(iB() 



GLEANINGS IN BUE CULtURE. 



Aug. 



ed for the queen, but could uot find her. Pa does 

 not know much about bees?, but could tell a few 

 thinfis about seeds, for he has been a clerk in that 

 business for 22 years. The last twelve were spent 

 in the employ of Peter Henderson & Co. Last 

 March he came here to the latid of peaches and 

 berries to try his hand at fruit-growing-. 

 Redden, Dei. E. S. Compton. 



BLOOD-POISONING FROM BEE-STINGS. 



Mr. J. S. Starn was hiving a swarm of bees for a 

 neighbor, when he was stung twice— once on the 

 nose and once on the chin. In about three weeks 

 he was taken sick. They sent for a doctor. He 

 said it was blood-poisoii. His throat came very 

 near swelling shut, l)ut it broke and saved his life. 



This section is very good for bees. We have 

 fruit bloom, black locust, white clover, and bass- 

 wood. About half a mile from here is a ten-acre 

 field of alsike. The bees have a regular i)icnic on 

 it. The honey has the flavor of white clover. We 

 have sweet clover along the roadside. A friend 

 told papa that one cup of honey would sweeten 

 three times as much as much as one cup of sugar. 

 Macv M. Elms, aged 11. 



East Monroe, Highland Co., O. 



Are you sure, t'liend Macy, that the bee- 

 stings which Mr. Starn received tliree weeks 

 before, had any thing to do with the swelling 

 of his throat ? The effects of bee-stings are 

 immediate. 



A QUEER COLONY. 



Pa takes Gleanings, and he likes it very well. 

 He says he would rather stop any other paper than 

 Gleanings. I like to read the little juvenile let- 

 ters. We have one colony of Italian bees. Our 

 bees swarmed four times this summer, so we have 

 five colonies in all. Our bees swarmed very queer- 

 ly. The 13th of June a swarm came out, and they 

 all went back into the hive again; and 11 days after 

 that they swarmed again, about o'clock, and went 

 back again in the afternoon. They swarmed again 

 at 3 o'clock, and clustered on an apple-tree near 

 their hive; the next day at 9 o'clock they swarmed 

 again, and clustered on the same apple-tree. The 

 , next day at 10 o'clock they swarmed and clustered 

 on a little cherry-tree; two days after that they 

 swarmed, and clustered on an apple-tree, and after 

 they were hived a little while they all went home 

 again. Two days after, they swarmed again, about 

 half-past 8, and they are all doing nicely now. Pa 

 winters his bees down cellar. He made a Hill de- 

 vice for them, and they came out nice in the spring. 

 Katie M. Zehr, age 12. 



Indian River, N. Y., July 17, 1887. 



Your colony, friend Katie, behaved itself 

 in rather an unusual manner. Do we infer 

 that they returned to the parent colony as 

 often as they swarmed ? 



swarming, and the service the little polks 

 MAY render; how a queen looks after 



SHE IS STUNG. 



We have 86 colonies, and sometimes it is lively 

 with them. One day seven swarms came off at once. 

 When the swarm is small, pa puts two together or 

 takes the queen, and then the bees go back into the 

 hive. Two days ago a little swai-m came off, and pa 

 found the queen alter they had alighted. They 

 stayed on the tree. He looked after and found an- 

 other queen. We put them both under a goblet. 

 They caught each other, and one of them stung the 



other. She doubled uj) like a burnt shuck, and in a 

 little while she died. After pa got the second queen 

 he shook the bees off. and then they settled in three 

 or four places. All of them vvent back in the hive, 

 except about a teacupful. The next morning Edith 

 took a strawberry-box and put them in it; then she 

 asked i)a to look at her swarm, and there was a 

 queen in it. He made her a little hive, and she put 

 them into it. Pa gives ten cents a swarm to the one 

 who sees or finds it first. I have found 13, Edith 13, 

 Fred (), Grace 3. Pa generally finds them first. He 

 chewed tobacco for 2,5 years, but he quit four years 

 ago. He says he feels much better now, than be- 

 fore he quit chewing. Jasper D. Tracy. 

 Longmont, Col., July 11, 1887. 



' Thank you, friend Jasper. Your father's 

 plan of jiaying his children ten cents for 

 ever> swarin they discover first, and report, 

 is a good one. Have you all learned the 

 s warming-note, so that your ears tell you 

 what your eyes may expect V I should like 

 to know how many of you can tell the rob- 

 bing-note—that high key, or angry hum. It 

 seems to me that, if one of you find a case of 

 robl)ing before any one else, he ought to be 

 rewarded with— well, say oO cents. Perhaps 

 even a dollar would not "be too much, where 

 the consequences might have V)een rather se- 

 rious. Beginners often find it ditficult to de- 

 tect robbing at its start ; but practice will 

 soon enable them to tell every time. 



THREE LITTLE TURKEYS, AND THEIR STEPMOTHER. 



Mr. Bdtfo?-;- We had two hens hatch chicks at the 

 same time. All the chicks were given to one hen, 

 which were placed in a coop at the apiary, some dis- 

 tance from the barn, where the hatching occurred. 

 The hen whose chicks had been removed stayed 

 around the nest for two days, clucking for her lost 

 babies. At this time another hen in the yard gave 

 indications of weaning her brood of turkeys, which 

 had dwindled to three. They were four weeks old, 

 and their big mcjuths had seemingly disgusted the 

 hen. At evening she left her three little turkeys. 

 The hen which was bereft of her own natural brood 

 was sitting on tlie empty nest where she had 

 hatched. 



1 said to my wife, " Lot us try an experiment." 



We placed the three little orphaned turkeys under 

 this hen. She uttered two or three notes which 

 seemed to say, " Take care, now," as though not 

 well pleased. But it was near dark, and all became 

 quiet. In the morning the hen was found using 

 most assiduous motherl.v care over the three little 

 turkeys, which were very offish, and reluctant in 

 accepting the profuse attentions of their new step- 

 mother. The hen which had hatched and cared for 

 the turkeys until they were four weeks old did not 

 come near or recognize them, and in a short time 

 the persistent attentions of the new stepmother 

 overcame their turkish prejudices, and they very 

 soon became cordially the most loyal little turks on 

 the ranch. Their stei)mother would attack any an- 

 imated nature, from a half-grown chicken to a full- 

 grown cow, which would chance to come near her 

 turkeys. For three weeks there has been no abate- 

 ment of the care these little turkeys have had from 

 the hen which adopted them. Is this case a i-esult 

 of reason on the part of the hen, or of strong nat- 

 ural instinctV It looks like reason. Who can an- 

 swer'r' John Cadwallader. 



North Indianapolis, Ind., July 17, 1887. 



