillie Graham, age 13. 



Agency. Mo., Oct. 28, 1889. 



Friend Lillie, it is hardly possible that 

 Spanish needle or other ordinary fall flowers 

 furnished light honey. Smartweed might 

 come a little nearer to it, but I am inclined 

 to think your light honey came from red 

 clover — that is, if there is any in your vi- 

 cinity. 



A REPORT FROM A GERMAN APIARY; CAN WE 

 WINTER ON THE ROOF OF THE HOUSE? 



To-day papa is hauling bees. They have done 

 very poorly this year, and in one of our out-apia- 

 ries we had some of the honey and bees stolen. It 

 seems we had'hard luck with bees this year. Some 

 of our swarms got lost. Of August swarms we had 

 plenty, but they all went to the woods. In another 

 out-apiary we lost about one-third by moths and 

 poor fields. Our last report from Germany says it 

 looks far better there. Hives are all full, both straw 

 and wooden hives. Buckwheat and heather have 

 had good weather, and our bees are in the middle of 

 both. This winter papa is going to put his bees on 

 the roof, as our home apiary is too small, on ac- 

 count of new buildings. I should like to know 

 about wintering on the roof in well-packed chaff 

 hives. We have tried a few last winter with success. 

 Papa doesn't like cellar wintering, as we live in the 

 city. Anna Blanken, age 12. 



Jersey City, N. J., Oct. 24, 1889. 



Friend Anna, bees could probably be win- 

 tered quite successfully on the roof in Jer- 

 sey City. Friend Muth, in Cincinnati, has 

 wintered his so, for years, quite successful- 

 ly. I should prefer to have them on the 

 roof of a wing of a house, so that the taller 

 portion, or the house proper, might extend 

 higher, and keep off the north or west winds. 



