1886 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



827 



times go several miles to form these assem- 

 blies. — Bees do put the honey back in the 

 hive after they have gorged themselves on 

 account of smoking; but every time they 

 put it back, there is less of it ; therefore eve- 

 ry time you smoke a colony of hybrids so as 

 to induce them to uncap their sealed honey, 

 you cause them to lose a certain (luantity of 

 their winter stores. — Melilot blooms every 

 year, so far as 1 know ; in fact, I never 

 heard of a plant that was not covered with 

 bloom.— Bees will often tinish out untinish- 

 ed combs during fall blooming. 



Every boy or girl, under 15 



years of age. who writes a 



letter for this department, containing 



SOMK VALUABLE FACT, NOT GKNERALLT 

 KNOWN. ON BEES OR OTHER MATTERS, 

 will reoive one ot Uavid Cook's excel- 

 lent five -cent Sunday - school books. 

 Many of these books contain tlie same mat- 

 ter that you find in Sunday-school hooks 

 costing f rom'Sl.OO to $1.50. If you have had 

 one or more books, give us the names that we 

 may not send the same twice. We have now 

 in stock six rtitfeient books, as follows; viz.: 

 Sheer Off, The Giant - Killer, The Roby 

 ■I • Family, Rescued from Egypt, and Ten Nights in 



aBar-Room. We have also Our Homes, Part I., and 

 Our Homes, Part II. P.csidcs the aVmvi' lioi.ks, you ni:iy have a 

 photograph of our old Imuse ajiiary, taken a great many years 

 ago. In it is a picture of myself. Blue Eyes, and Caddy, and a 

 glimpse of Ernest. We have also some pretty little colored 

 pictures of birds, fruits, (lowers, etc., suitable for framing. 

 You can have your choice of any one of the above pictures 

 or books for ever.y letter that gives us some valuable piece of 

 information. 



" A chiel's amang ye takin' notes; 

 An' faith, he'll prent it." 



A T.iLK TO THE LITTI..E FOLKS ON PREP.\IilNG 

 BEES FOR WINTER. 



OW are those hives getting along, in 

 the back yard? Have they enough 

 stores for winter? If so, are they pre- 

 pared for the cold with chaff packing? 

 Very likely, many of you have pre- 

 pared your bees for the cold which is soon to 

 follow; but I fear that (r?Z of yoii have not 

 been thus careful, and that you have found 

 it convenient to put it off a little longer. It 

 is to this class of juvenile " putters off '"that 

 I am now about to talk. In tlie first place, 

 I am going to ask. What did you put it off 

 for? One little boy clear over in Wisconsin 

 yells out, " "Cause we don't know how to 

 iix "em for winter."" Anotlier little ten-year- 

 old red-head, with great big freckles on his 

 nose, screams out way down in Texas, " We 

 hain't got no sugar, an" dad says lie can't af- 

 ford t() V)uy none, "cause bees didn't pay 

 right smart this year, it was so dry."' A lit- 

 tle girl in the northern part of Elaine cries 

 out, ■• riease, sir, and will you tell us how to 

 winter liees? '" 



Well, my dear little folks, I do not lielieve 

 I can ; but 1 will tell you how Sammy and 

 his father in the State of (Miio are i)reparing 



their bees. The circumstances run some- 

 tliing in this wise : 



now SAM'S FATHER PKEl'AKED IIIS IJEES 

 FOR AVINTER. 



"Say, Sam. what"s yer dad doin" with 

 them bees of his?'' said Sam's playmate, 

 who lived over across the way. 



*■ Doing with them ! '" rejoined his com- 

 panion ; " why, he's fixing them for winter." 



" Wliat, as early as this, and only— le' me 

 see— the lUth of October ? By cracky I 1 

 hain"t done nuthin' with mine yet." 



•'A'ou should say, 'I haven't done noth- 

 ing,' "' said Sam, with an air of superiority, 

 evidently shocked at his playmate's gram- 

 mar, ami not knowing that there was still a 

 •■ mote "' in his own eye. 



" (Jh I nonsense. Sam ; you"re always taunt- 

 ing me about my grammar and slang. 

 Come ! if yer dad is fixing them bees up fer 

 winter, I want to learn how to fix mine." 

 So saying, the boys clambered over the 

 fence into the yard wliere Sam"s father was 

 at work, though Sam stood at a safe dis- 

 tance. 



" What yer standing way off fer ? These 

 bees won"t hurt you,'" said Jimmy, for that 

 was the name of Sam's playmate. 



" No." said Ins father, when Jimmy e.x- 

 plained that he wanted to learn how to win- 

 ter bees. '-Besides," liis father continued, 

 addressing his son, " I should like to have 

 you learn too.'" 



Sam's father, after closiirg the hive upon 

 which he was at work, opened another. 

 '■ This colony,"" said he, " as they have been 

 breeding, needs considerable feeding. They 

 have emptied the bread-pan of feed which I 

 had given them, all in one night."' So say- 

 ing, he lifted off the empty pan. Witli tlie 

 smoker in his right hand he gave a few light 

 puffs of smoke, while he slowly pulled off 

 the enameled cloth with his left hand. He 

 next lifted out one of the outside frames. 



" Pretty light, and not much honey there," 

 said Sam's father. 



The next frame contained still less: the 

 frames in the center of the hive had no hon- 

 ey, but a little sealed brood. 



" Sara," said his father, " will you run in- 

 to the house, and fill this coffee-pot with the 

 sugar syrup I made last evening ? "" 



Sam obeyed, and started for the house. 



"Now, don"t spill any of it, nor daub the 

 coffee-pot, as you did the other day, when 

 the bees got to robbing so badly."' called his 

 father, as Sam neared the house- The bees 

 had got to robbing on that day, and Sam, as 

 a consequence of his carelessness, was stung 

 two or three times; hence his fear on ap- 

 proaching the apiary, for which his play- 

 mate taunted him. 



Sam quickly returned, and, more than all, 

 the cofTee-pot was nice and clean. 



" Well done,'" said his father; "yo'.i didn"t 

 daub this time."' 



" N-n-no," said Sam, hesitating; " why,— 

 why, ma poured it for me." His father 

 smiled a little. 



'' What harm does daubin' the coffee-pot 

 with syrup do ? " said Jimmy. 



" It is almost sure to start robbing," re- 

 tui-ned Sam"s father; "and wherever the cof- 

 fee-pot sits, the bees will lick up the syrup, 



