1888 



GLEANINGS JN BEE CULTURE. 



61 



shall be under the necessity of commencing 

 action to recover damages." 



" I think it \v;is Jake, the fellow who 

 broke our windmill before, and it would 

 make me feel awful good to black both his 

 eyes,'" said Jimmie. " I don't cave any- 

 thing about your law." 



"Yes," said Sam. •'I agree with Jim- 

 mie." 



" What ! you, Sam V " said his father, in 

 surprise. '"Do you think it woidd be the 

 best way?" Sam nodded his head rather 

 feebly. " At any rate." said he, "■ I should 

 feel better." 



"I do not doubt that," said his father ; 

 "but I was only questioning whether you 

 thought it was right. As to Jimraie's 

 bees, this is more serious. There is a heavy 

 penalty attached for stealing honey from 

 colonies. 1 believe that in this State it is 

 a penitentiary offense.'" 



" Whew ! what did they put it on so heavy 

 for ? Seems to me that's purty tough. 

 I'd just like to see the fellow what meddled 

 with my bees while F was at school go to 

 State's penitentiary. No, I guess I'd rather 

 black his eyes. after all.'' 



" Yes," replied Mr. G., *• 1 do not question 

 your preference ; but really, boys, such re- 

 taliation is not right, justifiable, or manly." 



" But we'd feel a mighty sight better for a 

 while, any how," still persisted Jimmie. 



"I think I shall have to get mother to 

 talk with you further on this question. You 

 both have utterly wrong ideas as to the best 

 means of bringing about the ends of just- 

 ice." 



"Well, pa, why do they make the penalty 

 so heavy for robbing bee-hives ? You don't 

 say they could send a man to penitentiary 

 if he stole only 50 lbs. of honey from a few 

 colonies ? '' 



"That is just what I mean," said his 

 father. "The value of the honey stolen from 

 a hive of bees is usually small. But the 

 damage occasioned thereby in the apiary is 

 incomparably gieater. The colony robbed 

 and pillaged by human hands will be at- 

 tacked tenfold more vigorously by the bees 

 from other colonies. The residt is, the 

 whole apiary will be in an uproar if the 

 owner or some one else does not happen to 

 be on hand to arrest the mischief. For in- 

 stance, suppose some one should steal hon- 

 ey from three or four of my colonies in the 

 Valley apiary, where no une visits them but 

 once a week ; suppose, also, the thieves 

 should leave the combs mutilated, the hives 

 uncovered, just after the honey-tlow had 

 ceased. It w^ould be the ruin of a good 

 many colonies, and the whole apiary would 

 be demoralized. A gain of a few cents' 

 worth of honey to the thieves would mean 

 the loss to me of perhaps several hundred 

 dollars in bees, valuable queens, and dam- 

 aged section comb honey ; honey which 

 would otherwise have brought me full price, 

 now only half price. If the mischief ended 

 where the human robbers left off, the case 

 would be different.'' 



"Everything was (juiet when I left my 

 bees a little bit ago. There wasn't no rob- 

 bing nor any thing of the kind," said Jim- 

 mie, 



" Yes," said Mr. G.; " but it has rained all 

 the afternoon, has it not ? Bees will not start 

 to rob in the rain, though they will some- 

 times continue, if not raining hard, when 

 once started. You may count yourself for- 

 tunate in having the shower." 



Mr. Green then went into the house, leav- 

 ing the boys standing. 



"Say, Sam, we'll find out who done that, 

 and then we'll— you know. I'll see you to- 

 morrow." 



So saying, Jimmie hurried off home. 



jaYE^mE iiE¥3FER-Be;^. 



' A chlel's amang ye takin' notes; 

 An' faith, he'll prentit. " 



SANTA CLAUS. 



Santa Claus brought me a dress and a pair of 

 shoes, and acorn-popper; and ho broug-ht my little 

 sister a cart and a plate, and she thinks they are 

 very nice. Peaui, Passage. 



Stark, Mich., Dec. 2t;, l.'-ST. 



BEES AND CAIIP-PONDS. 



We have about 60 swarms of bees. We put them 

 in an underground cellar on the 19th of the month. 

 Our cellar is 1~ feet under the ground. We have 

 three carp-ponds, with tiO flsh. They are frozen over 

 now. We are having a nice Christmas. The ice is 

 eight inches thick. • John Wiltse. 



Falls City, Neb., Deo. 25, 1887. 



TOO YOUNG TO KEEP BEES. 



My papa and my uncle are bee-keepers, but only 

 tor pleasure, for they have no time to tend to the 50 

 swarms. I wish I could help my papa about the 

 bees, for I love them, but papa says I am too young 

 yet, but that he will give me a swarm as soon as 1 

 can tend one by myself. Sophia Lang, age 10. 



Joelton, Tcnii. 



Tell your papa that we think you are 

 quite old enough to have a colony, and man- 

 age it quite successfully now. 



"A STUNG on my NOSE." 



Here is another letter from a young friend, 

 which is quite original in composition as 

 well as spelling, so we reproduce it just ex- 

 actly as he wrote it. We hope, therefore, 

 he will not take it unkindly, as there are 

 lots of big folks who do not write or spell 

 any better. 



Mr root, dear sir i am a boy 13 years old we have 

 50 swarms of bees and was in a good shape for to 

 get a lot of honey but it was so dry the bees was 

 just began to work nice but it was to drj- we got 

 about 300 lbs. of honey my father works at the 

 stone mason trade and i and my mother is at home 

 i watch the bees when they swarm i catch the qeen 

 wich is cliped and put her in a cage the bees will 

 sat on the tree and i will stand and look at them and 

 when I see that they are getting restless i will put 

 the queen in the hive and will watch her. sumtime 

 she wijl come out agin then i will put hir in agin 

 and it is fun to see them march in the hive they 

 hury to get in and sometimes I get a stung on my 

 nose but I due not mind it and work on my way 

 oiy sister is watching the cows all summer in 



