188G 



GLEAKIKGS IN BKE CtU.TURE. 



U1 



cage him on (toocI candy, with other bees 

 that are perfectly sound, so far as you know. 

 I liave another problem, which is this: 

 Cage a single bee, one that has not lost its 

 sting, and see how long it will live. If he 

 dies within IJ or U-l hours, or possibly at two 

 days from time of caging, we shall then con- 

 clude that the loss of the sting in the experi- 

 ments so far given did not necessarily kill 

 the injured bees. If, on the contrary, a sin- 

 gle bee will live four or live days, or even a 

 week, caged alone, we shall infer that there 

 has been something faulty in your work. 

 Aly experiments so far lead me rather to the 

 latter opinion. Those of you who are situat- 

 ed in the Northern States will have to wait 

 till warmer weather ; for, if a bee becomes 

 chilled once oi- twice, he will not live long; 

 but the little friends in the South can repoit 

 for the next .IrvKNiLE Glkaninos. 



A NEW FLV-TKAP. 



I must imt forget to mention our new im- 

 proved tly-trap.and it is iu)t patented either. 

 What do you suppose it is? Why, it is 

 IIul)er"s chicken. There was only fine that 

 hatched in January, from the old hen that 

 we pi'omised to tell you al)out. .\s there 

 was only one from the whole sitting, we 

 took the old hen away and gave her another 

 lot of eggs. No, sir ! the old biddy abso- 

 lutely refused to sit any more, so we put 

 her back in the poultry-yard. The little 

 chick is alone by himself in the greenhouse 

 In the daytime you just ought to see how he 

 will huntand eiit those little green Hies that 

 are such a nuisance. His eyes have become 

 wonderfully acute, and he will pick out a 

 bug where you would almost say there 

 wasn't any at all. Yes, he will travel up 

 and down those beds, and, if you could see 

 him, you Avould pronounce him a veritable 

 living lly-trap and "•bug-hunter."' Iluber 

 has just gone down to see him, for the 

 chicken likes company ; and if left alone he 

 will chirp as if calling the old hen. 



Ernest. 



CAN WE TAKE CAHE OF THE BEES WITHOUT PAPA? 



Papa had 11 colonics of bees last spring-. This 

 fall we had 15 colonics in chaff bives, and mamma 

 has sold two colonics. The snowstorm broke a 

 peach limb and it came down on three hives of bees. 

 My papa died Sept. 3, 1885. He was ."7 years old. 

 Do you think mamma, Han-y, and I can attend to 

 the bees? Papa took (iLeanings. We like to read 

 it. Lee Hoffman, age 9. 



Williamsport, Pa., Dec. 7, 1885. 



We are sorry to hear of your misfortune, 

 friend Lee. Yes, I feel pretty sure you can 

 take care of the bees with the help of mam- 

 ma. Our mammas can do wonderful things 

 when they are obliged to, especially when 

 they have several pairs of eager and willing 

 little hands to help them. Eknest. 



we gave them one frame of brood and two frames 

 of honey, and some empty comb for them to fill 

 with sugar syrup. In a week or two a neighbor 

 told pa she had a swarni of bees in an old house, 

 and that if he wonld take off the weather-boarding, 

 so she could get the honey, he might have the bees. 

 He did so, and gave them to me. We put them in 

 with those found in the pasture, after smoking 

 them. The queen, ma put in a nucleus box with 

 seventeen bees to e xjieriment with, and she foun<l 

 that 



.MOTH WIl.t, DESTROY OKOWN UEES 



as well as larva^. She put them on top of the book- 

 case in the sitting-room. The air was warm and 

 moist; and when she examined them in a few 

 weeks, only the tiueen and Ave bees were alive. The 

 bodies of the other bees could not be found. She 

 cleaned up the combs, taking out every moth she 

 could find, and ti-ied again to see if the queen would 

 not lay. She left them this time six weeks, then 

 found all dead but some moths, fat and hearty. 



We all study (ii.EANiNP.s and cousin Willie's A 15 

 C book, and like both very much. Our bees are 

 packed in chaff', as you direct. 1 have one more 

 heavy swurin that was a present to me in the fall. 

 1 hope 1 shall succeed, and be as industrious as the 

 bee. A JiTVENiLE. 



Memphis, Mo., .7an. U, 188ti. 



"TEN NIfiHTS IN A BAK-ROO;\I," AND HOW TO DO 

 GOOD. 



1 think my Ten Nights in a Bar-lloom isvery nice. 

 I let several read it. I'ncle Henry has sold nearly 

 all of his honey. The weather has been so bad that 

 I can not go to school. My uncle who was staying 

 in Kansas has coine back. He said he saw a town 

 of prairie-dogs, wild horse ponies, and antelopes. 

 ViKGii- Patterson, age 9. 



Humboldt. Neb., .Tan. :.'4, 1886. 



Tliank you, friend Virgil, for making so 

 good use of the book we sent you. There is 

 certainly a great need of more good temper- 

 ance books in om- homes, and len Nights in 

 a Bar-Room gives a very vivid as well as 

 true picture of the downward career of the 

 drinking man. If your book has become too 

 tattered to lend any more, let us know, and 

 we will with pleasure send you another. 

 Such acts of kindness may save some one 

 from a terrible fate. Ernest. 



STARTING IN THE BEE-BUSINESS. 



T will tell how I became a bee-keeper on ray own 

 account. T was riding through the pasture on 

 horseback in Septembei, when I found a swarm of 

 bees on a crabapple-tree. I came home, and, pa not 

 being at home, ma and cousin WMllie went with me, 

 and we shook them down into a Langstroth hive 

 successfully, queen and all. When we got home 



WHAT DOES A BEE-STING I.OOIC LIKE? 



My bee stung a piece of cloth, and 1 put it in a 

 cage. It lived 45 hours and 18 minutes. I kept the 

 sting, and it twitched for 1~ minutes after it left the 

 bee. I examined it under the microscope, and it 

 made me think of a teapot with two spouts. From 

 the looks of the bees we think their age has some- 

 thing to do with the time they live after they sting- 

 any thing. C.ERTRUDE A. Orvis, age 13. 



Whitby, Ont., Jan. 11, 188«. 



The two projections resembling spouts 

 from a tea-pot were doubtless the lancets of 

 a bee-sting which had been torn asunder. 

 The sting i)roper is made of three little 

 spears, nicely united together— one large 

 spear and two small ones, or lancets. One 

 sting that I once took from a bee kept wig- 

 gling for 2(1 minutes after. This illustrates 

 the importance of removing the sting as soon 

 as possible, as it will of itself work so deep 

 in the tlesli as not to be removed. Eknest. 



