ISSli 



GLEANINGS IN JiEE CULTURE. 



995 



"but, but. Mr. (Ti-eeu lol<l ir.e to (ii,o;i the 

 entrance of one of those hives "cause they'd 

 die if left long, and I happen ter think of it 

 when I got ter bed, an" I thought I'd go out 

 the window an" not wake you and ma up. 

 I forgot about the window-ketch, and when 

 I came back I couldn't raise it, so I come 

 round by the door.'" 



Jimmy had not told the straight truth. 

 He went out by the window because he 

 feared his mother wouldn't let him go if he 

 asked lier permission. Jimmy would not be 

 guilty of a lie, but lately he had got into the 

 habit of •■ stretching the truth."' 



Jimmy had hardly linished his explana- 

 tion when his mother, from the adjoining 

 room, called out— 



'"What's that child been up to now, I'd 

 like to know? Outdoors with nothiu" but 

 his night-gown on!" 



^Vithout waiting for a reply, Jimmy scam- 

 pered off to his room and into bed, leaving 

 his father to make matters right. 



The next morning after breakfast, Jimmy 

 tlKHight he would take a look at the colony, 

 the entrance of which he opened the night 

 before. Most of the bees were in the bot- 

 tom of the hive, and what were not dead 

 were wet, or. as Jimmy expressed it, looked 

 as if they had "been sweatin"."' 



Besides all this, the robbers were again at 

 work ; but on this occasion Jimmy had tak- 

 en precaution to provide himself with a 

 veil, which Mr. Green had given him along 

 with the old hives. Unable to account for 

 this peculiar condition of the bees, Jimmy 

 scampered over to Mr. tireen's. 



"Hello, Jim !" said Sam, smiling, whom 

 he met first. •'You got stung, did youV" 



•' Where's yer pa';:''" said tiie other, with- 

 out making any reply. 



••Down in the lot by the creek, husking 

 corn. Why? what do you want?"" 



" Oh ! my bees have got to actin" up."" 



So saying, Jimmy started toward the cieek 

 in pursuit of Mr." Green, followed by his 

 companion. When they had reached Sam's 

 father. Jimmy then explained the condition 

 he found his bees in in the morning. Wlien 

 he had concluded, ^Ir. Green then replied, 

 . •• r suspect you forgot, and left the bees too 

 long after 1 closed the entrance, or they 

 would not ha\e been in that condition. 

 From yoiu' explanation, I judge the bees 

 had smothered, llow long was it before you 

 closed the entrance V"" 



" Well,'" said Jimmy, willing to own up. 

 " I forgot it, an' just before I went ter sleep 

 I happened ter think of it. an" I got up and 

 opened the entrance." 



" What time was that, should you think?" 

 asked ^Slr. Geeen. 



•• Oh ! 'bout ten: or half-past." 



"Well," said Sam's father, "that would 

 make eleven hours ; and the hive, when I 

 closed it, was full of robbers. Besides that, 

 the Sim shone pretty hot all the afternoon ; 

 no wonder you found them as you did.'' 



" Whafll I do now?" said Jimmy. 



" Yon say you opened the entrance this 

 morning, and that the robbers hail already 

 commenced. I should advise you to take 

 out the combs, if they liave not melted 



down ; brush off what bees may be on them, 

 and carry them to some place where no rob- 

 bers can get at them. Next pick up the 

 hive and all, and dump your 'sweaty bees,' 

 as you call them, into your other three hives 

 — about an equal i)ortion in each. You 

 must do your work (luickly. and you must 

 not run if a couple of bees sting you." 



"All right," said Jimmy, starting olf on 

 a run. 



" One more thing. "" called out his teacher; 

 "get your smoker going good, and put on 

 your veil." 



"I Avill," said Jimmy, and the boys were 

 soon out of liearing. 



Jimmy followed directions exactly, and, 

 four or five hours after, reported that all 

 was quiet ; but he said his other three hives 

 were "carrying out lots of dead bees— yes. 

 lots of "em." 



Mr. Green told him that these were only 

 the dead bees he had dumped in from the 

 robbed colony. About a week later an ex- 

 amination into the three remaining colonies 

 showed that the bees had done their work 

 well, yet you could easily see that those l)ees 

 which w^e're so nearly dead were shiny black 

 fellows, without any fuzz on their backs. 



Better than all. Jimmy's father and moth- 

 er had l)oth agreed that he might keep his 

 bees, although for some time his step-moth- 

 er persisted that he should not keep them. 



For the present we will leave Jimmy 

 and his bees, and listen to what other boys 

 and girls have to say for themselves. 



COliNCOHS fOK WINTER PASSAGEWAYS. 



My pa tills the ti)ps of his hives with corncobs, for 

 the steam to jrather ou, and when it gets very colil 

 he wraps the liives with old carpet. He winters his 

 bees out of doors. E.mma S. Mveus. 



Lafontaine, Ind., Nov. 27, 1886. . 



A I-ITTI.K ORPHAN BOYS REPOItT. 



I am a little orphan boy. My father died si.v 

 years ago, and my mother died last September. T 

 am now staying with my uncle, and help my cous- 

 ins. Gabe and Andrew, take care of their bees. 

 They have 75 stands, which they are going to win- 

 ter in the cellar. The three years they have kept 

 bees they have lost 5 colonics in wintering. Last 

 summer they got 1400 lbs. of comb and .300 of ex- 

 tracted honey from clover and raspberry. Bass- 

 wood was an entire failure. 



Henry' Anderson, age \.i. 



Marshville, Mich., Nov. 18, 1886. 



FRO.M FAR-OFF NEW ZEALAND. 



We are having a very wet winter, and my mamma 

 has to fe(!d our bees. My papa is afraid of them, so 

 she has to manage them by herself. Sometimes 

 our neighbor, Mr. McPherson, comes and helps her. 

 He is very kind. He can manage bees very well. 

 He has over twenty Langstroth hives, and he has 

 some common bo.xes. Some people say, that when 

 a bee stings any one it dies. If so, do you know how 

 long it lives after it has lost its sting? Mamma 

 bought three colonies of bees, and packed them 

 herself, to come a long journey. They traveled for 

 four miles on a dray, on a rough road, and then they 

 were in the train for more than an hour; then in a 



