664 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



Aug. 



BRIEF NOTES ON ARTIFCIAL SWARMING. 



This is papa's birthday. He is 32 years old. Our 

 bees have not swarmed this year, but papa made 3 

 hives by takiug- a few combs from other hives, and 

 putting' them in new ones. J. A. Lyon, .Tr., age 8. 



AVashing-ton, Pa., July lit, 1884. 



HARVEST TIME. 



It is now in the height of wheat harvest, as well 

 as honey harvest. I am not afraid of the bees. I 

 go all around the hives, and am notafraidof getting- 

 stung. My pa takes your journal. I like to read 

 the little folks' letters. I have one brother and four 

 sisters. Lucina G. Koontz, age 10. 



Tipton, Ind., July 3, 1884. 



THAT OLD CHALK MARK, AGAIN. 



A broad chalk mark around a sugar-bucket or 

 barrel will keep out ants. I have always kept 

 house while mamma taught school. Now mamma 

 keeps house, and teaches us at home. My uncle, 

 Frank Wilder, has a nice apiary. 



Daisy Redrincj, age 11. 



Stanton, Fla., July, 1884. 



80 I,B8. OF HONEY STORED IN A SAI.T-BARUEL. 



My papa keeps bees. The .'ith of July, 188.3, one 

 swarm came out. He had no hive to put them in, 

 so he put them in a salt-barrel. In the fall, after 

 they were done working, he got 80 lbs. of honey out 

 of the barrel. Wasn't that pretty good? 



John H. Chalmers, age 9. 



Oldfleld, Iowa, July 26, 1884. 



ALBERT'S MOUNTAIN HOME. 



We have two swarms of bees. They are gather- 

 ing honey every day. My papa thinks of going on a 

 bee-ranch. I like to catch the lazy drones, for they 

 eat the honey, and don't gather any. Sometimes 

 the bees sting me when I am catching drones. Our 

 town has mountains pretty nearly all around it. 

 Albert E. Robison, age 8. 



Golden, Colo., July 14, 1884. 



queen INEZ. 



My pa had 7 stands of bees, and increased to 18, 

 and took 200 lbs. of comb honey in pound sections 

 last year. He also bought 4 Italian queens and lu 

 lbs. of bees in each, in July, and had one colony in 

 an observatory hive, and we often saw the queen. 

 I named her Queen Inez. One of them swarmed 

 twice. One swarm went away at 9 in the morning, 

 and came back at 4 the no.xtday, and went back into 

 the hive again. Inez Johnson, age 10. 



Michigan City, Ind. 



FROM THE HEFFELBOWER APIARY. 



Dear Uncle Amoft:—! will write you a letter. I go 

 to school. Will you print our letter? If I am wor- 

 thy of one of your books, I should like Silver Keys. 

 Three of pa's swarms died; he has 25 yet. I should 

 like to see you and your bees. 



Bennie Heffelbower, age 7. 



Now I think it is my turn to write. I should like a 

 book too. Please send me Sheer Oflf. I have a little 

 bantie chicken. I feed it bread every day. It is 

 tame. When you come to see my pa and his bees, I 

 will show it to yoiL Eddie Heffelbower. 



I like my little knife and fork J got of you. I am 

 a juvenile, and my mamma holds my hand so I can 

 make letters. I have a little brother, five months 

 old; he has blue eyes. We call him Freddie. Would 

 you like to see him? Bertie Heffelbower. 



Cass City, Mich., Feb., 1884. 



I went to school this summer for the first time. 

 My papa has three stands of bees. My uncle holds 

 his knife on a sting, and the steel takes out the pain. 

 I have two brothers, Denzie and Ruby. This is the 

 first letter I ever wrote to a paper. Mamma likes to 

 read Gleanings. She could not do without the 

 smoker. Clara Coldren, age 7. 



Hawpatch, Ind., July 3, 1884. 



ORAN'S encouraging REPORT. 



I live with my grandpa and grandma. My grand- 

 pa chewed tobacco for about 30 years, and about 4 

 years ago he quit. We have a dog, and we call him 

 Major; he can bring the cattle, and do a great many 

 other things. We have four swarms of bees; they, 

 swarmed once this summer. 



Oran Zehnf.r, age 8. 



Williamstown, O., July 17, 1884. 



about the whole brick that the robber-bees 

 pushed away. 



It was a whole brick that was put at the entrance 

 of the hive; for wouldn't a piece of brick be a 

 brick l)at/ We have taken oflf a box of honey this 

 year. I enjoyed Sheer Oflf very much. It is nicer 

 than I expected it to be. You needn't print this, 

 but 1 wanted to explain about the brick. 



Mary Richardson. 



Cazenovia, 111., July 19, 1884. 



I live in Providence, R. I. I go to school and 

 Sundaj'-school. I don't know much about bees, 

 but that they sting. The honey is nice and good. I 

 am visiting where Myrtle and Ralph Hyde (who 

 have written to you) live. Uncle Judson has the 

 prettiest collection of hives that I ever saw in my 

 life. The catcher hives them, and sends them off 

 on the cars. I got stung on the hand by a bee once. 

 Ralph sent a card to Blue Eyes; I am going to send 

 one to Huber. Frances E. Wood, age 11. 



Pomfret Landing, Conn. 



LUCY S experience WITH THE BEES. 



We have gone into the bee business. I like it 

 very much. It is nice to work with them. We had 

 a swarm of bees to-day. One day we had four 

 swarms in less than two hours. In order to keep 

 the grass from around the hives we have put saw- 

 dust before them. We are going to sell the rest of 

 the swarms. I have been going to school, but it is 

 out now. We have nice weather for bees. The 

 linn is in bloom now. Lucy M. Anderson. 



Thomas Hill, Mo., July 4, 1884. 



lizzie's MOTHER AND HER BEES. 



My ma has 4 colonies of bees. We had 7 last sum- 

 mer, but wintered only 3, and got only one swarm 

 this summer. We got 146 lbs. of honey last summer. 

 We sold only 16 lbs., but we do not know whether 

 we shall get any honey this year. My ma wants 

 to find out all she can about bees. My pa is a farm- 

 er, and we raise all kinds of stock— chickens and 

 geese. I go to school most of the time when there 

 is any, and learn lots, of course. 



Lizzie Bradford, age 10. 



Williamstown, Ohio, July 16, 1884. 



MYRTLE S LETTER, AND SOMETHING ABOUT WEEDS 

 AND ROOTS. 



I am a reader of Gleanings. My pa has three 

 stands of bees; two of them are doing very well, 

 and the other one is not. They have fought and 

 killed the most of them. Can you tell the cause? 

 We have had some very hard storms here. We 

 have plenty of beautiful flowers on the prairie for 



