1884 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



125 



As time passed I soon was able to shear 30 sheep in 

 a day, and do it as well as any one. This was con- 

 sidered a good day's work; but I was not satisfled 

 till I could shear 10 in a day. I now went out shear- 

 ing, and thus was able to get double the pay for three 

 or four weeks during the sheep-shearing season, 

 that I could get at ordinary farm labor. 



I give this to show how diligence should be applied 

 to our business; and also to show that, when so ap- 

 plied, it will always command a good price. When 

 this price Is received, we are happy in thinking we 

 are elBcient laborers in helping those about us. I 

 might go on and tell how I mastered other difficul- 

 ties till I became an efficient farmer; but this one 

 will suffice. My next (in iVlarch Juvenile) will be 

 "How I Became a Bee-keeper." 



Borodino, N. Y. CM. Doolittle. 



Friend D., you have struck upon just what 

 lam sure all the juveniles at least will be 

 glad to hear — what you did when you were 

 a boy, and how you laid the foundation for 

 your success in business of all kinds, as well 

 as bees. I could have told all the little 

 friends already, that one of your peculiari- 

 ties was doing every thing well, and that if 

 you could not have a good nice thing, and 

 one that just suited you, you wouldn't have 

 any at all. I wonder how many of our read- 

 ers are able to shear forty sheep in a day. 



SOME COMPOSITIONS ON BEES. 



»T seems that the little friends in Allerton, 

 A Iowa, got it into their heads that they 

 would write a piece giving some fact in 

 the natural history of bees, or telling what 

 they know about them. Accordingly, half 

 a dozen or more have been sent in. We will 

 give them all under this general head. 



ANDREW'S COMPOSITION. 



Bees are very strong; they can fly a great distance 

 without alighting. The drone has no sting, but it 

 makes a buzzing sound when flying. Bees will not 

 work in the light. Andrew E. Holzer, age 11. 



Allerton, Iowa, Jan. 15, 188-1. 



MATIE'S COMPOSITION. 



Drones have no sting. They may be easily held 

 without stinging. Matie Smith. 



Allerton, Iowa. 



hattie's composition. 



Bees have a pouch in the back of their body, in 

 which wax grows little by little. When it is full it 

 sticks out in little scales, and cither the bee himself 

 or some of his fellow-workera take it off and use it 

 in making honey-combs. At first the comb is white 

 and soft; after a while it grows firm and yellow. 

 Bees' eyes are made to see a great distance. 



Hattie Crum. 



Allerton, Iowa, January 3, 1884. 



SAM'S composition. 



My father has 15 stands of bees; 13 stands swarmed 

 this summer, and 2 stands died. We ai'e going to sell 

 them. This is my first letter. I will write you a bet- 

 ter one next time. Sam Gaston, age 11. 



Allerton, Iowa, Jan. 16, 1884. 



WHEN the bees CAME. 



Bees were not in this country till the white man 

 settled here. The Indians call the bee the white 

 man's fly. Eugene Holzer. 



Allerton, Wayne Co., la., Jan. 14, 1884. 



CLAUD'S composition. 



There were no bees in America until they were 

 brought here by Europeans; but they are now found 

 all over North and South America, although they 

 did not reach South America till 1845, and California 

 in 1850. The bees called the drones have no stings ; 

 but the females and the workers each have one at 

 the back part of the body. The sting of a bee is 

 where the poison is made. When a bee stings it 

 first makes a wound with the sheath, along which 

 the poison flows in a groove; and it then thrusts in 

 darts to deepen the wound. Bee-poison is so deadly 

 that a single sting will kill an insect. Animals and 

 men have been sometimes killed by bees which at- 

 tacked them in great numbers. The honey-bee is 

 an insect of the order hymenoptera, or membrane- 

 winged insects. The word bee comes from the 

 Anglo-Saxon hco. 



HOW CLAUD'S FOLKS GOT A START IN BEEKEEP- 

 ING; CLAUD'S HOME, ETC. 



I live in Allerton, and go to school. Our school is 

 in a brick building three stories high. I have gone 

 to school four years. When school is out I go up to 

 my uncle's and spend summer. One Sunday there 

 was a swarm of bees settled on a cherry-tree, and we 

 took a keg and hived them, and now we have three 

 stands of bees. We did not get much honey the first 

 year ; but the second year we got 170 lbs. We have 

 made more hives for next year. 



Claud Phillips. 



Allerton, Iowa, Jan. 15, 1884. 



MAY'S COMPOSITION. 



The food of bees is of two kinds— the pollen of 

 flowers, and sweet juices. The pollen is gathered on 

 the hairs of the legs, and carried to the young. 

 When the bee stings it first makes a wound with the 

 sheath, along which the poison flows in a groove, 

 and It then thrusts in the dart to deepen the wound. 

 The saw-teeth edges are very hard to pull out, and 

 bees are often hurt so badly they die. 



May Alexander. 



Allerton, Iowa, Jan. 3, 1884. 



Now, Mtty. it seems to me that you and 

 Claud have copied your ideas from the same 

 book, for they read just alike. Would it not 

 be better to get a fact fixed in your mind, 

 and then express it in your own words V Al- 

 ways be original. 



AN OLD BEE-BOOK. 



mijRIEXD BUIlllELL,of New York State, 

 f^ sends us a copy of Daniel Wildman's 

 — ' book on bees, dated 17S0. Wc quote 

 from page 41. We copy verbatim : 



The Drone is a large Bee without a Sting. Some 

 are of Opinion that it is a working Bee that has lost 

 its Sting; but this is erroneous, for no Person ever 

 saw that a working Bee became a Drone. 



Many Reasons are alledged to prove the Drone to 

 be the Male.— 1st. Because, notwithstanding they 

 are great Wasters of Honey, yet the Bees suflfer 

 them to remain quiet till they leave off breeding, 

 and have Conceived for the next Year. 



It is evident, from the above and other 

 passages, that friend W. supposed the work- 

 er bees brought forth young, and that queens 

 perpetuated themselves only. 



