1884 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



637 



We sold nearly 900 lbs. of extracted honey at 12',4 

 cts. a pound to one man. My brother has taken 

 care of the bees last year. I have bten going: to 

 school. Emma Kirk, age 11. 



Columbus, Kans. ' 



LULU AND HER AUNTIE. 



My auntie taug-ht me how to write. She used to 

 teach school, but now her health is poor, so she is 

 trying to keep bees tor profit. She uses the Con- 

 trollable hive, with glass boxes. May be she will 

 write you some day to tell you how she gets along 

 with her bees. I go to school evei-y day^I can, and 

 I like to read good books. 



Lulu E. Gifford, age 8. 



East Chatham, N. Y., Aug. 14, 188t. 



ELMER S I-ETTEH, VERBATIJI. 



My PA H-4w -5 Colonics OF Berg, i LiKo To 

 ■VV'rk wiTK tHcM, i go/ *-TXJNg oN^e, 

 THo Beos get .4 /oTo of He Noyfrc M BlUe- 

 rerriNe. ON© S'lr^^rM- VVeN., of UtlT PA 

 fSuND Thc3/iN- WooDs'. 



eLAV-Ji-HeLs-iLAVAN. Aye §. 

 S'i LFe r La^ '^ iND 



if-rOU ThlN kThlNl-S. THiy \S lAIOi-Th 13 

 BoOk PLeAs-SeND ECB«y f A .>a iLy. 



CHARLEY'S LETTER. 



My pa has 5 colonies of bees. He has wintered 3 

 of them. They gather honey from mustard. My 

 pa is afraid of the bees. He has my brother to take 

 out honey. He had two swarms in a hive, but they 

 would not stay. Bees will not stay in a hive that 

 stands out in the hot sun. I have four brothers and 

 two sisters. I go to school, and I read in the Fourth 

 Reader. Charley Heiselmen, age 13. 



Silver Lake, Ind. 



Henrietta's report. 



I love to read the letters in Gleanings. Last year 

 papa sold 28 hives of bees and kept two, which 

 mamma attended to. She increased to 14 hives, and 

 extracted 500 lbs. of honey. This year we have 29 

 hives and 1200 lbs. of honey, besides the wax. The 

 hives were all three and four story, and the bees 

 built nearly all their own combs. We put empty 

 frames between the combs, and the.bees built them 

 out in a hurry. We have a hive which had two 

 queens. Henrietta Plettinger, age 9. 



Bayou Sara, La., Aug. 14, 1884. 



THOMAS' experience. 



I thought I would tell you about my exjieriencc 

 with bees. In the spring, 1883, I bought a swarm of 

 Italian bees from a man, and paid $10.00 for them. 

 They were in good order, ane plenty of honey. The 

 queen is about two years old and is a good laying 

 one. In August I took 27 lbs. of honey, and sold it 

 all for 20 cts. a pound. It was all in section boxes. 

 In September I took off 23 lbs. more, and it was all 

 gone before the next night. I put a large box over 

 the hive, and packed it full of straw for wintering. 

 They had 8 frames of honey. I use the Simplicity 

 hive. Thomas Bell, age 12. 



Corning, Iowa, Jan. 29, 1884. 



A bumble-bees nest, etc. 

 We bought two gkeps last fall. Well, they both 

 died off; they dwindled away. One lasted till some 

 time in June, and the other died in April. Well, they 

 bought 3 swarms in June. They were young bees. 

 TJjey aye g;-f?tting on well. We Ij^ve a bumble-bees' 



nestin the side of the house, between the lining and 

 weather-boards. They get in and out at a small 

 crack in the door-cheek. I got stung on the lip by 

 one, and I ran and put wet soda on it. It swelled 

 up some, but it went down as fast as it swelled up. 

 I got stung, six times that week— four times one day ; 

 three times on one foot, and once on the other. 



Annie Hustler, age 14. 

 Aughrin, Ont., Can., Aug. 11, 1884. 



HIVING A SWARM OF BEES, AND THE TROUBLE 

 THEY HAD. 



When father was coming home from Iowa he saw 

 a swarm of bees in a stump. My brother and father 

 brought them home, and after about four weeks 

 they swarmed. They flew over the house into the 

 garden. They wanted to alight on mother, who was 

 thei-e making a noise. They stung her some. They 

 alighted on a sunflower at last, and it broke over. 

 Father got a hive, and put them in it. They went 

 out in the woods while we were at church. In a 

 day or two they went off. The ones in the old hive 

 are getting along well, and making honey. 



Jennie E. Denman, age 11. 



Northfleld, Minn., July 24, 1884. 



effie s letter. 



I have no bees, but pa has some. Two years ago 

 he had 4 hives, and now he has about 26. They are 

 all black bees, but pa says he expects to send to you 

 for some Italian queens in the spring. He sent to 

 you for an extractor last summer, and extracted 

 about 700 lbs. of honey. I helped him extract it. 

 Most of it was clover honey. Last summer pa gave 

 my sister Lizzie and me ten cents for every swarm 

 of bees that we saw come out of the hive. I got 

 thirty cents. -My brother Tom found two bee-trees 

 last summer. He out them, and didn't get much 

 honey, but he saved the bees. The mice killed one 

 of pa's swarms this winter. I like honey, and I am 

 not much afraid of bees. Effie Johnson, age 12. 



Thomas Hill, Mo. 



A TRIP TO THE LAKE, AND ABOUT FINDING A 

 SWARM OF BLACK BEES. 



I thought I would write you a few lines this beau- 

 tiful Sabbath morning. Yesterday we all went to 

 the lake— papa, mamma, and we children, five in num- 

 ber. Pa and brother Frank caught a few fish. Pa 

 built a stone stove, or furnace, laid a flat stone on 

 top of it, and fried the fish. A very nice time we 

 had riding on the lake. About sundown we started 

 for home, and on the way I found a swarm of black 

 bees hanging on an apple-tree by the roadside. 

 Eai-ly this morning pa and Frank took a box and 

 went after them. They found them hanging there 

 all right. After smoking them and shaking them 

 into the box, they put them in a sheet and brought 

 them home. Pa gave them an Italian queen, and 

 they are working finely. I go to school every day, 

 and read in the Fourth Reader. 



MvRA Snyder, age 8. 



Clarksville, N. Y., Aug. 3, 1884. 



how TO STOP SWARMING. 



My father has kept bees as long as I remember. 

 He says 18 years. One spring ho lost them all, and 

 three years ago he lost 72 swarms, and had but ti 

 left. Last spring he had 20, and increased up to 3^ 

 swarms. They have done well. I have five broth- 

 ers, the oldest 16 years of age. He had charge of 

 the bees last summer. Father had been away from 

 home except Sttndfiys, building' houses. I had to, 



