47G 



ciJJOANiKGS In bee cuLTulit:. 



June 



per minute. So far as I know, your record 

 is ahead of any other in pntliiig together 

 tlie one-piece sections. Still, Iiuwever, your 

 record as compared witli that of Pearl and 

 Nettie is so nearly eiiual that perhaps we 

 had better say they are practically the same. 

 Who can beat 4US per lionrV To the first gh\ 

 or boy who can equal .500 in one hour at a 

 stretch, we will send any thing tliat may be 

 selected from the ten-cent counter. Try 

 again, friend Alfred. Perhaps in the tliird 

 or fourth hour you may ])e able to win the 

 present. Let us hear from you, little folks. 



BKOTHER WALTBH'S TJKES. 



My oldest brother, Walter, who is 18 years old, 

 has VO hives of bees, part lii Simplicity and Ameri- 

 can liives. He has two smokers, <.iie Clark's cold 

 blast and the other a Quiiiby. He has his bees in 

 two apiaries, one at home and the other at Linn 

 Grove, four miles olT, where there are plenty of linn- 

 treos. The bees are building' queeiicells, and fixing 

 to swarm. They are g-alheriug- lots of pollen from 

 Cottonwood, willow, dog:wood, and sassafras. Bees 

 commenced gathering- pollen the 23d of January, 

 from elm. Walter has traded his Novice hoiicy-ex- 

 traclor for A. J. King's, made to take any size of 

 frames. Honej' sells at 10 cents per lb., and wa.\ at 

 17 cents. There are not many people who keep 

 bees around here. Kosai^ie E. Somehford. 



Navasota, Texas, March 11, 1887. 



WHAT BECAME OF P. BENSON AFTER HE SAWEU OFF 

 THAT 1. 1MB ? 



Papa has bees, and I help him some. Last week a 

 swarm came out and settled on a limb of a tall oak, 

 near the top. Pai>a took a hoop otf a nail-keg, sew- 

 ed a sack around it, and fastened it to a long lath. 

 He got mil er them on a limb, held it under the 

 swarm, and rubbed it until the most of the bees fell 

 into the sack, Avhen he brought them down and 

 hived them. Thomas has three calves. What do 

 you think he has named them? P. Renson, Amos, 

 and Huber. What became of P. Benson when he 

 sawed the limb off between him and the tree"? 



Ellie C. S.mylie, age 8. 



Caseyville, Miss., May, 1887. 



Thank you, friend Ellie. Your father's 

 arrangement for taking down swarms is al- 

 most exactly the same as that given in the 

 ABC book, under the head of " Swarming." 

 It answers very nicely, and has the advan- 

 tage that it is light, and easy to hold out un- 

 der the swarm.— 1 feel quite sure that P. 

 Benson, '' Amos," and Huber, will be not a 

 little pleased to know that three calves have 

 been named after them. — What became of 

 P. Benson after he sawed that limb oft', as 

 shown on page ]2()'? I am sorry to say he 

 has never yet told us. Our artist took the 

 picture of him when he was up in the tree, 

 but was in such a hurry to get away (before 

 the bees alighted) that lie did not take time 

 to wait for a second view— that is, of P. 

 Benson, his swarm, limb, saw, and all, after 

 they had settled on the ground. 



DOES THE DIRECTION OF THE ENTRANCE HAVE 

 ANY THING TO DO WITH ROBBING? 



I am a bee-keei)er and have good and bad bees— 

 T mean those that stiriK- Bees have done well here. 

 Some of our eolonits luce to the south and some to 

 the east. This malces a difference, and papa saya 



that was the cause that two colonies got robbed. 

 When we found it out the hives were full of bees, 

 but all the stores were gone. Papa closed both 

 hives for two weeks, and fed them; after that time 

 one hive had brood in all stages, but the other one 

 was queenless. Sophie Lohf. 



Island Station, Col. 



I can hardly think, friend Sophie, that the 

 mere direction in wliich tlie entrance may 

 be pointing liad any thing to do with the 

 robbing you speak of. The entrances of 

 several hives may be similarly situated, and 

 be so near alike that bees will often become 

 confused; but I hardly see liow it could re- 

 sult in robbing. I am ratlier inclined to be- 

 lieve that the robbing of the two colonies 

 was due to some other reason. If the bees 

 are Italians, and the colony strong, with a 

 good queen, and the entrances of moderate 

 size, you need not fear that other bees will 

 rob til at colony. 



WINTER LOSSES, REPORTED BY A LITTLE GIRL. 



Papa had 20 swarms of bees last fall. He packed 

 18 of them in chaff and 2 in sawdust. He lost the 

 two latter, and one that was fed late in the fall, and 

 from which the chaff cushions were left off. The 

 rest ai e gatheringhoney and pollen. People around 

 here have not been very successful In wintering 

 their bees. Mr. P. had 103 swarms, and lost about 

 70; Mr. A. had 19, and lost 1; Mr. W. had several 

 swarms, and lost them all; Mr. F. aud Mr. D. also 

 lost all of theirs; Mr. S. had 4 swarms. chaff packed, 

 and they all wintered nicely. One of papa's best 

 swarms used to come out in all sorts of weather last 

 winter. Once it came out when it was snowing, and 

 at another time when it was only .5° above zero. We 

 have 176 chickens, but the hawks carry some off 

 every day. Clara Lindsey, age 11. 



Harford, Susq. Co., Pa., May 7, 1887. 



Friend Clara, I took your letter out first 

 from among all the rest, because the writing 

 is so clear and nice. It is really a pleasure 

 to lead the little letters that are written in a 

 plain hand. It is true, you little folks do a 

 great deal better than "the big folks, as a 

 rule ; but still there is a chance, I think, for 

 a gretit improvement in writing.— You have 

 given us quite a little item in regard to the 

 winter packing of bees. Your report would 

 seem to indicate that sawdust is not always 

 reliable for wintering bees. — The colony 

 which you say flew out so much during un- 

 seasonable weather, I should judge had dys- 

 entery, so that they were uneasy. 



a report from lookout mountain; INSECTS 

 EATING BEES. 



We take Gleanings, and like it very much. We 

 have a small apiary. Bees have Just begun to 

 swarm. They are all pure Italians. There have not 

 been many Howers for them to work on until lately, 

 when the white clover came in. The red clover 

 covers some fields, but I have not seen a single bee 

 working on it. The azelias ai-e in bloom, and the 

 chestnut will soon be. The bees have been gather- 

 ing honey-dew from the chestnut leaves. Until 

 lately the bees would go down into the valley, load 

 themselves, and fiy up again. By the time they 

 reached the top they would be so out of breath that 

 they alighted on the edge of the precipices, and 

 just panted. There is a rock on this mountain in 

 Chicamauga Cliff, called Bee-Rock. In it lived about 



