781: 



GLEANIXGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Xov 



years ago; also about the good times they had mi- 

 grating from the lowlands to the highlands in the 

 fall, to get the heather honey, then back again be- 

 fore wii-.tcr set in. James G. Lamson, age 10. 

 Lookout Mt., Hamilton Co., Tenii. 



Thank you, friend James, for the valua- 

 ble facts you furnish. I do not believe, 

 however, I would recommend having such 

 poisons around as copperas and arsenic, if it 

 could be avoided. A great many deaths 

 have resulted from taking poisons by mis- 

 take, or from getting into the hands of 

 children. 



HIVES IN TREES. 



\n Illinois, where my aunt lives, they have no 

 trees, except what they set out. If they set hives 

 up, a swarm of bees will almost always go into it. 

 They put one up last spring in a small willow-tree, 

 and a swarm went into it. They think there were 

 more than one swarm that came, because they have 

 gi'eat big sheets of comb stuck to the limbs all 

 around the hive, and the combs are all covered with 

 bees. Nettie E. Cranston, age 10. 



Woodstock, 0., Nov. 6. 1884. 



mapi-e sap for the bees in spring. 



My papa keeps bees, and he likes them very well. 

 He has 30 colonies of them, but we did not get much 

 honey this season. Papa thinks that the sap of the 

 inaple-trees is cheap food for bees in the early 

 spring when there are no flowers. He sticks a 

 sharp-pointed knife in thebark, about five feet from 

 the gi-onnd, and the bees gather it as it runs down 

 over the bark. I have twin bi-others. They were 8 

 years old this fall. Ada W^erts, age 13. 



Russell, Lucas Co., la., Nov. 7, 188L 



THE CAT SNOW AND THE LITTI,E CHICKENS. 



My papa had ."? colonies of bees when he commenc- 

 ed, and now ho has 20. I have a cat, white all but 

 one ear, one spot on her side and her tail. They 

 are black; her name is Snow. We have 14 little 

 chickens just hatched, and they are very cunning 

 indeed. 1 have four dolls, two are wax, and two 

 are china. Fannie B. Mathews, age 11. 



Katonah, N. Y., Oct. 23, 1884. 



I know, friend Faimie, chickens are very 

 nice to look at, even in October; but, won't 

 the poor things get their little "tozes" 

 froze? .Another thing, the nights are so 

 long now they get hungry before it is morn- 

 ing. I suppose your folks are real careful, 

 and feed the cliicks just before they go to 

 bed, and then the lirst thing as soon as it is 

 light enough for them to peep. 1 should 

 think you might do that, Fannie, can you 

 not? aiid you are eleven years old,- you know. 

 I have heard of feeding young ch'ickpiis l>y 

 lamplight, when they were hatched so late in 

 the fall. Now, b? sure not to let tlic little 

 darlings suffer. 



.\ .IUVENILE'S troubles with MOTH WOU.MS. 



1 Started last spring with live strong colonies. All 

 were killed with web worm but one. I have it now. 

 I have not had a pound of honey this j'ear, and not 

 one swarm, and so I have only one stand. Mother 

 says that bees are a nuisance and no profit; but 1 

 think they are great amusement, and help to in- 

 struct boys in the knowledge of insects. I could 

 sit all dav and watch my bees, and never get tired. 



Father has taken Gleanings two years, and I 

 would not like to be without it. I have your ABC, 

 and think highl.v of it. I should like to be a large 

 bee-keeper, but mother says she will not let me 

 have more than five stands Can you tell me how 

 to get the moth worms out of a hive badly infested? 

 I have read ABC, and can get no information. 



Mason, Tex., Oct. 28, 1884. A. H. Austen. 



Why. my young friend, if you have time 

 to sit all day and watch bees, you certainly 

 ought to be able to get rid of the worms, 

 even if they (irc only black bees. You want 

 combs movable, and then lift them out, and 

 with the point of your knife just go for those 

 worms, and make* them sorry tliat they ever 

 got inside of your dooryard fence. Some 

 young Italians would do the work for you, 

 but your black bees would have done it very 

 wellwith a little help as above.— I am afraid 

 you did not look carefully at tlie A B Cbook. 

 Ask your mother to show you, and see if you 

 do not find a great lot about these same 

 moths. I am inclined to think yon are mis- 

 taken in thinking it is worms that killed 

 your bees. 



THE BEES AND THE CIDER, .JELLY, APPLE-BUTTER, 

 ETC. 



As soon as people began making jelly and apple- 

 butter this fall, our bees entered the houses and 

 carried away every thing sweet they could get hold 

 of. Some neighbors did not know enough to kee p 

 things out of their reach, and in those houses they 

 came in force and carried off every thing that had 

 any sugar in it. Tn some instances the people shut 

 up their houses and left the bees in possession. 

 One woman left her apple-butter and preserved 

 fruits exposed until her house was filled, then she 

 closed her doors and windows, and brimstoned 

 them. At a farmhouse near here I watched them 

 making cider. The i)ress was covered with bees 

 eagerly drinking the juice; but the farmer and his 

 son calmly worked on, mashing the bees by hun- 

 dreds. When the bees came in the houses they 

 would not sting unless they were pinched. Do you 

 have such trouble in the fall with your bees, or 

 what do you do to preserve it? Papa showed us a 

 hive of Holy -Land bees that were carrying in pollen 

 in great quantities to-day, while none of the others 

 were doing any thing. He thought they were rear- 

 ing brood, but could not tell, as they were packed 

 for winter. Cora Ma.tor. 



Cokeville, Pa., Oct. 3ii, 1884. 



I suppose the trouble was caused liy the 

 dry weather, friend Cora. As soon as there 

 are l)lossoms for bees to work on, they pay 

 but little attention to cider, and many times 

 do not even notice it at all. In your case 

 thev got to goiuu.-, and then it was hard work 

 to break tliem of their bad habit. Had 

 somebody wlio understood the matter gone 

 I around to tlie neighbors, and explained to 

 I them, and got them to cover up or put away 

 every tiling the bees commenced working on 

 until thev forgot it, or got off the notion, 

 thess troubles would soon have been over.— 

 I should conjecture that it was a young queen 

 where you saw so much pollen going in. 

 Young "(pieens often lay their combs full of 

 eggs when other colonies in the yard have 

 none, and then the bees must go out and 

 gather pollen, or the brood would not ever 

 get grown up. 



