1884 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



277 



was it not ? I suppose you looked sort o' 

 funny when you had one eye shut, didn't 

 you ? Did you ever see anybody try to 

 laugh when one o'c his eyes was shut by a 

 bee-Sting V You just notice next titne, and 

 see if they don't look cotnical. 



THE QUEENLESS HIVE, AND SOMETHING AliOUT 

 GRAY'S FEEDER. 



We have two skeps of bees. One is dwindling 

 away; they took out a card of brood comb, and there 

 was neither brood nor esgs. Do you think they are 

 queenless, or what is the matter? We have one of 

 your Simplicity Gray's feeders, and they xot the 

 glass to fit the top. Tncy put wire in the place the 

 syrup goes, and sponso in between the slats, to 

 keep the bees from drowning. They were crowding 

 each other, and knocking one another head first into 

 the syrup, and they could not get out. Annie H. 



Anghrin, Ont., Canada. 



I think your hive was queenless. Miss An- 

 nie. In regard to the Gray feeder, as the 

 wire cloth sometimes hindered tlie sliding of 

 the glass, we thought we would omit it ; but 

 so many of the friends protested, Ave liave 

 had wire cloth ))ut over them again. This 

 keeps the bees from getting in the way when 

 you are tilling the feeder up, and it also pre- 

 vents pouring feed on to the little fellows, 

 which is especially to be avoided during cool 

 weather. When it is so warm they won't be 

 chilled, they lick it off without very much if 

 any harm. 



LETTERS FROM HERBERT AND JESSIE ABOUT THK 

 50 HIVES OF BEES AND 4700 LBS. OF HONEY. 



My papa has 50 hives, and my grandpa has 24 hives 

 of bees. I helped to carry combs for my grandpa 

 last summer, and sometimes at home. We got over 

 4700 lbs. of honey. We have a high board fence all 

 around our bees. Herbert Fraser, age 8. 



Cumminsville, Ont., Can., March 24, 1884, 



Papa is a schoolteacher, and mamma has to take 

 care of the bees in the spring. The bees are flying 

 now nicely every day. Pa has been sick all spring, 

 and could not teach. We feed our bees bran, brown 

 flour, and cattle-food, mi.xed together, and we put 

 syrup in a jar, and turn it upside down on a board 

 with drains in it, and the bees work on it like every 

 thing. I do not like the honey, except when it is 

 candied. Papa makes his own foundation. 



Jessie Fraser, age 11. 



Cumminsville, Ont., Can., March '24, 1884. 



A pretty good report, children. I shouldn't 

 wonder if the facts you give in the above 

 might be of considerable advantage to some 

 who are new in the business. 



The white sand we use around our entrances 

 does pretty well to keep weeds and grass 

 down, together Avith the pulling. 



grass IN FRONT OF THE ENTRANCES. 



My father keeps bees, and has two swarms. He 

 puts sawdust around the hives, but the grass grows 

 up through it, and makes it look very bad. I won- 

 der if salt sprinkled on it would stop it. 



Ypsilanti, Mich. Leonard Warren. 



Friend Leonard, this matter of entrances 

 is one of the great prol)lems. Salt will kill 

 the grass, and keep it down ; but it is pretty 

 expensive for lUO bives or more. It is quite 

 an important matter just now, to begin con- 

 sidering something to keep grass and weeds 

 from knocking down heavily laden bees. 

 Pulling the weeds and grass up by the roots 

 will do it, but this is a good deal of work. 



LETTER FROM THE WINDHAM HOTEL. 



Papa is proprietor of the Windham Hotel. It is 

 four stories high, and can accommodate about 100 

 boarders. We have some boarders all the year 

 round. Papa has 12.5 hives of bees. He uses the 

 American hive, from which he got about COOO lbs. of 

 honey last summer. He winters them in the cellar. 

 We have taken your paper nearly ever since the 

 first issue, and we like it very much. Sometimes 

 the Homes department is read aloud in the parlor 

 Sunday afternoons. Mamma was especially inter- 

 ested in one of your pieces which spoke of neckties, 

 for she thought that it was especially adapted to 

 papa's case; and she thinks that if you would write 

 something similar often, it would have a good influ- 

 ence over him. I have a little sister Marian, who is 

 nine years old. We both go to school. 



Windham, N. Y. Dorville Cox. 



Well, Dorville, I think GOOO lbs. of honey 

 is pretty fair even from so large an apiary ; 

 don't you? I am glad indeed to know that 

 the Home Tapers have been honored so 

 much as to be read in your parlor on Sunday. 

 Seems to me your papa ought to wear a 

 necktie, if he is proprietor of such a great 

 nice hotel, such as I see the picture of on 

 your letter-head. 



SOMETHING OF A BLASTED-HOPES STORY. 



I am 14 years old, and I help father with the bees. 

 In 1882 he bought 12 colonies; paid S120 for them; 

 extracted 872 lbs. honey. Poor yield, poor season 

 here. He did not feed up early enough in the fall. 

 He tried to feed in the winter. They all died but 

 one, and that one very near it, and we had 37 in the 

 fall. He bought from you $26.00 worth of bees by 

 express; received them July 13, 1883, finely done up, 

 very little loss; he gave them Italian queens, made 

 7 fine hives before fall. He bought 5 more swarms, 

 .just the bees, for 5521.50, which made Vo colonies. 

 We then got 8 more that were to be destroyed by 

 sulphur, very late in the fall. We fed them all the 

 granulated sugar they would take, but they did not 

 breed much. They are all alive but one, yet in the 

 cellar. 



When feeding last fall, robbing was the general 

 business. The weak ones would have been destroy- 

 ed, but I took a strip of glass and stopped the en- 

 trance, leaving room for only one bee. This com- 

 pletely stopped the robbing. 



AVe extracted 750 lbs. of honey as late as it was, 

 which, at 15 cts. per lb., paid all cost, and $33.00 to 

 boot. 



I have five brothers and no sisters. I should like 

 to show my twin brothers, to compare with your 

 Huber. He must be something extra to beat either 

 of them. They are one year and nine months old. 

 Alison Brown. Jr. 



Molesworth, Ont., Can., Apr. 7, 1S8i. 



TWO (QUEENS III A HIVE. 



Pa has .50 stands of bees. My brother has one, and 

 I have one. They wintered well. It is fun to see 

 them roll and tumble in rye meal. They carried in 

 a good lot in th'j last few days. My pa says he thinks 

 they come out after the meal when it is so cold they 

 had better stay in the hive. Last fall when pa 

 packed my stock for winter we found two queens. 



