132 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



^Eti. 



My father has no bees. We had some, but when 

 winter came they died, and we never had any since. 

 I hare seven sisters and one brother. I should like 

 to come and see your little boy Huber. 



Sophia Haselbarth, age 12. 



Defiance, Ohio, Nov. 28, 1883. 



My pa has 50 stands of bees. He is going to pack 

 them soon for winter. We pack our bees in the cel- 

 lar. We did not have much honey this year. I am 

 not going to school this week. I have got a little 

 baby brother. His name is Fred. I think Fred is a 

 prettier name than Peter. Lina Langton. 



Windham, O., Oct. 29, 1883. 



.JOHNNY AND HIS BROTHER; THE BEES, AND THE 

 CALF. 



My brother and I have three hives of bees. My 

 grandpa was moving bees Saturday. We have seven 

 head of cattle. I have one calf, and I call her Rose. 

 This summer a swarm of bees went over our house. 



Montrose, Lee Co., Iowa. John E. Alvis. 



ARTHUR AND HIS PETS. 



As my sister wrote you a letter, I thought I would 

 write too. Pa has got one stand of bees I call mine. 

 He said it was the biggest stand of bees he had. 

 As the other boys are telling what their pets are, I 

 will tell you what mine are. I have a pet cat, and a 

 pet lamb. My lamb got its leg broken last summer. 

 The Sunday-school had a Christmas-tree here. I got 

 a box of water-colors. I love to paint with them. 

 This is my first letter. Arthur W. Coombes. 



Memphis, Ind. 



My pa bought a swarm of hybrids last spring. 

 They increased to four. The two last ones were 

 small, so he fed them sugar so they would have plen- 

 ty of honey to winter on. This fall he bought six 

 more, so now he has 10 fine Italians and one Syrian. 

 The mother of one Italian swarm is an imported 

 queen that came from your place. I like honey, and 

 like to see the bees work; they sting me sometimes. 

 Pa is going to send for the ABC and Gleanings 

 this week, and a smoker. 



Bettsvile, O. John H. Whitney, age 11. 



HOW MAMMA GOT THREE SWARMS OF BEES. 



My father has 17 swarms of bees, and they all 

 started from a third swarm. They are all but one 

 swarm buried in the garden, and the other is in the 

 cellar. They are all in old-fashioned hives. Papa is 

 going to get some new hives. What kind do you 

 think would be best? Last summer papa went fish- 

 ing, and told mamma that she could have all the 

 bees that came out, and there were three swarms 

 when papa came home. He thought mamma had a 

 pretty good day's work. We live on a big farm. 



DeRuyter, N. Y. Anna Lewis, age 12. 



A CAUTION ABOUT USING SMOKERS. 



Pa commenced last spring to take care of bees; 

 he bought 12 swarms; they swarmed nearly all of 

 the time; he has 28 swarms. He had bees in &1 

 hives, but other bees robbed 2, and he got Are into 

 one with his smoker while taking off honey which 

 scorched the bees, and melted the honey before he 

 discovered it. He has about COO lbs. of white comb 

 honey, and about 40 lbs. of buckwheat comb honej:, 

 besides some extracted. 



Moravia, N. Y. Minnie M. Whitney, age 13. 



Minnie, tell your pa to be careful to give 

 the smoker a puff ju3t before he blows the 

 smoke on the bees, and then he won't get 

 any sparks in the hives. 



A NICELY ARRANGED APIARY OF 115 HIVES. 



Pa has 115 colonies of bees, and I help him in the 

 apiary, and go to school whenever there is one in 

 the district. Pa has a Barnes foot-power saw, and 

 enough material cut in shape for 75 two-story Lang- 

 stroth hives, and a honey-extractor, uncapping-can, 

 lamp nursery, and lots of other things. He has his 

 bees in the orchard, and winters on the summer 

 stands, packed with straw and leaves, and he has a 

 screen of evergreens about 13 or 15 feet high, on the 

 west side of the orchard. 



Oliver R. Moss, age 12. 



Colchester, 111., Jan. 21, 1884. 



THE NEW house, ETC. 



As my sister Maud wrote to you, I thought I 

 would write too, as I was 10 years old last December. 

 We arc living in our new house, and we find it very 

 comfortable, through this cold weather. This is the 

 first letter I have written; I go to Sabbath-school, 

 but I have not been since we burned out, for I have 

 not had any thing to wear. Pa has got some of his 

 bees down cellar, and some outdoors, packed away 

 for winter. Those that are down cellar are happy. 

 Does th^; new railroad come near you? If it does, I 

 am coming out there to see your little Huber that I 

 have read so much abciut. 



Nellie May Lathrop. 



Marshall, Mich., Jan. 7, 188i. 



HENRY'S OPINION OF THE SIMPLICITY HIVE. 



Father has S swarms of l>ees. We have the Sim- 

 plicity hives; this winter we made eight boxes. I 

 have a swarm too. The Simplicity hive is a very 

 handy box for bees, but some people say they don't 

 like the Simplicity hive. They say that j-ou can't 

 see if they have honey or not; but we like them, as 

 they are so handy to look at, if they have the sec- 

 tions full. I like to be about the bees when Ihey 

 swarm. I like to help to hive them. Jonathan 

 Horst has 17 swarms, and he made boxes in our shop. 

 We have a circular saw, and a little horse-power to 

 run it, and he made 12 boxes. 



Henry W. Martin, age ]:>. 



Goodville, Pa., Jan. 25, 1884. 



CLARA'S ACCOUNT OF CUTTING A BEE-TREE. 



Papa has 6 stands of bees, all packed over head 

 and ears in chaff. They are all hybrids but one 

 Italian. They made what I call lots of honey. One 

 young swarm made (i'J lbs. of comb honey in pound 

 sections. As we have no basswood here, don't you 

 think that was well done ? Papa got a queen from 

 Mr. Doolittle, but she was a hybrid ; then when they 

 swarmed they went to the woods. Papa and Uncle 

 John found one in a tree. The man who owned the 

 tree did not want it cut, so they climbed up. Papa 

 said it was a large pine-tree. It was 70 feet up to 

 where the bees were, and they cut a hole and took 

 the honey out. They got 6 big buckets full of comb 

 honey. They let it down with a long rope. 



Clara Huston, age Ki. 



Somerset, Somerset Co., Pa. 



CHARLEY'S FIRST LETTER. 



Ma has 18 colonies of bees. She commenced two 

 years ago with three hives. Her bees didn't do very 

 well last summer. Ma keeps geese, ducks, turkeys, 

 and hens. I have two sisters and two brothers. My 

 pa is a farmer. He has 5 "eighties," all improved 

 but 40 acres. We have three span of horses, pigs 

 and cattle, four cats, one dog, aud lots of doves. 1 



