1884 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



We have a dog- named Watch. We have two colts, 

 named Frank and Deck. At.bkrt McCurdv. 



Hornby, Ont., Can. 



TEI-EPIIONK TO TKlAj WHEN THE HEES SV/AUM. 



I understood that yon liked to got letters from 

 little girls, so I thought T would write you one. I 

 have two In-others and two sisters. T have one 

 stand of bees, and pa has 18 stands. Vestal has 3, 

 ma has 2, Eda has one, and Ettie has one. Pa has a 

 tile factory, and is making lots of tile. He has some 

 fine chickens too. I have been goino; to school this 

 spring-. I i-ead in the Second Reader. Pa takes 

 Gleanings. He has a telephone to tell when his 

 bees are swarming-. Bella Ueynolds, age 8. 



Weaver, Ind. 



ARE ANTS HAKMLESSV 



Last December, papa moved 25 colonies of bees 

 about 490 yards, to a new location. A week after 

 moving them the weather grew warm; then we no- 

 ticed small red ants at work carrying- out the honey 

 from nearly every hive. A line of lean, hungry- 

 looking ants would go in, and another line would 

 come out, so loaded with honey that their bodies 

 would be nearly transparent. Papa followed a few 

 lines of them to their holes ia the ground, just a 

 few feet from each hive. We think you must be 

 mistaken when you say in the ABC book that ants 

 are harmless, as we are sure they were carrying 

 out honey. In their old location, in an orchard, we 

 noticed large iblack ants around the hives, but they 

 did no harm that we could see. These ants are 

 larger than the very small red ants that are so 

 troublesome in our houses. Their nests are in the 

 garden, and we don't know how to get rid of them, 

 as they appear too numerous to destroy. I can not 

 see why the water does not drown them out when 

 it rains. We are afraid that, when the warm weath- 

 er comes, the.y will commence their depredations 

 again, and rob every hive. What shall we do to get 

 of them? Cora Ma.ior, age 11. 



Cokeville, Pa. 



Well, Cora, I think I shall have to give up 

 about the ants. Your statement is quite 

 convincing. Still, I am inclined to think 

 that a good strong colony of bees, when un- 

 disturbed, would keep the ants away from 

 the honey, without any trouble. In the 

 above case, many of the tlying bees were 

 lost by moving to a new location, and this 

 gave the ants a chance. 



THE SWARM THAT ALIGHTED ON THE HAY- 

 HACK, ETC. 



Papa has been hauling hay lately, and one day 

 while in Peoria a swarm of bees alighted on a hay- 

 rack in the busiest psrt of the city. A man got a 

 nail-keg, and papa put them into it, and afterwai-d 

 bought it for 75 cts. Early in the spring papa had 2 

 swarms, and now he has 8, which arc all doing 

 nicely. They began to swarm the 21st of May. One 

 of them is a swarm of wild bees. There are two 

 kinds, hybrids and Italians. The first morning they 

 seemed uneasy, and papa gave them a frame of 

 brood. They fought ail day, but the next day they 

 concluded to go to work. Three swarms got away, 

 but we expect two more in a fow days. Papa said 

 he would give me 50 cents if I would watch them 

 this week while he hauls hay. He has movable- 

 frame hives, and docs not intend to extract much 

 honey. Papa and our neighbor, Mr. Bristol, 



made a starter out of a screen-door spring, which 

 works like a charm; and one day, while papa was at 

 Peoria, mamma and I put the foundation comb in 

 48 sections. This morning papa took the cows to 

 pasture; and when he came back he had a nail-keg. 

 We thought he had a swarm of bees; but when he 

 opened it there were two little coons in it. I have 

 no brothers nor sisters, but have four little cousins 

 living close by, and we piaj' together a good deal. 

 Mabel Edna Case, age 11. 

 Dunlap, 111., July 4. 1884. 



Eriend Mabel, I am interested about that 

 door-spring starter machine. Can you not 

 send it to us by mail, or explain how it is 

 made ? May be it will be better and cheap- 

 er than any thing we have had. 



THE SWARM THAT SEPARATED INTO TAVO PARTS. 



I have been taking Gleanings a year, but will 

 have to stop, as I have got no money. I have four 

 stands of bees, and my brother the same. I had one 

 swarm come out and sepairate. One part went about 

 a third of a mile from the other. I got one swarm 

 hived, and went for the other, but it was gone. I 

 went back to the hive. I noticed that they had all 

 gone. In a minute or two the swarm that was lost 

 came back to the hive, and I found that they had 

 no queen. I can work wuth bees, but my brother 

 can't. I had a stand of bees that had too many 

 drones, so I killed them. A swarm of bees will stay 

 a week on a limb, for pa has seen them and hived 

 them in an old gum-tree. My uncle followed a 

 swarm of bees eight miles, and nobody owned bees 

 within less than 2 miles of there. 



A. E. Bever, age 10. 



Burlington Junction, Mo., Jiuiel, 1884. 



Isn't that a pretty big story, my friend, 

 about the swarm of" bees going eiglit milesV 

 lie must have gone with a horse, for that 

 would be a pretty long distance to chase 

 bees on foot. 



THE golden bee-hive; tobacco; foundation 



IN FRAMES, ETC. 



My pa has bees. He has bees and hives for sale. 

 He has a bee-hive factory. A man is selling a hive 

 he calls the Golden bee-hive. The people are buy- 

 ing, and piling- yours in the fence-corner. Pa says 

 the Golden hives are a swindle, and they will be 

 glad to get the Simplicities yet. 



Well, Uncle Amos, I i-ead in Gleanings that you 

 give smokers to those who quit using tobacco. My 

 pa has not used any for about 14 years, and never 

 intends to use it any more; and another man, a 

 preacher, has quit too. He is a very old man, but I 

 don't know his name. 



Pa gives me 10 cents per 100 for nailing frames, I 

 will tell you how he puts foundation in the frames. 

 He takes a block of wood, and places it in the frame, 

 then takes an oil-can of wax and fastens the start- 

 ers in. 



I like to go to Sunday-school. I shall soon be done 

 hoeing the cabbage. I shall be 8 next November. I 

 have two sisters dead, and two living. 



Stella V. Mendeniiall. 



Sylvania, Ind., May 39, 1884. 



Friend Stella, just tell those people Who 

 are piling their Simplicity hives in the fence- 

 corners, to set them down carefully, for in a 

 little while they will want them again. — We 

 give smokers only to tliose who stop using 



