1884 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



563 



SOMETHING ABOUT THE MOSQUITO-HAWK, ETC. 



My papa has 19 colonies of bees. Our bees worked 

 last summer on the linden; there are 150 lindens on 

 my grandpa's place. We have not lost any swarms 

 yet. There is a weed that grows around here that 

 the bees work on from morning till night. My papa 

 thinks it is the Simpson honey-plant, from the re- 

 semblance to the picture. There is an insect here 

 that destroys a great many bees in summer; some 

 call them the mosquito-hawk. They go into the 

 bloom of the Simpson weed, and I kill a great many 

 late in the evening. Lut.a May Tvlkr. 



Knob Noster, Mo^ 



«OW FREDDIE'S FATHER KEEPS THE BEES FROM 

 .JOINING THE UPPER AND T.OWER COMBS. 



In the June number, p. 404, Philip Woare wants to 

 know the easiest way to keep the bees from joining 

 the surplus to brood-frames. I will give papa's 

 plan. After trying every thing, Heddon's honey- 

 board made of wooden slats included, he takes five 

 strips of enamel cloth, 354 inches wide, spaced equal 

 distances apart across the frames. This gives the 

 bees plenty of room to go between the strips. He 

 never has any trouble with queens going up. The 

 cloth should be placed with the glazed side down. 

 He used wide frames for surplus. 



The best bee-feeder is a bag holding a quart, filled 

 with syrup or honey, laid on top of the brood- 

 frames. I help papa with the bees, and try hard to 

 learn all about them, so as to be of some use; but I 

 can't like the work. Freddie Griffin, age 11. 



Charlottesville, Va., July, 1884. 



Tliank you, Freddie. "VVe used the bag 

 bee-t'eeder a great deal some years ago, but 

 the bees so soon got to bitiug lioles through 

 it, and letting the syrup all run out, that 

 they were discontinued. The ducking we 

 sell makes a good strong bag for the purpose. 



A question ABOUT EIGHT-FRAME HIVES. 



My pa has six swarms of bees; four of them are 

 in the 8-frame Langstroth hives, and two in the old- 

 fashioned box hives. Pa takes Gleanings, and has 

 an A B C book, and thinks he would like to send to 

 you for some Italian queens, but is afraid he does 

 not understand the business well enough to intro- 

 duce them without loss. Ours is the common black 

 bee. They are very strong. This is a prairie coun- 

 try, yet I think it very good for bees. Pa wants me 

 to ask you whether a large swarm of bees can win- 

 ter successfully in an 8 - frame Langstroth hive. 

 What is the cause of bees killing and carrying out 

 their young bees? The spider plant bloomed to-day 

 for the first time, but I did not see a bee on it. 



Clyde D. McKinley, age 11. 



Easton, Mason Co., 111., July 13, 1884. 



Yes, Clyde, I think an 8-frame hive would 

 winter very well with a good strong colony 

 of bees in it. As the winds are pretty se- 

 vere on the prairie, making the sides of the 

 hive double, and fixing a tiglit liigh fence to 

 keep the winds off, would probably be an ad- 

 vantage.— I fear you do not get up early 

 enougli to see the "bees on the spider plant. 



FROM OUR LITTLE FRIEND RHODA, WHO HAS LOST 

 HER FATHER. 



I am living with my brother-in-law, Robert Cooper, 

 and going to school. He takes Gleanings, and we 

 all like to read it very much, especially the Home 

 Papers. We started in 1883 with 11 colonies In the 

 spring, and increased to 26, and took 1000 lbs. of 



honey off. We enjoy it very much, especially in 

 swarming time. We have three kirlds of bees— the 

 hybrid, Italian, and albino. My pa kept bees when 

 he was here ; but he has crossed the river to his home 

 with Jesus, and I am trying to live so that I may 

 one day meet him, where partings will be no more, 

 and I should like to have an interest in your prayers. 

 We have prayer-meeting here every Tuesday night, 

 and every third Sabbath, and have had ever since 

 my pa's death, which is seven yeai'S. Whether we 

 have any thing else or not, wo have the Lord's pres- 

 ence with us. 1 should like to see your little boy. 

 Rhoda Garner, age 13. 

 Sherman, Sangamon Co., 111. 



May (iod bless you, Rhoda, for your bright 

 faith! It is true, that you may have the 

 Savior present, even if your father is gone. 

 May your little letter be a good lesson for 

 maiiy of us who are older! 



.JOHN'S LITTLE BEE-HIVE. 



Mamma thinks I can not write well enougli, and 

 she does not want me to print, so I will get Aunt 

 Rhoda to write my letter. 1 had a little stand of 

 bees last summer. My Uncle Tommy made me a 

 hive; it was as high as my First Reader, and not 

 quite so wide; and when my papa's bees swarmed 

 the second time, as he always puts them back, and 

 we did not want to kill the poor queen, mamma took 

 a handful of bees and put them in my hive with 

 her, and she I'aised her little stand full of bees, and 

 you ought to have seen them when it was warm. 

 They would come out and lie all over the hive. My 

 papa has one colony that lost the queen, and my papa 

 took my swarm and put it in his hive, and saved 

 it, and do you not think that should be mine? 1 love 

 bees and honey. My mamma reads to me about a 

 good man who preached about Jesus. He had honey 

 to eat, and she read to me in the Bible about the 

 good Lord himself eating butter and honey. God 

 bless little Hubei', and make a preacher out of him. 

 John L. Cooper, ago V. 



Sherman, Sangamon Co., III. 



But are you sure, Johnnie, that the Bible 

 says Jesus ate any butter? 



honey FROM LETTUCE.' 



Pa has 47 swarms of bees. They were so ugly that 

 they chased pa and ma into the house. Ma and 

 Luc.y took a swarm of our bees from a tree the 

 other day, and there was a swai-m going ovei% and 

 they alighted on the same tree with the few that 

 were left; my sister saw them first, and so they are 

 hers. They put them in a hive and they are work- 

 ing nicely. Our lettuce grew so tender that the 

 bees liked it very much. They were on it as thick 

 as they would have been on a bed of Howers. Ma 

 watched them and they would make little holes, and 

 suck the juice. Hattie Clark, age 11. 



Lenox, Mich., July 11, 1884. 



Well, Ilattie, you have indeed given us a 

 valuable fact, and I wish you would tell us a 

 little more about it. Are you sure the bees 

 worked on the lettuce, or were they there 

 only because of aphides of some khulV The 

 juice of lettuce is not usually sweet, and it 

 would have to he (|uite so to induce bees to 

 cut into the leaves. Perhaps you have got 

 a wrong impression somewhere; but if bees 

 work on this kind of lettuce right along, that 

 would settle it, and 1 suppose every bee- 

 keeper would be wanting some seed. 



