i884 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



205 



head and trunk, which gives her a dark shiny ap- 

 pearance. Her wings are about the same length as 

 the workers. She seldom leaves the hive without 

 leading the swarm. 



WORKERS. 



All the labor for the family is done by the workers. 

 They are provided with a sacK in which to carry 

 honey. On their legs are little baskets, in which 

 they carry the pollen to their house. They are pro- 

 vided with a poisonous sting. They will not use it 

 when not disturbed ; but when you bother them they 

 will be sure to make you I'eel the sting. They fly 

 over fields to gather honey and pollen. They secrete 

 wax, build combs, prepare food, take care of the 

 young, bring water for the use of the family, and 

 they seal up all the crevices about the hive, and they 

 act as guards to keep away the robbers. 



DRONES. 



The number of drones in the swarm depends on 

 the size of the family and the yield of honey, more 

 than any thing else. Where there is a large family, 

 and lots of honey, the drones are numerous; but as 

 the honey gets scarce they are killed by workers. 

 They have large clumsy bodies, covered with short 

 hairs. When they fly, the buzz of the wings is loud- 

 er and altogether different from that of other bees. 

 Bees are very industrious. When there are flowers, 

 and the weather is nice, they always do their part in 

 gathering the honey. When they fill their hive, and 

 we give them more room, they will fill it too. Rath- 

 er than to be idle, they build combs outside of their 

 hive. Hinds Swiggett, age 10. 



Allerton, la., Feb. 12, 1884. 



ESTHER'S APPREHENSIONS. 



Pa has not gone into the bee I usiness yet, but 1 

 wish he would. He gave me a bed of sage last sea- 

 son, and 1 think the pi-oceeds will get me one stand 

 of bees. They (that is, pa and ma) make light of my 

 apiary. But we will see; time will tell. Suppose I 

 can, with my apiary, get more honey than I can sell, 

 I do not know what to do with it then, unless I could 

 find some person who would purchase it at whole- 

 sale. Esther A. Fredley. 



Silver City, Iowa, Feb., 1884. 



Why, my little friend Esther, did you nev- 

 er hear about counting chickens before they 

 were hatched V You have not only been 

 countingr yours, but you have been worrying 

 about what to do with them, and yet you 

 have not any chickens at all — or, rather, 

 you have not any bees or honey. Our good 

 old friend Abraham Lincoln used to say 

 that he always made it a point never to cross 

 a bridge until he came to it. If I am cor- 

 rect, one of the smallest troubles bee-keepers 

 have is to know what to do with their honey 

 after they get it. 



letter from a little GERMAN FRIEND. 



I feed the little birds still with crumbs; but if it is 

 too cold and snowy to feed them, they come to the 

 windows and say, "Why don't you give us our din- 

 ner?" but, of course, in their own language. If I 

 were there 1 could talk with your Dutchman. I can 

 read German, for my aunts taught me. I am read- 

 ing the Bible through. I nm in the second book of 

 Moses. Emma E. Miller, age 8. 



Lewisburg, Union County, Penn., Feb. 11, 1884. 

 Well, Emma, if you were to come here 

 now, I suppose you would lind a great many 

 to talk to. We have now live all together, 



who could not talk English at all when they 

 came here. Two little boys came last sum 

 mer, and wanted work when our garden got 

 to be pretty weedy. I set them at it, and 

 they looked as glad as could be while they 

 lifted their little Cierman caps and thanked 

 me. And then how they did go to work I 

 When school commenced they worked for us 

 only nights and mornings. But last week 

 they were looking sad about something ; and 

 when asked, said their father could not send 

 them to school any more, they were so poor, 

 and he had no work. I told them to go right 

 off to school, and tell their father to come 

 down here ; and I tell you, he does work, 

 too, as only the German people know how to 

 work. Yesterday our pastor was inquiring 

 who the two little boys were who sat right 

 before him, and were so attentive, and be- 

 haved so nicely. '' Why," said I, " they are 

 my little German boys, and they can hardly 

 understand a word of English ! " Now, 

 children, although they could not under- 

 stand, they were more attentive than most 

 children who knew every word the minister 

 spoke. I wonder if some of the good friends 

 over in Germany could not teach us (Ameri- 

 cans) some good lessons, if we were willing 

 to receive them. 



LEORA'S EXPERIENCE IN SCRAPING OFF THE 

 SECTIONS. 



I often clean the sections for papa. On page 100 

 you say the section is as clean as when it left the 

 saw-table. If they are, the Medina bees are more 

 cleanly than Suffield bees, for here they always have 

 the sections waxed around the edge. A good many 

 bottom-bars will sag, and they will be waxed to the 

 center. Papa built a bee-house, made a door in back 

 end, and two swing-doors to prop up on each side- 

 one for the lower row of bees, and one for the upper 

 row. Leora Faylor, age 10. 



Suffield, Ohio, Feb. 14, 1884. 



Thank you, my little friend. Y'ou have 

 struck on a point of considerable moment 

 just now. I know the bees will put propolis 

 around the entrances of the sections, more 

 or less, and I do not know how we can pre- 

 vent them. It certainly makes the honey 

 look nicer to have this scraped off; and I 

 guess, since you mention it, that little girls 

 are just the ones to do it. 1 know bees often 

 get propolis away over on the outside when 

 the bottom-bars sag, or when the sections do 

 not fit nicely in the wide frames. There has 

 been some talk about remedying this matter 

 by bracing the bottom-bars, or by making 

 them heavier. If made heavier it would 

 take more room in the hive, and they would 

 then be larger than the brood-frames. If 

 the wide frames are made reversible, as has 

 been lately talked about, that might possibly 

 remedy the difficulty. Very likely some im- 

 provement can be made right here in order 

 to keep the bees from gumming up the sec- 

 tions ; and it is a fact, that, even after they 

 are scraped, they do not look as nice as thev 

 did before any thing was put on them at all. 

 I have thought of covering the sections with 

 paper, and then peeling it off before it was 

 given to the customer ; but this would be 

 expensive, and the bees would pick at the 

 paper also, whenever they came near where 

 they could get at it. 



