220 



GLEANINGS IK BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 



Every boy or girl, under 15 years of age, who writes a let- 

 ter tor this department, containing some valuable fact, not 



GENERALLY KNOWN, ON BEES OK OTHER MATTERS, will receive 

 one ot David Cook's excellent live-cent Sunday-school books. 

 Many of these books contain the same matter that you find in 

 Sunday-school books costing from $1.00 to $1.50. If you have 

 had one or more books, give us the names that we may not 

 send the same twice. \Ve have now in stock six different 

 books, as follows; viz. : Sheer Otf, Silver Keys, The Giant-Kill- 

 er; or. The Roby Family, Rescued from Egypt, Pilgrim's 

 Progress, and Ten Nights in a Bar-Room. We have also Our 

 Homes, Part I., and Our Itomes, Part II. Besides the above 

 books, you may have a photograph of our old house apiary, 

 and a photograph of our own apiary, both taken a great many 

 years ago. In the former is a picture of Novice, Blue Eyes, 

 and Caddy, and a glimpse of Ernest. We have also some pret- 

 ty little colored pictures of birds, fruits, flowers, etc., suitable 

 for framing. You can have your choice of any one of the 

 above pictures or books for every letter that gives us some 

 valuable piece of information. 



CONDUCTED BY ERNEST R. ROOT. 



THE BOYS' BEE-HIVE FACTORY. 



srKlNG MANAGKMENT OF IJEE8. 



fOR some time after Saiii's unfortunate 

 encounter witli bis enemies, and tlie 

 consequent discoloration of liis eye, lie 

 was the object of considerable hector- 

 ing from his friends, and of ridicule 

 from those not his friends — a kind of fun he 

 did not appreciate. Sam did not like to be 

 called a coward, nor to be macie fun of eitlier 

 ••so everlastingly." He complained to his 

 mother, thathecouldnoteiidure it. '' Why,'" 

 said she, " you let the boys bother you. As 

 long as they can extract any fun by 'so doing, 

 they will continue to hector you. Join in 

 with them in their fun, and do'not let them 

 think they can torment you." 



While Sam was being thus advised by his 

 mother, Jimmie came over and inquired for 

 Mr. Green. " What's the matterV" said Sam. 



"■Oh ! one of my hives is Hying out like 

 sixty!" 



" The 6ees from one of your hives," said 

 Sam. 



" Yes," continued liis playmate, '•they are 

 dropping into the snow, aiid dying by the 

 hundreds. I come over to lind out what to 

 do for them. Where's your paV" 



" Why," said Sam, •' I guess he's out in the 

 barn." 



Thither the boys hastened, trudging 

 through the snow, for at that time, the first 

 of March, they had some cold weather and 

 considerable snow. JimmieexplainedtoMr. 

 Green the situation and then added, "As I 

 didn't know what else to do, I plugged 'em 

 up, for they are daubing the front of the hive 

 all up." 



''■ I don't believe you will gain any thing by 

 'plugging 'em up,' as you call it," said Mr. 

 Green ; "that is, if yoii mean by that, closing 

 the entrance. They are doubtless badly dis- 

 eased with dysentery.'' 



•' Well, what shall I do for them? how can 

 I cure it?" 



" On a cold day like this," said Mr. Green, 

 " you can do nothing. Two or three warm 

 days, so that they can fly out pretty general- 

 ly, will give them a good opportunity to 

 cleanse themselves. There is no better med- 

 icine that I know of." 



" Why,'' said Sam, " I remember a few bees 

 flying out of some of our hives during the 

 winter.'' 



" They were probably slightly affected with 

 dysentery,'' said his father, " and, as a conse- 

 quence, would be restless. Those most dis- 

 eased flew out, chilled, and died. As for 

 Jimmie 's colony, as soon as the weather will 

 permit, take out their soiled and dirty combs 

 and give them some bricks of candy. Mary 

 is going to make a small batch of candy for 

 my bees this afternoon, and you can then 

 learn how it is done. 



"Yes,'' said Sam, "she always makes it 

 for pa, and she knows just how to do it." 



"It is a pretty good idea," continued his fa- 

 ther. " to have these bricks on hand, for there 

 will generally be some colonies which are run- 

 ning short of stores. These we discover in 

 going over some warm day during winter.'' 



" All right," said Jimmie; " if Mary is go- 

 ing to make candy I'll be on hand early in 

 the afternoon." 



It was then Saturday. Sure enough, he 

 was on hand; however, rather more eager 

 to pull taffy than to learn the art of making 

 candy for the bees. The formula which 

 Mary followed for making it was given 

 under the head of "Candy," in the ABC 

 of Bee Culture. The plan as carried 

 out by Mary was as follows: Into a large tin 

 basin she put a quantity of granulated sugar. 

 Over this she poured a very little water, and 

 then set it on the stove and" allowed it to boil. 

 While boiling it she continued to stir it so 

 that it would granulate and harden, ready to 

 pour off. To tell when it was boiled enough 

 she dipped her flnger into cold water and 

 then into the hot candy, and back into the 

 water again. If the candy did not crack off 

 like an egg-shell, it was not done enough. 

 She tried this two or three times; and when 

 it cracked off from her flnger she pronounc- 

 ed it just right. On a table, arranged in a 

 row, were a dozen wooden butter-dishes. 

 Into each one of these she poured about 

 three-fourths of a pound of the hot melted 

 sugar. When the candy was cold it was hard 

 and j ust right for the bees. Three-fourths of 

 a pound filled a butter-dish half full, and 

 this would leave enough flaring edge so that, 

 when they were inverted over a cluster in 

 the hive, they w^ould not crush a single bee. 

 Some of these Jimmie and Sam placed over 

 the brood-nest of hives where Mr. Green had 

 placed a little stone, indicating that they 

 were running short of stores when last ex- 

 amined. To do this the cover was first re- 

 moved, and the hands were quietly pushed 

 down to the side of the chaff packing until 

 they reached the corner of the burlap. 

 This was lifted up slowly until the cluster 

 w^as revealed to view. The butter-dish of 

 candy was then placed, inverted, right over 

 this cluster. The corner of the burlap was 

 then dropped down to its place, the cushion 

 carefully adjusted, and the cover replaced. 



