1884 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



419 



what we shall dobiit make astillljisft'er stack, 

 and then ask the t'liendslo please ()1(1(m- early 

 where it is a i)()ssil)le tliin.si'. Your little 

 letter makes me want to go and see you, for 

 I always did like swamps ever since I can 

 remember ; and during these dry hot dnsty 

 days, it seems just as if a swamp by the 

 river, where lots of honey is to be found, 

 would be just the nicest place one could 

 imagine. 



WHY WOULDN'T THE NEW SWAKM O.O INTO THEIK 

 HIVE? 



My brother left me to watch his bees to-day, to 

 see if they would swarm. About an hour after he 

 left, one hive started to swarm, and they came out 

 and alighted all over the g-rass, then they arose and 

 clustered on a branch of an apple-tree. The.v were 

 hived, and a white sheet thi-own over them, and 

 every thing seemed all right; but when my brother 

 came home and looked at them he found that they 

 were all clustered on the front of the hive, and did 

 not go in at all. So he thought they had no queen, 

 and he put them back into the hive where they 

 came out. The racks were filled with foundation. 

 Why, do you suppose, would they not go in? He 

 had three firsts and a second all right this year be- 

 fore; first one swarmed on the 17th of May. 



M. A. Stewakt, 2—6. 



Bowood, Ontario, Can., May 30, 1884. 



It was not because they had not a queen, 

 my little friend, for a new swarm very often 

 gets up on the outside of the hive instead of 

 going in — especially if the weather is hot. 

 Before the swarm "is ptit down in front of 

 the hive, I would shake off just a few, say a 

 teacupful, before the entrance; and when 

 they begin buzzing and crawling in, then 

 shake down a few more ; and after they get 

 started Avell, put them all down. If they 

 commence gathering upon the side of the 

 liive or portico, brush them down with a 

 slender stick tliat won't hurt them. I like 

 a comb-guide to a frame the best of any 

 thing. You can scrape them off with tliis, 

 or pat them on their backs when they loiter 

 too much, Avithout hurting them or making 

 them angry. .\. good many times they do 

 not take to' foundation at tirst, because "they 

 do not know what it is ; but if they tind a 

 comb with some brood in it, they get the 

 hang of it very readily. We hived a new 

 swarm a few days ago in that Iletherington 

 hive I described to you, but they came out 

 in a little while, and clustered. The hive 

 was so near like our ^Simplicity that we had 

 but little trouble in hanging one of our 

 frames tilled with brood, right in between 

 the sheets of foundation. They all went to 

 work then, and drew out the foundation in 

 splendid shape. 



HONEY-PLANTS OF ARKANSAS, ETC. 



Last winter papa moved to the mountains. He 

 thinks it is a good bee country. He has 12 hives of 

 bees, all in good order. In the winter he found a 

 bee-tree, and early this spring ho and one of the 

 neighbors took a hive and went to cut it down. They 

 had a "right smart" of honey, but the other bees 

 got to robbing them, and papa stopped up the en- 

 trance; but after a while he found there was a 

 crack where they had been going in, and had eaten 

 \]p all tl^e l^oney. Papa gave them some more, and 



they ate that up too, and now they have none, only 

 as they gather it. They seem very well satisfied. 

 Siniitsoii honey-plant grows here 8 feet high in the 

 woods. Some basswood grows here in the woods. 

 LiLLiE E. Manuel, age 11. 

 Winslow, Ark., May 31, 1884. 



A LETTER FROM THE SHORES OF LAKE MICHIGAN. 



We have sev^en swarms of bees. None died last 

 winter. They sting me quite often— I think too oft- 

 en for my part. My sister Arlie has been stung 

 but two or thi-ee times. We have two places— one 

 on the shore of Lake Michigan, the other two miles 

 west from Mears. The one on the shore of Lake 

 Michigan is four miles down the beach to Pentwa- 

 ter; the two places are three miles apart. Ma and 

 John (that is the boy we adopted) stay on the place 

 on the shoi-e of the lake. Pa and two hired men 

 stay on the other place. I keep house for them. 

 We go homo to the place on the lake-shore every 

 Saturday night. 



I was ten years old the 10th of last December. We 

 have two horses, Eliza and Curly; one cow, Rosa; 

 one calf. Bright; a dog, Shep; a cat, Tim, 16 years 

 old; two doves, Med and George; a canary bird, 

 named Dixie; a hen named Katy, a rooster named 

 Fig. Edna Mabel Graves. 



Pentwater, Oceana Co., Mich., May 13, 1884. 



WILL A queen lay DRONE-EGGS IN WORKER-CELLS? 



Given, a brood-frame with 3 sq. in. of drone comb 

 and the rest worker, is a queen a drone-layer that 

 refuses to lay in any but the drone-cells, and when 

 put on another frame finds her waj' back to the drone 

 comb immediately? 



I have 13 young calves that my girl-baby calls 

 "mj/calfieS;" Wouldn't they malij> Ruber's eyes 

 "bung out" if he could see them romping in the 

 yard? D. W. King, 1—1. 



Maitland, Holt Co., Mo., May 16, 1884. 



A queen that is failing will often lay drone 

 eggs in worker-cells,but I believe never other- 

 wise. In the case you give I should say the 

 queen was played out, or idiotic, and that 

 the best thing to do is to replace her with a 

 good one.— You have just about hit it on 

 lluber, whose great hobby now is " bossies," 

 and nothing gives him su'cli enthusiastic de- 

 light as to be carried out in the fields among 

 the cows and allowed to put his hand on 

 tlieir noses. I liave told him all I know 

 about cows several times already, but the 

 subject is still of unfailing interest. 



CREAM CAKE, BY ONE OF THE JUVENILES. 



Mr. Fry, a neighbor of ours, has two stands of bees. 

 They got 50 lbs. of honey last fall. I can wash the 

 dishes, make the beds, sweep the floor, and many 

 other things. 



CREAM CAKK. 



Take one cup of sugar, one egg, one cup of sweet 

 milk, one tablespoonful of butter, two heaping tea- 

 spoonfuls of baking powder; fiavbr to taste, flour 

 to stiffen; bake in layers. 



CREAM. 



Beat one egg and one-half cup sugar together; 

 then add one-quarter cup of flour, wet with a very 

 little milk, and stir this mixture into one-half pint 

 boiling milk until thick; flavor to taste ; spread the 

 cream when cool, between the cakes. 



CoHA Forney. 



Falls City, Richardson Co., Neb., March 6, 1884. 



