188G 



GLEAKlKGS tN Bt:E CULTURE. 



505 



tog'ethof about honey not being' good lor colds. It 

 may not be very good lor babies, but I don't think 

 it would hiirt grown-up people it' they would not 

 eat too much. 1 agree with you, that milk is good 

 for the '■ honey-ache." 



I will give Tcssie mj- remedy lor the earache. 

 Take an onion, lay it in hot wood ashes till it is 

 roasted soft; then take it out, sijuecze the juice 

 out, put a couple of drops in the ear, and put cotton 

 ill. 



Last fall I helped my uncle to carry the bees in 

 the cellar, and this spring- 1 helped him carry them 

 out again, and he is going to give me a hive of bees. 

 I am going to help him put sections together this 

 summer, and then I will write again and tell you 

 how many I can put together in an hour. It is 

 very kind of you to make such an otter to the ones 

 who do well in putting them together. 



Wilmot, Ohio, May, 1886. Minnie Rhodes. 



Thank you, friend Minnie. I should be 

 very ghul to have you report the number of 

 sections you can put together per hour. Do 

 not get discouraged if, on the tirst 500, you 

 can not fold as rapidly as little Ella. Re- 

 member, practice accomplishes wonders; and 

 practice, if you try hard, will bring a prize. 

 In the meaiitime let others try also. Per- 

 haps I should say that a small wooden mal- 

 let is all you need. A light hammer will do 

 tolerably well, but you will be working at a 

 great disadvantage. Ernest. 



cents for two hundred; but as I can woi-k at them 

 only when out of school I uever kept the time. Pa- 

 pa says I do well, and am his little bee-man. I'm 

 eight years old. Brother Willie can not work with 

 the bees; for if they sting him he gets very sick. 

 Papa has lots of bees, and is now taking honey, f 

 help him with it too. Freddie A. Ellison. 



Stateburg, Sumter Co., S. C, May 25, 1886. ■ 



HOW JASON CAUGHT HIS SWAKM. 



I have but one colony, and I will tell you how I 

 came by it. A neighbor's boy and I, on the last 

 Sunday morning in July, were taking a ramble in 

 the woods after a rain-shower. After we were in 

 the woods a few minutes, near by a large tamarack 

 swamp, we heard a noise like the roaring of the 

 wind just before a shower. We stopped to listen a 

 moment, and I at once said that it was a swarm of 

 bees, and, sure enough, it was. They were flying at 

 tree-top height. We immediately began making a 

 noise by whistling, and drumming on a little pail 

 that I had with me, and they began to cluster in the 

 top of a soft maple about flftj'-flve feet from the 

 ground. I went back and got an old hive-saw and 

 a long rope, and then returned to the tree, and then 

 the fun began. I ascended the tree with saw and 

 rope. At the' second attempt I was successful in 

 lowering them to the ground, and got them in the 

 hive, and I did not get stung: once. In a few weeks 

 I transferred them to a chatf hive, and they work- 

 ed rapidly. J. J. H. 



Carlton Center, Barry Co., Mich., Jan. 16, 1886. 

 Thank you, friend .Jason. I think you did 

 well, if that was the first swarm you ever 

 caught. You said you began to make a 

 noise by wliistling, and drumming in a tin 

 pail. If the bees seemed to be arrested by 

 the sound, and tliereupon began to cluster 

 immediately, it would go to prove that bees 

 hear. In this connection I would like to ask 

 the old folks, and little folks too, whether 

 the drumming of tin pans does have an ap- 

 preciable effect upon a swarm of bees, or is 

 it all nolionV Who will tell us ? Ernest. 



folding sections AT lla CTS. PER ltK1. 



Ma read me what you said about the little boys 

 and girls putting up sections. I have put up hun- 

 dreds for papa this season, and he gives me three 



folding SECTIONS AT THE RATE OF 1000 IN TWO 

 HOURS AND A HALF. 



I put one-piece sections together at the rate of 

 1000 in two hours and a half. My brother's bees are 

 doing well. He noticed them bringing in pollen the 

 20th of March, and noticed them working on fruit- 

 bloom before the 20th of April. About half the 

 swarms have started to work in the sections. As 

 you said we could have our choice of any thing on 

 the ten-cent counter, if we did real well putting 

 sections together, if you think I did well enough, 

 please send me some crystal starch polish. 



Nettie H. Cranston, age 11. 



Woodstock, Champaign Co., O., May 29, 1886. 



HERE IS something FURTHER IN REGARD TO THE 

 SAME, FROM PEARL. 



I put sections together at the rate of 1000 in two 

 hours and a half. They were the one-piece sections. 

 Brother Fred likes your foundation very well; the 

 bees work on it better than on the flat-bottom 

 foundation. Our plum-trees are hanging full this 

 year, and the limbs are bending with them. We are 

 afraid they will get stung. Our strawberries are 

 getting ripe. We have a large bed of them. There 

 was a hard storm here May 12th, and we had corn 

 up almost large enough to plow. It rained so hai-d 

 that it overflowed the field. It was the first time 

 for about 30 years it had overflowed. As you said 

 if we did well putting sections together, we could 

 have our choice of any thing on the ten-cent count- 

 er, if you think I did well enough, please send me 

 some crystal starch polish. Pearl Z. Cranston. ' 



Woodstock, Champaign Co., O., May 25, 1886. 



Thanks for the results of your trial. I 

 must acknowledge that you both did extra 

 well— nearly twice the speed of P^lla, as re- 

 corded on page 415. I kind o' believe you both 

 must be older, and that you had had con- 

 siderable practice before at folding sections, 

 or you could never have reached this speed. 

 Let me see ; little 7-year-old Ella folded 500 

 in two hours. Eor the first trial I think that 

 was doing pretty well. At 3 cts. per 100, 

 Ella earned 7* cts. per hour, and you. Pearl 

 and Nettie, 12 cts. each. Let me say just 

 here, that a thousand folded sections in two 

 hours and a half is nearly equal to the speed 

 of one of our hands who is expert at folding 

 sections. A little practice will surprise one 

 at the rapiditv with which he can work. 

 Now if there is any 7-vear-old boy or girl 

 Avho can fold as fast as Nettie or Pearl, I 

 should like to hear from you. At all events 

 I do not wish any of you to strain yourselves 

 in the effort to excel some one else. Master 

 Fred's opinion about flat-bottomed founda- 

 tion being inferior to other makes, accords 

 with our experiments with the same about a 

 year ago. We sent you both some crystal 

 starch polish, as you requested. If you want 

 it to chew as giim, I fancy you will have 

 enough to last for a season. Ernest. 



