1884 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



129 



around him, and then we had to laugh right 

 out too. Now, if your baby was never sick, 

 you do not know "how happy and thankful 

 we felt to have him well again, and able to 

 laugh and crow and play. Poor little dears! 

 what do they know about sickness and sor- 

 row and pain ? But they are (lOd's children, 

 you know, as well as ours, and he has said,— 



Behold the fowls of the air: tor they sow not, nei- 

 ther do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your 

 heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much 

 better than they?-MATT. 6:20. 



My pa has 33 standi of bees. I have brown C'>e8. I 

 have a little sister. She has blue eyes. She is three 

 years old. I go to school. I read in the first reader. 



Steolville, III. Cora Suesberry, age 6. 



My pa's bees keep him. I !ike bees first rate, but I 

 like honey better. The bees bite with their tails, 

 but the honey doesn't. My pa has 13 stands, and 

 they are wintering well. Bees get honey from Indi- 

 an tobacco here. Edward E. Vicary. 



Morrison, Col., Jan. 13, 1884. 



THE PALED BEE-YARD. 



This summer we gathered more honey from our 

 hives than any of our neighbors. We have our bee- 

 yard paled in now, and the bees fly over and through 

 the cracks. I love to look at them. The worms 

 killed one colony this fall, and it was the best one 

 too; we got a great deal of honey from it. 



JOHNNIR W. Cat.dwei.i,, age V2. 



White Sulphur Springs, Ga. 



MANDA'S LETTER. 



My schoolmate said that you would send every 

 little girl a book that would send you a letter, and 

 she said that you were a great bee-man. We have 

 some bees, but they are dying off for want of honey. 

 We did have about 21 hives full. My papa does not 

 take the Juvenile, but I am going to coax him to 

 take it. Manda Pruser, age 11. 



Defiance, Ohio. 



honey from sumac. 



Pa had 12 hives last spring, and now he has 31. 

 Last winter the moths killed one stand. Pa took a 

 good deal of honey, but he did not weigh it. The 

 bees gather honey of the sumac and other flowers. 

 This summer has not been a very good honey year. 

 Charles A. Kyle, age 13. 



Houston, Mo., Oct. 30, 1883. 



FROM 14 TO 28, AND 6d0 LBS. OF HONEY. 



I am a little boy, and my pa has 28 hives of bees. 

 He had only 14 ia the spring. He got more than 600 

 lbs..of honey, and has got all his bees in the cellar, 

 except 2. He has a board fence along the north side 

 of where his bees are in the summer, to keep the 

 cold wind off them. He has a fence along the north 

 side of his grapevines. Harry Hartman. 



Clarksburg, Grey Co., Ont., Jan. 3, 1884. 



why a clothes-pin is not just as good as a 

 napkin-ring. It certainly will answer the 

 purpose, if anybody likes them. 



ABBIE'S MOTHER, AND HER BEES. 



We have 39 stands of bees. I have one stand of 

 my own. We have a little house to put them in, in 

 winter. Wehave hay underthem,and hay between, 

 and pa's haystack almost over them. Mamma said 

 she will sell out, if she can. She said it is too hard 

 work for her. Abbie Sears, age 9. 



Ashland, Neb , Jan. 3, lf84. 



Now, Abbie, we have had quite a discus- 

 sion as to whether bee-keeping is too heavy 

 work for women. Jf I understand it. your 

 mamma would rather take side with the af- 

 firmative, would sheV 



THE MOTHERLESS CHILDREN. 



Well, Uncle Amos, it has been a good while since 

 I wrote to you. Since then, my ma has died and left 

 me and my sister to keep house. She died very sud- 

 denly on the night of May 11. I am 14 years old, and 

 my sister is 11. I have two little brothers and two 

 little sisters, the oldest 7 years, the youngest 3 years. 



I I also have one large brother, IT years old. Pa had 



I the misfortune to lose almost all his bees last winter, 

 on account of not getting them packed away in time. 

 He was summoned on a jury just about the time he 

 should have packed them, and was away for five 

 weeks. He has been thinking of having his name 

 placed in Blasted Hopes. Coal oil is good to taKe 

 wax off your hands. I was at Sunday-school once 

 this summer. Thereis no Sunday-school nearer than 

 Milo — that is about six miles from our house. 1 



I don't suppose I shall go to school this winter, for I 

 must keep house for pa, and help take care of the 

 little ones. , Lou. F. Hall. 



j Indianola, Warren Co., Iowa, Nov. 27, 1881. 



! May God bless and help you, my little 

 friend. 



CLOTHES-PINS VS. NAPKIN-RINGS. 



My brother has two swarms of bees, and they are 

 living over winter so far. I will tell you a cheap plan 

 for a napkin-holder. Take a nice white clothes-pin 

 and put a pretty picture on it near the top, and tie 

 a bright ribbon in a bow just above the split, and 

 place the napkin in the pin. If you think this is 

 worth a book, please send me Silver Keys. 



CLAR.i Beecher. 



Hanna City, Peoria Co., Ills., Jan. 16, 1884. 



Well done, Clara. Your fact is a novel 

 one, certainly, and I confess I can not see 



I Our bees, three colonies, are all we are going to try 

 1 to winter this year. They are in good shape for win- 

 [ ter, if plenty of natural stores is of any account. 

 Each hive has eight Langstroth frames filled com- 

 pletely with honey and brood. We are trying a new 

 way to protect them from the weather (or, at least, 

 it is new to us) this winter. "^Ve leave the upper 

 stories on empty, and lay a device (I do not know 

 I whose to call it) on'top of the frames to raise the 

 1 cushion, or make a passage for the bees, and fill the 

 I rest of the upper story with short cut straw, just 

 I thrown in loose, and the cover put on, and then the 

 I whole hive enveloped in corn-fodder. 



I will tell you the way we put the fodder on. Just 

 I take two little poles that will bend easily; stick one 

 end in the ground, and bend over and stick in the 

 ground, and another pole the reverse, so that the 

 bows cross right over the hive. Then commence and 

 set fodder the same as it is shocked in the field, and 

 tie with straw at the top, and you have a nice little 

 house that will keep out wind and rain; and if the 

 bees do die, the fodder will not spoil. 



Our Sabbath-school is still in progress, and papa 

 says they will try tokeep it upall winter— somcil^g 

 that has never been accomplished in this neighbor- 

 hood yet. The weather ia very rough and cold now 

 here. It makes a person shrug up bis shoulders to 

 hear the wind whistle around the house. 



Victoria J. Fields. 

 Valley Point, Pa., Nov. 28, 1883. 



