844 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUHE. 



May 



HARVEY'S REPORT. 



My pa keeps 7r> hives of bees, and makes piles ol' 

 honey. H.\rrey S. Lincot-n. 



Kiipert, Uenniiifrton Co., Vt., Maieh ii, 1SH4. 



K.^TIE'S CHlt'KENS. 



Mu set a hen with U egj^s, and they were liatthed 

 December 25, and I raised them in tlie kitchen; lint 

 T did not do as well as the old hen would have done. 

 I lost tour ol' them; lint the rest are doing- very 

 well. Katie Harnwei.t.. 



Orbisonia, Hnnting-ton t'o.. Pa., March 17, 18S4. 



A tWCT FOR bee- HIINTERS. 



In bee-hunting' in Australia, the natives attach the 

 light down of a owl or othei- bird to the back of a 

 bee, and are thus enaliled to trace the bee in its 

 Hig-ht to its home. Ko.sev Smith. 



New Hamburg, Ont., (an., March 7, 1H84. 



Tt seems to me your letter is rather short, 

 Ilosey, is it not ? Yon used to write ffood long- 

 letters. 



HOW VANtK HEr.PED WHEN THE HEES SWAttMEI). 



I live in Irving-. It is between Indianapolis and 

 St. Louis. There is a man here who has 1.50 stands 

 of bees. His name is Dr. Hobson. I worked for 

 him about .'• days in swarming-time. Sometimes 

 there were .5 or (i swai-ms a day. My father is a 

 wagon-maker. Vance Rarer. 



Irving, Mont. Co., Ills., March 10, 1884. 



HARRY'S REPORT OF THE BEE BUSINESS. 



I worked for a man last summer who has about 

 l.'iO stands of bees. They averaged about 8 swarms 

 a day. I got stung several times, and do not like it 

 very well. My father is a shoemaker. 



Harry Yemars. 



Irving-, jNIontgomery Co., Ills., March 10, 1884. 



Friend Harry, there are worse things in 

 the world than bee-stings. See if von don't 

 agree with me when you get a little older. 



CHARLEYS IJEE - HIVE, AND THE HONEY HE flOT 

 FROM IT. 



We have 6 swarms now ; last fall we had 7 ; one 

 died in winter. Father gave me a swarm last spring, 

 rt swarmed ouee, and gave about 50 lbs. of comb 

 honey, which we sold at 25 cts. per lb. Out of the 3 

 hives we sold about fa5.00 worth of honey. 



Charley H. Hobewt. 



Home, Marathon Co., AVis., April 27, 1884. 



ROSALIE ANIJ HER FOUR SWARMS OF BEES. 



Pa has 15 swarms of bees, and I have 4. The.\ are 

 all young swarms but one. We did not get much 

 honey last season. Last sunnner my brother and I 

 hived two swarms of bees when pa was away. I 

 help pa take care of the bees, and I like them; but 

 ma says she hates bees. Pa has got one of your .\ 

 H C books, and I read some of it. 



Rosalie Warfle, age 14. 



Tracy Creek, Broome Co., N. Y., March 15, 1884. 



A LETTER FROM THE ORANGE-GROVES. 



Papa has bees, and I help him attend to them, and 

 have been doing so for the last three years. One 

 time one stung- me on my eyelid, and by night it 

 was so swollen that I could hardly see out of it, and 

 another one stung me on my nose. Papa has an 

 orange-grove, and it is in bloom now. I send you 

 in this some of the blooms. Then are very sweet, 

 and are white. Jacob P. Mendel. 



La Grange, Brevard Co., Fla., March 10, 1884. 



perry's DESCRIPTION OF THE BABY HERBERT. 



I am a little boy 7 years old. My pa has got 28 

 stands of bees. We got lots of honey last summer. 

 I go to school. I have three brothers and one sistei-. 

 The j'oi'iigest is a baby, 8 weeks old. His name is 

 Herbert. He has got biiu^ eyes and black hair. He 

 weigTis 15 lbs. Perry Whiting. 



New Lebanon, Mont. Co., O., April 24, 1884. 



I'ARRYING BEE-HIVES ON HORSEBACK. 



My father has 10!) swarms of bees. They are do- 

 ing nicely. We e.xpect swarms next month. We 

 are having lots of rain this year. We have had 

 about 2« inches so far, so there will be plenty of 

 flowers for bees this year. My father moved his 

 bees over the mountain on horseback, when we 

 moved to this valley. Ernest Hilton, age 10. 



Los Alamos, Cal., April, 1884. 



qitincy's experience. 



I am a little boy. I have four colonies of bees. 

 We have ;C5 in all. One colony swarmed out. They 

 had no honey. I hived them, and they got confused, 

 and tried to kill the (lueen. I took her from them 

 in one of pa's hives that was queenless and very 

 weak. She would not go to laying-. Then we put a 

 frame of sealed brood in the hive. She is now lay- 

 ing finely. My colony has i-aised a queen. My bees 

 are all blacks but one. Quincy Forgery. 



Blooming Grove, Te.x., March 30, 1884. 



FROM 18 TO 27: 100 LBS. OF HONEY, A.ND 3 BAR- 

 HELSFUL BESIDES. 



Our 18 colonies of bees came through in good con- 

 dition last spring; we increased to 27, and took 3 

 barrels of extracted honey, and nearly 100 lbs. of 

 comb honey; pretty mu<;h all made from white 

 clover and basswood: but after basswood-bloom, 

 the bees made scarcely any honey at all, so we had 

 to feed them some befoi-e we put them awaj' last 

 fall. Dora Stout, age 10. 



RichlaiKl Center, Richland Co., Wis., March 3, 1884. 



ROBERT talks 



about theory and PR.4C- 



About as good a method of beginning bee-keeping 

 as can be adopted, under existing circumstances, is 

 for the tyro to obtain a nuinual of apiculture and a 

 hive of bees. He nuist largel.\- be self-taught. The 

 theory can be got from a manual, but the practical 

 ])art must be obtained by actuall.v handling a hive 

 of bees during the working season, when the various 

 operations of breeding, storing, comb-building, and 

 swarming, arc going on. Robert Wood, age 13. 



Horiung's Mills, Ont., Canada, A\n: 28, 1884. 



ROHKINC BUMBLE-BEES NESTS. 



I am a i-egulai- haiul to kill bumble-bees, but never 

 had much to do with honey-bees. I killed 9 nests of 

 bumble-bees last summer, and never got stung a 

 dozen times. I have a dog; his name is Bob. He 

 can catch a rabbit sometimes before it can run ten 

 feet. My dog and I have caught a lot of rabbits 

 this year. I have a little garden, and I raise pop- 

 corn, onions, and watermelons. 



Chas. G. Atkins. 



Kirksville, Monroe Co., Ind., March 7, 1884. 



Friend Charlie, Avlien bumhle-hees'' iiestH 

 are annoying they may have to he destroyed ; 

 but I hope you will remember tliat it would 

 be wrong to tease and kill the poor insects 

 tlirough wanton cruelty, or, if you choose, 

 just to have fun with tliem. Uimible-bees 

 are (Jod's creatures, just as well as the cats 



