348 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 



SHOKT AND SWEET. 



My pa has bought some bees, but has not g:ot them 

 home yet. Please send me a book. 



ToMMiE Brackin, age 12. 

 Town Creek, Lawrence Co., Ala., May 1, 1884. 



Very good, friend Tommie. I suppose 

 you could not very well write much of a bee- 

 letter till your pa got the bees home. The 

 facts you give us are no doubt new and true, 

 even if thev are not as yet verv valuable. 



WH.\T THE DOCTOH DID FOR A DANGEKOIS BEE- 

 STINO. 



In answer to t'l-iend W. W. Edwai-ds' letter about 

 dangerous stings, I thought 1 would tell you about 

 a neighbor of ours who got stung in the throat by a 

 houey-bee, and in a lew minutes he could not speak, 

 but was in great pain, his throat swelling neai-ly 

 shut. They ran for the doctor, and he boiled catnip 

 in a coffee-pot and let him inhale the steam, and in 

 a few minutes he was well enough. W"e have 20 

 colonies of bees in good order. We get all our bee- 

 flxtures from you. Pa gets Gleanings; he says he 

 can not do without it. I am a little girl. Uncle 

 Amos; I am 19 years old. Ida Bennett. 



Black Lick, Ind. Co., Pa., May 5, 1884. 



HOW PA OUT HIS FIRST START OF BEES. 



In the summer of 1879 pa bought two stands of 

 V)ees in the old-fashioned box hives from an uncle 

 of mine. They got their start of bees when the 

 country was first being settled up, when bees were 

 I)lentiful in the woods. In January, pa went over 

 to uncle's to get his bees, and I would say it was 

 just about cold enough to fi-eeze rabbits' tails off. 

 Pa put two blankets around his two stands of bees 

 and put them in an old spring wagon, and started 

 for home, and I had to go with him to get them. 

 We had about six miles to go lieforo we reached 

 home; but we linally got hom<' at last, but were so 

 cold pa could hardl>- walk; but lie nuiiiaged to get 

 to the fire. 



W'ell, he and 1 warmed well lielfin- we brought 

 the bees to the yard. Pa said he was warm, and we 

 would go and get the bees and locate them. So we 

 went and got the two stands, he one and I one. He 

 was leading the way to his present apiary; we had 

 to go through the house, for he wanted his apiary 

 to be on the north side of the house. He wanted 

 me to open the doors of the house for him. On the 

 north side of the house the ground was covered 

 with ice; and when pa stepped down on the ice, I 

 am soi-ry to say he fell about ten feet, and his stand 

 of bees went about ten feet further. Pa rolled over 

 about twice, and got up and looked at me, and went 

 stamping along, chewing his tobacco. 1 really felt 

 sorry for him. R. L. Cl,oyes, age 14. 



Miles, Ky., March «, 1884. 



Well, friend R.. you have told your story 

 pretty well, and I suppose we are to infer 

 that your pa has built up a tine apiary from 

 these two stands, and tliat the swarm of bees 

 wore not seriously liurt. even if they were 

 considerably astonished by the niishap. 

 Does your pa still chew tobacco ? If he does, 

 there are some more smokers all ready to be 

 sent out to tobacco-chewers, and a little book 

 to go with them. 



HOW TO MAKE WOODEN SEPARATOKS. 



I live at my grandpa's. He has forty-seven hives of 

 bees; he has taken them all but 15 out of the cellar; 

 they have all wintered well. He aays that I may 



tell you how he makes wooden separators, and per- 

 haps you will send me a book. He saws them from 

 pine lumber with his Barnes saw, about 1-12 inch 

 thick, and i:^a wide, and nails four of them on a 

 wide L. frame, and they do not trouble by warping.. 

 Grace Dorothy. 

 Blakesburgh, La.. April 3, 1884. 



It is a fact. Grace, that separators sawed 

 out Avill keep their places very much better 

 than the shaved ones. I should think it 

 would be rather slow work, however, to saw 

 them out by foot pcnver. If I understand 

 you, your grandpa makes each separator in 

 two pieces. If they are nicely matched this 

 will do no harm; but if they are not matched 

 in the joint, it would make a seam in comb 

 honey. 



WINTERING NUCLEI, AND FLAX TOW FOR WINTER 

 PACKING. 



My father has about 130 colonies of bees. We had 

 last winter 50 nuclei in the cellar. We have lost but 

 two nuclei. Last summer we got from 60 colonies, 

 6000 lbs. of honey. My father uses flax tow for 

 packing bees in winter. He says, it being linen it 

 beats any other material he has ever tried for pack- 

 ing bees. He goes around wheie our neighbors- 

 raise great fields of flax, and brings home a wagon- 

 load of tow, and spreads it out in a big ring, and 

 tramps the shives all out with the horse, and then it 

 is all ready for i)acking bees with. 



.Anna Quinby, age 12. 



Edenton. Clcrniont Co., ()., April 23, 1884. 



Friend Anna, it has been generally 

 thought pretty difficult to winter nuclei; but 

 if your father carried through 50, with the 

 loss of only two. he did exceedingly well. 

 No doubt tow packing will answer an excel- 

 lent purpose where it can be jirocured 

 readilv. 



WHV DID THE BEES OO OFF.' 



Pa's jniper and A B C book came all right. He is 

 pleased with his book. He reads it every spare 

 minute he's got. Last spring, 1883, he got an Italian 

 swarm. He bought one black swarm; in the fall he 

 had 6 and 173 IVis. of honey, one-half comb. This 

 black swarm came out in ten days, and alighted 

 on the fence. He put them back, and put an Ital- 

 ian queen with them. He had her caged up for a 

 couple of days. He then let her loose, and the same 

 day they went off to the woods, after they had comb 

 honey and brood sealed over. Pa would like to 

 know why they went off. Jle left his bees on sum- 

 mer stands, and packed them in chaff. 1 went to 

 the -woods to get leaves to put in little cushions for 

 the bees for pa, and this spring they came out all 

 right, and now they are gathering honey and lots of 

 pollen. Cherry and plum bloom will soon be out, 

 and we expect to get lots of honey. I like to help 

 pa with the bees, but I go to school all the time. Pa 

 is making lots of hives for his bees; he expects to 

 be a bee-man. He keeps them on the south side of 

 a cedar hedge. Walter Stoner, age 13. 



Fernhill, Middlesex Co., Ont., Can., May 2, 1884. 



Friend Walter, it is a little diffcult to say 

 why bees sometimes desert and go off when 

 they have lioney and brood, and every thing 

 they want. Your closing idea of a cedar 

 hedge, is. I think, a pretty good one. We 

 have .iust been drawing manure to put around 

 our Norway spruces, in order to make them 

 huiTy up and form a good solid wind-break. 



