1S87 



GLEANINGS IN JiEE CULTUKi:. 



473 



screen to the back side of the house, I had no trou- 

 ble in opening the door, as the bees go to the side, 

 where they come out to get a second load. This is 

 safe advice, but you had better follow the advice of 

 somebody else about wintering, for I undertook to 

 control the tempt-riiture of my cellar with stoves 

 and Are. Out of 225 hives I now have 25 queens witli 

 a handful of bees each, left. 



We have met with a great loss in the death of our 

 little boy, nine months old, after five weeks of sick- 

 ness. The little fellow had .iust learned to say " pa- 

 pa" and " mamma," and was the pet of father, 

 mother, brother and sister, and, in fact, the whole 

 household of the Windham Hotel. I hope his death 

 will prove to be a strong cord to draw us nearer to 

 the place where we trust he is now, enjoying more 

 than earth could have given liini. O. K. Coe. 



Windham, N. Y., May 30, 18^7. 



Friend C, you have our sympathy in your 

 great affliction ; but we rej.nce to know your 

 hopes are ancliored on the solid Rocli.— 

 Your testimony in legard to warming up 

 cellars by artificial heat is truly a pretty 

 strong one against it. 



DOES HONEY FROM HONEY-DEW IMPROVE BY AGE? 



Some time last year a friend gave me a 10 lb. can 

 of honey, gathered from honey-dew the year pre- 

 vious. He called it " bug-juice," and said I could 

 feed it to the bees. It had the color and taste of 

 honey from honey-dew. This honey was kept dur- 

 ing the winter in a cool dry cellar, and candied. In 

 April I reduced it for bee-feed, and on opening the 

 can I was surprised to see it look so nice. I put 

 some of it on the table on the sly, with a good arti- 

 cle of white-clover honey, requesting the family 

 and boarders to give their opinion on the two arti- 

 cles. They were equally divided, one-half prefer- 

 ring the " bugjuice." To the party that gave me 

 the honey, I sent a 3qt. Mason jar of it, as some- 

 thing new, and they pronounced it excellent. 



Bloomington, 111., May 37, 1887. J. L. WolCOTT. 



I have never heard that honey-dew honey 

 improved in the way you- mention, friend 

 W., and I hardly see liow it could happen, 

 unless the honey was in an open vessel, -so 

 the water could evaiiorate, and make it 

 of heavier body. I am, however, aware of 

 this : That very poor honey will granulate ; 

 but if you then slowly drain the liquid por- 

 tion from the granulated part, and after- 

 ward melt the comparatively dry residue, 

 you will have a very much superior article 

 of honey. The item following illustrates 

 this very fact of which I have been speaking: 



SOUR HONEY IMPROVINO. 



I wrote you some time since in regard to a lot of 

 honej', received of Westcott & Hull. Well, the 

 honey was badly soured; but since the weather is 

 cooler, it has granulated, and after skimming off 

 the thin soured portion on top, the lower portion is 

 very good clover honey. Now, Mr. Hoot, I am bet- 

 ter pleased than I was; but I do not wonder that 

 extracted honey is cheap when such sour, thin stufl' 

 as this is put on the market, and offered for sale to 

 people who think all honey on the market is 

 "fpade" honey (L did notquesiion the purity of the 

 honey). I thought 1 owed Messrs. W. & H. this (U.\- 

 planation to you. It may be this is an average lot 

 of honey on the St. Louis market; if so, the worir 

 der is that it sells at all. S. S. Lawing,. 



.Henderson, Mo., Nov. 33, J8W, 



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

 ter for this department, tontaining somk valuable fact, not 



GENERALLY KNOWN, ON BEES OU OTHER MATTEHS, will receive 

 one of David Cook's excellent flve-eent Sunday-school books. 

 Many of these bool;s contain the same matter that yovi lind in 

 Sunday-school hooks costing from SI. 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 Olf, 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 Uur 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. 



CONDUCTED BY ERNEST R. ROOT. 



JIMMY AND SAM INVESTIGATING. 



fllE reader will remember that we left 

 Jimmy and Sam in the back yard 

 discussing how they could tind out 

 who had been stoning their windmill 

 the niglit previous. They immediate- 

 ly set to work to repair the damages, as they 

 desired to get it done before the school-bell 

 rang for the morning. They gathered to- 

 gether the portions of the mill that had been 

 broken olf. Witii hammer and wire nails 

 they soon had the windmill reconstructed, 

 and even the boys themselves were surpris- 

 ed to see how quickly they made the repairs. 

 "After all,'' said' Sam. '-the damage is 

 not so great as we had at first supposed, is it. 

 Jimmy?" 



" No,'' said the latter ; '' and 1 don't be- 

 lieve that anybody Avould ever know that 

 any thing had ever ha])peiH'd to the thing." 

 They then hastened to school, for they h;i.d 

 not a minute to spare. At recess they no- 

 ticed that Jake seemed more sullen and ret- 

 icent than usual. Heretofore he had been 

 accustomed to mingle with the buys in their 

 general talk, Init to-day he and two or three 

 of his companions we're off by themselves. 

 Jimmy and Sam immediately found Frank, 

 a booii companion of theiis, and one to 

 whom they intended to communicate the 

 facts. As the three boys stepped to one 

 side, Fraidv exclaimed at once, •' You have 

 struck upon the identical fellow." 



''IlushI" said Jimmy; ''don't talk so 

 loud ; we want to keep kind o' still like, and 

 not h^t the rest of the fellows know that any 

 thing unusual is up." 



"That's so," said frank. "Come, let's 

 lis three walk down the street a piece, ami I 

 will tell what Jake did for me last night— at 

 least, I feel prettv sure it was Jake who did 

 it." 



" Why, have yon been building a wind- 

 millV" said Sani. 



" Oh, no!" replied the other; "but I had a 

 mighty nice patch of waterfneiops ip my 

 bacH yard. 1 planted them and tended 



