1884 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUllE. 



781 



and they staj-ed at home like g'ood children, and 

 went to work. I go to school, and help ma do the 

 work night and morning, and I can play on the 

 organ. Una May Switzer, age 12. 



Bucklin, Mo., Oct. 1, 1884. 



CLAIfA AND HER BROTHER AND THE BEES. 



My brother had U stands of bees in swarming 

 time. They'd swarm two and three times a day, 

 but they would not settle. M3' sister and I hived 

 them. One day I got stung. In winter a great 

 many died. We haven't any now. We left them in 

 Corry, where we lived. My brother spent all of the 

 time he had with his bees. He would give me all 

 the honey I wanted. I could hive them myself, if I 

 tried. I've seen it done lots of times, and helped to 

 do it myself. I don't like to get stung by them very 

 well. Clara Clark, age 8. 



Conneaut, Ohio, Oct. 26, 1881. 



LOUIS' FIRST LETTER. 



My papa and Mr. Moss are in the bee business to- 

 gether. Thej' have not been in that occupation long, 

 but both are delighted with that employment, and 

 both wish to be successful bee-keeper.?. I have 

 been going to school to Mr. Moss. His school is 

 stopped. I have been saying lessons to Mr. Moss at 

 home. I like to go to school to him. He opens 

 school with prayer. This is the first letter I ever at- 

 tempted to write. If this escapes the waste-basket 

 1 will try to do better ne.xt time. Mr. Moss takes 

 Gleanings. I have the pleasure of reading it. 



Louis Travis. 



San Augustine, Te.\as, Oct. 21, 1884. 



A letter from a boy 6 YEARS OLD, .lUST AS HE 

 WROTE IT. 



I Am a littlE boy six yEARs old. 1 Am Visiting 

 Mj/ GRANd Pa. My Unc!e kEEPs /je^s. I hglP hiM 

 waitfh h.i.s hoN-ay. I hAva 4 gR^jt^iKus .iNdisis- 

 taR. My U.Mjfa t4kE8 Gleanings, ANd has (hE 

 A IJ C Book. I liVE iN New I'orK City, i am. 

 going To sohool whENt 1 go hoAvE. sExci T?iE boOM 

 To pERcy g. FaR.wilyA. 



243 West 124Th g(., |^eu' YoRff CitY. 



And SO you live in New York City, do 

 you, Percy'? Well, I suppose there are many 

 opportunities for learning useful things 

 there that we. do not have out here in the 

 country, and I hope you will always try to 

 learn the useful and avoid learning the bad. 



balance or more than balance those of Elor- 

 ida. How is it? Where do you like it best 

 —where you are now, or in your old home? 



RAY AND HIS CHICKENS. 



Father has 175 colonies of bees; the honey season 

 was not veri' good with us this year. We live on a 

 farm, and raise lots of poultry. I took 12 little 

 chickens when they were very small, about two 

 months ago, and brought them up without a moth- 

 er. I have two sisters and three brothers. I am 

 the youngest of them all. My eldest brother is 19, 

 and he has the nicest little pony and buggy you 

 ever saw. Ray H. Addenbrooke, age 10. 



. North Prairie, Wis., Oct. 24, 1884. 



Well done, Ray. I feel a good deal of re- 

 spect for any boy or girl who likes to take 

 care of motherless chickens or motherless 

 lambs, or one who likes to help any thing or 

 anybody who is in trouble, and needs a 

 mother. You see, you are mother to the 

 little chicks. Ray, and we know you take 

 good care of them, or they would not all 

 have been alive at this time. 



FRO.M IOWA TO FLORID.V. 



My father keeps bees. About four years ago, 

 whenwe lived in Iowa, father and I were coming 

 home from town, and a swarm went over us, and 

 father got out and followed them about one mile. 

 Then they alighted, and we hived them and took 

 them home, and then we bought one and they in- 

 creased to si.x that year, and in two more years they 

 increased to 20, and then we brought them to Flori- 

 da, and five died. 



FRO.M 1.5 TO 43, AND 1500 LBS. OF HONEY. 



We started in this year with 1.5, and they increased 

 to 42, and made about 1.500 lbs. of honey. 



Alva Tuueblood, age 12. 

 Archer, Florida, Oct. 35, 1884. 



Pretty good, Alva. We trust you like 

 your new home in Florida, where you can 

 raise bees the year round, and notiiave such 

 winters to fear as you had in Iowa. May be, 

 however, Iowa has other advantages so as to 



FROM 15 TO 40, AND .500 LBS. OF HONEY, AND HAD TO 

 FEED 300 LBS. OF SUGAR. 



We had 15 hives of bees in the spring, and now 

 have 40. They all came through in the winter, 

 without any dying. They did not do well this year. 

 We made about .500 lbs. of honey all together, and 

 had to feed back about 300 lbs. of sugar. We had 

 only Ave that swarmed. My father got two swarms 

 of a man who was going to smother them, and we 

 put them in frame hives. How long does a good 

 queen live? We could not get one to live more 

 than two years. Arthur Storer. 



Port Hope, Out., Can. 



Friend Arthur, your report is a little dis- 

 couraging, especially the latter part of it. 

 But, never mind ; this has been a poor sea- 

 son.— Good queens usually live about two 

 years ; extra ones sometimes three, and in 

 rare instances even four years. Poor ones 

 live one year, or sometimes less. 



POISONING ANTS, CRICKETS, ETC. 



Brother George wrote to you about father's drone- 

 trap, so 1 thought I would tell you about some other 

 things I notice father does. The 10 colonies of black 

 bees are all Italians now; queens are from an im- 

 ported queen you sold J. W. Thornburg, near us 

 here, except an Italian queen from Dr. Price, of 

 Tampa, Florida. They have done very well for 

 such a dry season. We had a very tine bloom of 

 goldenrod and fall aster. It lasted but a few days, 

 for want of rain. Father uncaps some comb when 

 he looks into a hive, at the top of the brood-frame, 

 so that the honey will run over the comb and stimu- 

 late the queen to keep on laying. They are strong 

 colonies now, and have stores enough for winter. 

 We got honey enough to pay for them when trans- 

 ferring them. Father sowed some buckwheat for 

 them, then he scattered some lime on the buck- 

 wheat, and turned it under. When skunks are 

 coming about the hives, father takes copperas and 

 powders it fine, and sprinkles it in their runs. They 

 leave every time he does it. For crickets he mixes 

 some honey and arsenic, and pours it on top of the 

 frame cover, and where bees can not get at it. We 

 find the crickets dead near by it. This is new busi- 

 ness to father. He tells us some strange things 

 they did when he handled them in Scotland, 33 



