1884 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



133 



took my music lesson a week ago. I love music. I 

 go to school. I haven't missed one day, nor been 

 tardy. I like my teacher. I do lots of chores. This 

 is my first letter. If you can read this, please send 

 me Ten Nights in a Bar-Room. 



Charles Abtis, age 10. 

 Augusta, Eauclaire Co., Wis., Jan. 21, 1881. 



A PAPA WHO doesn't DRINK NOR SMOKE NOR 

 PLAY CARDS. 



Papa has two bee-yards — one here and one in Olm- 

 stead. He has but two hives here. He says they did 

 not freeze up this time, in spite of being the coldest 

 weather we ever had. Papa makes all his hives 

 himself, and sells a good many besides. He doesn't 

 drink nor smoke nor play cards. He is the best 

 papain this wide world. I shall keep bees, too, this 

 coming summer, and so will my little brother John- 

 ny. Bertha Kuehne. 



Cairo, 111 , Jan. 35, 1884. 



HARRY'S PROBLEM. 



My pa has 19 swarms of bees, mostly in chaff hives. 

 One swarm went away last summer, but pa followed 

 them to a tree. Last fall he cut the tree and got 30 

 lbs. of honey. Pa said he would give me a swarm of 

 bees if I would make a Simplicity hive. I have a 

 problem for you. A man had an 8-gallon jar full of 

 oil; also a 5 and a 3 gallon jar, and wanted to divide 

 the oil equally between the 5 and the 8 gallon jars. 

 How would he doit? Pa sent for the Story of the 

 Bible, and I have it nearly read through. We all 

 like it. Haury L.4barge. 



Ada, Kent Co., Mich., Jan. 25, 1884. 



Harry, why wouldn't it do to call it honey, 

 instead of oil. and then you know it would 

 be just right for a bee-paper V By the way 

 we'have to change honey around here, we 

 might have to do that very thing. Who will 

 tell Harry how we shall have to manage it V 



FRO.M 8 TO 25, AND 300 LBS. OF CO.MB HONEY. 



EotTOR Gleanings:— My brother and I keep bees. 

 Winter before last we bought three hives, and they 

 increased by natural swarming to eight the first 

 year; all came through the winter strong. Last 

 spring we had a lively time of it during swarming 

 season. They increased to 25 large swarms. We 

 took 300 lbs. of comb honey in the spring, from 8 

 hives. The summer was so dry that we did not get 

 any honey this fall. The winter was so mild up to 

 Christmas that the bees have been flying out of the 

 hives. Bat it turned suddenly cold, and snowed, 

 and left some of the little fellows sticking to the 

 fence-rails. Being overcome by the cold, they could 

 not get back to the hive. We also noticed one little 

 fellow creeping on the snow, but he soon froze to 

 death. We supposed it had been run out of the 

 hive for some misbehavior. W. T. Kincaid. 



Gastonia, N. C, Jan. It, 1884. 



HONEY AND POLLEN IN JANUARY. 



1 had 10 stands of bees in Simplicity hives. One of 

 them died; five are Italians, and the rest are black. 

 We had lots of pollen on the Itith of this month. Four 

 and five bees came at a time. This day, the 18th of 

 January, lots of pollen. The bees are falling down 

 in the sand because of pollen. There have been lots of 

 little blue tlowers in bloom all winter. The bees get 

 their pollen and honey from willow. The one that 

 died was a nucleus. Charue Rusk, age 16. 



Milwaukee, Oregon, Jan. 18, 1884. 



Thank you, Charlie. It is quite interest- 

 ing to get the knowledge of the countries 



that you juveniles give us. Now, I did not 

 know before that Oregon is so much warmer 

 than it is here. I had got a kind of idea it is 

 cold, because it is away up north by Canada. 



REPORT FROM A FOUND.\TION MACHINE, BY ONE OF 

 THE JUVENILES. 



The machine that you sent pa works nicely. We 

 have made 31 lbs. on it. We have 51 swarms of bees. 

 They are all alive yet, nearly all in chaff hives. We 

 have had some very cold weather, down to 22° be- 

 low zero. Pa's bees made about 900 lbs. comb honey 

 in 1-lb. sections. They would have made more, but 

 we could not stop them from swarming. We hived 

 28, and put as many back, and one went to the 

 woods. Pa never puts unsealed brood in new hives, 

 and he never had more than two swarms go away, in 

 seven years. D. E. C. Routzon. 



Findlay, Ohio, Jan. 7, 1884. 



FROM 16 TO 40, AND 700 LBS. OF HONEY. 



Pa had 17 stands of bees. He lost one in winter, 

 and several were very weak. He has increased to 

 40, and taken 700 pounds of honey — 500 extracted, 

 and the rest in one-pound sections; 33 are in your 

 chaff hives, all painted white, with brown corners 

 and top, each with its number in the center of the 

 front, with the upper story filled with forest-leaves, 

 the rest in the cellar. I have a little sister. She has 

 blue eyes too. As all other little girls are telling 

 what they can do to help their mammas, I will tell 

 you what I can do. I wash dishes, sweep, and 

 churn, and take care of the baby. I go to school. I 

 am in the third grade. I feed the chickens, and 

 hunt the eggs when I get home from school. 



Pearl E. Vinant, age 8. 



Sunman, Ripley Co., Ind., Dec, 1883. 



HOW THOMAS HELPED HIVE A SWARM OF BEES 

 BAREFOOTED. 



My father has 41 stands of bees; he is wintering 11 

 in chaff hives, and 30 in the cellar. I hope any won't 

 die, for I like to see them swarm. It is hard for my 

 father to tend to them, as he has but one leg. The 

 other was lost at Jackson, Miss., July 13, 1803. I help 

 him as much as I can about them. When he takes 

 off honey I carry it to the house. I have thi-eo 

 brothers. The youngest one, the bees don't like 

 nor does he like them. When they sting him it 

 makes him sick. Last summer two stands swarmed 

 at the same time, and alighted in the same tree. In a 

 cluster. I had to be careful where I stepped, for I 

 was barefooted. I climbed the tree and shook them 

 otr In the swarming-box. I held till my father got 

 through the fence. They were not light. We put 

 them in the same hive in the afternoon. We took 

 half the frames that were in that hive, and put. into 

 another. Thomas Stock, age 13. 



Nashua, Iowa, Jan. 10, 1884. 



FLORENCE'S FATHER AT THE FAIR. 



Pa Started with 15 colonies of bees, and increased 

 to 30 colonies. He took the first premium at the 

 county fair at Charleston, Ind., on comb and ex- 

 tracted honey, bees, extractor, honey-knife, and 

 bee-hive. He made an observatory-hive, so they 

 could see the bees. There was a crowd around him 

 all the time, to see and ask about the bees. Pa has 

 got one colony of hybrids which made him 2G6 lbs. of 

 extracted honey. Ho could have taken 50 more lbs., 

 but he wanted to feed it to the other bees. He did 

 not have any trouble in selling his honey. He could 

 have sold more than ho did, if he had had it to sell. 



