748 



GLEANINGS IN 15EE CULTURE. 



Sept. 



THOMAS HOKN. 



Pa had fig'ht colonies of black bees, and lie did 

 not winter them. He lost them all, so my three 

 brothers sent lor a colony of Italian bees to 

 Thomas Horn. They say they are better ^vorkers 

 than the blacks. Pa says it is the best colony we 

 ever had, and he thinks Thomas Horn is an honest 

 man. Pa never heard of such a thing as horn< d 

 toads, and he would like to know what they are. 

 He says he thinks they are not the kind that we 

 have around here, lor he thinks Mr. Koot would 

 not keep them in his apiary, for they eat bees. 



• IjKNA Zkhk, age I'o. 



Indian Kiver, Lewis Co., N. Y., Aug. 8, 188ti. 



Thank you. We are very ^^lad to hear a 

 good word for Thomas Horn ; but so inauy 

 complain of him as disliouest that we warii 

 our friends against purchasing of him. 

 Your logical connection, as the big folks say, 

 between Thomas Horn and '• horned toads" 

 is rather abrupt, is it not V However, we 

 have had only one horned tond iu our api- 

 ary, and that simply as a ciiiiosity. I can 

 not say as to whether liiey would do much 

 if any harm in larger numbers. 



ONIi QUEKN SW.VKMING Si:VKN TIMES. 



Papa has a queen that has swarmed seven 

 times this summer. He has 3^ hives. My brotiier 

 has a hive of bees, and ho likes to go out and look 

 iu the hive. Sometimes I go out and help papa 

 when he has a swarm. Papa bought a dollar 

 queen of you last year, and it swarmed and went 

 to the woods 18 days after, lie bought another 

 this spring, and it swarmed thrci: times, but died 

 in Iront of the hive the last time. The kind of 

 shade-boards we like best are made out of old 

 barrel-staves. Wo use two pickets to rest on the 

 hives, and nail the staves on tlieiii. We make two 

 out of one barrel. Mamik (i. Stow, iige IU. 



South Evanston, Cook Co., Ill , At;g. »!l, 1886. 



Well, Mamie, if I had a queen that had 

 swarmed seven times, and sliould give 

 promise of doing as ))ad or worse next sea- 

 son, I would— well, kill her and put one in 

 her place that would " stay at home '" better. 

 It doesn't pay to fuss with such (jueens, if 

 their everlasting inclination to swarm can 

 not be stopped by some reasonable means, 

 such as more room, more shade, or better 

 ventilation. ^_^ Ei^nest. 



WHEN A SWAIIRI ISSUES, DOES THE QUEEN 

 ALIGHT I'lRST V 



When a swarm issues, does the queen generally 

 alight first, or the bees? You will notice on page 

 303, May Gleanings, Mr. Brayman said he lay by 

 the hive watching for the queen, while his wife 

 watched where they were going to cluster; so 1 

 take it from that, that the bees commence to clu s 

 ter before the queen. 



G UAH AM S. Dewitt, age 11. 



Homowaek, Ulster Co., N. Y. 



My young friend, I think that the bees, as 

 a rule, alight hrst, and the queen when a 

 part of them have commenced to cluster — at 

 least I have watched (piite a luimber of 

 sw^arms while clustering ; and when 1 liave 

 been able to get my eye on a queen it is, as a 

 rule, when they are about half clustered. 

 Young queens are especially apt to be run- 



ning out of and in the cluster, taking wing, 

 and then coming back again. 



13,0U0 LBS. OV HONEY FHO.M 200 COLONIES; HOW 

 TO MAKE A HARVEST DRINK OF HONEY. 



Pa has over »0J colonies of bees. He has extract- 

 ed over 13,000 pounds from them this season. It has 

 been very dry weather here for quite a while, and 

 the white clover has nearly all dried up. I will tell 

 you a wiiy of maki.ig a di'ink that is better than 

 to drink so much col'I water on these warm days. 

 Take 1!2 teacupfuls of honey; -3 of a cup of vine- 

 gar, and one heaping teaspoonful of ginger, to a 

 gallon of water. We call it " ginger ale." Pa's 

 bees are not gathering much honey now. 



Grace Popi'leton, iigo 14. 



Williamstown, Iowa, July, 18r6. 



Well dotie, Grace. Your liome-made gin- 

 ger ale, I should think, would be tiptop ; 

 but isn't half a teacupful of honey to a gal- 

 lon of water making it pretty sweet V Wlien 

 one is tired and thirsty, some sort of a drink 

 with sweetening in it will give strength and 

 energy almost inmiediately. as I know by 

 abundant experience ; and the ginger seems 

 to have the effect of making the drink " set 

 well," to use a common expression. If our 

 summer beverages never have any thing in 

 them more dangerous than vinegar and gin- 

 ger, I think we sliall all be on pretty safe 

 ground. 



lookout mountain, ag.mn; the effect of the 



illffeuenck in ki/kvation upon the 



j,ength ok the honey-flow. 



You ask in Gleanings if the honey season was 

 prolonged on account of the elevation. Our experi- 

 ence is the same as the writer who mentioned that 

 subject before. The clover and other honey-plants 

 come in 14 days Ciirlier in Chattanooga Vsille.N' than 

 up here. This mountain is 1800 fee t above the 

 valley. Our bees have swarmed three times since 

 1 wrote to . you .luno 3:llh, and ^» e have now 14 

 swarms of pure Ilalim bees. Thej- have taken a 

 great deal of honey from the soiirwoorl, and are 

 now very l)usy on the wild-!lowers. There have 

 been two great battles fought on this mountain- 

 one on the 38th day of October, 1803, in which 

 action Gen. Joseph Hooker gained the mountain; 

 and on the 2od day of Noveml er, !8to, the Union 

 troops under Generals Hooker, Thomas, and 

 Sherman, drove the Confederate troops under 

 Gen. Bragg off the mountain. The hist action was 

 the fierce "Battle above the Clouds." Many 

 marks of this liattle remain in the shape efforts, 

 camp - chimneys, rifle-pits, and breastworks. A 

 line of breastworks extends along the northern 

 side of our apiary, and form a windbreak for it. I 

 live at Point Lookout. There are hundreds of 

 people visiting it every month. There are many 

 points of interest on Iho mountain, among which 

 are Lookout Cave, Point Lookout, Natural Bridge, 

 Rock City, Lake Seclusion, Lulu Falls, and Eagle 

 Rock. The air is very light and healthful. 



GEOHGE LAWSt)N. 



Lookout Mountain, Hamilton Co., Tenn. 



Thanks for your description of liOokout 

 Mountain, so famed in the history of the 

 late civil war. The natural scenery, togeth- 

 er with the remnants of that remarkable 

 conflict, fills me with a desire to visit that 

 place ut i^ome future time. J:!}knest, 



