3i2 



GLiJA^lNGS lA nkK CULTURE. 



Apr. 



FEEDING CHEAP SUGAR. 



My papa has about 'M stands of bees living-. It is 

 a g-ood idea to teed bees New-Orleans siig-ai* in the 

 winter, to keep them alive. Papa claims you as a 

 friend of his. Stei^la Jenkins. 



Smithville, Mo. 



bees gathering honey in illinois by the 

 14th of march. 



Pa has 33 swarms of bees. They are all working 

 strong, and have made some honey for a couple of 

 weeks. This is the earliest they have ever gather- 

 ed honey. Pa thinks thej' are working on maple. 

 Our bees are hybrids, and are very cross. Ma has 

 been stung three times, but it didn't amount to 

 much. JosiE Neff, age 12. 



Lewistown, 111., Mar. 14, 1887. 



half a dollar, and five cents. He told me to take my 

 choice, and I took the half-dollar and put it into my 

 bank. Mamma has a ffreat lot of chickens, and 

 every time she goes to feed them she talks to them. 

 Waynesburgr Pa. Ray Inghram. 



Friend Ray. I do not believe I would say 

 that yon earned half a dollar in the way you 

 mention, but, rather, that your papa gave it 

 to you, and I presume he knew by past ex- 

 perience that so good a boy as Ray would 

 make a good use ot it, and he therefore con- 

 sidered it a safe thing to do. How is it, 

 Ray? Didn't I hit it about right? 



A CHEAP BEE-VEIL. 



I live near Bradford, White Co., Ark. My pa 

 takes Gleanings, and I like it very well, especial- 

 ly the children's page. This spring we started 

 with two swarms, and increased them to 13 strong 

 colonies. To make a cheap bee-veil, take mosqui- 

 to-bar and cut a piece long enough to go over your 

 head with your hat on, and draw it tightly around 

 your neck, and the bees can't sting you. 



Albert Remley, age 14. 



Bradford, White Co., Ark. 



BEES AND CARP. 



Pa has .51 colonies of bees. They are all in the 

 cellar. We have a carp-pond, and we found two 

 large dead carp frozen in the ice, after our thaw in ' 

 January. Pa says he is afraid they are all dead. 



Constantine, Mich. Edna Rifenbkrgh, age 11. 



Tell your pa not to borrow trouble, friend 

 Edna. We find more or less dead fish on 

 the surface of the pond every spring ; but 

 when we commence feeding them we find 

 there are enough left to make things lively. 

 I do not know why they die this way, unless 

 it is because the water is too shallow. We 

 have arranged to make our pond quite a 

 little deeper hereafter. 



KEEPING HONEY FROM CANDYING. 



Pa has been keeping bees for four years. He has 

 iJ3 colonies in good condition. If they pull through 

 all right they will make things lively here about 

 swarming time. We have never had a pound of 

 candied honey in our house since we kept bees. 

 Mamma believes if honey is put into jars or cans 

 and kept in the third or fourth story of a building it 

 will remain in a liquid state the whole year round. 

 Mamma would like to know how to make honey- 

 jumbles. JosiE Neff, age 13. 



Lewistown, 111. 



Tell your mamma, Josie, that we think it 

 makes more difference as to whether she 

 seals up the jars or cans as we do canned 

 fruit, than whether she puts it in the third 

 or fourth story.— I am sorry to say the man- 

 ufacturers will not give us the recipe for 

 making honey-jumbles. They are made at 

 a very large fact ory. 



HOW RAY MAKES MONEY. 



I made half a dollar from papa. He told me he 

 would give me five cents for every swarm I saw. 

 He saw a swarm of bees, and he went up and hid 

 among the bee-hives. I saw it too, and I went up 

 and screamed and hallooed a long time, and Hattie 

 told me that pa was up there, and he pulled out 



A REPORT by a LITTLE GIRL. 



We have kept bees for about 35 years, but never 

 gave the business any special attention except for 

 the last ten or twelve years, producing but little 

 honey more than for our own table. Lately the 

 number of colonies has been increased; and last 

 spring, at the commencement of the honey season, 

 we had 140 polonies. 



We have two bee-houses; one is 11 .\ 53, and the 

 other is 11 .x 34 feet. Both are built mostly under 

 ground. One is built of stone, and the other of 

 timber. The bees winter nicely in either of these 

 houses. We have now 313 colonies, and papa said 

 they were in flhe condition. We work exclusively 

 for comb honey. The yield of honey last year was 

 small, being only 9000 lbs., but this is easily ac- 

 counted for from the fact that more than half of 

 the bees died during August and September of the 

 previous year, leaving them very weak in the 

 spring. 



We use the Langstroth hives. Our bees are 

 blacks, hybrids, and one colony of Italians— mostly 

 hi brids. Lou May Randai^l, age 11. 



Big Rock, la , Feb. 10, 1887. 



honey from THE COTTON-PLANT; THE ITALIANS 



GATHERING WHEN THE BLACKS ARE DOING 



nothing; THAT NEW KITE. 



Papa's liees came through the winter all right. 

 They have been bringing in pollen more than a 

 month. They are gathering some honey now from 

 peach-bloom and willow. Last spring was a failure 

 in honey. The late freezes killed all the flowers. 

 Papa's bees are part Italians and part blacks. 

 When the cotton bloomed, the Italians made enough 

 for their own living, and some to spare, while the 

 blacks made nothing. 



Brother Clay's kite that he got from you was a 

 perfect success. Papa put some strips of paper on 

 the middle corners, to imitate wings. They add to 

 its beauty a great deal. It flies over 300 feet. Clay 

 takes pieces of paper, makes a hole in the center, 

 puts them on the string at his hand when the kite 

 is up. They will run up to the kite. The kite dives 

 and looks like a hawk after a bird. Tell Caddy and 

 Blue Eyes that I make a house-vine with a sweet- 

 potato put in a small bucket or can, partly filled 

 with water. All I have to do is to keep water in the 

 can and train the vine as it grows. It grows very 

 fast after it gets a start. I can't get one to make a 

 long vine after the potato has been bedded out. 

 Can any one tell me why? Keep them inside the 

 house. Put a little bat of cotton in a glass of water, 

 sprinkle oats thick on it. They will grow and make 

 a pretty sight. Mamma has that vinegar-plant you 

 ask about on page 313. You describe it exactly. 

 Mattie F. Dillehay, age 13. 



Wilford. Texas, March 34, 1887. 



