112 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 



Capt. J. E. Hetherington, Cherry Valley, 

 N. Y., I believe has the largest number of 

 colonies of any one nirin in llio United 

 States, and lie is said to have only liTOU. 

 Perhaps the Mr. Wilber will tell ns just 

 how many colonies he (Wilber) does have. 

 Possibly it will turn out like the story you 

 have ail heard, of the boy who told "his 

 mother that he saw 10,000 dogs running 

 around the house. '"Oh, no I " said his 

 mother, " not sis many as that." '' Well," 

 persisted tl>e young hopeful, " I saw 1000." 

 His mother continued to narrow him down 

 until he stuck to it that he at least saw the 

 tracks of one dog. 



A BOY WHOSE P.\ HAS 300 COLONIKS IN THE CELLAR. 



Pa has kept bees since he was 15. He has now 300 

 swarms in the cellar. He gave my brother and me 

 each a swarm. We are going- to learn to take care 

 of them. I" like bees, and don't mind the stings. I 

 help my pa work in his yard. 



Clarknce Yates, age 9. 



Randall, Montgomery Co., N. Y. 



THE BEES WKNT OFf. 



We have three swarms of bees. We bought two 

 swarms. They both swarmed two times. The first 

 was a big one. They came out and flew awhile, and 

 alighted on a tree near by. We got a hive and 

 sawed the limb off, and shook them off on a sheet. 

 They marched in the hive as fast as they could. 

 Tliey liegan to work, and in a day or so thej' came 

 out and went oft'. The next one came out the same 

 day, and went back. They came out in a week or 

 so, and alighted in two different places on the same 

 tree. We have one of them yet; the other one, the 

 worms got in and ate them up. The combs were 

 all moldy. One of the other colonies did not fly as 

 it should. We looked at it, but we could not see 

 any thing in it. One of the old hives got cracked, 

 so we put Them into another hive, and they went 

 off, but we did not see them go. I have seen them 

 gather stuff from sunflowers to make their combs 

 out of. They get honey from the yellow flowers 

 which groxv in low wet ground. I have seen lots of 

 them buzzing around niiiong them. 



John HowEii, aged 10. 



Miicy, Miami Co , Ind., Jan. 35, lSt-8. 



I am glad to see you aiaking observations, 

 friend John ; but you are drawing wrong 

 conclusions. The stuff the bees gathered 

 fiom sunflow^ers was not to make combs of. 

 It is the pollen, or bee-bread ; and Prof. 

 Cook tells us the old bees eat bee-bread and 

 honey that they may be able to secrete rich 

 milk for tlie baby-bees. That is what the 

 stuff is for that you saw. 



DO BEES HEAR? WHERE DOES P. BENSON LIVE ? 



Have bees got ears? I want you to tell me the 

 address of P. Benson. I like to read his letters. 

 We have got 35 hives of bees now. We have not 

 got any honey for winter. Pa has doubled up a 

 good many. We have got a bee-killer. It is a bird. 

 We call it the king-bird. Cora E. Lampson. 



Pierpont, O., Dec. 8, 1887. 



It is pretty well established that bees 

 hear, though it is not so certain that they 

 have ears corresponding to ours. Some of 

 the big bee-men think their antenna?, or 

 feelers (perhaps you will call them their 



horns) answer the purpose of ears. — P. 

 Benson lives way out west. He doesn't 

 want his address published, because it 

 would bring him too much correspondence, 

 and he doesn't care to be bothered with let- 

 ters of inqniry from common folks like you 

 and me. Since he has got him a wife in his 

 " Pallace Home," he won't write any more. 



HOW TO DESTROY BUMBLE-BEES' AND YELLOW- 



.JACKETS' NESTS. 



Take a jug; fill it about half full of water, and 

 set it down gently as near the nest as you can. 

 Then take a pole, say six feet long, and poke them 

 up. The more you poke them, the more they will 

 go into the top of the .iug. They will go buzzing 

 around the top, and pretty soon they will go into 

 the top of the jug; then when you take it up to 

 look at them you vvant to be sure to look for the 

 queen; and if you find her it will be sure to destroy 

 the nest. 



P. S.— Then stamp the nest when they are out of 

 it. KoBEKT D.\wsoN, age 10. 



East Dayton, Tuscola ('o., Mich. 



But, friend Robert, why should we de- 

 stroy bumble-bees' nests V They do no real 

 harm ; on the contrary, they" are a real 

 benefit to farmers. Onlv the other day L 

 was reading an item in the paper, that the 

 Australian government had or was going to 

 take measures to have the American bum- 

 ble-bees imported to their country. These 

 bees are to fertilize the red clover, so that 

 they may be able to raise good seed. Your 

 method "of catching bumble-bees has been 

 mentioned befor^^ 



FACTS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 



A prisoner, condemned to solitary confinement, 

 obtained a copy of the Bible; and by three years' 

 careful study he obtained the following figures: 



The Bible contains 3,586,489 letters, 773,693 words, 

 31,173 verses, 1189 chapters, and 66 books. The word 

 and occurs 46,377 times. The word Liird occurs 

 1855 times. Tbe word reverend occurs but once, 

 which is in the 9th verse of the lllth Psalm. The 

 middle verse is the 8th verse of the 118th Psalm. 

 The 3Ist verse of the 7th chapter of Ezra contains 

 all the letters in the alphabet except the letter J. 

 The finest chapter to read is the 36th chapter of 

 Acts. The 19th chapter of II. Kings and the 37th of 

 Isaiah arealike. The longest verse is Esther 8: 9. 

 The shortest verse is John 11:33. The 8th, 15th, 

 31st, and 31st verses of the in7th Psalm arealike. 

 Each verse of the i:36th Psalm ends alike. There 

 are no words or names of more than six syl- 

 lables. CHAUNCEY I'^ATES. 



Randall, N. Y„ Jan. 33, 1888. 



Very well done, my little friend. Who 

 will be the first to remember these facts? 

 But why do you say the 26th of Acts is the 

 finest chapter to read? Haven't millions 

 read the oth of Matthew, 14th and 17th of 

 John , and the 2d of Acts, a great deal more 

 than the 2()th of Acts ? But I think that, 

 instead of having one favorite chapter that 

 towers up above all the others, like a mount- 

 ain above the plain, we should learn to love 

 all tlie other chapters more and more until 

 wegettlio plain ;is high ;is liie mountain. 

 Every chapter has its own us", like the 

 members of the body, and shuuld be used in 

 the way God designed. 



