1887 



GLEANINC4S IN BEE CULTURE. 



899 



inches from the ground. He has fixed cinders 

 around the box. He thinks that sawdust is not 

 very good, as it draws the ants, and cinders, if any 

 thing-, keep them away. Mamma and I tend to the 

 ttees while papa is awa.\'. Coha Fiutz, ag'e 12. 



Marsliallv-ille, ()., Mar. 18, 1887. 



A QUEEN-BEE IN A RUBBER BOOT. 



My pa has 26 colonies of bees, and he lost only 

 one tliroufj'h the winter. He wintered them in 

 ohatt' hives, and on their summer stands. One 

 time he was hiviufj- a swarm, and when he eame 

 down to the house he pulled off his rubber boot and 

 foumi the queen in it. She looked discourag-ed. 

 We put her back in the hive. Arthur Stiles. 



Deposit, N. Y., Apr. 30, 1887. 



It was a little remarkable that the queen 

 slioiild get into the rubber boot, and still 

 more so that she wasn't killed, friend Arthur. 



THE LITTLE BEE; COMPOSED BY A .HTVENILK. 



thcieisalittU' tr.-ivelcr 



Which travels many miles 

 O'er many a wood and meadow. 



And sucks at Howers and spiles. 

 For he is called the honey-bee, 



Which travels many a day, 

 And gathers nice sweet honey 



Through all the sunny May! 

 This bee works hard on liasswood, 



Fioiii the iMitloni to the top, 

 .Viid W(>rk>- on buckwheat also. 



.All o'er the farmer's crop. 

 And he works the summer lone: 



Through all the trees and dale; 

 He can not work, however. 



Through wind and stormy gale. 

 This little traveler worketh 



Till his wings are worn away, 

 .\nd in the frosty weather 



This bee shall pass away. 



O. A. Burnett, age 14. 



ALICE'S POETRY. 



I have seen in your journal that any little girl 

 who would write a verse or line about bees would, 

 in return, receive a book. Here I will write a little 

 verse about bees. 



Oh the bee, the pretty bee! 

 As it flies through the fields. 

 Sipping honey from all the Hewers, 



And it never troubles any one as long as it is left to itself; 



But if it is bothered, then look out for an angry blow. 



Alice E. 

 Well, Alice, I am afraid there is not much 

 real poetry in your lines. Your sentiment 

 is good, and you started out very well ; but 

 somehow in the rest of the lines you forget 

 all about rhyme or meter. If you do not 

 know what rhyme or meter is, ask your 

 teacher. 



hattie's letter. 



I wrote to you in 1884, and I saw my letter in 

 print. It did me so much good, I believe I will 

 write again. I think that a great many people take 

 your good book. After I wrote l)efore, I got more 

 letters from bee-men; and the funniest of all was a 

 letter saying, "To Hattie Hall. Es(|uire." Mamma 

 and papa laughed heartily. I always imagined I 

 should like to live with you, because you are so 

 much like a preacher. My desire is to live with a 

 preacher. We have a good Sunday-school and 

 prayer-meeting here every Sunday. We have a 

 Baptist and Methodist chui-ch here. I have two 

 brothers and three sisters. My two oldest sisters 

 are off at school. Hattie Hall, age 13. 



Sparta, >riss., March 24, 1887. 



them, or they would be lost. T took a little table 

 and set it under them and went into papa's work- 

 house and got a hive and put it on the table and 

 got some water and sprinkled on them. I jarred 

 the limb so as to get them on the table, and when 

 they were on the table 1 sprinkled some water on 

 them, and they went in nicely. 1 got but one sting, 

 and that was between my eyes. It caused my lace 

 to swell so that my eyes were nearly closed. Pajia 

 said 1 did well for the first time. 

 Buntyn,Tenn. Alick Norkis. 



FEUUlNfi HEKS WATER BY THE AID OK COItNCJOBS. 

 •JAPAN KSE BUCKWHE.\T. 



Papa's bees "are doing well. He received some 

 buckwheat from you yesterday, and he thinks he 

 will have him a nice patch of it for his bees. Those 

 buckwheat-seeds looked just like beechnuts in Ten- 

 nessee, only they are a great deal smaller. I have a 

 pretty rose-bush in pai>a's bee-yard ; and when 1 go 

 to get a rose a bee stings me, and I hardly- ever get 

 arose for 1 had rather do without one than to get 

 a sting. It has not rained here in a long time. The 

 bees are going everywhere to get water. Papa fixed 

 a trough and put cobs in it to hold water for them 

 cobs hold water better than any thing else that we 

 know of. We have to fill it up every day. 1 have 

 written two letters before this, and got a book, but 

 1 don't expect to get another one this time, for I 

 don't know any thing new. 



Mattie F. Dillehav, age 13. 



Milford, Texas, April 6, 1887. 



HOW ALICE HIVED A SWARM. 



My aunt was sick, and papa and mamma went to 

 see her. While they were gone the bees swarmed 

 and settled on a peach-tree. 1 thought I must hive 



A COLONY TH.\T tried TO SWARM ON FOURTEEN 

 CONSECUTIVE DAYS. 



Pa has 110 stands of bees in the cellar. He sold 

 about half of them at our sale last fall, and keeps 

 them till April 1.5th. Last summer pa had one 

 swarm that came out nearly every day for four- 

 teen days. He kept the queen-excluder on the 

 entrance. He wanted to find out it the bees would 

 finally kill their mother for not going along with 

 them, but they did not. He finally hived them with 

 their queen, and then they went to work in earnest. 

 All the fourteen days they were swarming they 

 gathered but little honey. Clintv Brubakek. 



Maxwell, Story Co., la., March 2!), 1887. 



Thanks, friend Clinty, for so carefully giv- 

 ing the results of your father's experiments. 

 The incident which you give is most re- 

 markable, and I wonder that the bees did 

 not become disgusted with their queen and 

 kill her. I think, however, that, as a gene- 

 ral rule, where the perforated metal is kept 

 over the entrance, and the bees swarm two 

 or three times in succession without bring- 

 ing the queen with them, they will finally 

 kill her and raise another in her stead. Aft- 

 er the swarm has come out once, I believe I 

 would cateli the queen and place her among 

 the flying bees before the swarm returns, 

 and you can then hive them where youwisli. 



bees IN CELLAR CONSUMING LESS STORES; RUTH S 

 BIG COLONY. 



We had 23 colonies at the beginning of winter, 

 and we have lost only two so far. For the first time 

 we wintered four colonies in oui- cellai-. which 

 has a cement bottom. I helped papa carry them 

 out of the cellar yesterday morning; and when he 

 opened one hive there was but an ounce of honey 

 in the frames, and no brood or eggs. At noon, 

 when he looked into the hive, the queen had begun 



