4-52 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUUE. 



Junk 



outdoors are at this date at least one-third stronger 

 than those wintered in the cellar. All were packed 

 in straw, but they were one-third stronger and bet- 

 ter colonies last fall. AVe had several nuclei quite 

 weak last tall. Wo crowded the bees on to two well- 

 flUed combs, and packed with straw all around, and 

 put in the cellar. They all wintered, and to-day bid 

 fair to make fine colonies in a month or so. 



Xhe spring seems very forward. Apple-trees 

 bloomed two weeks or more earlier than last year. 



I think Mr. Heddon's book well worth the money. 

 There arc some very practical suggestions in it. I 

 disagree with him, however, in regard to women 

 and invalids keeping bees. I think a few colonies 

 just the right stimulus for invalids— better than al- 

 cohol or wine; and as for ladies, 1 wonder how 

 manj' successful men there are in the business with- 

 out the help and co-operation of some woman, 

 either wife, daughter, or sister. L. C. AxTEi.ii. 



Roseville, 111., May 13, 18H6. 



Friend A., you may reiuember this sub- 

 ject has been up before. From your descrip- 

 tion I should think you had met with sus- 

 pended animation, occurring from two or 

 more causes. My first experience in the 

 matter was wlien buying (pieens some years 

 ago of a neighbor. All of a sudden a queen 

 we had cauglit doubled herself up as if she 

 had been stung, and was apparently lifeless. 

 I thought her dead, but he said he had oft- 

 en seen them do that, and that she would 

 come out all right if we would put her 

 among the bees and let her alone. Sure 

 enough, wlien the hive was opened, an hour 

 afterward, she seemed as well and natural 

 as ever. I have since seen it several times, 

 especially when picking queens off from the 

 combs to send them away ; they seem knot- 

 ted up as if in a cramp, and I doubt not that 

 many queens have been tlu'own away for 

 dead when it was only this feature of sus- 

 pended animation. The case you mention, 

 where queens were found on tiie bottom of 

 the hive, can not be so easily explained. I 

 had supposed it was cai'sed only by fright 

 or improper handling. I have often seen 

 queens and bees, apparently dead in their 

 cages, from the effects of cold, and nothing 

 else. I have also seen queens, when left 

 away from the bees, frozen until the frost 

 was plainly visible on their bodies ; Init in 

 every case where they revived when warmed 

 up, they laid worker-eggs just as well as 

 usual, so far as we could see.— Jf agree with 

 you in your concluding remarks in regard to 

 bee-keeping for women. 



LAWNS AND LA'WN-MAKING. 



SOME PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE IN THE MATTER 

 FROM FRIEND TERRY, THE POTATO-MAN. 



fRIEND HOOT: — You did a nice thing when 

 you hunted up a simple, cheap lawn-mower 

 to sell to your readers. I have no doubt 

 there will be more pretty lawns where Glean- 

 ings goes, as the result. And what is more 

 beautiful than a smooth green lawn? Why do we 

 not see more of them in the country ? It is not a 

 very difficult matter to grade the ground and sow 

 the seed; nor is it a hard job to run the lawn- 

 mower over the yard once a week or so. Any man 

 with half an eye for beauty would feel amply paid 



for the trouble, by the beautiful, even coat of 

 green that would i-esult. And then it is so nice for 

 the wife and daughters, when they hang out the 

 clothes, on washing-daj% or when they are tending 

 to their flower-beds. 



Possibly the writer's experience might help some 

 who are thinking about a lawn. Our yard was vei"y 

 uneven and rough when we came here -an old farm- 

 yard. We did not attempt to make a lawn until wc 

 had a now house built, as the digging of a new cel- 

 lar would sj)oil it all; but wc set out trees, hedges, 

 etc., with reference to future grading. A yeai' ago 

 this spring we began on the yard by spading it all 

 over deeply. Then, every few days, all summer, 

 we went over it with the Acme harrow, and hoed 

 around the trees where we couldn't get with the har- 

 row. Where there were hollows wc drew in dirt, 

 and whore it was too high we took oS' a little. In 

 this way by fall wc had it inctty well gi'aded, and 

 the horseradish, tansy, and numerous other such 

 plants as those found in all old farmyards, thor- 

 oughly dis))osed of. About the last of August we 

 fixed it up as smooth and nice as possible, and 

 sowed on blue-grass seed and timothy, seme four or 

 five times as much as we would on the same amount 

 of ground in the field. Then we rolled it by hand 

 with a part of our flcld-roUer fi.ved uji for the occa- 

 sion. Next, boards were laid down to walk on, 

 where we were intending to have paths in the fu- 

 ture. No manure was used, although some fine 

 rotten compost would have been an advantage; 

 but we did not have any. The seed came up finely, 

 and the lawn was quite green by winter. We let it 

 grow this spring until it was, the best of it, some 

 eight inches high. Then we mowed it over with a 

 scythe, and, after the nest rain, rolled it, and soon 

 began using the little lawnmower wc got of you. 

 We have been o\er it twice already (May 20), and 

 have got a pretty fair-looking lawn, tor a young 

 one. It will probably be best not to cut it very 

 much inore this first season, unless it is very wet. 

 At all events, it should be allowed to grow up in the 

 fall. Of course, the most of the show now comes 

 from the timothy; but the blue grass is growing, 

 and will make a heavy sod in time, and displace the 

 timothy. No such lawn could have been got the 

 first season from the lilue grass alone, although in 

 time that will be all that is needed to make a 

 splendid turf. 



Lately we have been making roads and paths; for 

 one good thing, you see, leads to another. We took 

 the boards all up that we had been walking on dur- 

 ing the winter, and cut out about five inches of soil, 

 and then drew in gravel and filled up. Of course, 

 some pains were taken to lay out the road and paths 

 so as not to have them look stifi', aud so the.v would 

 be as convenient as possible. It took about 80 tons 

 of gravel, aud was quite a job; but it is a perma- 

 nent iinprovement, aud it did not cost a cent, only 

 a little hard work when we could spare the time 

 from our regular farm duties. We can drive into 

 the yard and by the coal-window, and the wood- 

 shed door, and the cellar door, and also the cellar- 

 window, where we put in potatoes in bulk, and on 

 out of the yai-d, and not have a horse step off from 

 the gravel road. When our new barn is built, the 

 road will be extended to that, and then we shall be 

 out of the mud, as we intend to cover the barn-yard. 



Now, friend Root, jou ought to get a heavy lawn- 

 roller to sell us, to keep the road and the walks and 

 lawn rolled down smooth. There are some other 



